🚁 Drone Flight Log for Obsidian

Drone Flight Log is an Obsidian plugin for UAV/UAS pilots, Part 107 commercial operators, inspection teams, and drone hobbyists. Log missions, monitor battery cycle degradation, track airframes, verify regulatory day/night currency, and visualize your entire fleet's flight statistics directly inside your Obsidian knowledge base.

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✨ Features

• 🚀 Interactive Flight Logging Wizard: Multi-step modal designed for fast field logging:
  • Mission & Time: Auto-calculates total air duration, records takeoff/landing counts (day & night), mission purpose, and GPS coordinates.
  • Aircraft & Battery: Fleet selector, battery serial assignment, starting/ending battery percentages, and max altitude/distance telemetry.
  • Crew & Weather: Pilot in Command (PIC), Visual Observers (VO with internal [[wiki-links]]), wind speed/direction, visibility, temperature, and lighting.
  • Anomalies & Notes: Dedicated incident tracking for firmware alerts, compass issues, near-misses, or airspace events.
• 📊 Fleet Analytics & Flight Dashboard: A dedicated workspace view (Open Drone Flight Dashboard) featuring:
  • Key performance indicators: Total flight hours, total missions, day vs. night landings, and incident counts.
  • Interactive table of recent flight logs with instant note access.
  • Fleet airframe flight time breakdown.
  • Battery inventory cycle counts and health tracking.
• 📑 Standardized Markdown & Dataview-Ready Metadata: Every flight log generates structured YAML frontmatter (type: drone-flight-log, tags, numeric telemetry), accompanied by styled callout cards and clean Markdown tables.
• 🔋 Battery Inventory Tracker: Monitor charge cycles and battery health over time to ensure battery safety and retire failing packs proactively.
• 🛸 Multi-Aircraft Fleet Management: Store your UAV inventory (DJI, Autel, Skydio, custom FPV rigs) with serial numbers and FAA/CAA registration numbers in plugin settings for instant 1-click selection.
• 📏 Metric & Imperial Units: Seamless toggle between feet/miles and meters/kilometers.
• 📝 In-Editor Template Insertion: Quick command to insert a flight log template directly into any active note.

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📸 Screenshots & Visual Overview

1. Interactive Flight Logging Wizard

Quickly record flight parameters across categorized tabs with automatic duration calculation and prefilled fleet data.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🚁 New Drone Flight Log                                                │
│ Record essential flight telemetry, equipment health, and mission details│
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ [📍 Mission & Time]  [🛸 Aircraft & Battery]  [👤 Crew]  [⚠️ Anomalies]│
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Calculated Flight Air Duration: 25 minutes (0.4 hrs)               │ │
│ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ Flight Date: [ 2026-10-04 ]  Start: [ 10:00 ]  End: [ 10:25 ]          │
│ Location / Launch Site: [ Site Alpha - North Ridge ]                   │
│ Purpose: [ Commercial ▼ ]                                              │
│ Day Takeoffs: [1] Landings: [1]  |  Night Takeoffs: [0] Landings: [0]  │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                        [ Cancel ]  [ Save Flight Log ] │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

2. Fleet Command & Flight Analytics Dashboard

Aggregates flight telemetry across your entire vault in real time.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🛸 Drone Flight Analytics & Fleet Command       [+ Log Flight] [🔄]    │
├──────────────────┬──────────────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────┤
│ ⏱️ Flight Time   │ 📊 Total Flights │ 🌅 Landings      │ ⚠️ Anomalies  │
│ 42.5 hrs         │ 118 logs         │ 110 Day / 8 Night│ 1 incident    │
├──────────────────┴──────────────────┴──────────────────┴───────────────┤
│ 📋 Recent Flight Logs                                                  │
│ Date        Aircraft          Location        Duration   Purpose       │
│ 2026-10-04  Mavic 3 Ent.      Site Alpha      25m        Commercial    │
│ 2026-10-02  EVO II Pro 6K     West Field      32m        Mapping       │
│ 2026-09-28  Mavic 3 Ent.      Substation B    18m        Inspection    │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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📥 Installation

Method 1: Obsidian Community Plugins (Recommended)

1. In Obsidian, open Settings > Community plugins.
2. Make sure Restricted mode is turned off.
3. Click Browse and search for Drone Flight Log.
4. Click Install, then click Enable.

Method 2: Obsidian42 - BRAT (Beta Testing)

1. Install the BRAT plugin from Community Plugins.
2. In BRAT settings, select Add Beta plugin.
3. Enter michaelatdisney/drone-flight-logger.
4. Enable the plugin under Community plugins.

Method 3: Manual Installation

1. Download the latest release assets (main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css) from the Releases page.
2. In your Obsidian vault, navigate to .obsidian/plugins/.
3. Create a folder named drone-flight-log/.
4. Place main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css inside that folder.
5. Reload Obsidian and enable Drone Flight Log under Settings > Community plugins.

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🚀 Quick Start Guide

Step 1: Configure Your Fleet & Batteries

1. Navigate to Settings > Drone Flight Log.
2. Set your Default Remote Pilot in Command (PIC) name.
3. Choose your preferred Measurement Units (Imperial or Metric).
4. Under Aircraft Fleet Manager, add your drone models, registrations, and serial numbers.
5. Under Battery Inventory & Cycle Tracker, add your battery identification codes (e.g., BAT-M3E-01).

Step 2: Log a Flight

You can trigger the flight logging modal at any time using:

• The airplane ribbon icon on the left ribbon.
• The command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) -> Drone Flight Log: Log New Drone Flight.
• The + Log New Flight button in the Flight Dashboard.

Fill out the flight details and click Save Flight Log. A new note is automatically generated in your specified logs folder.

Step 3: Open the Dashboard

• Open the command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + P) and run:

  Drone Flight Log: Open Drone Flight Dashboard
  

• The dashboard parses all flight log notes in your vault and updates metrics, fleet airframe hours, and battery cycle counts.

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📄 Generated Note Structure

Flight notes are created with structured YAML frontmatter for seamless searching, Dataview queries, and archiving.

---
type: drone-flight-log
tags:
  - drone/flight-log
  - aircraft/mavic-3-enterprise
flight_date: "2026-10-04"
start_time: "10:00"
end_time: "10:25"
duration_minutes: 25
location: "Site Alpha - North Ridge"
coordinates: "37.7749, -122.4194"
purpose: "Commercial"
aircraft_make: "DJI"
aircraft_model: "Mavic 3 Enterprise"
aircraft_registration: "FA3X99001"
aircraft_serial: "1581F4EKD22001"
battery_ids:
  - "BAT-M3E-01"
battery_start_pct: 100
battery_end_pct: 35
max_altitude_ft: 350
max_distance_ft: 1200
day_takeoffs: 1
day_landings: 1
night_takeoffs: 0
night_landings: 0
pic: "Remote Pilot"
visual_observers:
  - "Jane Doe"
weather_wind: "8 mph NW"
weather_visibility: "10 miles"
weather_temp: "72°F"
weather_lighting: "Daylight"
has_anomalies: false
---

# 🚁 Drone Flight Log: Mavic 3 Enterprise - 2026-10-04

> [!info] Flight Summary
> - **Date & Time**: 2026-10-04 (10:00 – 10:25)
> - **Total Air Duration**: **25 minutes** (0.4 hrs)
> - **Location / Site**: Site Alpha - North Ridge (`37.7749, -122.4194`)
> - **Mission Purpose**: `Commercial`
> - **Takeoffs & Landings**: Day (1/1) | Night (0/0)

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## 🛸 Aircraft & Battery Telemetry

| Parameter | Recorded Value |
| :--- | :--- |
| **Aircraft Model** | DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise |
| **Registration / Serial** | `FA3X99001` / `1581F4EKD22001` |
| **Battery Unit(s)** | BAT-M3E-01 |
| **Battery Discharge** | 100% → 35% (Used 65%) |
| **Max Altitude** | 350 ft AGL |
| **Max Distance** | 1200 ft range |

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## 👤 Personnel & Weather Conditions

* **Remote Pilot in Command (PIC)**: [[Remote Pilot]]
* **Visual Observers (VO)**: [[Jane Doe]]
* **Wind**: 8 mph NW
* **Visibility**: 10 miles
* **Temperature**: 72°F
* **Lighting**: Daylight

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## 📝 Mission Log & Notes

Captured high-resolution orthomosaic imagery over the north perimeter. All battery cell voltages remained balanced.

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🔍 Dataview Queries

Because flight logs use standardized frontmatter, you can use the Dataview plugin to build custom queries and reports.

Recent Flights Table

TABLE 
  flight_date AS "Date", 
  aircraft_model AS "Aircraft", 
  duration_minutes + " min" AS "Duration", 
  purpose AS "Purpose", 
  pic AS "Pilot"
FROM #drone/flight-log
SORT flight_date DESC
LIMIT 10

Flights with Recorded Anomalies or Incidents

TABLE 
  flight_date AS "Date", 
  aircraft_model AS "Aircraft", 
  location AS "Location",
  weather_wind AS "Wind"
FROM #drone/flight-log
WHERE has_anomalies = true
SORT flight_date DESC

Total Hours by Aircraft (DataviewJS)

const pages = dv.pages('#drone/flight-log');
const byAircraft = {};

for (let p of pages) {
  const craft = p.aircraft_model || "Unknown";
  byAircraft[craft] = (byAircraft[craft] || 0) + (p.duration_minutes || 0);
}

dv.table(
  ["Aircraft", "Total Air Time (Hours)"],
  Object.entries(byAircraft).map(([craft, mins]) => [craft, (mins / 60).toFixed(1) + " hrs"])
);

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⚙️ Settings Reference

Setting	Default	Description
Default PIC	Remote Pilot	Name of the primary Remote Pilot in Command automatically filled in new logs.
Measurement Units	Imperial	Toggle between Imperial (ft, mph) and Metric (m, km/h).
Log Notes Vault Directory	Drone Logs	Destination folder path within your vault where flight notes are created.
Filename Pattern	YYYY-MM-DD - Flight - {{aircraft}} - {{location}}	Configurable naming pattern using template tags.
Auto-open Created Log Note	true	Automatically opens the created flight note in the editor immediately after saving.
Aircraft Fleet	Sample fleet	List of airframes with manufacturer, model, registration, and serial number.
Battery Inventory	Sample batteries	List of battery units with code, model, initial cycle count, and health percentage.

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🛡️ Regulatory & Compliance Notes

Keeping accurate flight logs is a key requirement under aviation regulations such as FAA Part 107 (USA), EASA Open/Specific Category (EU), Transport Canada CARs, and UK CAA CAP 722:

• Currency Tracking: Separate tracking for day and night takeoffs and landings helps verify pilot recency requirements.
• Maintenance Records: Airframe hours and battery cycle logs support preventive maintenance schedules and warranty claims.
• Incident Documentation: Built-in anomaly tracking ensures compliance with mandatory occurrence reporting guidelines.

Disclaimer: This plugin is a record-keeping tool. Operators are solely responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable local civil aviation authority regulations.

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🛠️ Development & Contributing

Contributions, bug reports, and suggestions are welcome!

Building from Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/michaelatdisney/drone-flight-logger.git
   cd drone-flight-logger
   

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Build for production or development:

   # Development (watch mode)
   npm run dev
   
   # Production build
   npm run build
   

Submitting Issues

If you encounter a bug or have a feature idea, please open an issue on the GitHub Issue Tracker.

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📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.