PBFlightLog

PBFlightLog is a Python command-line interface (CLI) tool for managing a personal flight log stored in a GeoPackage file.

Setup

Installation

Navigate to the module's folder and install it with pip or pipx:

cd path/to/module
python -m pip install .

cd path/to/module
pipx install .

If you want to allow the scripts to be editable after install, perform a pip or pipx editable installation instead:

cd path/to/module
python -m pip install -e .

cd path/to/module
pipx install --editable .

After installation, the pbflightlog command is available on the command line.

Environment Variables

This package interacts with a GeoPackage flight log database as described in the schema. The path to this file must be set as an environment variable:

PBFLIGHTLOG_GEOPACKAGE_PATH=/path/to/flight_log.gpkg

This package has the ability to import files from a predefined import folder. The path to this folder must be set as an environment variable:

PBFLIGHTLOG_IMPORT_PATH=/path/to/import/folder

Many of these scripts interact with AeroAPI to get flight data. You will need to get an AeroAPI API key and set it as an environment variable:

AEROAPI_API_KEY=yourkey

Important

When these scripts call AeroAPI with your API key, you will incur AeroAPI per-query fees as appropriate for your AeroAPI account.

Basic usage

pbflightlog <command> [options]

To see available commands:

pbflightlog --help

To see help for a specific command:

pbflightlog <command> --help

Commands

add flight

Create a new flight (or new flights) in the flight log.

Important

Flight data is pulled from AeroAPI, so an API key must be set in environment variables.

Options (mutually exclusive)

• --bcbp <bcbp_text>: Parse a string coded in the IATA Bar-Coded Boarding Pass (BCBP) format, and add the flight(s) it represents to the log.

  You can get this string by scanning the 2-D barcode on a boarding pass with a barcode reader app.

  Example

  pbflightlog add flight --bcbp "M1DOE/JOHN            EABC123 BOSJFKB6 0717 345P014C0010 147>3180 M6344BB6              29279          0 B6 B6 1234567890          ^108abcdefgh"

  Since BCBP data contains spaces, be sure to place the BCBP string in quotes. Do not trim trailing spaces from the string, as spaces have meaning in the BCBP format.

• --fa-flight-id <fa_flight_id>: Look up a flight on AeroAPI by fa_flight_id and add it to the flight log.

  Example

  pbflightlog add flight --fa-flight-id UAL1234-1234567890-airline-0123

• --number <airline_code> <flight_number>: Look up an airline and flight number on AeroAPI and add it to the flight log.

  To reduce ambiguity, ICAO airline codes (three letter codes, like AAL) are preferred. However, this will attempt to look up IATA airline codes (two character codes, like AA).

  Example

  pbflightlog add flight --number AAL 1234

• --pkpasses: Fetch all PKPass (Apple Wallet) files from the import folder and add them to the flight log.

  Example

  pbflightlog add flight --pkpasses

index airports

Generates an index of airports visited, sorted by number of visits. (Layovers count as a single visit.)

Options

• --year <year> (-y <year>): Filter the flights that airport visits are calculated from to those whose UTC departure is in the provided year. If this option is not used, airport visits will be calculated on all flights.

• --output <file> (-o <file>): Save the index table in CSV format to the provided filename.

Examples

Show 2015 airport visits:

pbflightlog index airports --year 2015

  fid    Rank  Name                          IATA    ICAO    FAA      Visits
                                             Code    Code    LID
-----  ------  ----------------------------  ------  ------  -----  --------
    5       1                  Dayton       DAY      KDAY     DAY         42
   10       2        Chicago (O’Hare)       ORD      KORD     ORD         16
   15       3 Orlando (International)       MCO      KMCO     MCO         12
   20       4       Dallas/Fort Worth       DFW      KDFW     DFW         10
   25       4                   Tulsa       TUL      KTUL     TUL         10
   30       6               Baltimore       BWI      KBWI     BWI          5
   35       6               Charlotte       CLT      KCLT     CLT          5
   40       6            Columbus, OH       CMH      KCMH     CMH          5
   45       9          Seattle/Tacoma       SEA      KSEA     SEA          4
   50       9               St. Louis       STL      KSTL     STL          4
10 airport(s) visited

Save 2015 airport visits to airports.csv:

pbflightlog index airports --year 2015 --output airports.csv

index tails

Generates an index of tail numbers flown, sorted by number of flights.

Examples

pbflightlog index tails

Tail    Type                         Count
------  -------------------------  -------
N123AA  McDonnell Douglas MD-82          2
N456BB  Embraer ERJ-145                  1
N789CC  Embraer ERJ-145                  1
3 tails(s) flown

show airport

Shows a flight table for a specific airport.

Examples

pbflightlog show airports LGA

  fid    #  Departure    Flight    Orig    Dest      Cumulative
                                                         Visits
-----  ---  -----------  --------  ------  ------  ------------
   10    1  2009-01-02   FL 327    LGA     MKE                1
   20    2  2014-04-09   WN 651    MDW     LGA                2
   30    3  2016-12-02   DL 746    MCO     LGA                3
   31    4  2016-12-02   DL 3977   LGA     DAY                3
   40    5  2017-06-08   DL 2646   TPA     LGA                4
   41    6  2017-06-08   DL 3496   LGA     DAY                4
   50    7  2019-10-18   AA 1556   MIA     LGA                5
   51    8  2019-10-18   AA 5432   LGA     DAY                5
   60    9  2022-11-14   AA 2119   DCA     LGA                6
   70   10  2022-11-17   AA 2950   LGA     DCA                7
   80   11  2023-03-06   AA 4383   DCA     LGA                8
   90   12  2023-03-09   AA 473    LGA     DCA                9
  100   13  2024-01-09   DL 5186   DAY     LGA               10
  101   14  2024-01-09   DL 5843   LGA     RDU               10

show tail

Shows a flight table for a particular tail number.

Examples

pbflightlog show tail N123AA

  fid    #  Departure    Flight    Orig    Dest
-----  ---  -----------  --------  ------  ------
  100    1  2012-03-16   AA 1000   DFW     ORD
  200    2  2012-07-23   AA 1100   ORD     LAX

refresh routes

Regenerates the routes table based on all origin and destination airport pairs present in the flights table. Generates great circle geometry for these routes.

Warning

This will overwrite the routes table, including removing routes that no longer have flights. Do not manually edit the routes table, as any edits will be lost when routes are refreshed.

Example

pbflightlog refresh routes

report milestones

Shows flights that include cumulative distance milestones.

Note

By default, milestones are set at 50 000, 100 000, 200 000, 500 000, 1 000 000, 2 000 000, 5 000 000, 10 000 000, 20 000 000, and 50 000 000 miles. Milestones can be configured in config/config.toml.

Example

pbflightlog report milestones

  fid    #  Departure    Flight    Orig    Dest      Milestone    Cumulative
                                                                       Miles
-----  ---  -----------  --------  ------  ------  -----------  ------------
   40    1  2009-04-03   AA 1042   DFW     DAY           50000         50642
   80    2  2010-03-04   AA 3597   DFW     CMH          100000        100089
  160    3  2012-12-03   UA 3485   CMH     IAD          200000        200125
  320    4  2018-03-02   AA 82     AKL     LAX          500000        502473