As a condition of your flight crew licence or certificate of validation, you must keep a logbook.
Logbooks are an official record of your experience and are used for licensing purposes. It can be a paper or an electronic logbook.
All logbook entries must be correct and not misleading.
Record keeping
After completing each flight, you must record:
- the date the flight began
- the aircraft type
- whether the aircraft was single-engine or multi-engine
- the nationality and registration marks of the aircraft
- the take-off and landing points for the flight and each segment of the flight
- whether the flight time was flown in the capacity of:
- pilot in command (PIC)
- copilot
- pilot in command under supervision (PICUS)
- pilot receiving flight training
- if you are a flight instructor, any flight time spent exercising the privileges of your flight instructor rating
- if you are a flight examiner, any flight time spent exercising the privileges of your flight examiner rating
- whether the flight was by day or night, or both
- any instrument flight time
- whether you conducted an instrument approach and if so, the type of instrument approach procedure
- if the flight was a community service flight (and any relevant details).
Logbooks may vary in layout and format. You can buy hard-copy logbooks, create your own, or use an electronic program or app.
Definition of flight time
Pilot logbooks consider the duration of the flight:
- when the aircraft begins moving (under its own power or not).
- until the aircraft comes to rest at the end of the flight.
Keeping your logbooks
You must retain your logbook for 7 years from the last date of entry.
You must make sure that each entry is unaltered through this period.
Lost logbooks
You may be able to fill your flying history in a new logbook using other records you have available. This could include any organisational or operational records from your flying schools or employers.
You will need to make a statutory declaration for any records entered in a new logbook.
We do not hold logbook information for individuals.
You can view your licence and category ratings and endorsements in our myCASA portal. Find out how to view and download your digital licence.
You can also request a reprint of your printed licence in myCASA.
Production of logbooks
We may direct you to produce your logbook for inspection. You must provide your logbook within 7 days of the notification.
If you keep your logbook in electronic form, you must produce a printed copy of the logbook. You must certify each page as a true copy of your logbook.
You can find more information on the requirements of a pilot logbook in our Part 61 Flight crew licensing plain English guide.