Add your own fields to entries
Custom fields let you record details the standard logbook doesn't have, like tow launches or top dressing loads, without touching your regulatory totals.
Some flying needs a detail the standard logbook has no column for: sling loads, spray runs, top dressing, glider tows, a dispatch reference. Custom fields let you add those to every entry in your workspace.
Create a custom field
- Go to Settings > Custom fields.
- In Field definitions, press Add field.
- Fill in the row:
- Field: the name, for example "Tow launch". Up to 100 characters.
- Type: Text, Number, Boolean (yes or no) or Date.
- Applies to: tick the kinds of entry that show it: Aircraft, Simulator and Ground. You can tick more than one, but at least one must stay ticked. Aircraft is ticked for a new field.
- Requirement: Hidden, Visible optional or Visible required.
- Press Save custom fields.
To remove a field, press the bin icon at the end of its row and save.
The page also has a Learn about custom fields section with examples of what they're good for.
Only workspace admins can add or change fields. In your own personal logbook, that's you. The note at the bottom of the page is worth taking seriously: "Changes apply to every pilot in this workspace."
Where custom fields show up
- On each entry, in a Custom fields section of the side panel. A required field has a
*after its name. - In the entries table, as a Custom column group at the far right, one column per field.
Number fields take a number, dates are typed as YYYY-MM-DD, and boolean fields take yes or no.
What custom fields don't do
Custom fields are for your own records. They never change:
- your logbook totals
- your currency or recency
- the flight time columns worked out by your authority's rules
- regulatory exports
If a detail should count towards a licence requirement, it belongs in one of the standard fields, not a custom one.
Custom fields and required fields
Setting a field to Visible required marks it with * on every entry so pilots know to fill it in. It isn't one of the checks Pilot Lab runs before an entry can be finalised. Those are the date, aerodromes, flight position, flight rules, aircraft and a duration. See Draft and final entries.
Custom fields or built-in optional fields?
Before creating a field, check Settings > Logbook settings. Its Entry field requirements section lets you turn on built-in optional fields, such as flight purpose, training exercise, callsign, flight number and review or check details, and mark each one Required, Optional or Disabled. A built-in field is usually the better choice when one exists, because it is part of the standard logbook.