UK CAA pilot logbook requirements since Brexit

Much of what’s written about UK pilot logbooks still says “EASA”, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. The UK left EASA’s system at the end of 2020, when it copied Part-FCL, the EU’s rules for flight crew licensing (FCL), into its own law and handed EASA’s role to the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). In 2025 EASA changed its logbook guidance, and the UK’s hasn’t followed, so the two now differ in small ways that matter to anyone who holds both licences.

This article works from the UK texts in force today: the CAA’s own edition of UK Part-FCL, the Air Navigation Order 2016 (ANO), and the CAA’s guidance on logbook evidence.

Which rules apply to a UK pilot logbook?

Three texts, in two layers: the EU rules the UK kept, with the CAA’s guidance on meeting them, and the UK’s own Air Navigation Order.

UK Part-FCL. The UK kept the EU aircrew regulation as its own law. Its FCL.050 still reads “The pilot shall keep a reliable record of the details of all flights flown in a form and manner established by the CAA.” The only change from the EU text is the last word: “the CAA” replaced “the competent authority” on 31 December 2020 (UK Part-FCL).

The CAA’s acceptable means of compliance (AMC). The detail sits in AMC1 FCL.050. The CAA publishes its own version, and the current one comes from Decision No. 47 of 9 May 2025, in the CAA’s Official Record Series 9 (ORS9) (UK AMC1 FCL.050). It’s where the entry fields, the logging rules and the 12-column page are set out.

The Air Navigation Order. Article 228 of the ANO 2016 requires a “personal flying log” from every member of the flight crew of a UK-registered aircraft, and from anyone flying to qualify for a licence, rating or certificate under the Order or under Part-FCL (ANO 2016 art. 228). That covers national licences issued under the Order, such as the National Private Pilot Licence (NPPL), as well as Part-FCL ones.

One log can meet all three: a logbook kept to the AMC’s page, with your employer’s name and address added to its personal details.

What does ANO article 228 add?

Most of what article 228 lists is already on the AMC’s page: the date, where you boarded and left the aircraft, the time you spent in each capacity, the type and registration, night and instrument flying, and any test flown (ANO 2016 art. 228). Two things are different.

• Your employer. The log must record your name and address, details of your licence, and “the name and address of the holder’s employer (if any)”. The AMC doesn’t ask for the employer.
• Who it applies to. Article 228 attaches to the aircraft as well as the licence. Anyone flying as flight crew on a UK-registered aircraft must keep one, whichever country issued their licence.

It also asks for simulator tests to be recorded with the date, the type of simulator, your capacity and the nature of the test, and for entries “as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each flight.”

What must each entry contain?

The UK’s AMC1 FCL.050 asks for the same entries as EASA’s (UK AMC1 FCL.050). Your name and address go at the front. For each flight:

• the name(s) of the pilot in command (PIC), or SELF;
• the date the flight began, and the place and time of departure and arrival, in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC);
• the aircraft’s make, model, variant and registration, and whether it was single-pilot or multi-pilot, single- or multi-engine;
• the total time of the flight, and the running total;
• landings as pilot flying, by day and by night;
• night time, and time under instrument flight rules (IFR);
• your pilot function: PIC, co-pilot, dual or instructor.

Simulator sessions get their own columns: the date, the type and qualification number of the flight simulation training device (FSTD), and the session time.

Flight time in an aeroplane runs from the moment it first moves to take off until it finally comes to rest at the end of the flight. One line per flight, except a same-day series back to the same place with no more than 30 minutes between flights. Each page total is certified by you in Remarks.

Some Remarks aren’t optional. The AMC says to always record every skill test and proficiency check, instrument time flown in training for a licence or rating, the PIC’s name and signature on student PIC (SPIC) or PIC under supervision (PICUS) time, and the instructor’s name and signature on a flight that’s part of a single-engine piston (SEP) or touring motor glider (TMG) class rating revalidation (UK AMC1 FCL.050).

The page itself is the same 12 columns. For a column-by-column walk through it, see what each EASA logbook entry must contain.

If you fly for an airline, the UK text keeps EASA’s allowance for commercial air transport: those flights “may be recorded in an electronic format maintained by the operator,” which the operator should make available to you on request (UK AMC1 FCL.050). It covers the operator’s flights and nothing else, and the record stays with the operator when you leave; see whether your airline’s records count as your logbook.

How do UK and EASA logbook rules differ now?

EASA amended its AMC1 FCL.050 in 2025 (ED Decision 2025/002/R). The CAA’s version, in its July 2026 edition, doesn’t carry those changes (UK AMC1 FCL.050). Three differences follow.

• Cruise relief. Both let a cruise relief co-pilot log time in a pilot’s seat as co-pilot time. EASA’s text now also lists cruise relief co-pilot as a pilot function and asks for CRCP (cruise relief co-pilot) in Remarks (AMC1 FCL.050). The UK’s does neither.
• Skill tests as PIC. EASA lets you log a passed skill test, proficiency check or assessment of competence as PIC, countersigned by the examiner. The UK text has no such line: it still wants every test and check in Remarks, but not logged as PIC. Its PIC list covers your own PIC time; solo, SPIC and supervised time as a student, countersigned by the instructor; instructing; examining; PICUS, countersigned by the PIC; and command under supervision where the air operations rules require it, which both pilots log as PIC.
• Instructor signatures. EASA asks for an instructor’s signature on recency flights for the Light Aircraft Pilot Licence (LAPL), as well as on SEP or TMG revalidation flights. The UK text asks for it on the revalidation flight only. The CAA stopped issuing the aeroplane LAPL in October 2025; new students apply for the NPPL instead (CAA documentation guidance).

PICUS works the same way under both: a co-pilot flying as PIC under supervision logs the time as PIC, countersigned by the PIC in Remarks; see how to log PICUS and SPIC time.

If you hold both licences, one log can serve both, but let each entry show which rule it relies on. Put CRCP in Remarks on relief sectors, and keep the examiner’s countersignature on any test you log as PIC. Then either authority can read the log on its own terms.

Does the CAA accept an electronic logbook?

Yes. The CAA’s guidance on documentation covers both electronic and paper logbooks (CAA documentation guidance).

Electronic. You “must download it and submit it” with the application. There are two ways to sign it:

• Electronically, either inside the app you keep it in or with a digital signature on the downloaded file, for example in Adobe. Include the cover or personal details page if the logbook has one.
• On paper. Print it and sign by hand. “Only one page of the logbook needs to be signed, but it must include the date, owner’s full name, signature, and CAA reference number.” Scan the signed copy and attach it.

If your application rests on a licence from outside the UK and EASA, the guidance for that route is stricter: electronic logbooks are acceptable “provided they have been printed, signed and dated” (CAA documentation guidance).

Paper. Send a scan or photocopy of the relevant pages, with the personal details page so the CAA can tell whose hours they are. A logbook with a blank personal details section is sent back. The CAA’s staff can’t advise how many pages to send: it’s up to you to cover every requirement of the licence or rating. You can post the originals instead, or leave them at the CAA’s Gatwick office.

If you apply through e-Licensing, you don’t have to send original logbooks as standard, “although the CAA reserves the right to request any logbook for inspection” (CAA e-Licensing guidance). The documentation guidance says the same for every route: “The CAA retains the right to request a pilot’s original logbook at any time” (CAA documentation guidance).

That’s lighter than some EASA authorities, which want every page certified; see what EASA authorities want to receive.

What if your logbook is lost or its data is corrupted?

The CAA no longer accepts a sworn affidavit as the main evidence of hours you can’t show in a logbook (CAA documentation guidance). Its guidance names loss, theft, damage and, “in the case of e-logbook records, corruption/deletion of data.”

What replaces the affidavit is an appointment:

1. Email the CAA’s licensing team at fclweb@caa.co.uk with the subject “LOST LOGBOOK”. Give your name, date of birth, CAA reference number if you have one, and what happened. A loss, theft or malicious damage should already have been reported to the police, and you need the incident reference number.
2. Pay for the appointment. The guidance gives the fee as £145, non-refundable.
3. Attend. A CAA specialist works out how many hours can be verified, from your previous applications on file and whatever evidence you bring. The CAA gives no timescale.

Whatever can’t be verified at that meeting is at risk. An electronic logbook needs backups for the same reason a paper one needs a safe shelf. Mine is kept in more than one place: my logbook app’s own backup file, and a CSV (comma-separated values) copy in cloud storage.

Who can ask to see your logbook?

Under UK Part-FCL, you must “without undue delay present” your flight time record when an authorised representative of a competent authority asks (UK Part-FCL). You carry your licence, your medical certificate or medical declaration, and a photo ID when you fly; the logbook can stay at home.

How long do you have to keep a UK logbook?

The only time limit is in the ANO. For two years from the last entry, you must produce your personal flying log to an authorised person “within a reasonable time” of being asked (ANO 2016 art. 235). That’s where the “two years” you may have read comes from, and it’s a floor, not a limit on how long to keep it.

The CAA’s lost-logbook process works from the hours you can show, whenever you earned them, so keep yours for your career.

Which logbook format should a UK pilot use?

The one in the AMC. The CAA’s sample page has the same 12 columns as EASA’s, so a logbook sold as “EASA” follows the UK layout too (UK AMC1 FCL.050). Nothing in UK Part-FCL or the ANO sets up an approval process for logbooks, paper or electronic. A UK or EASA name on the cover tells you which layout it follows, and nothing more. Nor do you need a new book because of Brexit: nothing in the UK texts asks you to start one.

What matters is that it holds everything above, prints in the AMC’s columns, and lets you get all of your data out. Add your employer’s name and address to the personal details, and it meets article 228 too.