Wishing all my readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Thank you all for the support and encouragement in 2009!
This is the first of possibly more reviews I would like to start doing to promote some of my favorite aviation products. I have a plethora of products I like to use on both my PC and my iPhone that you need to know about, if you don’t already. I attribute many of these products to my success thus far in my aviation journey and one of my absolute favorites that I will recommend to all of my future students is Dauntless’s Ground School software and RideReady software. These two excellent products led me to be able to review one of their other products, Safelog. So enough brown nosing and lets find out why I use Safelog.
Rich Features
I have yet to find a feature that isn’t portrayed in some way in Safelog. You can import/export flight data to your own backup location and/or SafelogWeb.com. You can add/modify/review your flights and currency online at Safelogweb.com, which is great for pilots who have ‘Smart’ phones and can access the internet immediately after every flight and record the information. Doesn’t get any easier than that. You’ve got reports, graphs, currency evaluations, flight computers, Google Earth integration, the list goes on.
Ease of Use
The software is incredibly easy to use. It’s also great for pilots such as myself who often fly to and from the same airports. Your most recent airports are readily available on the flight entry screen with a single click. It also keeps track of all of the aircraft you fly so you don’t have to keep re-entering data. That is one of the nicest things I like about Safelog. They really tried to put repetitive entry to a minimum. If you entered it once before, you don’t have to enter in that data ever again. This goes for airports and aircraft.
In Detail
For those of you that are nerds like myself and like to track data. This logbook software has the capability of tracking incredible amounts of data. For every flight you can record your general flight information plus photos, comments/notes, files/documents, milestones/events, people you flew with, what was the flight instructor, examiner, or SIC’s name! There is so much information you CAN record I can go back to just about any flight, look at that information and recall the exact flight. These features are of course optional, as this could overwhelm some of you. But for some of us, it’s just plain fun!
Mobility
Dauntless knew that for a logbook application to be truly complete, it would need to have mobile access. They boast multiple mobile platforms Safelog can partner with. The iPhone, Blackberry, WindowsCE / Windows Mobile PocketPC PDA or your PalmOS-compatible PDA. I only have had the pleasure of using Safelog for the iPhone, but the fact that they have made it a priority to make available all of the important information in your logbook wherever you are is a definite plus in my book.
Conclusion
I’ve used two other logbook applications and none of them beat the features and ease of use Safelog provides. You can purchase many different bundles and should have no trouble finding the bundle that is right for you. If you only want to use the web features and don’t necessarily need the companion PC software, then you have that option. You can find more information on Safelog at Dauntless’s web site. Have a safe and Merry Christmas!
Legal Note: The FTC requires that I inform my readers that Dauntless did provide me with a copy of Safelog for review. However I would like to point out that I am/was not required to provide a positive review. Basically I meant every word I said. 
Paul Bukta of KATU Portland Channel 2 interviews me on the Charles Bishop suicide flight into the Bank of America building in Tampa Florida on January 5th, 2002.
Today I took my FOI (Fundamentals of Instructing) knowledge test. I felt very confident as I have studied hard for a while. Not only did I pass, but I got a 100% test score! Funny little side story – recently the LaserGrade testing centers have been able to reveal what answers you got incorrect at the end of your test. I know, most of you are thinking, why hasn’t that always been the case? Well, they have been a little behind the times, and until now, you never got to see which questions you got wrong. It was very depressing. Well the proctor was very excited to see how the new system works, and how it shows you your missed answers. Well when I had finished, she was confused at how come we didn’t get to see my missed answers, then she looked at the score. ”Wait a second, no wonder….you got ALL the answers right!” I chuckled and apologized for not being able to be the guinea pig for this new system. Maybe next time…. hopefully not, but maybe.
Next up, studying for my FIA (Flight Instructor Airplane) test. This is a 100 question knowledge test spanning basically everything I have learned thus far (minus Instrument Rating questions). So this is a big question bank they will be grabbing questions from. So I will need to review and study A LOT! So let me get back to that, so I can get another 100%.
