How to Use a Flight Calculator on a Watch

Prepping the Watch

• 1

  Twist the center dial on the right side of the aviation watch's bezel. Gently pull it out as you twist. When it's out, turn the dial clockwise only to set the hour and minute arms for the main timepiece dial. Press the upper button once to enable the middle dial the ability to turn the far right small dial to the appropriate Zulu time. Zulu time is based on Greenwich Meantime. Set the dial according to an accurate reading of Greenwich Meantime (see Resources) available online or through a calculation of minus five hours from EST.

• 2

  Press the bottom left button to enable the center dial to adjust the middle small dial to any needed world time zone of your choice. For example, if you are flying from New York to Los Angeles and your main dial is on EST, turn the center dial to PST. Push the center dial back in.

• 3

  Monitor your time zones and the Zulu time as you fly.

E6B Calculations

• 4

  Adjust the bezel by turning it clockwise to set your fuel, wind adjustments or true course headings.

• 5

  Coordinate the bezel E6B with your VFR (Visual Flight Route) or IFR (Instrument Flight Route) flight plans, kept on the kneeboard during flight. For example, to find your Time En Route with the watch's E6B bezel, and your assumed airspeed is 150 knots, set the bezel red triangle to the 150 mark. If you know your distance to your destination is 245 nautical miles, look on the outer scale of the bezel to find the distance to locate the number above the 150, in this case 38. The 38 indicates 38 minutes en route.

• 6

  Reset the bezel to zero after each calculation so you know you have a zeroed E6B to alleviate miscalculations.