Flight logs

With a military aviation background flight logs are not foreign to me, but getting into drone technology has raised questions about tracking flights. As a recreational pilot it’s probably not a big concern but as someone who has passed the FAA Part 107 and looking for employment a flight log is something that potential employers will be interested in. For example, I’ve seen some job postings where the candidate must have 1500 valid flights.

So how does one go about tracking this information? This can really be dependent on the drone/controller that you’re using. For me I’m currently flying the DJI Air 3S with a DJI RC2 controller. After reading various articles and posts on Vets to Drones, it seemed as though AirData.com appeared to be the preferred method for tracking flights.

This app allows you to create a free (limited) account or upgraded accounts with greater functionality. I decided for the time being to just go with a free account. After creating my account it was time to figure out how to get my information updated.

At first glance it looked like I would be able to install a third-party app on my controller and automatically upload my logs. Turns out this isn’t the case for the RC2 controller. In order to get my logs I had to install OpenMTP on my MacBook. This application is required to connect to the controller which runs an Android OS. From this app I navigated to the Flight Log folder and downloaded the .txt files to my laptop. From here I was able to upload the files to AirData.

So if you’ve got your Part 107 and looking to fly commercially I highly encourage you to check out AirData. In my next post I’ll be covering this tool in more detail, so stay tuned.