Company Clock
The company clock is FSCharter’s way of measuring operational time fairly. It only ticks when your company is actively flying jobs, and it measures time with second-level accuracy. That measured time is then used by several systems such as parking fees and maintenance wear.
This page explains what the clock is, when it runs, and how it affects things you care about in day to day flying.
What is it?
What it is: a background timer for your company.
When it runs: while at least one of your company’s jobs is underway, from the moment it is boarded and in operation until the moment the last active job has fully finished. If multiple jobs overlap, the windows combine into one continuous period.
What it powers: charges and effects that depend on time, for example parking fees and maintenance wear. Only the time inside those active windows is considered.
Precision: to the second. If your aircraft spends 12 minutes 17 seconds outside, that exact duration is what downstream systems see.
What counts as “clock time”?
The clock is on when any of the following is true for your company:
A job is Boarded and awaiting departure.
A job is Enroute.
A job has Landed and has not yet disembarked
Any overlapping mix of the above across multiple jobs.
The clock is off when:
No jobs are currently boarded or in flight for your company.
All active jobs have fully finished and are no longer in progress.
Why do this?
It keeps things fair. Time does not accrue while your company is idle, so you are not paying or wearing aircraft down while your company isn't flying.
Company Clock While Paused
When a flight is paused, the company clock continues to run. As a pilot, please keep in mind that long pauses may result in significant additional costs for the company.
What uses the clock?
Several systems read “how much time happened while the clock was on” and apply their own rules:
Parking fees are charged when a job departs. If your aircraft spent part of its on-ground time in a hangar and part outside, you pay proportionally.
Maintenance wear is only accrued while the clock is on, and is based on where the aircraft was while on the ground. Being in a hangar eliminates wear. Being on the tarmac accrues a small amount of wear even if the aircraft is not flying.
Other systems may adopt the same clock in future so everything stays consistent.
Examples
Example 1: simple turnaround
Time (local) | What is happening | Clock | Ground state | What is counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
09:00 | Job is boarded | On | Tarmac | Parking and wear begin to accrue |
09:20 | Pushback and departure | On | In flight | Parking stops. Wear not counted in flight |
10:35 | Landed, waiting 25 minutes | On | Hangar | Parking and wear reduced according to hangar rules |
11:00 | Next job boards and departs | On | Mixed | Continues as above |
11:05 | No more active jobs | Off | — | No time is counted while idle |
Because the clock runs only during the active period, nothing accrues before 09:00 or after 11:05.
Example 2: overlapping jobs
Two jobs overlap from 14:00 to 15:10. The clock runs from the first job’s boarding until the last job finishes, producing one continuous window. If an aircraft moves in and out of the hangar during that hour, charges and wear are split second by second between “hangar” and “tarmac”.
Accuracy and fairness
Second resolution: the system records state changes to the second. Your durations are computed to the exact second, not rounded to minutes or hours.
Proportional results: if you spend half the time in a hangar and half on the tarmac, you are charged for half at the hangar’s rate and half at the tarmac’s rate.
No idle penalties: the clock does not tick when your company is not flying, so you are not billed for time away.
Frequently asked questions
Does time pass if I am not flying?
No. The company clock is off when no jobs are active.
What if I have multiple aircraft working at once?
The clock runs for the union of those active periods. This keeps shared costs and wear aligned with your operational footprint.
Do I need to micromanage the clock?
No. It starts and stops automatically based on job activity. You just fly.
Where can I see it?
You can see a heatmap of your company clock activity on the settings page for your company.