Past Flights

Sometimes a flight doesn’t get logged when it happens. Log Past Flight adds it after the fact: you enter the meter readings from the start and end of the flight, plus fuel and oil if you track them. It never changes your aircraft’s current totals, so backfilling old flights is safe.

There are two ways to open it.

1. Open Log Hours (see Tracking Hours).
2. Below the date field, find the hint “Flew before [date]?”.
3. Tap Log a past flight.

This hint appears only after the aircraft has at least one recorded hours entry.

You need the Officer or Manager role for this entry point.

1. Open the Flight Data detail view.
2. Tap the Flight Log tab.
3. Below the flight list, tap Log Past Flight.

1. Tap the date pill. It reads Select flight date until you choose one.
2. Pick a date.

You can pick any date up to the day before your most recent hours entry. If your account has no entries yet, you can pick any date up to today.

If the date is more than a year before today, a notice reminds you to double-check it. This notice does not block Save.

Each tach or hobbs component on the aircraft shows an Out HRS field and an In HRS field.

1. In Out HRS, enter the meter reading at the start of the flight.
2. In In HRS, enter the meter reading at the end of the flight.

The names follow check-out and check-in, not the direction of the numbers. Out is the earlier reading. In is the later one.

If the aircraft has more than one tach or hobbs, one of them is marked primary. The primary meter’s Out and In readings set the flight’s logged hours.

BetterPlane pre-fills Out HRS from the closest earlier flight’s In reading, when one exists. Change it if it is wrong.

A helper line under each field pair shows the range the reading should fall within, based on neighboring flights. A reading outside that range does not block Save. BetterPlane shows a warning instead, and you can fix it later.

If you enter a reading for a second meter, fill in both its Out and In fields. A half-filled meter blocks Save until you finish it or clear both its fields.

Fuel and oil fields need a time source (tach or hobbs) on the aircraft.

1. Enter gallons burned in Fuel Used.
2. Enter Destination or Notes if you want them recorded.
3. Tap Add oil (optional) to record oil.
4. Enter quarts added for each engine.
5. Tap Add additive to record additive type and quantity.

The oil reading is not a separate field. It uses the primary meter’s In value and cannot be edited directly.

Leave the fuel and oil fields empty to skip them.

1. Tap Save.

BetterPlane records the flight. Your aircraft’s current meter totals do not change.

To edit or delete a past flight after saving it, see Editing or deleting a flight.

Q: The Log Past Flight button does not appear on the Flight Log tab. A: You need the Officer or Manager role to see this button.

Q: The dialog says this aircraft has no tach or Hobbs meter. A: Add a time source to the aircraft first. See Adding Components.

Q: Can I log a past flight against a meter that did not exist yet at that date? A: Yes. Any active tach or hobbs on the aircraft today can log a flight against any past date.

Q: I logged a flight and the readings do not connect to the flight before or after it. A: BetterPlane still saves the flight and shows a warning instead of blocking you. Fix the mismatch later by editing either flight’s meter readings from the Flight Log tab.