change chrono

[ddressel 1]

hi everybody,

is it possible to change the chrono from UTC to local time?

I´m a little bit confused when I start at 14:00 (local time) and the clock shows i.e. 23:00 (UTC)

When I change the chrono to local time I get the FMC message "SET TIME / DATE - POS INIT"

Didn´t figure out how this should work.

Dieter

[Budbud 227]

Hi,

Have a look at the FCOM page 10.10.95 and onward to see how to use the buttons of the clock.

As far as I know you cannot change it to local time. 

And if I may, it is irrelevant in a plane (especially a long hauler which will probably cross several different time zones during the flight).

All the time-related things in the aircraft use GMT like the FMC.

The message you get is because the FMC compares the time in the clock to the GPS time and tells you that there is something wrong.

[downscc 1,327]

Hi Dieter, please note full names on all posts here.

Let me add to Romain's comments, all aviation uses UTC time even private pilots in their light GA aircraft are using UTC when talking to ATC.  It is just something you get used to, and you automatically convert local to zulu in your head for you hometown time zone.  When traveling cross time zones it becomes imperative to use UTC, which was promoted in the late 1880s by the railroads and continues in aviation.

[ddressel 1]

thanks for the replies, I think the problem is that I´m here in Germany.

So my local time is only UTC+1. As long as I´m flying in Eurpoe this issue doesn´t occur.

For example: when i start at Anchorage the local time is UTC-9. So when I start at 14:00 the chrono shows 23:00. That makes me confused...

Anyway, thanks for the help

Dieter Dressel

[scandinavian13 5,192]

1 hour ago, ddressel said:

For example: when i start at Anchorage the local time is UTC-9. So when I start at 14:00 the chrono shows 23:00. That makes me confused...

Dieter,

This isn't a problem. It's simply that you haven't grasped the concept of UTC, and why we use it in aviation. Your post does allude to it, though, as you yourself noted that it's not a problem as long as you're in Europe. The problem is that aircraft are specifically designed to carry people to other places, and those places are often in a different time zone.

With that in mind, if you're leaving Germany and flying anywhere else, the time in Germany doesn't matter anymore. If you were flying from Germany to Australia, the time in Washington DC wouldn't matter at all...so why would you track those times? Each time zone you crossed would force you to change the clock on the aircraft, for no actual added value. Moreover, how would you know how long you've been flying? When I fly back from Germany to the United States, I depart Germany at 10:00 local, and get to the United States at 14:00 local. Was I only airborne for 4 hours? Surely not. I departed at 09:00 UTC, and landed at 19:00 UTC. That's 10 hours of flying - very easy to see when using a universal time zone instead of local time zone the whole time.

If I'm assigned a time of 01:45 three time zones away (which, keep in mind, time zones are not always logical), I shouldn't have to do a bunch of mental math to figure that out. Using UTC, an assigned time of 01:45 will be 01:45 anywhere you are in the world. Right now, it's 19:12 UTC here (KDCA), it's 19:12 UTC where you are, and it's 19:12 UTC where the Aussies are. If I want all of us to do something at 19:30, we will all do it in 18 minutes. I shouldn't have to say, "I'll do it at 14:30, you do it at 18:30, and the Aussies do it (whenever they'd do it, because I'm too lazy to look up their UTC offset...which is kinda the point here)."

In other words, as soon as you get into an airplane, forget about local time entirely. It's predominantly useless. Everything is UTC. Pilots, ATC, dispatchers, and everyone else you're mainly interacting with as a pilot is going to speak in UTC.

[uhntissbaby111 58]

Just to add to Kyle's great summary of why UTC/ZULU/GMT is the way to go

When picking up chicks at the bar, tell them you'll pick them up for a date at 2200z...then to really seal the deal, on the date you can say "ATC has cleared us direct back to my place (insert sly smile)." You can thank me later

 

PS. I cannot be held liable if she walks away/laughs at you/does the "oh my friend is calling me i have to go"

[Ellmer123 0]

so what should i do when i get that message in the fmc?

[Ellmer123 0]

i noticed that the chrono in the 747 says 22:17 when the real zulu time is 21:17 how can i fix this?

[downscc 1,327]

4 hours ago, Ellmer123 said:

i noticed that the chrono in the 747 says 22:17 when the real zulu time is 21:17 how can i fix this?

Full names in the PMDG forums please.  Also, tagging onto an old thread with a new problem does not generally provide others the courtesy of your own problem description.

The clock in the aircraft will indicate the simulator's time.  Using FSX or P3D?  LM has acknowledged that they do not map time zones for the entire world, less populated areas are simply assigned a local time offset according to 15 deg per hour and this happens to include Hawaii and Alaska so the local/zulu is messed up in those places.  Also, there were time zone errors in v4.1 that got fixed in v4.2 but you had to update the scenery as well as the client modules.  Bottom line, you might try to provide a complete problem description.

 

[Qavion2 39]

Setting it to GMT saves you from having to change your clock when daylight savings starts/ends 😉

On 3/9/2017 at 5:52 AM, ddressel said:

As long as I´m flying in Eurpoe this issue doesn´t occur.

True, if you don't fly to those European airports in Finland, Greece, Latvia, Estonia, England, Portugal, Ireland, Scotland, etc.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

On 5/5/2018 at 5:20 PM, Ellmer123 said:

i noticed that the chrono in the 747 says 22:17 when the real zulu time is 21:17 how can i fix this?

This is a sim bug (as in, the sim itself causes this - our aircraft simply reads the time reported by the sim). Don't use local time. Check the box to always use Zulu time, but keep in mind that the sim's understanding of Zulu may be slightly off for a couple weeks, as different regions change to daylight savings time at different points in the year.

Whereas my comp changed from Zulu = Local +5 to Zulu = Local + 4 about a month ago, some regions may not be there yet.