Do I understand that some aircraft, in some places, have maintenance log entries made after every flight?!?!? That’s odd, certainly on N-register it would be wrong although I guess nobody can stop you writing whatever you want in your logbooks. I keep all my maintenance logbooks in a safe place, and break them out only when maintenance work is performed. I’ve never met an aircraft owner who did differently.
My understanding is that per ICAO and therefore usually under law in ICAO signatory countries, a flight log is required for any international flights. Some countries gold plated that into a national law requiring a flight log for internal flights, for no particular purpose. Within the US on N-register, in the distant past, when aircraft had no recording tach or Hobbs meter, it was common for people to keep a flight log recording every flight. It is still required and done actually, for those limited few aircraft… but unheard of otherwise. Nobody else keeps a log of every flight made by a light aircraft, no more than they do for their car.
I have the original logbook for my 1946 aircraft, which had no recording device and combined airframe, engine and flight logs into one book. Ancient archeology 
Silvaire,
the regs on maintenance logs, “tech logs” and “journey logs” (“on-board log” in German) is up to now not standardized in Europe. It’s up to the single CAA what they require. That’s why you will read seemingly contradicting statements here about how aircraft-related “logging” works / has to be done. I agree the British model is weird / onerous.
A part of the issue is that you want to log airborne time for maintenance purposes. And virtually nobody has an instrument which logs that. Obviously it could be done…
If you go by tach or hobbs etc then your maintenance is costing you 10-20% more 
Maybe more than 20% in burger run planes.
But in most scenarios of multiple pilots there is less than 100% trust so this is the price people are willing to pay
My CAMO has me submit a report after every flight including tach start and stop, fuel amount, oil level, block time, flight time, departure and destination aerodrome and number of landings. I also confirm the plane’s technical status is ok for flight. In a way, it’s convenient having all this recorded, but it sure was a surprise coming from N-Reg flying. If I do instrument flying, I will sell the plane and buy N-Reg though (for other reasons).
Peter wrote:
If you go by tach or hobbs etc then your maintenance is costing you 10-20% more
Given that the only maintenance cost on my planes that’s associated with tach time is the cost of oil and oil filters, this might save me maybe $10 per year.
The psychatrist needed to sort me out after a year of worry about stuff like that would be a lot more.
Silvaire wrote:
Do I understand that some aircraft, in some places, have maintenance log entries made after every flight?!?!?
Almost. If I drop by Andreas and go for a 20 minute bimble in the Auster, I’m supposed to fill out:
Up to 6 log entries for a 20 minute bimble. You spend more time writing logs than you do flying. It’s absolutely pointless and absurd. These regulations are almost certainly written for airliners, and it’s way over the top for a private aircraft not engaged for hire or reward. Imagine the uproar if car owners were subjected to this kind of crap.
Out of curiosity – which particular regulation require each of these logs to be kept up to date, and in what manner?
Given that the only maintenance cost on my planes that’s associated with tach time is the cost of oil and oil filters, this might save me maybe $10 per year.
The psychatrist needed to sort me out after a year of worry about stuff like that would be a lot more.
Yes but
The last 3 items together would halve maintenance costs, for the same work done.
So there is an incentive to find creative ways to reduce costs. But if you do it by not logging flights you have to do an awful lot of it to make enough of a difference, and then it will be obvious to anyone who checks. Even plane spotter sites (or FR24, for those who need to use Mode S to get somewhere) can expose you.
Peter wrote:
A part of the issue is that you want to log airborne time for maintenance purposes. And virtually nobody has an instrument which logs that.
Well, my old Garmin 196 GPS has a function that comes very close. The track log starts recording at 40kts and stops once the speed drops below that. IIRC this threshold can be adjusted. For SEPs that’s pretty damn close to flight time.
