You can log flight hours in different display modes and with different accuracy :
Display Mode
By default, all flight times are logged in Hours-Minutes ( e.g. 1:30 ).
You can select the "I log flights in Decimal Hours" option on the Settings – App General page to log flight times in decimals ( e.g. 1,5 or 1.5 ).
Regardless of your selection for Display Mode, PILOTLOG will always store flight times as minutes in the database! The Display Mode only affects "how" flight times are being displayed (UI screen) and being printed (paper PDF - logbook, reports) !
e.g.
You log a flight from 08:00 until 10:35. This flight is saved in the database as 155 minutes.
If you run PILOTLOG in Hours-Minutes, the flight is displayed and printed as 2:35 . If you selected Decimal Hours, the same record is displayed and printed as 2.6 hours.
The Display Mode does affect "how" hours are stored in the database. Changing the Display Mode from one mode to another mode, or back, will not affect any old or new records in the database.
Accuracy
By default PILOTLOG stores flight times with the highest accuracy (precise).
If you run the application in Decimal Hours, logging with highest accuracy may cause discrepancies in the page subtotals and the grand totals, as illustrated here :
e.g.
By default, PILOTLOG achieves the highest accuracy. In the sample above with 52 minutes total time, 0.9 hours is more accurate than 0.8 hours, even though it looks weird. If you do not want that, you must change the accuracy for flight time recording on the Settings – App General page.
With the Accuracy setting, you impact on "how" hours are saved in the database ! Changing the Accuracy will only affect any new records (add or edit) in the database.
The available options to choose from on the Settings - App General page depend on the selected Display Mode, as follows :
| Display Mode | Save Records with highest accuracy (default) | Save Records with lower accuracy |
| Hours-Minutes | Precise (Highest Accuracy - 1 minute) Flight times are saved to the database with highest accuracy of 1 minute | Rounded (Clock Marks - 5 minutes) Flight times are rounded to nearest 5 minutes (typically 00, 05, 10, etc) when saved to the database |
| Decimal Hours | Precise (Highest Accuracy - 1 minute) Flight times are saved to the database with highest accuracy of 1 minute | Rounded (Decimals - 6 minutes) Flight times are rounded to nearest 6 minutes (typically 00, 06, 12, etc) when saved to the database |
e.g. You log a flight from 10:20 until 10:37
| Display Mode | When saved "Precise" | When saved "Rounded" |
| Hours-Minutes | Record is saved to database : OUT : 10:20 - IN : 10:37 Flight Time : 17 minutes Flight is display and printed as 0:17 Flight Time for each and every flight matches with the OUT-IN times. Page Totals at the bottom of the logbook and report match with the sum of all Flight Times | Record is saved to database : OUT : 10:20 - IN : 10:37 Flight Time : 15 minutes Flight is display and printed as 0:15 Flight Time may not match with the OUT-IN times. Page Totals at the bottom of the logbook and report match with the sum of all Flight Times |
| Decimal Hours | Record is saved to database : OUT : 10:20 - IN : 10:37 Flight Time : 17 minutes Flight is display and printed as 0.3 Flight Time (in decimals) for each and every flight matches with the OUT-IN times. Page Totals may not match with the sum of all decimal Flight Times on the page. Deviations up to 0.2 are possible. | Record is saved to database : OUT : 10:20 - IN : 10:37 Flight Time : 18 minutes Flight is display and printed as 0.3 Flight Time (in decimals) for each and every flight matches with the OUT-IN times. Page Totals at the bottom of the logbook and report match with the sum of all Flight Times. |