Recording (on MR) "estimated" MR time
 

Hi all,
Just a quick question about the MR. Is it legal for a A/C to not have some kind of clock to measure MR time. Ie is it possible for the pilot to "guesstimate" this time?
Thanks in advance.
FD
Note: I am in no way referring to "logbook time", purely MR time.

Yes

No.

A timepiece is a mandatory instrument - either installed on the panel or worn by the pilot. The pilot is required to keep a flight log. This time can be entered in the MR.

I along with everyone I know diligently looks at their watch to determine the flight time for the MR. :E

Just record the time you takeoff and the time you land. There is your MR time. No need to 'guesstimate'.

Yes.Yes, of course it’s “possible”, but if the pilot’s “guesstimate” is wrong, there will be a breach of the obligation to record actual time in service.

At the end of a day’s flying a pilot can decide how much TIS to record in the MR by throwing a dart at a dart board. Let’s say she hits ‘19’ and decides to add 1.9 hours’ TIS to the MR.

It could be that by pure coincidence the aircraft spent 1.9 hours in the air (not on jacks) that day, in which case the MR reflects the aircraft’s TIS. If, on the other hand, the aircraft spent 2.9 hours in the air that day, adding 1.9 hours TIS on the MR will not reflect the actual TIS.

TIS is an objective fact. If the MR does not reflect the aircraft’s actual TIS at the end of each day’s flying, there is a breach.

That’s why the ‘dart board’ or ‘guesstimate’ methods are not recommended, but the methods referred to by Old Akro and wishiwasupthere are.

If a bunch of different pilots fly an aircraft without an air-switch and no one’s sure how much time in total the aircraft spent in the air, you have a problem. The only practical solution is to find out what each pilot entered in his or her logbook, noting that loggable flight time for flight crew is usually longer than TIS, and estimate TIS from there.

Entering an estimate is better than entering nothing.

Over-estimating is better than under-estimating. The regulator gets a little attentive when an aircraft with only 5 hours’ TIS for a day was flown by pilots who logged 10.

CAR 1988 Regulation 43B

Time-in-service to be recorded on maintenance release
(1) On the completion of flying operations on each day that an aircraft is flown, the owner, operator or pilot in command must record on the maintenance release the total time-in-service of the aircraft on the day.

Penalty: 25 penalty units.

(2) An offence against subregulation (1) is an offence of strict liability

Note; For strict liability , see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code :E

Thanks for all of your replys, they were very informative. The only reason that I ask is that a operator could end up with major discrepancies with perceived time compared to actual TIS. Seems strange that casa allows this loop hole to continue....
Thanks again for the great replies.

In the flying school environment you'll find a great deal of misplaced obsession with regard to how to record time on the MR. Usually this is part of the overall obsession with logging time in general since that's how your flying school and instructor gets paid. Also if you cross hire an aircraft the temptation may be to under record time since that will benefit you when it comes to paying the bill. These aircraft are usually fitted with an OPTIONAL timer. This could be tacho time or a timer which runs when there is oil pressure or a timer which runs when the aircraft is airborne. Only one of these figures is the correct time to record on the MR. Outside this arena in GA or the airlines you'll be lucky to find anything in the cockpit which records TOTAL airborne time. Sometimes there is a timer connected to an airswitch or squat switch which can be referenced to record time for the MR. However most operations I've been involved with simply rely on the pilot noting the takeoff time and the landing time, the difference between the two is noted for each flight and the the total is written on the MR at the end of the days flying. All legal and all as per the company operations manual.

Many GPSs will record the time that the aircraft's GS is above a pre-set or nominated figure - say 30 kts.

Works well unless you are in the habit of taxying really really fast - or happen to fly a really slow aeroplane (like an RV10 :E)!

Dr :8

What loophole are you referring to? You would perhaps be surprised at how this is audited in commercial operations. Pilots log books, daily flying sheets and maintenance releases all put together on the table can provide a lot of information.

Mine's always there but never here :E

Bwahahahahaha :D