Flight Instructor Tools

propilot2k4

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Jan 1, 2006
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I have been a Logbook Pro owner for several years and love it. The customer service that I have received in the past has been GREAT. I would like to make a suggestion to make Logbook Pro Flight Instructor friendly. It would be great to see some add-ons for flight instructors or a flight instructor version of Logbook Pro. There is virtually no software for Flight Instructors on the market (at least I couldn't find any from searching on the Internet).

Some features that I would wish for would be: A Ground Training Column, A way to log endorsements and sign-offs (Student Pilot Endorsements, Private Pilot Written, TSA Identification endorsements, etc.), a feature to print the endorsements on labels, and a reminder to let the instructor know that an endorsement for a certain student is due (90 day solo, flight review).

I'm sure that other flight instructors can add to these suggestions.

Thanks for making a great product and for letting your customers have an input on how to improve an already great product.
 
One more request for the CFI features.

I currently try to track ground training in a 'user' column, but the program complains when ground time exceeds flight time.

It would be nice to track endorsements for ratings, certificates, WINGS phase completion, aircraft checkouts, and so on. The History feature works, but becomes overwhelmed by busy instructors with many endorsements per month. There is not a field for the all-important pass-fail tracking or for remarks.

I do greatly enjoy the Enterprise features and track my student's time with downloads from our online scheduling system. It makes filling out the 8710 form easy.

Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein
 
I agree 100% to these requests and suggestions. I am trying to figure out how to work around LBP's limitations to track my student's progress.

I have not found any information on this website directed toward how instructors can use LBP most effectively.

I know that you can create a new text column with the heading 'Student's Name', and for each training flight enter his/her name in this column. Then, you can sort on this column to collect all flights with each student to easily check progress. I have not fully researched whether you can also print a report with only this student's info, but at least you can look at it.

I have also discovered that you can enter repetative solo endorsements like "Joe Blow Solo Endorsement" in the History area. Give it a 3 month expiration (since there is no 90 day choice in history items), and LBP will alert you when it is coming due. You can also set it up with the Currency Editor so you can run the currency report to see which of your students is getting close to needing a new solo endorsement.

I am still looking for a good way to enter one-time endorsements like the required TSA Endorsement for each new student. I'd like to find some way to print out a list of these endorsements in case asked by the TSA/FAA.

As you mentioned, logging Ground Instruction seems to be a problem. There may be some way to do it without the program complaining, but I haven't found it.

I will post more info as I figure it out.

Russ
 
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To add to the above suggestions: Maybe even having the current AC with all the endorsements ready to print and fill in the blanks would be good.
 
As a CFI, I agree with the indicated suggestions. For ground training, I created two user columns. One for ground training given and one for ground training received. I turned off the warnings so that I could enter the information in LBP.
 
As a CFI, I agree with the indicated suggestions. For ground training, I created two user columns. One for ground training given and one for ground training received. I turned off the warnings so that I could enter the information in LBP.

But doesn't that cause the ground instruction to be added to your total time. You don't want that do you?

I wonder if anyone from the LPB staff ever reads this? I don't see any indication from them that they are even considering any of the suggestions.

Russ
 
I wonder if anyone from the LPB staff ever reads this? I don't see any indication from them that they are even considering any of the suggestions.

Yes, we read all posts and we move suggestions to our internal development database for items we consider are good feature enhancements. We do not typically reply to the wish list forum as this is simply your "petition" area where you can make suggestions, for questions that require an answer please use our support forums.
 
I think that we should remember that LBP is not software that was designed to keep the training records of an instructor's students. Having said that, if this is a path to tread down, then I think a CFI plugin would be appropriate. (Most pilots won't need this functionality and might get confused or distracted by having it.)

Not only could this plugin track students info, endorsements, BFR's, ground instructions given, etc., it could also have an option to auto-delete these records when they are no longer required by the controlling agency. (There are many legal reasons why you don't want to have records any longer than necessary...) It might also track CFI renewal.

I'll see if there's an appropriate place to enter this idea in the requirements doc.
 
CFI Tools

I think that we should remember that LBP is not software that was designed to keep the training records of an instructor's students. Having said that, if this is a path to tread down, then I think a CFI plugin would be appropriate. (Most pilots won't need this functionality and might get confused or distracted by having it.)

Not only could this plugin track students info, endorsements, BFR's, ground instructions given, etc., it could also have an option to auto-delete these records when they are no longer required by the controlling agency. (There are many legal reasons why you don't want to have records any longer than necessary...) It might also track CFI renewal.

I'll see if there's an appropriate place to enter this idea in the requirements doc.

Exactly! My suggestion was for a modified version of LBP for Instructors. I'd be willing to pay more to get it.

Right now, my endorsement records are copied into my own paper flight log, and thus they are saved forever. I was not aware that other instructors deleted endorsement records at some later point in time.

Russ
 
Right now, my endorsement records are copied into my own paper flight log, and thus they are saved forever. I was not aware that other instructors deleted endorsement records at some later point in time.
Not so much that other instructors delete endorsement/instruction records, but that they are only required to keep records for a finite and definite amount of time.

Mostly this applies to FBO's or flight schools, in my opinion. At a 141 school, you are required to maintain training records for a number of years. However, if you keep records beyond that time frame, they are fair game for auditors. If the FAA were to audit your training records and find a discrepancy in a training record you were no longer obligated to have, you would still be subject to penalties--as much as $10,000 an infraction. Thus, it might be prudent to purge those records as they age out.

While an instructor is also required to keep training records for a number of years, it might also be wise to purge those records from an electronic logbook even if they remained in your hardcopy log. Having the functionality would be valuable even if not used frequently.
 
I've been a LBP customer for several years. I logged in this morning to see how people were handling CFI stuff and I'm happy that this is actively being discussed. I too would very much welcome (and pay for) an additional plug-in, add-on to LBP to track CFI related tasks, inclusive of managing part 61/141 requirements tracking...

Would also like to know how the NC crew feels about this and if in-fact something is already in the works..

Thanks for a great product..
 
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