You're considering going digital or maybe you already have but what you want is a luxury personalised (and bespoke) binder for your pilot logbook pages, like the ones here. The only thing is, getting your logbook pages off the app, or out the cloud and having something physical. We have taken some dummy pages supplied by Logten and gone for the easiest routes possible and printed them out on a home printer, using standard copy/printer paper.
Firstly, it’s just so easy.
I know that is a slightly outrageous statement to make, but honestly, you just open up your PDF and print either a single set of pages, or fifty of them, job done! Actually, that is slightly simplifying it, as you have to make sure you’ve checked or unchecked all the right boxes in your printer control panel depending upon whether you are printing for a ring binder or a screw post binder, but honestly, it really is dead simple. The net result is pages that are properly formatted and look perfect from the word go. The advantage to the user is that they can print their own pages on their home printer as and when they are needed, effectively a page at a time, and a physical version of their digital LogTen logbook is available at will.
We used standard 80 gsm paper
We printed the pages below on standard 80gsm paper as this would be the standard minimum fare in most people’s home printers, and the quality was perfectly acceptable. We also didn’t change the quality settings either. There was a degree of transparency which you might accept when printing both sides of a page, which heavier weight paper might have dealt better with, but it wasn’t so obvious as to be distracting.
Logten provide already formatted pages
What makes the LogTen PDF so perfect is that they have formatted the page with binder margins (gutters) included. This means the end of the page that is closest to the binding edge, that has holes in it and will be inserted either onto posts or in a ring binder has an appropriately spaced blank edge measuring 26mm or just over an inch. The result is that when the page has holes punched through them, 1) you are not having holes punched through a date or a comment, but 2) if using a screw post binder, part of the log book isn’t being hidden by the screw post cover.
Ordinarily, creating a margin or a gutter can be done in Adobe with a bit of page size manipulation and pushing the page over a bit either to the right or the left. With a bit of trial and error, it’s all very doable, but for home printing particularly if you are printing a load of pages, it can take a bit of time, and you might be tempted to pay extra and go to a local printer and get them to do it. This, though, is not an issue with LogTen as it’s just a matter of ticking (or unticking) the right boxes and clicking “Print”.
Printing for screw post binders
While the standard 26mm is a good margin, for a screw post binder, you need a little extra space (about 32mm or 1 1/4 inches). It leaves enough space for punched holes as well as a decent enough gap for the page to turn over the screw post cap cover.
We filled the binder with 100 sheets of 80gsm printer paper
The first page.
The middle.
In the example below, we have filled the binders with 100 sheets of A4 80gsm paper. The problem with so much paper is opening the book to the centre and having enough of a gap in the middle so that you can clearly read what is there.
The end
Just as it’s important to read what the beginning of the log book figures state clearly, you also potentially have the same problem with the end of the book, which is why having that margin or gutter is so important.
Having that larger 32mm or inch and a quarter margin is important for legibility. This can easily be done in the Printer Settings box.
So, what were those ‘boxes’ that needed ticking?
- Open up your PDF in Adobe Reader.
- Follow the normal procedure of printing a document. Go to File, then down to Print.
- Every home printer has a different pop-up window or interface, but essentially, the settings that are important are that the page should be “Choose paper source by PDF page size”.
- We want the printed page a little smaller than standard for a screw post binder, so the next button to click under Page Size & Handling is, “Fit”. Essentially, you want to scale down the page to about 96% to get you a gutter/margin of 32mm.
- Print a test page just to make sure. Essentially, avoid the “Print All” button and print page 2 or page 3. Once printed, you can measure the margin, which should be 32mm or thereabouts.
- Once you are happy with your test page, the only other box you need to tick is ‘Double sided printing’ or ‘Print on both sides’ is checked.
- Click Print!
Printing for ring binders
LogTen PDF pages come with a ready 26mm gutter which is perfect for a ring binder. Ring binders are effectively 'lay-flat' presentation so we don't need to worry about a beginning, a middle and an end, but you do need to worry about having parts of your logbook entries having punch holes through them. Because of the gutter, you won’t have a hole in the ‘Landings’ column on the left-hand page or a hole in the ‘Operational Condition Time’ column on the right-hand page. It is perfectly spaced as is.
- Open the PDF in Adobe Reader.
- Follow the normal procedure for printing a document, (File - Print)
- Every home printer has a different pop-up window or interface, but essentially the settings that are important are that the page should be “Choose paper source by PDF page size”.
- The other button that needs checking under Page size and Handling is ‘Actual Size’ (if not using Adobe other options might be ‘Do Not Scale’ and the Media Size is set to A4 or 8.5 x 11, depending on the paper you are using.) You can normally check if it’s correct because in the preview window above the image it will state ‘Scale 100%” and a size’ which if it’s A4 will be 210mm x 297mm.
- Print a test page just to make sure. Essentially avoid the “Print All” button and print page 2 or page 3. Once printed you can measure the margin which should be 26mm (give or take a millimetre). If it is some way over, the printer settings will need looking at, you’ll probably find the ‘Scale’ or ‘Page Size’ is incorrect.
- Once you are happy with your test page, the only other box you need to tick is ‘Double sided printing’ or ‘Print on both sides’ is checked.
- Click Print!
Punching the holes…
If you order an A4 ring binder you will be given the choice of either a 4-ring or 2-ring binder mechanism. If you order an 8.5” x 11” ring binder it will always be a 3-ring binder mechanism. For A4 screw post binders we will always use 4 posts and for 8.5” x 11” it will be 3 posts. The question is how do you punch holes in your newly printed logbook pages.
The two ring binder holes are spaced the same as a standard two-hole paper punch. The same ’standard spacing’ applies to the three holes in the 8.5 x 11 pages.
The four-hole binders have a spacing of 45-65-45mm. You can find paper punches with these spacings with a simple Google search "4 hole adjustable paper punch 45-65-45mm", like the one found here.
The net result:
Digital pilot logbooks have made a huge difference to busy pilots, some of whom just don’t have the time (or love) to diligently fill in their ‘manual’ pilot logbooks. However, the risk of a digital logbook is having everything in the ‘cloud’ as opposed to having a hard copy of it. Furthermore, from a career point of view, presenting a hard copy of your logbook is a necessity at interviews; therefore, the downside to both points is having to get your logbook printed out. This downside however, is completely mitigated when it’s just so easy to print out your logbook pages at home as and when you need to. Yes you can upgrade the paper to something with a heaver weight like the ones we sell here, but we did this exercise using a very standard Laser printer and very ordinary copy paper and the results were great. A completely bespoke and personalised binder cover to place these pages in is the ultimate in not only an easy logbook but will also provide you with an easy to use very exclusive and classy pilot logbook. More information can be found here
