Flight Log

In the Aviation industry, all operators use a flight log to record important information pertaining to flights. The format and content of these flight logs vary by operator, but the overall objective is the same. A flight log or flight log sheet is traditionally a paper document that is pulled from a preprinted stack, where each sheet is numbered by sequence, and where all flights and actions through one day is recorded on the same flight log sheet.

The main content of the flight log is:

• Utilization such as flight hours and landing.
• Information about the flight itself such as crew, departure location, arrival location, block off and block on.
• Faults found during the operation (a fault in this context is any indication that there is an issue with the aircraft).
• Condition monitoring, e.g., engine trend.

Basic Data for Flight Logs

The following basic data can be predefined for flight logs:

• Reasons why the aircraft may have been deviated from its original route or delayed.
• The cause for canceling a flight.
• The valid types of flight servicing to be entered when reporting flight servicing information.
• Operator designators per owner organization. Designators are codes used to identify an airline for commercial purposes such as reservations, timetables, tickets, tariffs, air waybills and in airline interline telecommunications. Examples of operator designators are BA for British Airways and SK for Scandinavian Airlines. The predefined operator information will be used when automatically generating operational plan IDs for a flight log.
• The number of days voided and closed flight logs relevant to an owner organization should remain in the Flight Log window. For a period of time, both voided and closed flight logs can be important information to view together with open logs for a vehicle. But after a while this information is not as relevant and can be moved to history. Once the number of days defined in basic data is reached, the voided and closed flights logs will be moved to history through a background job. If number of days is not defined, 0 (zero) is taken as the default value and the voided and closed flight logs will be moved to history as soon as the background job is executed.
• Training levels for flight crew members.
• The type of flight times, e.g., night flying time and instrument flying time, for a crew member.
• The types of operational tasks, e.g., navigation flight and transportation flight, that can be performed during a flight.

Flight Log Information

All the flights that have been completed within a day should be logged in the flight log, usually by the Pilot. When you are entering a flight log for the first time, you need to manually enter a flight log number used to uniquely identify the flight log. When the next flight log is entered for the same vehicle, the last flight log number recorded against the vehicle will be retrieved automatically and incremented by 1 to get the new flight log number (this requires that numerical flight log numbers are used). The suggested value can be changed, if needed.

At creation, the flight log is set to the Open status. Information pertaining to a flight can only be added as long as the flight log is open. Only one flight log can be open for a vehicle at any given point in time. When all information for a flight log has been entered it should be set to the Closed status. When a flight log has been closed, no update will be possible. However, there can be situations where data needs to be corrected in flight logs that have been closed. Moving the closed flight log to the Amendment status will allow you to correct the data. After the changes have been performed, the flight log can once again be closed. Note: Once the closed flight log has been moved to history it will not be possible to change back to the Amendment status. Furthermore, there can be a need for removing a flight log that has been entered by error. Since it is a requirement that removing a flight log has to be documented, instead of deleting the flight log you have the option of setting it to the Voided status. Voided flight logs will no longer be considered valid in the system. The flight log journal will list all changes made to a flight log when amended.

It is also possible to move voided flights from a closed or voided flight log to another open flight log. If the flight is connected to an operational event, it is considered specific to the vehicle for which it was defined and can only be moved to a flight log defined for the same vehicle. If a flight is to be moved from a voided flight log to an open flight log for the same vehicle, all connected flight log data such as fault information, condition measurements and flight servicing activities can be moved to the new flight log. If a flight is moved from a voided flight log to an open flight log for a different vehicle, only connected flight servicing activities can be moved. When moving flights from a closed flight log, data connected to the closed flight log will not be moved. Only data connected directly to the voided flights (e.g., fault data for the same vehicle and flight servicing activities) will be moved to the new flight log. Information on the flight that is moved can be viewed on the flight log.

Flight Information

You can report information about a flight such as the take off and landing times, deviations and utilization (operational loggings) once the flight is completed. This information is usually entered by a pilot on a flight log that is defined for the vehicle. The flight log can contain information on one or more flights, where a single record is defined for each flight on the vehicle.

On the flight log, an operational plan ID must be entered to define which flight the vehicle has completed. This value can be entered manually or by using the operational plans predefined in IFS/Vehicle Information Management. If an operational plan ID has not been defined when saving the flight information, the system will automatically generate an operational plan ID which serves as an identifier for the flight. If an operator designator is defined in basic data, this value will be used when auto-generating the operational plan ID.

If predefined operational plans are used, the OPER_LOG_SEV_EVENTS object property will be used to validate if the same operational event can be entered several times for one operational plan ID (flight). The following settings are available for this object property:

• No Requirements - The same operational event can be entered several times for an operational plan ID as long as the dates do not overlap.
• Warning - The same operational event can be entered several times for an operational plan ID as long as the dates do not overlap. A warning will be displayed.
• Not Allowed - The same operational event cannot be entered several times for the same operational plan ID. An error message will be displayed.

Information about the crew that worked a flight can be reported on the flight log. This includes the role, training level of flight- and in flight- crew members and the type of operational tasks performed during the flight. It is possible to void crew information if for instance it has been entered incorrectly.

If a fault is found during a flight or during maintenance it can be reported on the flight log. It is also possible to report the actions that were performed against the fault. The purpose of the fault action functionality is to provide a way of reporting that actions have been taken to clear the fault without having to plan the activities beforehand and without having to create a work order for the work. Clearing a fault means that necessary actions have been taken for the vehicle to operate without the fault being signed off. If a fault action has been entered incorrectly, the action can be voided.

It is possible to report measurement results from any monitoring activities performed daily (e.g., engine trend monitoring). All conditions defined for the vehicle on the flight log as well as for all serials in its structure will be displayed allowing you to report condition measurements for all serials in one single operation. When saving condition measurements in a flight log, the condition measurements will be recorded on the serials. If the recorded measure values exceed the warning or danger limits, maintenance tasks will be generated. A maintenance task is also generated if the change from the last measurement is greater than the given critical change for the condition limit.

Pre- and post- flight servicing activities can be reported on a particular flight or in general on a flight log. Flight servicing refers to the service checks performed prior to and after flights which makes the aircraft ready for service for a predefined time period after the service has been completed. If for instance a flight servicing activity has been entered incorrectly, the activity record can be voided.

Flight Log History

The flight log history will contain information on all closed and voided flight logs that have been moved to history. These flight logs will be moved to history through a background job once the number of days as defined in basic data is reached (refer section Basic Data for Flight Logs). The historical information is for informational purposes only and cannot be updated.