Recording flight time app/tips

[Flyting]

So I'm new to flying in EASA land and up until now have always referred to the hobbs meter for recording time for my logbook. I've never had to record the start/stop time before now and was wandering if there is any app out there or tips from you local flyers used to doing it from the beginning???
I am a single pilot in a helicopter doing underslung work so taking my hands off to write down something is not ideal.
Bear in mind I now need the start/stop times and lift/land times.

[thechopper]

Flyting,
start/stop should be easy to jot down; why would you need lift and land? Would not number of lifts suffice if you are not shutting down in between. :confused:

[Wageslave]

Why do you need to record start/stop times? There's no requirement for that, just flight time, surely?

[jellycopter]

Wageslave,

In EASAland, flight time must now be recorded from rotor start to rotors stopped. Bizarrely, actual flight time doesn't come into it.

By making such a ruling, EASA have effectively reduced the flying experience requirements for licences and ratings by between about 5 and 15% depending upon required warm-up and shutdown times.

JJ

[Wageslave]

JC, OK, I understand logbook time is rotor start-stop. I got the impression the OP was talking about recording time of day for each start/stop event as opposed to elapsed time. I fly with a lot of FOs who are twitched about recording clock times merely because some logbooks have columns for this (why??) but surely there isn't a requirement to do this - is there?

Do engineers trained for ground runs claim flight time then? Or pilots doing ground track and balance runs? Bizarre!

[Flyting]

some logbooks have columns for this
this is a reason...:\
I've recently converted my previous electronic logbook over to a better one approved for FAA/EASA and it has these columns... Makes somethings a lot easier - recording night flight time and flight and duty automatically... and I'm assuming it is mandatory where I am as all the instructors are recording them too.
Think what I will do for now is just dial the times on my cell and call it to record it in the dialed numbers list... something I can do with my left hand :ooh:

Counting the number of landing was also one I never had to record before... No idea why it's needed here???

[Bravo73]

Do engineers trained for ground runs claim flight time then? Or pilots doing ground track and balance runs? Bizarre!

Of course not. There is a qualifier along the lines of 'with the intention of flight'.

[Bravo73]

this is a reason...:\
Counting the number of landing was also one I never had to record before... No idea why it's needed here???

There are plenty of columns in most log books. It doesn't mean that they all have to be completed though.

These are the rules for the UK (and so, presumably, similar to the rest of EASA):

(2) Detailed information about each flight during which the holder of the log acted either as a member of the flight crew of an aircraft or for the purpose of qualifying for the grant or renewal of a licence under this Order must be recorded in the log as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each flight.


(3)The information recorded in accordance with paragraph (2) must include:


(a) the date, the places at which the holder of the log embarked on and disembarked from the aircraft and the time spent during the course of a flight when the holder was acting in either capacity;
(b) the type and registration marks of the aircraft;
(c) the capacity in which the holder acted in flight;
(d) information about any special conditions under which the flight was conducted, including night flying and instrument flying; and
(e) information about any test or examination undertaken by the holder of the log whilst in flight.





NB There is no mention of start and stop times. Just total flight time.

[Wageslave]

and I'm assuming it is mandatory where I am as all the instructors are recording them too.

Eek! Or, rather, Baaaaa!

the time spent during the course of a flight when the holder was acting in either capacity;

NB There is no mention of start and stop times. Just total flight time.


Quite. Just read the manual, don't "assume".

[Vertical Freedom]

In India, NZ, Australia, PNG & Nepal its all 'Rotors in Motion for THE purpose of flight' effectively engine time. So ground runs don't count. An 1 hour flight (Collective time) would equate to around 1 hour & 2 minutes +/- :D

[SuperF]

In NZ for helicopters its skids up to skids down! We don't care about how long you are sitting on the ground playing with the controls with the blades spinning.

And i love "until the blades stop", i landed the other day, good wind from about the 8 oclock position kept driving the main blades through the tail rotor for quite a while. even after we stopped the blades by hand, if we let them go the wind was trying to start them again. i could have sat there all day and logged another few hrs.

regarding counting landings, depending upon the aircraft and operation type, some aircraft for the purpose of some cycle counting require Take offs, and external lifts to be counted, some operations want to know the number of "flights" made. I record in a diary up and down times, and have a counter attached to the A/c that i click each time i pick a load on the hook. end of the day you can tell how many loads you have done, and how many take offs, etc.

you can also check that the hobbs is working properly.

[Flyting]

The subject of from when to when has been beaten to death on here already in numerous other posting...
All I was asking for was if someone knew of an app for recording the times with a push button once instead of having to write it all down in flight.

Up until now I have recorded my flights over the day and then recorded that as a total for the day, if it was all the same type of flying.

As for recording of lift/landing, as well as starts, which is only applicable to certain machines, I had done those in the relevant helicopters flight logs where it was necessary.

[belly tank]

Don't know of any App Flyting. Best stick with your trusty Bic pen!, quick and easy and even exercises your grey matter:)

[CYHeli]

Since you are asking about an App, I assume that you are using an iThing.
Just use the clock timer, it has a count down AND a count up function, both with a pause.
So on start up, hit the Stop watch (count up feature) and then pause / start as you need. At the end, hit stop.:ok: