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Cannot Resolve Clock & Schedule Times

Messages
28
Country
unitedstates
I made some flight plans using KMDT airport. They were set to local DST time for the season. If I started FS at one minute after the hour (0700) all planes scheduled between 0701 & 0730 hours would takeoff approximately on schedule.

When the clock continues past the half-hour the time changes, by jumping ahead, to 0830 hours. All flights between 0731 & 0830 hours, do not execute. As the day wears on the clock bounces back & forth till finally most of the flights are executed.

I also noticed when using 4x time acceleration, the time does not increment forward to the next minute after 59 seconds. The clock displays the second count as: 59, 60, 00, 01 etc.
see pic.
ms clock.jpg


It continues counting till 30 seconds & then increments to the next minute. During normal 1x speed, the clock counts time past the half-hour till it reaches the sixty count & then jumps an hour ahead.

I remember reading the time zones were never implemented correctly by Scott S., causing problems with schedules running in DST. So I figured to wait till DST ended.

Considering I compiled these FPs using local (summer) DST, I changed the time zone to [UTC -5] EST for KMDT, saved & recompiled the FPs for the new EST. AIFP now displays the correct times for the new schedules. One hour prior to DST time.

Now the clock will still change time erratically, in the same manner, but most of the flights will execute even when the clock jumps time. It still will not do a normal time count though.

Any help in resolving this will be greatly appreciated....
 

gadgets

Resource contributor
Messages
9,388
Country
ca-britishcolumbia
Considering I compiled these FPs using local (summer) DST, I changed the time zone to [UTC -5] EST for KMDT, saved & recompiled the FPs for the new EST. AIFP now displays the correct times for the new schedules. One hour prior to DST time.
I wonder if, perhaps, you are assuming that Flightsim "knows" that you programmed the flight plans using summer time and, somehow, adjusts arrival/departure times when summer time is not in effect. If so, this is not a valid assumption.

Regardless of the timezone mode in effect when you create/edit a flight plan, times are saved in the flight plan .txt file and/or traffic file as UTC. Local time programming is simply for the convenience of users.

AIFP also allows users to adjust arrival and departure times to/from summer/standard time. But, once again, this feature does not affect arrival/departure times based on whether or not summer time is in effect at any airport. It simply moves the UTC times one hour forward or back.

Hope this clarifies.
Don
 
Messages
28
Country
unitedstates
Thanks for the response,

No, the assumption is not with the flight plans' timing. The problem is with the clock, as shown in the above picture. It is counting 61 seconds. Plus when it jumps ahead, those aircraft that are scheduled for takeoff, do not move, because that time frame passed without interacting with the flight plan.

What I am trying to determine is if anyone else is experiencing this problem, or is it just a problem with my system???
 
Last edited:

gadgets

Resource contributor
Messages
9,388
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ca-britishcolumbia
No, the assumption is not with the flight plans' timing.
Just wanted to be sure. (You wouldn't have been the first to have made that assumption.)

I have never seen this symptom (but I seldom test flight plans/traffic files) nor do I recall it ever having been reported in this forum. Since it appears to be a Flightsim issue, you might have a look in some of the other forums.

Don
 

tgibson

Resource contributor
Messages
11,324
Country
us-california
Have you tried it with other aircraft's clocks? It may not a problem with your system, but possibly a problem with that clock gauge. If so, it is not programmed correctly.
 
Messages
28
Country
unitedstates
Tom,

That is indeed the problem. That clock is in the Garmin G 1000 glass cockpit. The Cessna was set as default. I tried it at other time zones & got the same results.
Considering it was jumping ahead one hour, I thought it was the time zone bug. Also tested it in the Beech Baron & got the same results.
Another observation, is when entering FS at the half-hour plus one minute, the clock is advanced one hour ahead of the system clock.

When I changed to the Bell 206, that clock ran correctly, without the 61 second anomaly & it does not jump ahead an hour when passing the half-hour.

This now forced me to double check my flight plans. Buried in the middle of my largest, I discovered that I missed a leg. I will probably find another one, where the a/c just sits on the tarmac, which is in a separate FP.
My typing skill are horrible.

@ Gadgets,

Initial testing of the FP showed they were functioning properly. Considering I was running seven separate FPs', I wanted to see that they interacted without any problems.
It was when I let them run for a few hours, that I noticed the erratic clock behavior, plus a couple of a/c not following the FP by remaining on the tarmac.
I probably made the wrong assumption that it was the clock causing the problem, when I should have checked my work closer.

Now that the clock problem is identified, we can probably call this solved.

Thanks for the assistance in clearing up this problem............
 
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