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Pilot watches


Guest Dirt Beater

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Guest Hoser

Not sure if they are still, but everyone was issued a $69 Casio G-shock watch when I stated UPT.

I still have that watch, but I now fly with a Breitling.

Cap-10

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Guest someatcguy

I am going to open myself up to inadequate knowledege; but here it goes:

How often do pilots use a wrist watch or one that is attached to the plane to time their inbound leg? Also, how often are pilots thrown into holding unexpectedly, other than to meet their requirement? This is not meant to be a slam against anyone, but I can count on one to two fingers out of hundreds of times that I had to place someone into holding. Extended vectors work the other thousands of times.

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Guest Hydro130

Holding is no big deal in reality (i.e outside of a checkride). Give me some space to swim, and altitude to block, and life is good...

Of course, Vectors are good too

Hydro

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Guest Hoser
Originally posted by someatcguy:

I am going to open myself up to inadequate knowledege; but here it goes:

How often do pilots use a wrist watch or one that is attached to the plane to time their inbound leg? Also, how often are pilots thrown into holding unexpectedly, other than to meet their requirement? This is not meant to be a slam against anyone, but I can count on one to two fingers out of hundreds of times that I had to place someone into holding. Extended vectors work the other thousands of times.

1/2 the time, the clock in the jet doesn't work / won't start the timer when you hit hack / the second hand just hangs up at 6 o'clock, etc. Most of the holding legs are defined by DME fixes, but if I had to use some form of timing, I would either use my watch or the the GPS time.

Cap-10 :flag_waving:

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Originally posted by someatcguy:

I am going to open myself up to inadequate knowledege; but here it goes:

How often do pilots use a wrist watch or one that is attached to the plane to time their inbound leg? Also, how often are pilots thrown into holding unexpectedly, other than to meet their requirement? This is not meant to be a slam against anyone, but I can count on one to two fingers out of hundreds of times that I had to place someone into holding. Extended vectors work the other thousands of times.

I always use the dashboard clock to time in the -135. With Pacer CRAG we have a digital one that actually works.

It seems in military flying we don't do holding much. We practice quite a bit, but I can't remember even being sent to hold "for real" other than when we requested (EP, waiting for WX to improve, etc). If you look at our (-135s at least) flight plans, you'll see we file "direct to" most of the time instead of airways. Contrast that with the airlines who seem to file jet routes exclusively, and also much more likely to get thrown into holding unexpectedly when arriving at a busy airfield. I'm sure the C-21 guys on here have a lot more experience with this, as they fly into busy civilian fields much more often.

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Guest TheBurt

Been given short notice holding instructions many times, usually in the summertime coming back into Charlotte, usually due to afternoon T-storms. Oh yeah, original thread, wore the g-shock issued at Nav school for about eight years until the band just disinegrated, bought a Rolex GMT at Ramstein BX when they still sold them(and I was still single), my pilot training g-shock is holding in reserve in my drawer.

[ 27. April 2006, 20:50: Message edited by: TheBurt ]

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Guest Hydro130
Originally posted by hickamgmaster:

I've got a g-shock and love it. It's tough. Having zulu time available makes it much easier when crossing the international date line. I still can't keep straight what freakin day it is without it.

Yep, 2 time zones is a must.

I'm sure the G-shock has come a long way, but the POS we got 10 years ago was a clunker. And had no features.

I'm sure the latest G-shocks are slimmer and have good features (multiple time zones, indiglo, etc). Mine didn't.

My overall point is just to keep your jet piece cheap, and save the good stuff for other adventures. If the current issued G does the job, rock it!

Cheers, Hydro

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Originally posted by Chuck Farleston:

I just want one with 3 zones - local, Z, and home...is that so freaking hard? ARRRGH!

note, I've only found one like that so far, but it was a Timex - I've had bad luck with metal-banded Timex watches, falling apart, dropping links, etc. I'm partial to my metal Fossil, and want one with 3 zones...anything over 100 bucks for a watch just seems silly to me.

The Citizen that I have can read out three time zones. You can set the analog hands and the digital display to show different timezones, and there is a continuous dial in the top-right corner that shows ZULU.

jr3060-large-cu.jpg

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Guest twinkle toes

I have the skyhawk, and it is my second one. (new one has eco-drive) I feel it is worth every penny. I use the e6b evrytime I fly (cessna). I have seen most of the guys in my squadron (viper pilots) use the same. It has every timzone, no battery to replace, 3 alarms, timer, and chrono, zulu, local, 24 hr, and e6b. What more could you want?

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Guest Hoser

breitling_b1.jpg

Breitling B-1. Two time zones that you set (both with alarms) plus a Zulu timezone. Standard stuff like count down timer, chronograph, Whiz-wheel, etc. The backlight is NGV compatable.

Cap-10 :flag_waving:

[ 04. May 2006, 10:24: Message edited by: Hoser ]

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Guest Hydro130
Originally posted by twinkle toes:

I have the skyhawk, and it is my second one. (new one has eco-drive) I feel it is worth every penny. I use the e6b evrytime I fly (cessna). I have seen most of the guys in my squadron (viper pilots) use the same. It has every timzone, no battery to replace, 3 alarms, timer, and chrono, zulu, local, 24 hr, and e6b. What more could you want?

The Skyhawk's a very nice watch, no doubt about that! As is Hoser's Breitling (I'm jealous of that one )....

Does the Skyhawk have NVG-compatible backlight? That's the only other show-stopper, IMHO...

I flew with basic Ironman models and then went with a bulky, yet amazingly durable chrome Nike Oregon digital series. Buko features, and an alarm that could wake the dead. Love that watch, but it's a hoss...

For post-mish, I go with this one.

Cheers, Hydro

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Guest kpaul

I have the Skyhawk as well, there is no back lighting just glowing hands and numbers. It makes is a littler hard to use any of the digital functions in low light. It is a great watch and the multiple times along with UTC on the face makes flying through multiple time zones easy.

I use my full size e6b while flying low level to figure out leg times etc. The one on the watch is pretty small when you are bouncing along through Arkansas. For timing I just say "Hack" and the Nav responds with "Timing" seems to work about as well as the aging aircraft clock.

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Guest Hydro130
Originally posted by Five-Oh Co-Pilot:

I have the Skyhawk as well, there is no back lighting just glowing hands and numbers. It makes is a littler hard to use any of the digital functions in low light. It is a great watch and the multiple times along with UTC on the face makes flying through multiple time zones easy.

I use my full size e6b while flying low level to figure out leg times etc. The one on the watch is pretty small when you are bouncing along through Arkansas. For timing I just say "Hack" and the Nav responds with "Timing" seems to work about as well as the aging aircraft clock.

Excellent technique!

I hung my analog "Marathon" stopwatch (standard issue Nav toy, YOK got a bunch with fall-out money years ago, and that's how I FINALLY scored one of those sweet thangs as a driver-type) from the swing-window from some 550 cord. That stopwatch is a f-ing rock-star!!!

All hella bomb-proof, idiot-proof to use, wind-up powered, and easy to read (even low-light) when you hang it from the swing-window clasp. Good on low-levels and for approach timing...

Full-size E6B is a handy thing to have too. Big numbers, easy to read = good thing! ;)

Hydro

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At Laughlin they didn't issue us a watch (class 07-02), I was tired of always hacking my watch so I went out and bought a Casio that receives a time update 4 times per day via radio signal, would recommend this path. Getting yelled at for stupid stuff like a bad time hack sucks, and setting your watch every morning also sucks.

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Guest MaxStatic

No watches issued here at Vance. Wear a Citizen Nighthawk myself, not that I use it really. Used it on my FAA checkride though, got the instructor all sorts of pissed.

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As far as a reasonably priced, useful aviator watch, check out the Casio G-Shock Atomic series.

The watches have an auto-hack feature that keeps the watch synched with the US Naval atomic clock, and my watch is ALWAYS correct. Always.

They're G-Shock watches, so you can kick the crap outta them, and they have a variety of styles to match just about anyone's tastes.

I bought the one I have about 2 years ago for $110, and it's still kicking ass. Some of the features I love:

-Dual time (I set mine to GMT)

-Time recorder function (press/hold a button, and it records the time/date and saves it in memory. Great for recording takeoff/landing times for future reference.)

-Five separate alarms

-Stopwatch

-Solar powered (I've never needed a charge or a battery change)

-Auto illumination feature (when selected, the watch automatically illuminates when you turn your wrist towards your face. This actually can be annoying when you're gettin busy in the dark with your lady friend, though...I leave mine off.)

That's about it. I totally love my watch and people ask me about it all the time. Best hundred bucks I've spent in a while.

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Guest nikes45

I second Furys comment, on top of all that the watch is/was on sale at the BX for 40 bucks.

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I got issued the basic old shitty G-Shock at Moody, but lost it within a year. The thing is, it kept time like non-other; as in I was never off more than a second the entire time I owned it(never reset it). I currently own a cheap POS timex since I don't really care anymore since I tend to use the clock in the aircraft and GPS time on the off occasion I have to use timed holding, for dead reckoning I have an egg timer type clock attached to my knee board.

[ 09. May 2006, 22:19: Message edited by: busdriver ]

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Guest kylejustin

Wow, check this thing out.

Digital Compass

Altimeter to over 32,000 ft

Chronograph

All Titanium Body and Band

Alarms

Electrolumiescent Backlight

Thermometer

Solar Powered, Charges in normal Room Light

Auto Shutdown after 30 minutes of no use in the dark

Day & Date

Water Resistant to 50 Meters

http://www.hmewatch.com/casio-triple-sensor-prg70t-p-44.html

http://128.121.222.6/mpg/prg70.mpg

[ 10. May 2006, 23:06: Message edited by: kylejustin ]

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  • 5 weeks later...
Guest LuvMyFlyGuy

I am a little disappointed in myself! I have been with my fiance for years now, but I am still learning and catching on to the military stuff little by little! I probably will be for the rest of my life! Anyway, he is currently in UPT at Vance, and he will be finished there in Sept. He recently mentioned something about getting a new watch or different watch when he gets his wings. I definitely would like to get him something special for that occasion and I feel like this was a hint! Am I missing something and is there a "special" sort of watch that pilots use that is different from just a regualr man's watch? And if so where could I find it? Does anyone have an idea about what he may have been talking about?

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