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Recording a flight

This page is part of My Record. It covers the flight form field by field, the other ways a flight arrives, and what happens to the log file you attach.

Recording a flight#

Press Log a flight and the flight form opens in a sheet over the page. The same sheet opens from File Flights, from a job and from a colleague's page, and returns you to where you started when you save or cancel. If the sheet cannot load, the logbook's own form opens instead.

A new flight starts on the only aircraft in your fleet, or on the aircraft you filed last on this device. When you open it from a job it starts on that job and its site. Otherwise it starts on the job you filed last on this device, while that job is still open or quoted, and on the site you filed last. These are remembered for each person you log for: a flight you log for a crew member from their page starts from the last flight you logged for that member, never from your own. Change any of them as usual.

What was flown, and when#

  • What was flown: An aircraft, A simulator session or A part-task trainer session. A session names the device in place of an aircraft (The device, the simulator or trainer as your unit names it) and the aircraft type it trained on (Type simulated). It is training time, not flight time: it never adds to an aircraft's hours, to your flight time or to the aircraft you have flown, it is never in public reporting or an authorization's report, and it takes no packs and no authorization. It counts toward a currency rule only where your organization's rule says simulator sessions count (see Team). A flight corrected from an aircraft to a session takes its hours off the aircraft, and one corrected back must name its aircraft.
  • Aircraft: pick a registered aircraft from your fleet, or choose the first option for an airframe that is not in the fleet and type Its name (a tail number or description). Flights on a registered aircraft build that airframe's hours and health history; flights on a typed name count toward your own hours but accumulate nothing for the airframe until it is registered. An aircraft that reads no go is listed with No go after its name, one held at condition unknown with Condition unknown, and one that is ready with limits with Ready with limits; choose a no-go or condition-unknown aircraft and the reasons show in red under the picker.
  • Date, required, and optionally the time of the flight, as your organization's clock read it: the line under the fields names the time zone. The date is 2000-01-01 or later and cannot be later than your organization's today, and a date with a time cannot be later than now. A time the clocks skipped when they went forward (02:30 on the night clocks go from 02:00 to 03:00) is refused with the time the clock showed; in the hour the clocks go back, a time is read as the first of the two. The flight keeps the zone it was entered in and reads it beside the time, for example "2026-09-26 19:30 CDT". Night is worked out from that moment and the flight's position when you do not tick Night.
  • Flight time in minutes, required: more than 0 and at most 1,440 (24 hours). A flight filed from a log carries the log's armed time as its flight time, and the record says which figure it is: armed (the log recorded when it was armed), span (the log did not, so first-to-last record is the best it can say), or entered (a person typed it). The span is kept beside the armed time either way.
    • A flight typed longer than one and a half times its aircraft's rated endurance (or the published flight time of its model) is said on Longer than this aircraft flies, and is filed only with Why it flew that long, in at least three words, which is kept in the flight's remarks. A flight kept on your device while offline is filed and the length said afterward.

What for, and where#

  • What for: the operation type, one of commercial, training, proficiency, maintenance, survey, inspection, public safety, test, recreational, or Other (describe). Choose Other (describe) for an operation the list does not name, and say what the flight was for in the Describe box that appears (one line, up to 80 characters, required with Other); the flight then reads, for example, "other: banner tow" in the logbook and in audit packages, and "Other: banner tow" on the flight's page. A description goes with Other only, and choosing another type clears it.
    • A type sent by a ground station or the API is read the same way, so "Public safety", "DFR" and "first responder" are all public safety; a type that is not on the list is refused with a message naming the list. A flight filed earlier with a type that is not on the list keeps it as written: editing the flight shows it selected and marked (as filed), saving keeps it unless you choose another, and a ground station that sends the flight again with that same type is accepted.
  • Site: where you flew, up to 120 characters.
  • Location: optional, the latitude and longitude of where you flew. Only a rounded area is ever publishable, and the line under the boxes says which area that is, how long the exact position is kept before it is reduced to the area, and whether exact positions are sealed at rest on this service. When your organization keeps only the rounded area (set on the Retention page), the line reads "Kept and published as the area around" the area, and only the area is stored. When it keeps no position, the boxes are closed and say why, and so are the take-off and landing coordinates among the regime's fields.
  • Job: file the flight against a job from Clients and Jobs. Open and quoted jobs are offered first, then complete jobs under Complete: a flight added needs a reason; a canceled job is not offered. Choosing a complete job shows Reason for adding to a complete job, which is required and printed on the job flight record beside the flight (see Clients and Jobs). A flight already filed against a job keeps it in the list when you edit it. Each job is named by its title, then its client, reference and dates, so jobs with the same title read apart. Log a flight on a job's card or page opens this form on that job with its site filled in.

Packs, landings and conditions#

  • Packs: every battery pack the flight flew on. Pick one and the list offers the next; a Matrice flying a pair names both, and each named pack takes a cycle. Each pack reads its label, cell count, capacity and cycles, then its condition when it has one: nearing its cycle ceiling, past its cycle ceiling, or GROUNDED, flagged swollen or damaged, the same wording File Flights uses. Such a pack is accepted with a warning rather than hidden. Once you have chosen the aircraft, the packs it has flown on, or of the same cell count, come first under Flown on this aircraft, or its cell count, and the rest follow under Other packs.
  • Sorties and Landings: whole numbers, sorties from 1 to 999 and landings from 0 to 999.
  • Night: tick if flown at night. Night flights are counted separately and feed night currency rules. A flight filed from a log with a position derives night itself, from civil twilight at that spot and time, when you did not say. A flight that has a position and a time is checked against civil twilight there: when the box and the sun disagree the row reads check night (see Flights marked check). The box is never changed for you.
  • Conditions: free text up to 120 characters, for example "VLOS, 12 kt, clear".
  • Observed weather: read-only. A filed flight can carry the aviation weather observed at the time (wind, gusts, visibility, ceiling, temperature, dewpoint, altimeter, and the reporting station). Its summary line, wind, gusts, ceiling, temperature and dewpoint read in the units you chose on My Account; visibility and the altimeter setting read as the station published them. What you typed in Conditions and what the weather service reported are two different facts; they sit side by side and never overwrite each other.

Authorization and the regime's fields#

  • Airspace authorization, Issued by, and Authorized ceiling (ft AGL, a whole number from 0 to 5,000): on a flight flown under the United States regime, record a LAANC confirmation you already hold, and who issued it. Valid from and Valid to take the window the authorization is valid for, in your organization's time zone; a flight whose take-off or landing falls outside it is flagged under the fields and counted as outside the authorization's window on the Authorizations page. Optional, and never required to file. RotorLab does not issue authorizations; it records what you held so the flight record shows it.
    • This block is the US regime's own; it is the airspace authorization reference the record keeps, asked once. On a flight flown under any other regime the block is not shown. Where the regime prompts for one (the United Kingdom, the EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Brazil and Singapore) the regime's Airspace authorization reference takes its place at the front of the form; under Japan or South Africa the field stays under More details.
  • The regime's own fields: what the flight was flown under (Operating category and Flown under authorization) stay in front, each list in the regime's own words (a category that exists only so an older flight keeps its name is shown on that flight and not offered for a new one); everything else the regime records (visual mode, heights, distances, take-off and landing places and coordinates, dangerous goods, crew, consent) is one click away under More details, so the phone form stays short.
    • Maximum height and Maximum distance from pilot are entered in the units you chose on My Account, named in each label (for example Maximum height (ft)): height from 0 to 100,000 ft (30,480 m), and distance up to 1,000,000 m. The unit is fixed for each box when the form opens, and a figure you leave untouched is saved exactly as it was, whatever unit it was first entered in. A Time of take-off or Time of landing follows the same rule as the date: it cannot be later than now.
  • Visual line of sight offers the words of the regime the flight is flown under. Under the United States regime: VLOS: in sight of the remote pilot (107.31), EVLOS: a visual observer keeps it in sight (107.31, 107.33) and BVLOS: under a 107.31 waiver. Under Canada: VLOS, EVLOS with a visual observer, Sheltered operation: within 200 ft of a structure, not in sight and BVLOS. Under Australia: VLOS, EVLOS class 1, EVLOS class 2 and BVLOS, as the operational log records them. Every other regime offers VLOS, EVLOS and BVLOS. A value recorded under one regime is kept and shown when the flight is opened under another (an Australian flight recorded as plain EVLOS reads EVLOS (class not recorded)), never blanked.
  • Basis for flight over people: prompted for a United States flight, from 14 CFR 107.39 and subpart D: Only over people directly participating (107.39(a)), Only over people under a covered structure or in a stationary vehicle (107.39(b)), Category 1 (107.110) to Category 4 (107.140), or Under a waiver of 107.39. It is on every United States flight's form, and it counts against the flight's completeness only when Flown over people is yes. A flight over people on the waiver basis, filed under an authorization whose waived sections do not include 107.39, is marked when it is filed (see Authorizations).
  • Consent obtained (people overflown, property owner): yes, no or not stated, prompted for a flight under the New Zealand regime.

Crew, notes and remarks#

  • Crew: press Add a crew member for each member of your organization on the crew, pick their duty from your organization's crew duties, and give their minutes on duty when it was not the whole flight (blank means the whole flight). You, as the pilot, are the pilot in command unless a line names you in another duty; only the pilot may be named PIC. A line is refused, naming the line, for someone who is not a member, a duty not on the list, the same person twice, or a time longer than the flight. The aircraft's hours count once; each person's time counts in their own logbook, by duty. A change to the crew is kept in the flight's history.
  • Crew notes: anyone who is not a member, or a note about the crew, up to 200 characters.
  • Remarks: free text up to 2,000 characters.
  • Army mission: shown only when your organization's How you fly in the United States is Public aircraft and military operations. Choose the AR 95-1 mission symbol for the flight (A, C, D, F, S, T or X, each with its meaning), or leave it at Not chosen. It prints as MISSION ID on the aircraft's DA Form 2408-12 entries and wins over the symbol the flight's purpose would give.

Saving the flight#

A value outside these limits is refused with a message that says what is wrong and what is accepted, and nothing is saved until it is corrected: nothing is cut short or rounded into range for you.

A member logs flights as themself. Only an organization admin, or a role that carries both Members: manage and Flights & logs: manage, logs a flight for another pilot, from that pilot's page under Crew. Anyone else who names someone else is refused rather than filed as the pilot, however the page names the pilot. To file a whole day's flying for others, an operations manager uses File Flights.

Press Save. When a new flight is on a no-go aircraft, names a pack that is grounded or past its ceiling, is being filed for a pilot whose currency has lapsed, or names an authorization under Flown under authorization that has expired or is not yet in effect, What the records say names each of those first and asks once Why it was flown or is filed anyway (one line). File anyway saves it. The flight files either way: the warning is there so the person filing knows, and the reason you give is kept with the flight.

The Flown under authorization picker marks an authorization that has expired (EXPIRED), is not yet in effect (NOT YET IN EFFECT), is due for renewal (renew soon) or has no expiry on file. The sheet reads the records as they stand today, while the flight's stamp reads them for the day it was flown (see Standing at the moment of flight), so a warning need not become a mark. A flight the stamp marks is listed for your organization's admins with your reason.

Pre-filling from a flight log#

Press Log one from a flight log and drop a flight log onto the form (.bin or its .log text export, .tlog, .ulg, a Betaflight / INAV Blackbox .bbl, DJI .txt, Parrot or GUTMA .json, or a flight-log .csv). The file goes to File Flights, which keeps it with the flight, reads the date, armed time and position from it, matches the aircraft by its serial and the pack by its serial, and files it in one step. A log shared from your phone's share sheet takes the same path.

Flights filed by a ground station#

Connected ground stations file flights automatically. The Source column shows where each record came from: manual for entries typed here, gc for ground-station filings, log for records created from a log. A ground station's flight follows the same rules as the form: it states when it was flown and a flight time of more than 0. A ground station that sends a flight again (after a dropped link, for example) corrects the same flight rather than filing a second one, and one that sends again a flight somebody has voided is told the void stands: the flight stays voided until an admin restores it.

A link elsewhere in RotorLab that names a flight ("Open flight #412") opens that flight here, in the logbook of the pilot who flew it.

Flights marked check#

A flight that has no flight time, a date later than today or later than when it was filed, or sorties or landings out of range reads check beside its date. Hover over it to see what is wrong, then open it with edit and correct it, or void it with a reason. A flight with no flight time does not count toward any currency rule, and a flight dated later than today is never your last flight.

A flight whose Night box disagrees with civil twilight at its position and time reads check night beside its type: either it is ticked but the sun was above civil twilight (daylight or twilight), or it is not ticked but the flight was after the end of evening civil twilight or before morning civil twilight. Hover over it for the time and what the sun says, then open the flight and correct the box if it is wrong. A time recorded with no zone is read on your organization's clock, and the note says so. A flight with no position, or a date with no time, is not checked.

From a filed flight#

A filed flight's form has Record an occurrence on this flight, which opens the Occurrences form with this flight, its aircraft and its date already chosen. Naming the flight on an occurrence places it on legal hold. If you can produce audit packages, the form also has Audit package for this flight, which opens the Audit page with the one-flight scope and this flight's number filled in.

Log files stored with flights#

When a ground station files a flight it can attach the flight log itself, and RotorLab keeps the file with the flight record. Three rules keep stored logs honest:

  1. Storing is never the paid part. Attaching a log costs nothing and meters nothing. Analysis is the product; possession of your own file is not.
  2. Download and delete work with no add-on. You can pull every byte back out, and erase a log you no longer need. Deleting one asks why, and your reason goes into the activity log with the file's name, size and SHA-256. A log whose flight is on legal hold cannot be deleted until the hold is lifted.
  3. Retention is yours to choose. Logs are kept for a window your organization sets (90 days by default, or for the life of the record for a public body), then swept automatically. Shortening the window tells you how many stored logs it would delete now and waits for you to confirm; the flight records stay either way.

A flight that has its log stored reads download and read under its Source pill. download gives you the file, and read opens the Log Analyzer, which reads the stored log where it is kept, with nothing downloaded to your browser, and draws its 3D replay. Neither needs an add-on, and the same two links are on each flight in the aircraft page's Recent flights.

Stored logs are also listed, downloaded, and deleted per aircraft on the Fleet Health page. The log window is set on the Retention page, beside the position window.