Command Line Interface

If invoked with the gui option, the graphical interface is started. Otherwise, the command line interface works as a filter program, i.e. input comes from STDIN, output goes to STDOUT and error messages are sent to STDERR.

There are two categories of tools: those that output a modified version of the input and those that output a file in a different format. For example, the first category includes the ability to insert calculated night flying into the eFJ, whereas the latter includes the ability to output an HTML logbook.

The ‑‑from and ‑‑to switches specify the range of dates to be considered. These take an ISO 8601 date, either of the form 2026‑09‑21 or the form 20260921. Entries dated on or after the ‑‑from date but before the ‑‑to date are included. If the ‑‑from switch is omitted, it is set to the first date in the source text. If the ‑‑to switch is omitted, it is set to the day after the last date in the source text. For tools that modify the input, all entries falling outside this range will pass through unchanged. Tools that output a file in a different format will only include dates within the range in the output.

The logbook, cumulative totals and summary tools produce standalone HTML files. These files have no dependencies, so can be copied and moved around at will. They can be opened in any reasonably modern web browser, spreadsheet or word processing program. The gross error check tool produces simple text output.

The tools producing HTML files require that each sector is classified as either single pilot, single engine; single pilot, multi engine; or multi crew. The classification associated with a given type is usually encoded into the eFJ on the first occasion that a new type is flown using the extended aircraft syntax, e.g. G-ABCD:C406:spme recorded on the first occasion a Cessna 406 is flown results in a future sector preceded by G-EFGH:C406 also being classified as single pilot, multi-engine. Where a type has not been classified, it is defaulted to multi-crew.

In the examples below, replace EFJ_FILE with the path to your eFJ. It is assumed that efj.py has been placed in a location that is included in your PATH environmental variable and that its executable bit has been set; if this is not the case, replace efj.py with python efj.py or python3 efj.py as appropriate.

Modification

Expand

The eFJ scheme aims to make it as easy as possible to manually enter flight data where no better alternative is available. To support this, a couple of short forms are allowed that infer data from previous data. This tool expands out these short forms, which makes them more human legible:

$ efj.py expand < EFJ_FILE

The input:

2024-01-01
G-ABCD:A320
BRS/BFS 1000/1100
/ 1200/1300

+
/ 0900/1000
/ 1100/1200

gives the output:

2024-01-01
G-ABCD:A320
BRS/BFS 1000/1100
BFS/BRS 1200/1300

2024-01-02
BRS/BFS 0900/1000
BFS/BRS 1100/1200

Night

Updates the eFJ with calculated night duration and, where necessary, night landing:

$ efj.py night < EFJ_FILE

The input:

2024-01-01
G-ABCD:A320
BRS/BFS 1600/1700
BFS/BRS 1800/1900

gives the output:

2024-01-01
G-ABCD:A320
BRS/BFS 1600/1700 n:20 ln
BFS/BRS 1800/1900 n

If night duration is already recorded for any sector, that sector is not updated.

VFR

Adds a flag to every sector to indicate that it was flown under visual flight rules:

$ efj.py vfr < EFJ_FILE

The input:

2024-01-01
G-ABCD:A320
BRS/BFS 1600/1700
BFS/BRS 1800/1900

gives the output:

2024-01-01
G-ABCD:A320
BRS/BFS 1600/1700 v
BFS/BRS 1800/1900 v

FO

When no role flag is included, it is assumed that the role was p1. This means that First Officers must mark each sector as p1s, p2 or put. Captains, on the other hand, just have to mark sectors where they were PM for the landing with m. This tool allows First Officers to also just use m and then auto-fill the roles as p1s or p2 by assuming their role was p1s if they landed the aircraft and p2 if they did not.

$ efj.py fo < EFJ_FILE

The input:

2024-01-01
G-ABCD:A320
BRS/BFS 1600/1700 m
BFS/BRS 1800/1900

gives the output:

2024-01-01
G-ABCD:A320
BRS/BFS 1600/1700 p2 m
BFS/BRS 1800/1900 p1s

Instructor

Adds the ins flag to any sector that does not already have it.

$ efj.py ins < EFJ_FILE

The input:

2024-01-01
G-ABCD:A320
BRS/BFS 1600/1700
BFS/BRS 1800/1900

gives the output:

2024-01-01
G-ABCD:A320
BRS/BFS 1600/1700 ins
BFS/BRS 1800/1900 ins

Conversion

FCL.050 Compliant Logbook

The EASA FCL.050 Acceptable Means of Compliance, which has also been adopted by the UK CAA, details the format required for personal flight records. The logbook tool converts an eFJ into a compliant, standalone, HTML file.

The command for creating the logbook is:

$ efj.py logbook < EFJ_FILE

Cumulative Totals

The cumulative totals tool provides the cumulative totals for every entry in an FCL.050 logbook as a standalone HTML file. This can be very useful if a paper logbook is being kept updated in parallel with the eFJ.

When a date range is specified, this only restricts the dates included in the output; the calculation still includes all entries.

The command for the cumulative total tool is:

$ efj.py cumulative < EFJ_FILE

Summary

The summary tool provides various statistics for the eFJ as a standalone HTML file.

The results include a breakdown of flying roles, aircraft classes, conditions and landings by aircraft type, and all relevant totals.

The command for the summary tool is:

$ efj.py summary < EFJ_FILE

Gross Error Check

The gross error check tool flags up suspicious turn-around times, suspicious airfields or suspicious average velocities.

The “Overlapping” section highlights any sector with a turn-around time of less than 15 minutes. The date and time of the sector, along with the calculated turn-around time from the previous sector are provided.

The “Unknown Airfields” section lists airfields with ICAO or IATA codes that are not in the toolkit’s database. This is often due to an airfield closing leading to its IATA (three letter) code being discontinued; the ICAO (four letter) code for these airfields usually remain valid.

The “Anomalous Velocity” section highlights any sector over 100nm where the average velocity, found by dividing the great circle distance between the airfields by sector time, is not between 50kt and 500kt. The date, times, destinations, great circle distances and average velocities for these sectors are tabulated.

The command for the gross error check tool is:

$ efj.py gec < EFJ_FILE