Auto Day and Night Feature

[SpeakandSpell]

I would like to see an included subroutine in a future version that could automatically estimate the amount of day and night in a partiular flight instead of having to guestimate manually. This seems that it could be possible if the world airports are included in the database. The more airports in the world that are included in the database the easier this would be. It would be an an awesome feature.

 

[oates76]

Any updates on this? This feature is something I see as very worthwhile for me. Thanks

 

[melias31]

Any Updates on this. I have had logbook pro for 6 years now and I would love this feature to be added. I know it can't be a very difficult thing because a competitor Log Ten Pro has this. But his program is MAC only. I have seen people using log ten pro on an Ipad and iphone and they have things automatically calculated. Just wondering why it isn't an option yet? If one company can do this then so can this one.

 

[Neal Culiner]

Matt,

Just because someone has this feature doesn't mean it's done properly or is the right thing to do. We don't believe in putting incorrect information into someone's logbook, night time is something that has a lot of factors involved as to when it starts/stops, etc. LogTen Pro is also great at losing all your data, something we're not going to do either, and they have other "features" such as schedule importing completely done wrong. We don't use an airport database so it gives you full flexibility in entering your route of flight and logging "by day" instead of "by leg" - we are considering an option in our next major release to allow you to use an airport database and give you the option of night calcs with extensive options to help you calculate it properly based on all the factors involved. As a pilot you should know easily when your night time starts and stops and also keep those times involved in the regulations you fly under and how it pertains to your night logging. It's not something that is fixed or hard coded. There are many different regs out there and they all are different as to when night is logged. Using a program that doesn't take this into account leads you to an incorrect logbook that could get you into trouble later.

I hope this sheds some light on the topic, it's not a simple one and we're not going to put you into a situation where your logbook is going to get you into trouble. You need to know your specific rulse and regs and enter the values properly based on those variables.

 

[midnightson]

Matt,

Just because someone has this feature doesn't mean it's done properly or is the right thing to do. We don't believe in putting incorrect information into someone's logbook, night time is something that has a lot of factors involved as to when it starts/stops, etc. . . As a pilot you should know easily when your night time starts and stops. . . There are many different regs out there and they all are different as to when night is logged.

I'm not one to get involved in any kind of a forum, but I registered specifically for this issue. I have been a long time Logbook Pro user and am on the fence about making the change to a different program (not just for this issue). Neil, I can appreciate your position. But let's be honest. To say a pilot should easily know when the sun is six degrees below the horizon is a little unreasonable. Seabird says he/she doesn't care about logging night time and I agree, no professional pilot wants to put effort into it. That's the point. A fairly rudimentary mathematical deduction would be far more accurate than the guesstimating we normally do anyway, and no FAA rep would argue with that. If you do want to get technical, the regs are not that complicated: 1. logging FLIGHT TIME at night is done by civil twilight 2. For passenger carrying currency you need to use the one hour rule for TAKEOFFS AND LANDINGS. There's no difference between 61, 91, 135, and 121 except that 121 pilots don't care. Yes holding is a problem, yes polar flights are a problem. But Boeing and Airbus don't preclude the use of automation in the aircraft just because it doesn't work in every circumstance. They give you an option to use the automation until, based on your judgment, it doesn't work in that circumstance at which time you intervene, and guess what, the FAA is fine with it. So write your liability waivers and give the consumer what they want.
Respectfully,

 

[Neal Culiner]

Thank you for the feedback, the feature is planned to be included in the v2 release.