Anyone know of a source of a simple timer for approaches? I had one
years ago that was very simple. It was round with two buttons, one to
start and stop the timer and another to reset it. All I can find now
are the West Bend and others that have a lot more features than I need.
Unfortunately, the yoke timer in the airplane is toast so I'm looking
for something I can just velcro to the yoke or panel.


Matt

"Matt Whiting" > wrote in message
...>


> Anyone know of a source of a simple timer for approaches? I had one

Radio Shack


--------------------
Richard Kaplan, CFII

www.flyimc.com

Visit your local kitchen store (some are small, some are the
"big box" type). The simple west bend timers are about $4-8.
Careful of the magnet on the back. I finally got it off after
lots of agony on one timer. On the second, popped off (almost
fell off!)

We have 2 Westbend timers (around $5-$8) velcroed to the panel. They
work great, and are much more visible than the standard 172 clock
(which, in it's current position, does not exactly fit in the scan).

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe that you need to have an "official" clock
in the plane to fly actual. Doesn't mean that you have to use it, but I
believe it has to be there and has to be working. We are replacing ours
right now. (Seems like a silly reg.)



Matt Whiting wrote:
>
> Anyone know of a source of a simple timer for approaches? I had one
> years ago that was very simple. It was round with two buttons, one to
> start and stop the timer and another to reset it. All I can find now
> are the West Bend and others that have a lot more features than I need.
> Unfortunately, the yoke timer in the airplane is toast so I'm looking
> for something I can just velcro to the yoke or panel.
>
>
> Matt
>


--
Remove "2PLANES" to reply.

Matt Whiting > wrote in
:

>
> Anyone know of a source of a simple timer for approaches? I had one
> years ago that was very simple. It was round with two buttons, one to
> start and stop the timer and another to reset it. All I can find now
> are the West Bend and others that have a lot more features than I need.
> Unfortunately, the yoke timer in the airplane is toast so I'm looking
> for something I can just velcro to the yoke or panel.
>
>
> Matt
>

After an unsuccessful search for a simple compact timer, I bought a Casio
digital watch that met my needs. Unlike the conventional watches that
have buttons on their side, this one has buttons on its front face. Three
pushes of one button will take you into the timer mode. One button starts
and stops and the other resets. It also has an automatic light mode. If
the watch is tilted by a certain angle the back lighting comes on. I
can't remember how much I paid for it, but it was something like $20 at
Walmart.

Dan Truesdell > wrote in news:40BBB5F8.1090404
@ceaPLsofAtwNarEe.cSom:

> Unless I'm mistaken, I believe that you need to have an "official" clock
> in the plane to fly actual. Doesn't mean that you have to use it, but I
> believe it has to be there and has to be working. We are replacing ours
> right now. (Seems like a silly reg.)

Why is that silly? Imagine... You're holding over your MAP point waiting
for your next opportunity to shoot. All of a sudden, the battery in your
watch decides to go out. What do you do then? Without the clock in the
plane, you'd probably have to inform ATC and become a real PITA...

Yeah, it might be a longshot, but Murphy's law dictates that if the battery
is going to die in flight, it's going to happen during a critical point...

"Judah" > wrote in message
...>

> Why is that silly? Imagine... You're holding over your MAP point waiting
> for your next opportunity to shoot. All of a sudden, the battery in your
> watch decides to go out. What do you do then?

Ask the controller to fly 5-mile legs while holding and use my GPS to
determine distance.

Come to think of it, I would do that even if my clock/watch DOES work...
it's a lot easier and a lot more accurate for the controller.


--------------------
Richard Kaplan, CFII

www.flyimc.com

You are correct about my watch dying, but the clock in the plane can
(and did) die. When the panel clock is working, I'm flying with triple
redundancy. The problem is that the "official" clock (which I can
legally fly IFR using it as the only timer in the plane) is a poor
excuse for a timer. That what I find silly. As I stated in my earlier
post, we have 2 timers on the panel, and I always wear my watch, any of
which is much more usable than the Cessna clock on the panel. We are
replacing it with an L-2 digital. Doesn't solve the location problem,
but does provide us with a much more usable device. We'll still keep
the Westbends, but now we'll have a more useful backup.

Judah wrote:
> Dan Truesdell > wrote in news:40BBB5F8.1090404
> @ceaPLsofAtwNarEe.cSom:
>
>
>>Unless I'm mistaken, I believe that you need to have an "official" clock
>>in the plane to fly actual. Doesn't mean that you have to use it, but I
>>believe it has to be there and has to be working. We are replacing ours
>>right now. (Seems like a silly reg.)
>
>
> Why is that silly? Imagine... You're holding over your MAP point waiting
> for your next opportunity to shoot. All of a sudden, the battery in your
> watch decides to go out. What do you do then? Without the clock in the
> plane, you'd probably have to inform ATC and become a real PITA...
>
> Yeah, it might be a longshot, but Murphy's law dictates that if the battery
> is going to die in flight, it's going to happen during a critical point...


--
Remove "2PLANES" to reply.

"Judah" > wrote in message
...
> Dan Truesdell > wrote in news:40BBB5F8.1090404
> @ceaPLsofAtwNarEe.cSom:
>
> > Unless I'm mistaken, I believe that you need to have an "official" clock
> > in the plane to fly actual. Doesn't mean that you have to use it, but I
> > believe it has to be there and has to be working. We are replacing ours
> > right now. (Seems like a silly reg.)
>
> Why is that silly? Imagine... You're holding over your MAP point waiting
> for your next opportunity to shoot. All of a sudden, the battery in your
> watch decides to go out. What do you do then?

When I fly IFR, I wear two cheap digital watches that have large,
easy-to-read digits. I set one to be a clock, the other a stopwatch. If
either fails, the other is its backup.

--Gary

Richard Kaplan wrote:
> "Matt Whiting" > wrote in message
> ...>
>
>
>>Anyone know of a source of a simple timer for approaches? I had one
>
>
> Radio Shack

I was just there today and found nothing. They had a regular sports
stopwatch, some hikers and bikers units that had compasses, altimeters,
thermometers, etc., but not simply timers. I haven't checked their web
site, but will do that next.

Matt

Dan Truesdell wrote:

> We have 2 Westbend timers (around $5-$8) velcroed to the panel. They
> work great, and are much more visible than the standard 172 clock
> (which, in it's current position, does not exactly fit in the scan).
>
> Unless I'm mistaken, I believe that you need to have an "official" clock
> in the plane to fly actual. Doesn't mean that you have to use it, but I
> believe it has to be there and has to be working. We are replacing ours
> right now. (Seems like a silly reg.)

The clock works, but the integral yoke time doesn't. I don't find
clocks all that useful for timing approaches. I'd rather have a time
that simply counts up from zero.


Matt

Matt Whiting wrote:
>
> Anyone know of a source of a simple timer for approaches? I had one
> years ago that was very simple. It was round with two buttons, one to
> start and stop the timer and another to reset it. All I can find now
> are the West Bend and others that have a lot more features than I need.
> Unfortunately, the yoke timer in the airplane is toast so I'm looking
> for something I can just velcro to the yoke or panel.

In addition to the good information you are getting in response to this post,
search at http://groups.google.com in rec.aviation.ifr for "timers". There have
been lots of informative posts in the past, including information about failure
modes in kitchen-style timers that you might not expect.

Dave
Remove SHIRT to reply directly.

Dan Truesdell wrote:
>
> which is much more usable than the Cessna clock on the panel. We are
> replacing it with an L-2 digital.

If the L-2 is one of those Astrotech things, save your money. Spend a little
more and get one from Davtron. The user interface on the Davtron is klutzy (what
the heck is "CONTROL" and "SELECT"?), but at least the switches are higher
quality than the Astrotech. Worth the difference in price, IMO.

Dave
Remove SHIRT to reply directly.

I bought one from a pilot shop for around $20. I had one for a while
that counted up but replaced it with one that counts down. It has a
keypad, so 335 Start is all I need to do at the FAF for a 3:35 time to
MA. Alarm sounds at the end, though it's a little hard to hear with
headphones.

> Anyone know of a source of a simple timer for approaches? I had one
> years ago that was very simple. It was round with two buttons, one to
> start and stop the timer and another to reset it. All I can find now
> are the West Bend and others that have a lot more features than I need.
> Unfortunately, the yoke timer in the airplane is toast so I'm looking
> for something I can just velcro to the yoke or panel.

I have the following:

http://www.lcflight.com/timers.html

and then this one.
CON-5004 4 Channel Alarm/Clock Timer


It is 4 channel but I only use #1 timer for enroute timing and then I
have #4 setup ahead of time with the countdown time for the MAP.
It is very easy to use. Count up and count down. I wish the thing had
a light for night flying and I also wish the alarm was a little louder.
time is set very easily just by pushing the H (hour), M (minute), S
(Second) and then the C (Clear).

I wish pilot would invent a truly great timer. amazing that you get
a Garmin 530's, Avidynes, Autopilots, etc, but can't get a great timer.

Gerald

Gerald Sylvester wrote:

>
>> Anyone know of a source of a simple timer for approaches? I had one
>> years ago that was very simple. It was round with two buttons, one to
>> start and stop the timer and another to reset it. All I can find now
>> are the West Bend and others that have a lot more features than I need.
>> Unfortunately, the yoke timer in the airplane is toast so I'm looking
>> for something I can just velcro to the yoke or panel.
>
>
> I have the following:
>
> http://www.lcflight.com/timers.html
>
> and then this one.
> CON-5004 4 Channel Alarm/Clock Timer
>
>
> It is 4 channel but I only use #1 timer for enroute timing and then I
> have #4 setup ahead of time with the countdown time for the MAP.
> It is very easy to use. Count up and count down. I wish the thing had
> a light for night flying and I also wish the alarm was a little louder.
> time is set very easily just by pushing the H (hour), M (minute), S
> (Second) and then the C (Clear).
>
> I wish pilot would invent a truly great timer. amazing that you get
> a Garmin 530's, Avidynes, Autopilots, etc, but can't get a great timer.
>
> Gerald
>

I agree. The Skylane I owned had, I believe, a Terra NavComm which had
a timer built into the CDI display unit. It's been a few years, but I
think you just toggled a switch to start the timer and this is what I
used for approaches. The nice thing is that the timer was right up
where you are looking during the approach so it was easy to keep track of.


Matt

> I agree. The Skylane I owned had, I believe, a Terra NavComm which had
> a timer built into the CDI display unit.

<sarcasm on> I can't recommend more this $12000 HSI with slaved
timer.

;-)



What you describe sounds ideal. Again, why can't manufacturers make
this. They can put oscillators into all electrical equipment but god
forbid they make a useful timer. Oh well.....

Gerald

Matt,

I just stumbled into this thread and for some reason found in interesting.
I have no personal endoresment, but West Bend appears to have a simple one.
It appears that you can just press CLEAR and STOP/START to make it work.
Try:
http://www.westbend.com/westbend/catalog.cfm?dest=itempg&itemid=476&secid=8&
linkon=subsection&linkid=82 or
http://www.westbend.com/westbend/catalog.cfm?dest=dir&linkid=82&linkon=subse
ction

John Bell

Indeed the West Bend basic timer is a model of simplicity. In 1985 I bought two
of them. I modified one of them for Rutan's Voyager as a fuel tank alarm device
and put the other one in my 182.

The one in the 182 has never been turned off nor has it had a battery change in
almost 20 years. So far as I know, the one hanging in the Smithsonian is still
ticking away as well.

Jim



"John Bell" >
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

->Matt,
->
->I just stumbled into this thread and for some reason found in interesting.
->I have no personal endoresment, but West Bend appears to have a simple one.
->It appears that you can just press CLEAR and STOP/START to make it work.

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

"John Bell" > wrote in message
om...
> Matt,
>
> I just stumbled into this thread and for some reason found in interesting.
> I have no personal endoresment, but West Bend appears to have a simple
one.
> It appears that you can just press CLEAR and STOP/START to make it work.

But that's not what I want, and unless I'm misunderstanding Matt that's not
what he wants. The problem is that the most common (only?) "command" a
pilot gives to a timer is "start counting up from zero now". For most
stopwatches and timers, presumably all based on the same silicon, that takes
3 button pushes:

Stop (if it's already counting, otherwise it goes to "lap" mode)
Clear
Start

It may be that the West Bend one doesn't have a "lap" mode so requires only
two pushes. What I want is something that emulates the timer on a KR87
ADF -- *one* press and it starts up from zero again.

Julian Scarfe

Jim Weir > wrote in
:

> Indeed the West Bend basic timer is a model of simplicity.
> In 1985 I bought two of them. I modified one of them for
> Rutan's Voyager as a fuel tank alarm device and put the
> other one in my 182.

I don't actually have one of these, but I have read (on the
internet, so it must be true!!) that these have a slight design
flaw, and the timing depends on voltage, so as the battery goes
down the timing slows down.

--
Regards,

Stan

"> Unless I'm mistaken, I believe that you need to have an "official" clock
> in the plane to fly actual. Doesn't mean that you have to use it, but I
> believe it has to be there and has to be working. We are replacing ours
> right now. (Seems like a silly reg.)
>

A clock and a timer can serve two different purposes. A timer is useful for
timing hold legs, but the clock is needed to determine when you can descend
in a lost comm situation.

jerry