How to log a flight in DaPilot

Tap the plus button on the dashboard and pick Manual entry. The date defaults to today. If you flew yesterday and forgot to log it, tap the date and pick the right one. Routes use ICAO codes by default (KMRY, KSFO, EGLL). DaPilot accepts FAA three-letter codes too (MRY) but normalizes to four-letter where there's a clean match.

For multi-leg trips, type each leg separated by spaces: KMRY KSFO KLAX. DaPilot reads that as a single flight with two waypoints in between. If you actually flew three separate flights in one day, log them as three rows.

Pick from your fleet, or tap + Add aircraft if this is the first time you're flying this tail. The aircraft form asks for tail number, type designator (C172, B738, CL30), category and class, and engine type (turbine or piston). Get the type designator right because it's the field most often referenced when you're filling out an 8710 or an interview application.

If you regularly fly different aircraft of the same type, add each tail separately. DaPilot's totals roll up by type designator, so a fleet of seven different B738 tails still aggregates correctly when you ask for "Total B738 time."

This is the part that takes a few flights to get right.

• Total time is the gate-to-gate flight time. Block out to block in. This is the number that goes on most insurance forms and 8710s.
• PIC is what you logged as Pilot in Command per FAR 61.51. If you flew the leg as the sole manipulator and you're rated in the aircraft, all of it is PIC. If you were the PIC on paper but the FO flew the leg, that's PIC on paper but not flight time logged. Most line pilots log the time as PIC if they were the captain on the leg, and split the differences in remarks.
• SIC is what you flew as Second in Command, when an SIC is required by type or operating rules.
• Dual received is instruction received from a CFI.
• CFI given is what you logged as the instructor.
• Cross-country is FAR 61.1 cross-country: a landing at an airport more than 50 nautical miles from the point of departure. KMRY to KSFO is 87 nm, so the whole flight is XC. KMRY to KSNS (Salinas, 17 nm) is not XC for currency purposes.
• Night is FAR 1.1 night: the period between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight. DaPilot does not auto-compute night from your route in v1; you enter it.
• Simulated instrument and actual instrument are different fields. Simulated is hood time. Actual is what you logged in IMC.

Decimal hours are the convention. 1.5 means an hour and a half. 1.30 is also an hour and a half if your operator uses the colonless format, but DaPilot stores 1.5 internally; if you type 1.30 we read it as 1.30 decimal (one hour and 18 minutes), which is rarely what you mean. Use a colon (1:30) or a decimal (1.5) and avoid the ambiguous form.

Day landings, night landings, full-stop, touch-and-go. The currency tracker keys on night full-stop landings in the previous 90 days (FAR 61.57(b)) and takeoffs and landings to a full stop in a tailwheel (FAR 61.31(i)) if applicable, so be honest about T&G versus full-stop.

For approaches, the tracker keys on FAR 61.57(c) instrument currency: six approaches, holding, and intercepting and tracking courses, in the preceding six months. Log each approach on the day you flew it. The approach name field is for your own reference (ILS 28L, RNAV (GPS) 22, LOC BC 32).

Holds and tracking are separate fields. A single holding pattern in IMC counts toward currency.

If you're an airline pilot, the OUT / OFF / ON / IN times are how block time and flight time get computed for pay and for FAR 117 windows. DaPilot lets you enter them once and computes both block time (OUT to IN) and flight time (OFF to ON) automatically.

If you have only block time and flight time and no OUT/OFF/ON/IN, just type those into the totals. The block-time fields are optional unless you're using Airline Mode.

Remarks are searchable. Use them. Examples that make a logbook useful five years later:

• Type ride checkride completed; ATP issued. PIC by KMOB DPE.
• Severe turbulence on descent; PIREP filed.
• IOE complete with Capt. T. Captain. Released.

Avoid PII (passenger names, etc.). Avoid anything you would not want a future employer to read.

Tap Save. The flight appears at the top of the dashboard and your totals update. Currency cards refresh. If you logged in Airline Mode, the FAR 117 cards refresh.

If something looks off, open the flight and edit. There's no "final save" lock; every field is editable forever.