Topic: time recording

[flying-apple]

Greetings all

some advise please,  how do most people record time when flying a chippie.  Should one install a hobbs meter of some type or just look at the watch on start or takeoff???

(yes it is a give away that i am used to flying spamcans)

thank you in advance



Brian Appleton

[Janie]

My own Chipmunk does not have a Hobbs.  We record time from take-off to landing.  Other syndicates measure in different ways.  Often from engine on to engine off so that the true engine time is recorded.

I have flown Chipmunks with Hobbs meters.  It is entirely up to yourself.

Which Chippy do you fly?

[flying-apple]

Thanks for your reply Janie

I have WP-871

will probally get a vibration hobbs, 

warm greetings

Brian

[andrewjherbert]

Brakes on to brakes off builds hours faster in your log book.  Take-off to landing  reduces the rate at which you consume engine and fatigue hours, and really taxying doesn't contribute as much wear and tear as time at full / cruise throttle.

Have you read the relvant TNS (138?) about how to calculate fatigue hours and the lifetime of critical components.  This is important to get right. 

My Chippie (WZ879) came with complete RAF records include a fatigue calculation that gave fewer hours than if I applied the default 2.5 multiplier to total hours which gaves me a longer interval until major interventions are needed.

My  Chippie has a stop watch holder in each cockpit and my GPS/Com can be programmed to track time in motion so I use these as my "Hobbs".

Andrew Herbert

[Bob]

We have a Hobbs in MT, it can be a pain if you get caught in a 30 min wait at the hold 

[flying-apple]

Dear Andrew

I like the idea of programing the gps for time in motion, actually just purchesed the new area 500 for the chippie (small and flat) Hope this function is available.

Yes, sitting at the holding point watching the hobbs tick by can really tick one off, I think this is how a lot of flying schools make money.

thanks for the replies

Greetings from sunny South Africa

[Dick Gower]

I think the lack of a Hobbs or similar is why they are always advertised with 500 hours to run!

Andrew, how did the Area 500 go in your Chippy?  I hear they have a great internal antenna.

Regards,
Dick

[andrewjherbert]

Hi Dick

I fitted a Garmin GNC250XL GPS/COM box to replace an older NARCO radio in a small stack with a transponder mounted between the floor and the instrument panel in front of the control stick. 

The GNC250XL only gives me a small letter box shaped monochrone image rather than a moving map etc, but it is good enough to give me a line to follow to a selected destination (airfield, beacon, intersection), to show me controlled airspace boundaries and time to waypoint.  For anything else I revert to Mk 1 eyeball.  (It's also good enough for me to fake a VOR/Locator/DME approach should I ever paint myself in that particular corner....)

The antenna is a small blister that fitted on the fuselage just in front of the windscreen.  It's reasonably unobtrusive.

FWIW I also fitted a Garmin GTX 328 transponder which has an easier interface - to select 1234 you punch the "1" button, then the "2" button etc.  Much easier than heads down twiddling rotary knobs for each digit on the older NARCO unit it replaced (and also added mode S).

In terms of the discussion Hobbs vs Brakes on/off time I put brakes on/off time in my personal log book and generally record engine and airframe time as brakes time less 10 minutes to allow for warm up and taxy.  If I find myself with a long ground hold I take this off too.  My rationale is from brakes on to off I'm execising my responsibility as a pilot, but engine and airframe life only applies to time in the air.


If you use Hobbs time for computing costs there is an incentive to rush through engine warm up and taxy around a breakneck speed, neither of which is good for you or your Chipmunk.

Cheers

Andrew

[Dick Gower]

Could not agree more about the rushed checks with logging engine time.

It looks as though different countries have varying ways of recording times.  In Australia maintenance is by airframe time (wheels off to wheels on) an loggable pilot time is officially brakes off to on.

Then there is Hobbs (oil pressure) time which flying schools charge on and most pilots actually log.