June 2010 UNLIKE THOSE IN MOST other pursuits, as pilots we’re all required to keep a bound logbook. The logbook is to be used to record at least some of our flight time. But a logbook is much more than a simple record with pages filled with columns, numbers and hen-scratched entries in spaces too small for all that could be written. Pilots’ logbooks are a history of exploration and learning that document all the frustrations and successes, all the lessons learned. The early pages reflect our progress through the stages of becoming full-fledged (literally) members of an exclusive community.
For me, as I’ve recorded decades of flights, the most important function of my logbooks has been as a trigger for memories that I might otherwise forget.
So you can imagine my reaction as I was helping with a monthly mailing for Time Space Limited, a local community arts organization, when Connie Fitzmaurice, another volunteer, reached across the table with a very familiar small black book. My instant reaction was that somehow she had gotten ahold of my first logbook.
