Captured measures and the billed measure
What it is
Section titled “What it is”A syndicate chooses which time measures the usage log captures and which one the usage rate bills on. There are three measures, each an independent tick-box on the Usage capture screen:
- Capture engine meter: start and end meter readings (Hobbs, Tacho, engine hours). Delta = engine hours.
- Capture block time: off-blocks and on-blocks timestamps. Difference = block time.
- Capture airborne time: takeoff (wheels up) and landing (wheels down) timestamps. Difference = airborne time, measured wheels-up to wheels-down.
You can tick any combination, but at least one must stay ticked. When more than one is captured, a Bill on selector chooses the single measure the usage rate prices (see billed measure). When only one is captured, that measure is billed automatically.
This replaces the earlier single “time capture mode” / “billing basis” pair of dropdowns. The captured measures and the billed measure are syndicate-level defaults; a per-asset override can change them for a specific asset.
Who can use it
Section titled “Who can use it”Visible to all members on the log screen (it decides which fields they see). Only admins can change which measures are captured or which is billed.
Where to find it
Section titled “Where to find it”- Syndicate-wide default: Admin → Usage capture (
/syndicates/:syndicateId/settings/usage-capture). See Usage capture. - Per-asset override: Asset billing settings (
/syndicates/:syndicateId/assets/:assetId/billing).
A per-asset override can change the captured measures and billed measure for a specific asset; an asset with no override inherits the syndicate default. The names of each measure’s start and end (below) belong to the same capture configuration: an asset with its own capture override has its own names, and an asset that inherits its capture inherits the syndicate’s names with it.
Fields / options
Section titled “Fields / options”| Measure | Fields on the log | Default names | Billable quantity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine meter | A start and an end reading | “Tacho Start” / “Tacho End” (the meter’s name, then Start and End) | meter delta (end − start) |
| Block time | A start and an end time | “Brakes off” / “Brakes on” | end − start |
| Airborne time | A start and an end time | “Takeoff” / “Landing” | end − start (measured; zero if not captured) |
Start and end names
Section titled “Start and end names”Each captured measure has a pair of names: what the moment it starts is called, and what the moment it ends is called. An admin picks the pair from a <measure>: start and end dropdown (for example Block time: start and end), shown for every ticked measure:
| Measure | Pairs offered |
|---|---|
| Engine meter | “<meter> Start / <meter> End”, made from the meter’s name (so “Hobbs Start / Hobbs End” for a Hobbs) |
| Block time | “Brakes off / Brakes on”, “Off blocks / On blocks”, “Engine start / Engine stop”, “Engine on / Engine off” |
| Airborne time | “Takeoff / Landing”, “Wheels up / Wheels down” |
Every dropdown also offers Custom…, which alone reveals two boxes, When it starts and When it ends, filled with the pair in force so you can change one word without retyping the other. Each takes up to 30 characters, and neither may be left empty (Give it a name): the settings cannot be saved until both are filled.
The same words appear wherever the measure does: the Log Flight form, Quick Capture, the Apple Watch, the Correct Flight form, the flight history and its details sheet, the tech-log PDF and CSV, and the form’s validation messages (for example Brakes on must be after Brakes off).
The engine meter also keeps its own Engine meter label (presets Tacho and Hobbs, or a custom word). That is the meter’s name as a noun, used where the meter itself is named rather than one of its readings: the engine hours column on the tech log (“Tacho Hours”), the Flight logs don’t follow on alert (“started at 1234.5 h on the Hobbs”), and the default start and end names above. Block time and airborne time have no separate one-word label any more; their pair of names is all there is. The Apple Watch’s running timer calls the span itself Block or Airborne, between the buttons that carry its start and end names.
Behaviour rules
Section titled “Behaviour rules”- Capture, then bill. Tick the measures you want recorded, then choose which one Bill on prices. You can only bill on a measure you capture; the Bill on selector lists only the ticked measures.
- At least one measure. The last remaining captured measure cannot be unticked.
- Airborne time is measured only. It is
Landing − Takeoffwhen both wheels times are entered, otherwise zero. There is no estimate from block time, and taxi minutes play no part; taxi only prefills the bracketing times. See Airborne hours. - Per-asset override precedence: per-asset > syndicate default > system default. A null field on the per-asset config means “inherit”.
- Block ⇄ wheels prefill. For a new flight, when both block time and airborne time are captured and taxi minutes is set, entering one bracketing time prefills its empty counterpart where the estimate fits within known block times (a data-entry aid only, never a billing input). Ground runs do not prefill airborne times. Editing a saved log or checking a held Watch capture leaves other recorded times and blanks unchanged. See Usage log fields.
- A flight is measured by the tightest measure you capture. Airborne time sits inside block time, which sits inside engine time, so the three are progressively tighter measurements of the same flight. An aircraft’s flying-hours total takes the tightest one you record and the flight carries: airborne if you capture airborne time, otherwise block time, otherwise the engine-meter delta. What decides it is what you capture, never what happens to be filled in — a time recorded by a watch, a quick capture or a flight-data lookup does not change how you measure if you do not record that measure.
- Names change words, not measurements. Choosing different start and end names changes what every screen and export calls those moments, from the next time each is shown. It captures nothing new and moves no figure, so it never asks for meter readings. On an asset’s own billing settings, choosing names that differ from the ones it inherits pins a capture override for that asset, exactly as changing its ticked measures would.
- Changing the configuration does not rewrite history. Existing logs keep whatever fields they captured and the measure they were billed on when they were saved. Reports continue to render them. Flying-hours totals are protected differently, because they are a running sum rather than a stored figure: changing what you capture would re-measure the flights behind them, so the save asks you to state what each affected aircraft reads now and counts only what is flown afterwards. See Usage capture.