Timepiece

[Rishy]

Hello people,

I got some good advice from the forum when I bought my headset a few months ago so I'm back for some more!

I'm now on with the nav part of my PPL (and loving it!). I don't wear a watch and have been using my mobile, set to airplane mode, naturally. Not ideal, so I'd like some suggestions please. I was thinking of a cheap digital watch or maybe a decent stopwatch around my neck??

Any suggestions would be great

Cheers :ok:

Tim

[tuscan]

I bought a stopwatch and fitted it to my kneeboard for a while but being tall found that any added appendage anywhere just got in the way and irritated me.
My instructor took me off to the local supermarket during his lunchbreak and pointed to the most hideous looking digital watch Id ever seen.
Big buttons, big numbers, easy to use and read!!!
That was his advice and I never looked back, Ive still got it somewhere.
Keep it simple:ok:

[BackPacker]

I bought the AFE Flight Timer.

ASA Flight Timer : ASA - Airplan Flight Equipment (http://www.afeonline.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=625)

It has all the features you might ever need in an aviation time piece. Six approach count up/down timers, a fuel timer, a stopwatch, local and UTC times, a 5-digit notepad, backlighting and it runs on a standard AA battery.

However, it's big. I've tried fitting it to my kneeboard, which didn't work. I've tried adding a lanyard and wearing it around my neck, which didn't work. It is way too big to fit around your wrist, never mind the fact that it doesn't come with a wrist strap. I haven't tried fitting it to the panel because I fly a multitude of club planes. I've simply run out of ideas where to put it.

So today it lives in my flightbag, mostly, and I just use my 10+ year old analog watch to tell me the time.

Your flight instructor was right. Keep it simple.

[modelman]

Go to Argos,get a watch ( not necessarily digital-I find analogue easier for calculating ETA's) to look after time of day and a simple sports stopwatch for leg time.
A single digital watch can mean switching between time of day and stopwatch and it can be easy to accidentally zero the stopwatch.

Keep it simple-Nav can be a high workload and you don't want to be fiddling around with multi function timepieces.

Good luck
MM

[tuscan]

G-EMMA,

Thats for after you get your PPL so you can tell everyone, Yes, its a pilots watch thanks for noticing, oh yes, I am a pilot thanks for asking, what? you didn`t ask, never mind, let me tell you anyway.....

Unavoidable really.:yuk:

[knox]

how about just a simple analogue wrist watch with an hours, minutes and seconds hand.... works fine for me.
Simple and accurate.

Knox.

[hugh flung_dung]

All you need is a simple analogue watch, preferably with a rotating bezel marked in minutes.

Many years ago I thought I needed a stopwatch so bought a Citizen diver's watch. It's an excellent watch, but although I use the rotating bezel every time I fly (to mark a time) I hardly ever use the stopwatch.
If you decide to buy a chronometer (not needed) make sure it has a sweep minute hand (one rotation for a minute) and a readable dial for elapsed minutes, mine has 60 minutes on a tiny dial and it can't be read accurately in flight - some have 30 or 20 minutes on the dial so are much easier to read.

HFD

[Redbird72]

I use my old digital running watch (without the heart rate monitor!). If I use the stopwatch mode, I get local time on the top half and stopwatch time elapsed on the lower half.

[youngskywalker]

You will have to buy one of those Breitling 'Emergency' wrist watches, no option I'm afraid, the examiner will expect to see it on the test...;)

[wsmempson]

You may well find that there is a timer built in to your ADF or your Transponder, if they're reasonably contemporary.

I have just a very basic, easy to read seiko wristwatch, but I took all of my timings during my IMC training (and test) from the timer on the ADF.

[jxc]

better still buy 2 breitling watches and give the examiner 1 then relax and enjoy the flight with ppl in the bag ! :D

[IO540]

I used one of those £5 cooking timers, with start, stop and reset buttons.

Chucked it away the day after I got the PPL; used GPS ever since.

[modelman]

IO540 wrote:

Chucked it away the day after I got the PPL; used GPS ever since.


Blimey,now you've started something-tin hat on:)

MM

[Ultranomad]

In fact, some mobile phones have wonderful stopwatches built in. My SonyEricsson K750 and many of its relatives have a stopwatch with multiple laps: by pressing one button, you stop the current lap and start counting the next one. On the screen, you see the current lap and the total elapsed time, and the joystick allows you to scroll to past laps. What else could one wish for? Just hang it on your neck, or else you may have to fish for it all over the cockpit.

[Rishy]

Hi All.

thanks for the responses, much appreciated :ok:

Seems as though it's down to personal preference. I'm going to try and find a digital timer that shows current time and stopwatch in the same readout, without the need to switch between screens.

Now, if somebody could please sort out this crappy weather then maybe I COULD DO SOME FLYING!!!!!! :mad:

Tim

[Graham Borland]

I got this one from Argos for 7 quid.

Buy Sports LCD Chronograph Stopwatch. at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for . (http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2779384/Trail/searchtext%3ESTOPWATCH.htm)

[jammydonut]

Don't hang it round your neck unless you use an easy break cord in case of needing a rapid exit sometime:=

[Rishy]

Graham - excellent, thanks, just what I'm looking for.

:)

[Lister Noble]

I use the Argos one and made a clip so it attaches to the kneeboard.
Re watches-
I have a Seiko kinetic with a dial that sort of magnifies available light,I'm sure it has a tech name,anyway cost around £160,not a stopwatch but very clear face.
Lister:)

[NutLoose]

jammydonut (http://www.pprune.org/forums/members/87763-jammydonut)

Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 151


Don't hang it round your neck unless you use an easy break cord in case of needing a rapid exit sometime:=


Yeah hang it from the Compass....... :}:ok::p;)

[igarratt]

go to ebay put in kitchen timer ! £3

simple and does the job.
clip ones will clip on your knee board
Magnetic ones will stick to a metal yoke
digits are usually big
buttons are often big and simple to use
also put some Velcro on the back, seems to be a theme with GA cockpits and Velcro lol

I found all that was really important was leg time, rate one turn times and FAF to MAP etc, also the LED ones show up easy in low light. If you get one with time on then useful to set it to zulu

Ian

[Slipstream86]

When I did my PPL in the states, I bought a child's Shrek watch with interchangeable faces (shrek/donkey/the cat) for only $2.50

It fitted perfectly and I was delighted to be honest.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/413GF93AN7L._SL500_AA280_.jpg

[modelman]

Magnetic ones will stick to a metal yoke


Compass?:eek:

[Lasiorhinus]

Yep, they'll stick to the compass too.

Keeps it high up on the panel and out of the way.:ok:

[Rishy]

All,

Went out and bought myself the Argos one on Saturday and works a treat. Two perfectly-timed navs carried over the weekend. Just need a bit of Velcro now....

Spookily, a Breitling poster's just been put up on the route to my flying club. No Velcro required for that.

Thanks again for the advice folks.

Tim