iFly GPS Forum

Bring up the app.  Modify the Starting Hobbs time (if you want to, I don't think it's critical; FYI, the app will fill in the Starting Hobbs field with the value of the Ending Hobbs field from your last flight).  Click on the Engine Start field (that, I believe, is critical) to have it fill that field with the current date-time -- or set whatever date-time you want.  Then MyFlightBook will stay running in the background.  (You don't need to keep it in the foreground -- for instance, you can switch over to iFly).  It will enter your Flight Start time by itself based on what you have noted as your takeoff speed (click on the human figure icon along the top line, then scroll down to set that one time), and will put your origin airport in the Route field.  It will note any other airports you go to in the Route field, and will enter your Flight End time automatically.  It's up to you to enter Engine Stop time and Ending Hobbs time, assuming you want to.  It will also count your full-stop landings (and whether they were day or night).  If you've specified such, it will also automatically fill in your Total Time (and whether day or night).  Works quite nicely.  Occasionally it mis-counts the numbers of landings.

You probably also know that you can enter/search/modify data on the app or on their website.  I do the actual Engine Start, Engine Stop, and Ending Hobbs on the app, while in the plane.  When I get home on the computer, I make sure everything adds up right, and add comments.

There is also a lot to be said for keeping it simple (KIS theory). For those of us that don't need additional features to track transponders, and don't want to run additional apps on our phones etc. the GPS seems the logical instrument to track when and where we've flown automatically in a log. I don't keep my logbook in the plane or hanger, so when I get home and forget to log the flight right away, it is nice to have the option of going back later and finding the data. Having to start an app on my phone before every flight adds additional steps and requires using additional battery life on my phone, something that takes away from keeping it simple in my opinion. I look forward to using the IFly because it lays things out in a relatively simple manner and it would add value to me by getting something out of it after the flight is over.  

It might seem like I'm totally pooh-pooh'ing your idea, but actually, I'd like to see something like this implemented for the occasional times I forget to start MyFlightBook.  I'd be able to manually enter the data (in MyFlightBook) if iFly could supply the basic facts of the flight.  And maybe I'd find some other occasional uses for being able to look back at recent flights in iFly.

If I was still using a paper logbook I'd probably be even more for it.

I just don't think a full-fledged logbook feature in iFly is the way to go because there's more to it than it seems at first glance.  There definitely has to be back and forth, with the user adding/correcting data for each entry.