I notice all the time that people mention the number of flights on a certain plane / heli. I just saw one that mentioned 565 flights. I have been flying for a good number of years and I couldn't tell you the number of flights on anything I have. How do people track that? Why? I never have and I really don't care to but find it intriguing when I see the numbers.

Reno

My friend actually logs each flight, so when he tells me he has X number of flights on something....i can believe him. Short of logging, I'm thinking most people guess, and its likely not that accurate.

Some may keep track so as to log the response from changes such as different props, different batteries, lifespan of electronic items. For example if one were to be logging their batteries performance each flight one would get an idea when it needs replacement by the energy being replaced. Thus eliminating that fateful day the battery up and dies in flight and cost one an airframe.
Most people don't because they don't keep an airframe long enough or have enough cost in the airframe. But when it gets into multiple thousands of dollars it is a good practice to log as much as possible. I even log in flight info, head temps, battery performance, airspeed, engine rpm, and throttle servo performance. Loging will give a heads up when something is starting to go awry.

I have a flight log app on my cell phone and log every flight of every airplane. I do it so I actually know how much time I have on my engines. how long they took to break in, etc. It also has place for notes for each flight but I typically only use that to log maintenance events, etc. Once I actually started to pay attention, I was quite surprised at how predictable certain maintenance problems can be.

Wayne

As long as I remember to turn on my timer for each flight my transmitter keeps track of number of flight.

Same. My 11X does it for me.

Originally Posted by Renoone

I notice all the time that people mention the number of flights on a certain plane / heli. I just saw one that mentioned 565 flights. I have been flying for a good number of years and I couldn't tell you the number of flights on anything I have. How do people track that? Why? I never have and I really don't care to but find it intriguing when I see the numbers.

Reno

Hah! That was me! I've wondered and asked the same question. In my case I do two things:

1) I have a little log book. I keep it dead simple. I put a line across the [small] page, write the date, write the name of the aircraft and start making hash marks. Not good for knowing the running total, but I know I could count them if I ever wanted to know. Mainly it tells me "oh wow I haven't gotten to fly in a month!"

2) For that little 3DHS 41" Edge specifically it's purpose in life is to see how many flights I can get out of it without dorking it in. On the bottom of the painted part inside of the canopy I put address labels and hash marks. That's it.

When somebody estimates their flight count, I generally assume they're full of baloney. It's so easy to be wildly off on that kind of thing. 40 flights might feel like 100. 300 might feel like 600. Fuel burned might've gone into other aircraft.

Charles

Originally Posted by acerc

Some may keep track so as to log the response from changes such as different props, different batteries, lifespan of electronic items. For example if one were to be logging their batteries performance each flight one would get an idea when it needs replacement by the energy being replaced. Thus eliminating that fateful day the battery up and dies in flight and cost one an airframe.
Most people don't because they don't keep an airframe long enough or have enough cost in the airframe. But when it gets into multiple thousands of dollars it is a good practice to log as much as possible. I even log in flight info, head temps, battery performance, airspeed, engine rpm, and throttle servo performance. Loging will give a heads up when something is starting to go awry.

How do you do your logging? Paper? Transmitter?

Originally Posted by wfield0455

I have a flight log app on my cell phone and log every flight of every airplane. I do it so I actually know how much time I have on my engines. how long they took to break in, etc. It also has place for notes for each flight but I typically only use that to log maintenance events, etc. Once I actually started to pay attention, I was quite surprised at how predictable certain maintenance problems can be.

Wayne

Hi Wayne,
Is it your own app? ... Or you downloaded it from some place?
I'd like to have one on my iPhone.
Thank you,
Andrei.

I use rcflylog.com, I have recorded every flight since I started flying.

I keep a small appointment book in the trailer. At the end of the flying day I record which plane I flew, how many flights and any notable occurrences.

There's an iphone app that's pretty cool that will track gas, battery, flight times and all kinds of cool stuff. You can search the app store under t3chdad rc flight log. It costs 2.99 (bout the price of a Starbucks).

It's fun to play around with, and it'll even let you use a picture of your plane to track it.

Originally Posted by Robotech

I keep a small appointment book in the trailer. At the end of the flying day I record which plane I flew, how many flights and any notable occurrences.

I do the same thing!!

I just keep a count on my phone. I update it with the total flights each day I fly. I like to know how many flights are on a planes. The 110" Yak in my Avatar had almost 200 flights on it when I sold it. My new 104" Extra has 4.

Originally Posted by akouzmit

Hi Wayne,
Is it your own app? ... Or you downloaded it from some place?
I'd like to have one on my iPhone.
Thank you,
Andrei.

Hi Andrei,
This is the one I've been using; http://clevertangerine.com/RCLogbook/

I downloaded it from the AppStore. It's quite well done and to me it's been well worth the few dollars they charge for it.

Wayne