Pilotbook is a DGCA pilot logbook app for iPhone that works out block time, DGCA night and P1(U/S) credit for every sector, then checks your logbook against FDTL limits, 90-day recency and document expiry. It is built in India for airline and student pilots who log to DGCA rules, and it is coming soon to the App Store.
What a DGCA pilot logbook app should check
Check these in any logbook, paper or app.
- Night uses the DGCA definition: 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise. EASA and FAA use civil twilight (the sun more than 6° below the horizon), so one flight can give two different night figures.
- P1(U/S) is credited correctly. Pilotbook counts it as PIC time when you are rated on the type, and otherwise as co-pilot time with a "P1(U/S)" remark, which the app ties to Rule 67A(6).
- Duty includes rest. Limits cover each duty period, night duties and rest, not only weekly hours.
- Recency is per type. The 90-day take-offs and landings count on the type you flew.
- Printed totals carry over. Each page's brought-forward must equal the previous page's total to date.
- Months get certified, and the book is countersigned each quarter (Rule 67A(4)).
FDTL limits and rest that Pilotbook checks
Pilotbook has one flight and duty time rule set today, titled "DGCA CAR 7-J-III Rev 2" in the app, and applies it to duties from 1 November 2025. Its values:
- Flight time: 35 hours in any 7 days, 100 hours in any 28 days and 1,000 hours in any 365 days.
- Flight duty period (FDP, report to the last on-blocks): 8 hours of flight time. The FDP is 13 hours for up to 2 landings, 30 minutes less per extra landing, with 6 landings at most.
- Night duty (an FDP touching 00:00 to 06:00 local time at the report airport): 10 hours and 2 landings at most, and no more than 2 in a row.
- Rest before any duty: 10 hours, or the length of the previous duty if longer.
- Weekly rest: 48 hours including 2 local nights, no more than 168 hours between them, and 60 hours after more than 3 night duties.
The app tags the FDP table, minimum rest, the 168-hour gap, the local-night definition and the 60-hour rest "Verify", because they aren't yet confirmed against the CAR text. It also notes that your operator's OM-A may set its own limits.
Correction, 21 October 2026. We have since checked these defaults against the CAR itself (Issue III, Revision 2 of 26 March 2024), and two differ. Minimum rest before a flight duty is the longer of the previous duty and 12 hours, not 10 (para 10.1). A duty with 1 or 2 landings allows 10 or 9 hours of flight time, not 8 (Table 6.1). The CAR also caps flight time over 14 and 90 days, and duty hours over every window. DGCA FDTL limits explained sets out the full rules.
If you don't record duties, Pilotbook builds them from your flights: report 1 hour before the first OUT, release 30 minutes after the last IN, and flights under 4 hours apart stay in one duty. You can change all three to match your operator. A limit with less than 10% left shows as a caution.
Recency and Ready to fly
The DGCA pack checks two rules:
- 3 take-offs and 3 landings on the type in the last 90 days, in the aircraft or a full flight simulator. An IR or PPC check on the type also restores it.
- 10 night take-offs and 10 night landings as PIC in the last 6 months, to fly as PIC at night with passengers.
Both rule cards ask you to check them against the current regulation text. EASA, FAA, Transport Canada and operator packs can be added.
The Ready to fly card on Today combines currency, documents, duty limits and rest into one answer. It never shows green while a duty limit is breached, and missing data reads as Unknown, not "not ready".
How DGCA night is worked out
Pilotbook checks every minute of block time against DGCA night at the aircraft's position: at the departure airport until OFF, along the great-circle route while airborne, and at the arrival airport after ON. A take-off or landing counts as night when OFF or ON falls in DGCA night at that airport, credited only if you were pilot flying.
Today shows it live: in one App Store screenshot, sunset is 17:48 and the header reads "DGCA night begins in 8 min · 18:18".
Print in an EASA format and Pilotbook recomputes night under civil twilight for that print, except values you changed by hand.
Printing your logbook in your country's format
Pilotbook prints 12 layouts: DGCA airline, DGCA training, EASA FCL.050, UK CAA, UAE GCAA, two US layouts, layouts for Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and a generic ICAO layout.
Both DGCA layouts follow the typical Indian "DGCA format" book, and the app asks you to check them against your country's requirements before submitting.
Before you print, a totals check confirms that every page adds up and carries forward, and that the final totals match your logbook. Your own regulator's formats and the ICAO layout are free. With Pro, each PDF carries a verification code: a SHA-256 hash of the pages in a QR code, so anyone with the app can check the print hasn't been changed.
Import from CSV, roster .ics and pasted text
- CSV: presets for eight other logbook apps' exports, and a column mapper for any spreadsheet. Compare totals checks the file's figures against Pilotbook's before you import. Imported values are never recomputed, and an import can be undone.
- Paper: enter paper totals as a brought-forward balance.
- Roster: import an .ics file, read a calendar on your iPhone (Pilotbook never writes to it), or paste roster text from your crew portal. Unreadable lines are listed, never guessed, and deadhead legs become positioning duties, not flown flights.
- Quick log: type "DEL BOM 0415 0630 VT-IZN A320 P2" and the sector is filled in for you to review.
Signing and certifying on iPhone
Pilotbook asks you to certify each month's entries once the month ends, with an optional reminder at 09:00 on the 1st. You sign with your finger or type your name. Monthly certification is free.
For the quarter, print the countersignature sheet for your chief pilot, CFI or operations manager and mark it countersigned on paper, or with Pro have them sign on your iPhone. Instructors and examiners can sign flights the same way.
Each signature is tied to a SHA-256 hash of the entries it covers. Edit a signed flight and the app shows "Edited after signing", naming the changed fields.
Privacy, Pro and your responsibility
Pilotbook has no account, no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Your logbook stays on your iPhone and in your own private iCloud, and Tera Labs, which makes Pilotbook, can't read it. A weather lookup sends only the airport code to aviationweather.gov. Export CSV, JSON or PDF any time, and lock the app with Face ID.
Pilotbook is free to download, with Pilotbook Pro as an in-app upgrade. Logging, import, export, Ready to fly, recency, printing your own format and monthly certification stay free. Pro adds roster import, the FDTL gauges, reports, other countries' formats, verified PDFs and signing by others. Every Pro feature is free while your total flight time is under 250 hours (simulator time doesn't count), and for 30 days after you pass it.
Pilotbook is a record-keeping aid, not an authority. As the "An aid, not an authority" section of the Tera Labs terms says, you remain responsible for your records and for following your licensing authority's and your operator's rules. Check limits, currency and documents against official sources before you rely on them.
Pilotbook is coming soon to the App Store for iPhone, and needs iOS 26. See Pilotbook and its launch status.
Questions people ask
What is DGCA night time in a pilot logbook?
DGCA night runs from 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise, and Pilotbook uses it for DGCA pilots. EASA and FAA logbooks use civil twilight instead.
What are the DGCA FDTL flight time limits?
Pilotbook's DGCA rule set allows 35 hours of flight time in any 7 days, 100 in 28 days and 1,000 in 365 days, and 8 hours per flight duty period. Check your operator's OM-A too.
Do I have to certify my logbook every month in India?
Pilotbook works to Rule 67A(4): you certify each month's entries, and the book is countersigned each quarter. It can remind you on the 1st, and you sign on your iPhone.
Is Pilotbook on the App Store?
Not yet. It is coming soon to the App Store for iPhone.