Times Tab
The “Times” Tab determines how certain time calculations are made within FOS. This includes aircraft and crew calculations for duty and rest time, logbook entries, start times, etc. The tab also includes several other features including, distance and wind calculations, default day settings, and domestic ICAO prefixes.
Any setting changes may be applied at the trip level simply by opening and closing a particular trip.
Note: Although important, experimentation with the settings is encouraged to ensure proper calculations for your particular operation.
(Main view of Times tab)
Section 1
The following fields are settings for rest, duty, and RON calculations. It is extremely important to have these set up correctly for your crew to receive proper rest and duty time and for RONs to be calculated correctly when quoting.
Default Duty Day & Rest – These settings come into use when a duty day is automatically created by the system that is not a “Flight Duty” period. For example, on the Operations Tab of the Company Data, if you have made your settings to create Layover Days and count them as duty, the program will use the default times in these fields to calculate the duty day for the layover and its rest period. The “Rest” field has a secondary function in that it creates a rest period for duty when none is present in the regulations.
Note: The ‘Rest’ field cannot be set to “0” due to the fact that FOS will default the rest time to 10 hours as a setting that is internal to the program.
RON (Aircraft)– This setting is for the charter quote only and determines how the quote automatically calculates “Remain Over Nights” (RON). The minimum time that is set defines a number of hours within the ‘Begin’ and ‘End’ times that the aircraft must be on the ground at a certain location away from its home airport to determine if an RON should be calculated.
Local Night (Crew RON) – This setting applies specifically to crewmembers and how RONs are calculated for them. Instead of determining when the crewmember is not at their home airport as is done for the aircraft RON, the time is defined when the crewmember is considered to be at their home airport. This is done by setting a minimum time for the crewmember to be at home within a specific period. Once these conditions are met, the program will not consider the crewmember as needing an RON. The best illustration of this is when a crewmember returns to their home airport after a trip they are not credited with an RON. However, during the trip they receive an RON for each night they are away following a duty period for that day.
Quote Standby– This time applies universally to each quote where ‘Standby’ time might be calculated. Whether or not a particular quote will charge standby time is based on how the rate is set up. These fields automatically stop and start the standby at a specific time of day. It also allows the user to state that standby time will not be charged if an RON is calculated.
AC & Crew Day– This setting determines whether layovers, RONs, etc. are created using Home Base Time or GMT. Note: FOS must be restarted to effect this setting change.
Section 2
The below options are settings for how times are calculated.
Use Local Time for Creating Layovers and Totaling Duty Days – This option allows FOS to calculate Layover days for reporting based on the local time of the airport where the crewmember happens to be. One thing to note about this option is that it may cause two duty days or layover days on the same day due to the fact that the crewmember may be at an airport with a time zone that has a greater time difference than the airport at which the crewmember arrives after a flight. For example, if the crewmember gets a duty day at an airport in Japan and then flies to an airport in Hawaii, there may be two duty days on that day when a report is generated for that time period.
Count Additional Duty Day if Duty Period Ends X Hours Past Midnight – This option allows the user to create an additional duty day for reporting if the duty period extends past midnight. The amount of time past midnight the duty period needs to be is determined by the user.
For Times & Rounding Use – This gives the user the ability to choose whether the company to which the user is assigned or the aircraft’s company determines the time zone and how rounding will be accomplished.
Note: For the “Aircraft’s Company” option to be used there must be Company Data created for the company to which the aircraft is assigned.
"Duty Time Requirements" Section
Duty Time Requirements - This section allows duty pre and post flight times to be created based on the domestic ICAO codes, which determines whether or not the “Dom” or “Intl” times will be used. Whether or not the “Roto” times are used depends on the “Category” set in the “Aircraft Type.” The “D/H T/S” fields will be used if the first or last leg of the duty day is marked as a “Deadhead” or “Tech Stop.” The pre-flight times will be calculated based on the scheduled “out” time of the first leg and the post-flight will calculate first on the scheduled “in” time and then on the actual “in” time when it is recorded.
Domestic ICAO Codes- This does not only affect pre and post flight times but is also used in determining domestic and international locations for the additional costs in the quotes.
"Pickup Lead Time" Section
Pickup Lead Time- This is when flying a deadhead leg to a location for a passenger leg. This can be set for domestic or international locations or if the aircraft category is “Roto.”
To Calculate Total Days- To calculate total days for the trip, the user may set the last leg’s arrival or departure date.
"Rounding Times" Section
When Rounding Time to Tenths - To round times in FOS to an exact tenth, there have been several options made which are the most common to flight operations.
Round Logbook Times to Tenths - This option allows users to apply the rounding method chosen to either aircraft logs, crew logs, or both.
Note: Times in FOS are always stored in minutes. The purpose of the settings that accomplish the rounding are to adjust those minutes to an exact six minute interval so that any time may be set to an exact tenth.
Rounding charts are as seen below.
If “Nearest Tenth Up” is selected:
:01 - :02 = .0
:03 - :08 = .1
:09 - :14 = .2
:15 - :20 = .3
:21 - :26 = .4
:27 - :32 = .5
:33 - :38 = .6
:39 - :44 = .7
:45 - :50 = .8
:51 - :56 = .9
:57 - :59 = the next whole hour
If “Nearest Tenth Down” is selected:
:01 - :03 = .0
:04 - :09 = .1
:10 - :15 = .2
:16 - :21 = .3
:22 - :27 = .4
:28 - :33 = .5
:34 - :39 = .6
:40 - :45 = .7
:46 - :51 = .8
:52 - :57 = .9
:58 - :59 = the next whole hour
If “Round Up” is selected:
:00 - :06 = .1
:07 - :12 = .2
:13 - :18 = .3
:19 - :24 = .4
:25 - :30 = .5
:31 - :36 = .6
:37 - :42 = .7
:43 - :48 = .8
:49 - :54 = .9
:55 - :59 = the next whole hour
If “Alternate Up/Down” is selected:
:01 - :02 = .0
:03 - :09 = .1
:10 - :14 = .2
:15 - :21 = .3
:22 - :26 = .4
:27 - :33 = .5
:34 - :38 = .6
:39 - :45 = .7
:46 - :50 = .8
:51 - :57 = .9
:58 - :59 = the next whole hour
Depending on the rounding selections made, this will be noticeable in the flight log. The times in red are based solely off of the out, off, on, and in times (no rounding included) whereas the times in green should match minutes to tenths and are reflective of the rounding option chosen (if set).
"Crew Logbook" Section
Crew Logbook - Since logbook entries are displayed in FOS as being on a specific date (the date of the leg departure) selecting the “Multi-Day Logbook Entry” option forces the program to split the crew logbook entry at midnight and add the time flown after midnight on a different day’s log entry.
Great Circle - This setting determines whether or not great circle distance is calculated assuming the earth is a perfect sphere (Spherical) or using the more accurate Ellipsoid (Vincenty) method of calculation.
Note: For SIFL reporting purposes the Spherical option should be selected as it is more accurate for SIFL calculations.
Great Circle Date Field - The date field is available if you currently use Spherical, but wish to change to Ellipsoid (Vincenty's formulae). Enter the date of the switch to prevent trips prior to the date from recalculating using the new formula.
Crew Flight Time – Crew flight time may be calculated as either aircraft block time or flight time.
Tach Units – Select to be displayed in either tenths or hundredths.
Night– Calculates the night takeoff or landing as being either one hour past sunset and one hour before sunrise or by “Civil Twilight” time.
"Crew Ranking" Section
Crew Ranking- The “Crew Ranking” section allows the user to set a default number of days forward and back that gets set in the “Crew Ranking” screen. When the screen is open during a trip, this default setting is used to calculate the field values.
Note: Values may be changed from the default if necessary.
Weighting Factor Past- These fields allow users to factor greater values for flight and duty time when viewing the crew ranking screen.
"Wind Calculation" Section
Boeing/NCAR - Historical wind data is used to calculate flight times based on direction, great circle route, and time of year the trip occurs.
Fixed Average - The average wind calculation remains the same regardless of the time of year but does take into consideration the routing.
Constant - This will set a constant wind speed at 270 degrees for all flights. This setting would primarily be used for operators in regions with general West to East weather patterns.
Days Off Period- These options determine when the number of Vacation, Sick, or Flex days taken resets back to 0. This count is displayed in each personnel record.
"Two Crew Sector Times" Section
Two Crew Sector Times - These fields are used for Qatar legality checks.
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