Originally Posted by
Mach E Avelli
It would be interesting to know how the operator records time in service for maintenance, because that is one indication of aircraft running costs. If there is a disparity between what is logged for maintenance and what you are being charged, you are being ripped off.
There was a time gone by when engine tachometer was the only measure of what got charged, and what got entered in the maintenance release. The old tachos under-recorded at low RPM, so prolonged taxi time did not hurt the student’s wallet.
Good operators taught pilots to do run up checks expeditiously and from memory. They rightly did not want their air cooled engines subject to excessive ground operating time.
It was also common to do some checks, such as radio functions, then get clearances, then set up navaids etc before engine start.
If you are flying out of a quiet, uncontrolled airport, I can’t think of any simple single engine aircraft that needs in excess of ten minutes to warm up and complete checks of the very few items that need doing after engine start.
If you are in any position to negotiate (it’s your money), I would suggest actual air time plus 10 minutes is what you should pay…and log. That being a 7 minute allowance for start and taxi out and 3 minutes taxy in and shut down. Logging more time on the ground may be legal, but it’s bull**** because it has no learning value.
Some know-all will flame me for the preceding three sentences because it is not what the rules say about what a pilot should log as flight time. To which I reply in advance that rules are for guidance of the wise and for the blind obedience of fools.
I don't think there's any funny business going on with the meter. I'm going to try and time the next lesson with my watch and note down time start, time depart, time arrive, time eng off - I keep forgetting to do that cause I'm trying to focus on lesson and everything I need to do.
I just want to spend more time doing the maneuver's to really learn them. I think it's really like 15-20mins actual lesson time - the rest is on the ground, climbing/descending, landing or transiting to/from training area. I'm going to insist on extending the lesson to 2 hours to maximize actual training time as a ratio of all the other activities.
As for how lessons should be charged, I won't touch that one. There's clearly some varying interpretation of what's fair and what's not. I just want to learn to fly in a fair and reasonable manner while getting value for my training money...