How long must pilots keep logbooks? Retention and backups

How long do you have to keep your pilot logbook?

In Australia, CASR 61.355 makes it an offence, with a penalty of 50 penalty units, if you do not "retain the logbook for 7 years after the day the last entry is made in it", and another if you do not keep "each entry in the logbook ... retained unaltered" for that time. Both are strict liability offences. A logbook last written in on 1 July 2026 must be kept to at least 1 July 2033. CASA can also direct you to produce an up-to-date logbook within 7 days (61.365) and to correct an entry within 14 days (61.360).

14 CFR 61.51 sets no retention period. It requires you to record the training and aeronautical experience you use for a certificate, rating or flight review (61.51(a)(1)) and the experience behind your recent flight experience (61.51(a)(2)), and to present your logbook on a reasonable request from the FAA, the NTSB or a law enforcement officer (61.51(i)(1)). Keep anything that proves a certificate, rating or experience you may need to show later.

EASA's FCL.050 reads: "The pilot shall keep a reliable record of the details of all flights flown in a form and manner established by the competent authority." Part-FCL gives no period, and the AMC describes the logbook as "a permanent record" of your flying, so ask your authority whether it sets one. For commercial air transport, AMC1 FCL.050(c)(1) lets the operator keep your flight records electronically and says it "should make the records of all flights operated by the pilot ... available upon request" to you. Ask for that copy before you leave an operator.

How should you back up a digital logbook?

Sync keeps one logbook on several devices, so a deletion or a bad import syncs too, and the copy on the vendor's servers is that same logbook. FAA Safety Briefing's editor described three layers in 2016: a paper logbook, the app's cloud storage, and "yet another full copy of my logbook data in my own cloud storage account". FAA AC 120-78A, written for operators, asks electronic recordkeeping systems for "backup measures to maintain and provide access to records in the event of a system failure", and lists a separate system, server or drive, print, or external media.

A workable routine: export after each month or roster period and after any large import or edit, keep the date in the file name, and store at least one copy off the device and outside the logbook vendor's cloud. Open an export once in a while to check that every column and every year came out.

What happens to your records if a logbook app shuts down?

Vendors describe what happens when your subscription lapses, which is a different case from the company closing. LogTen says a lapsed subscriber keeps "full access" to their logbook data and can view, edit, generate reports, export and print, but cannot add flights. ForeFlight's Limited Logbook Access keeps viewing, editing and exporting logbook reports, and blocks new entries and imports. Neither page covers a service shutting down.

If a service closes, what you hold is what you exported. CASR 61.355 puts the duty to keep the logbook on you, and the CASA offence is one of strict liability. FAA Safety Briefing's advice on choosing an app was blunt: "Don't even think about using an electronic logbook that does not allow you to export your data into one of these formats", meaning CSV or Excel. Before you commit to an app, check that it exports every flight, in an open format, without a paid plan.

Which export formats will still open in 20 years?

For data, the Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement prefers "platform-independent, character-based formats" over native or binary ones, names line-oriented formats "TSV, CSV, fixed-width", and ranks UTF-8 first among character encodings. A CSV or tab file of your flights opens in any spreadsheet or text editor and imports into other logbook apps.

For the record, keep PDFs. A PDF logbook in your authority's layout is what an examiner reads and what CASA asks for in printed form under 61.365(3); PDF/A (ISO 19005) is the version of PDF built for long-term preservation. Another app cannot import a PDF, so the PDF and the CSV do different jobs.

An app's own backup file restores into that app and usually nowhere else. Keep it for fast recovery alongside the open formats.