I am trying to understand the workings of the new pop-up chnrongraph, selectable by means of the View Switch. As far as I can tell there is no description of this instrument included in the PMDG documentation.The problem I am seeing has to do with what happens when the sim is paused and unpaused. Whenever the sim is paused, both the clock and the elapsed time display stop as expected. However, when the sim is subsequently unpaused, while the clock resumes from the time at which it stopped, as expected, the elapsed time indicator resumes with the display showing the cumulative time during which the sim was paused added to the elapsed time shown when the sim was paused. So in effect the cumulative elapsed time as displayed by the chronograph now always includes the total time, if any, during which the sim was paused. Is this a bug or intentional? I hope it's a bug and fixable, since I think that the total elapsed time as displayed should not include the time during which the sim is paused.Sandy

I've seen this too. I was just about to ask this question also...really annoying too. Hope it can be fixed.-Mikkel

>The problem I am seeing has to do with what happens when the>sim is paused and unpaused. Whenever the sim is paused, both>the clock and the elapsed time display stop as expected. >However, when the sim is subsequently unpaused, while the>clock resumes from the time at which it stopped, as expected, >the elapsed time indicator resumes with the display showing>the cumulative time during which the sim was paused added to>the elapsed time shown when the sim was paused. >I've noted the same behavior without pausing the sim. For example: Press ET to initially place the timer in RUN. Wait 3 minutes and then press ET again to place it in HOLD. Then, without pausing FS, press ET again after 3 minutes to put it back in RUN mode. The ET will update to show cumulative time from time 00 (6 minutes) as opposed to picking up from the ET press that placed the timer on HOLD (3 minutes).-michael

Is PMDG planning to fix this problem?Sandy

I know this is not as easy as pressing the start button but a good work around for it is to do it by using your gate times. When you are ready to start your clock just note the time in UTC and then when you land and you would be turning off your stop watch again note the time in UTC simply find the difference and there is your total time. I am not a real pilot but I doubt they use a stop watch to time how long they are in the air, they probably do it just as I described.

Evidently real world airline pilots do use some form of elapsed time stopwatch. Check out Tony Vallilo

Sandy,You are probaby right, I just figured they would look at the clock and mark the time especially since the FMC uses UTC for predicting waypoints and such.

>Sandy,>You are probaby right, I just figured they would look at the>clock and mark the time especially since the FMC uses UTC for>predicting waypoints and such. Also, ACARS records block out/in and departure/arrival times and this is modeled by the PMDG 737. There is no need to rely on the chronograph for that information. -michael

This as may be. Still it would be nice to have the PMDG chronograph functioning properly.Sandy

Is that feature active in the ACARS at this time? Truthfully since everyone keeps saying that ACARS is not implemented I have never looked at the pages on the FMC. That would keep me from writing block times all over all my charts lol.

>This as may be. Still it would be nice to have the PMDG>chronograph functioning properly.>>SandyAbsolutely! My comment was in reference to the "work-around" of manually recording that which is already being recorded.I am in complete agreement with you: the purpose of a chronograph with START, HOLD, RESET functions is the ability to start and subsequently hold the timer without it continuing to sum elapsed time during the hold period. The current implementation does not do this. -michael

>Is that feature active in the ACARS at this time? Truthfully>since everyone keeps saying that ACARS is not implemented I>have never looked at the pages on the FMC. That would keep me>from writing block times all over all my charts lol.While at cruise altitude the other day, I happened to access the ACARS page and saw that my block out time and a second time that occured after it were recorded (can't recall exactly what it said - something like block out/in and time off/on). I did not verify the times so I dont know if they correspond to push time, engine start, airborne, or gear up. And ... I failed to go back and check the recorded times for arrival and engine shutdown/block-in.Will do so either tonight or tomorrow and let you know.I was surprised to see the times entered as I did not expect anything to be implemented - but the ACARS text label shows up as an ACTIVE function.-michael

Michael,Great I will check it out tonight, I am just about as excited as I was when I first got this it will be very nice to have it automatically record the times for me. As far as the work around I sugested I was not trying to say that it is something that should not be fixed I was only trying to give a temporary fix until they are able to fix it.

>Michael,>Great I will check it out tonight, Ok, and if you beat me to it let me know how it works out.>As far as the work>around I sugested I was not trying to say that it is something>that should not be fixed I was only trying to give a temporary>fix until they are able to fix it. Roger that!-michael

Yes, the ACARS page does show you your block and flight times. It'll note the time you pushback (OUT), the time you lift-off that runway (OFF), the time you land on the destination runway (ON), and finally when you shut down your engines at the arrival gate (IN). I was bored and started going through all the FMC pages and came across the ACARS page and noticed I had a block off and time out times listed on the Event Times page. After I landed and shut down the aircraft I looked again and the OFF/ON times matched the flight time I had on my chronograph perfectly. It's a great tool for calculating an average taxi time between your many flights too, so you can enter a more realistic taxi fuel burn amount during your preflight. For some of my flights I have found that 500lbs is just too small a number, especially at places like KORD, KJFK, KLAX, etc., etc. I can't wait to see what else they do with the ACARS option. Even if they require a fee, which I think I saw mention of, I'll be getting it.