Unpopular opinion: The shift to digital logs is making us miss physical paperwork.

Tyler Clark · 2026-02-24T09:50:32.028505+00:00

I was doing an annual on a Piper last month. Everything in the digital system looked perfect. Then I spotted a worn bushing that wasn't flagged anywhere. With the old paper logs, you could see smudges or notes in the margins that told a story. Now it's just clean screens hiding problems. How do you guys catch these hidden issues now?

anthony7496mo ago

Why not mix digital logs with old-school inspection routines?

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green.shane6mo ago

Mixing digital logs with old-school checks, like @anthony749 said, is a common pattern now. It's like using a GPS but still looking at road signs. You get the best of both worlds, hard data and real-world sense.

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clark.alex4mo ago

After a fuel controller glitch last month missed a bad seal I'd have spotted in paper logs, I flipped on this.

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dixon.iris6mo ago

Digital can't replace hands-on checks, @green.shane.

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