Fear Not Logbook Digitization, With Bluetail It’s Easy
Anybody who has spent more than a few minutes in the aviation industry knows that an aviator’s life is in the aircraft logbooks. Without clean and well-kept logbooks, a pilot, aircraft mechanic, or aircraft owner could face serious trouble. In 2022, there have been considerable efforts to digitize logbooks, but many who have attempted to do this have found out that the industry still loves its pens and paper. Transitioning is not easy. Bluetail, a startup in Arizona, has found a balance and has taken an innovative approach to logbook digitization in the modern age. Both Co-founders, Stuart Illian and Roberto Guerrieri, are Silicon Valley transplants in Arizona. Stuart brings a business aviation background while Roberto brings the technical knowledge. The dynamic duo is revolutionizing the aviation industry and is worth looking into.
The company started three years ago with the idea of making aircraft records cleaner, more organized, and more available. Today it is the most practical and modern application for digitization in the industry. The application offers many features in which logbooks can be read from a handheld device such as a tablet or smartphone. Most recently, the company launched RecordSnap, a program that allows users to take pictures of logbooks and other documents, and the application will organize it accordingly in the digital platform.
RecordSnap takes digitization, a complicated idea, and simplifies. Most people in aviation in 2022 have some kind of a tablet or smartphone for which to take pictures. Getting the documents into an organized folder on a technological device is as easy as snapping a camera. This is the latest capability. “Now instead of scanning records and then sending those files into Bluetail or to someone who can put them in an organized digital folder, the A&P or any maintenance stakeholder can take a photo and securely upload it to their Bluetail account.”
“The idea is to make our products easy to use and available to those on the maintenance side of the industry,” said Roberto. Most users find the application very easy to use. Eli Stepp is a retired aircraft mechanic. “The application is organized and keeps the records in a secure cloud-based platform,” he commented. Bluetail not only keeps the records organized, but it also makes the records searchable. Never worry about losing a document. You can search for it using a number of different search criteria.
Roberto and Stuart have been working constantly to make the platform more modern, user friendly, and to take advantage of machine learning. They have customers with over $2B of aircraft value in the system, and they are confident about their plans for the future, stating, “We have more customers signing up every day, and we plan to add more features to make it easier on all ends.”
The last 12 months have been some of the most productive the company has had. They have improved the security of the application, significantly grown the customer base, and the new MACH Search feature has brought in the crowds. “We feel that this new feature will bring us one step closer to enabling owners, operators, and flight departments of all sizes to move away from messy paper records and take advantage of a new digital option,” commented Stuart on the app’s mission.
There are many apps out there, and many people and organizations are trying to create more apps. As a tech guru once said, “It is one of those things that anybody can do but that few people can do well.” After conducting research in the platform, those of us at In Flight USA feel that Stuart and Roberto have managed to meet the modern-day needs of aviators and mechanics. For more information and pricing on Bluetail, visit www.bluetail.aero.
