@Snoopy correct I said corporate not AOC/Charter
The matter of carrying logbooks on the aircraft (other than the joyrney log, which is supposed to be carried) is a separate matter and came up before e.g. here and here but was never properly dealt with in the required country-specific manner.
Most people would agree it is a bad idea in case of a crash (or theft, actually, which is why I never leave mine in the back of a car and if carrying them I always put them in my backpack) and there have even been “approved” bags for carrying them, especially for AOC ops.
It is really dumb to carry logbooks because which ones? Normally you have
so if some official demands your “logbooks” you have a lot to carry around. Especially if the plane is rented or shared, because you then have to load them into a backpack for each flight. I have 1 other pilot sharing my TB20 (my son) and I already find the journey log “goes walkabout” 
So I tend to keep it, and he fills in a google doc with his flights.
There is a real issue in that you can’t demonstrate pilot paper currency (e.g. the Euro 2 yearly FI flight, or an FAA BFR, or the FAA 6/6/ IR rolling currency) without the pilot logbook, but I have never been asked for that. But I have also never met an official at any airport who looked like he/she has enough IQ to read these anyway. Normally the carriage of a 9mm ensures the recruitment selected for a certain maximum IQ but perhaps German airport police really do know what to look for. And there been sporadic ramp check reports of inspectors having detailed briefing sheets. In the UK, you are not required to carry any papers whatsoever and “wars” have been fought over proposals for an ID card… and there is a general “due diligence” defence.
Practically speaking, if say Germany has its own law which is contrary to EASA, Brussels won’t touch it because Germany is too big a player and this matter is too trivial.
This thread is a similar thing, and you can see there was more to that story than just “forgetting to write up some flights”.
I think the same is true for this story, too. There is a lot more to it. Unfortunately, we rarely get the details, due to the source being unwilling to go public with them. Often, as I have found out to my cost here a number of times, the source authorises the posting of something and then refuses to authorise the posting of other important information which people asked about, so the person who posted it ends up looking like a fool but can’t do anything about it.
We should avoid putting all eggs in one basket. As I understood the fine in question was issued for trouble with the pilots personal logbook, ‘Flugbuch’ in German. The matter of carrying aircraft records, ‘Bordbuch’ in German, is another playground and one better does have that handy when ramp checked. Btw, if you are the sole pilot on your own aircraft a ‘Bordbuch’ may also work in lieu of the ‘Flugbuch’.
I believe it is correct to leave engineering logs with your engineer. In the aircraft: tech log, journey log and crew log.
RobertL18C wrote:
In the aircraft: tech log, journey log and crew log.
Yep. And the journey and tech log are combinable in most cases.
Since a while, the organisation I use uses Airmanager as it’s software, which also allows the electronic journey log which is recognized by the FOCA and includes tech log and journey log. We have yet to be required to show it to anyone in a ramp check though, I usually carry the last 2 pages in print so in case my tablet fails, I have something to show.
I believe it is correct to leave engineering logs with your engineer.
That’s a bad idea for usual reasons (and many got burnt with it) but that’s off topic
tech log, journey log and crew log.
The first and last would not be used by private pilots, normally. Tech log is used by schools and crew log presumably by AOC ops.
As I understood the fine in question was issued for trouble with the pilots personal logbook, ‘Flugbuch’ in German
I bet there was “trouble” 
Mooney_Driver wrote:
In Germany you want to have your papers “in Ordnung” whatever aspect of life it concerns. I recall being severely reprimanded once in Germany some years ago (about 2010 or so, shortly after I came back to flying) when being prompted to show my paper flight log books after landing at their C office and I had not yet entered the flight to that destination.
Which airport was that?
Mooney_Driver wrote:
After that, I was prompted to enter the flight right there and then in front of the “Luftaufsicht” and the guy disappeared for another 15 minutes with my documents including ID and airplane papers. Turns out he actually called my departure airport to ask if the time of departure was correct and then came back to shout some more as the time I had logged differed by 2 minutes from the one he was told by the C-office at ZRH.
Why did he think it had been your fault and not ZRH’s C-offices’ fault? I usually copy all times directly from Skydemon but sometimes I forget to log the on- or off-block time or the tablet looses GPS reception and then I have to “reconstruct” the times from the available information. On several such occasions I noticed that the times given from the tower (often these times are also printed on the invoice for the landing fees) won’t add up to whatever times I had written down. For these to make sense I would have had to taxi from one end of an airport to the other end in a minute. Or the takeoff time wouldn’t match neither my (accurate) watch nor Skydemon. I guess the guys in the tower also got better things to do than watch an air plane’s wheel leaving the ground and then immediately note the time.
BerlinFlyer wrote:
Which airport was that?
Speyer.
Clipperstorch wrote:
Why did he think it had been your fault and not ZRH’s C-offices’ fault?
Because he would not doubt the electronic system at ZRH and he was convinced that I was at fault anyhow and just needed ammunition to continue his shouting match, which I had the impression he clearly enjoyed. I guess, it was just his way of doing things, I heard from others who were less than happy with the way they were treated there at the time.
That’s a bad idea for usual reasons (and many got burnt with it) but that’s off topic
@Peter while somewhat tangential if you can’t trust the engineer shop with logs you shouldn’t use them. My shop keeps them in a safe! Any attempt to hijack the logs for nefarious reasons am pretty sure the CAA would consider pulling their licence!!
