What a flight costs

For: Pilots · Hangar admins

Each aircraft has a Flight cost model that a hangar admin sets under Flight cost in Aircraft settings. It decides how a flight’s cost is worked out:

Cost model	A flight costs
Fuel only	the fuel burned × the price per gallon
Wet rate · per hobbs hour	the hourly rate × hobbs hours. Fuel is included in the rate.
Wet rate · per tach hour	the hourly rate × tach hours. Fuel is included in the rate.
Dry rate · per hobbs hour, plus fuel	the hourly rate × hobbs hours, plus the fuel burned × the price per gallon
Dry rate · per tach hour, plus fuel	the hourly rate × tach hours, plus the fuel burned × the price per gallon

The two per-tach-hour models can only be chosen for an aircraft with a tach meter.

The fuel burned is the starting fuel minus the ending fuel. The price per gallon is set when the flight is logged or closed: From purchase (the average price of the fuel in the tank at the time) or Manual. See fuel and receipts.

For example, with made-up figures: under Wet rate · per hobbs hour at $150.00 an hour, a 1.2-hour flight costs 1.2 × $150.00 = $180.00, however much fuel it burned. Under a dry rate, the fuel burned is added on top.

A flight keeps the rate it was flown at

When you start or log a flight, it keeps a copy of the aircraft’s cost model and hourly rate at that moment, and its price per gallon is kept when you log or close it. If an admin raises the rate tomorrow, flights already in the Logbook keep their old price.

Hours are different. If someone corrects a flight’s hobbs later, its cost is worked out again at that flight’s own rate, not today’s. More in frozen rates.

What the Logbook shows

Under Fuel only, the card shows the gallons and a cost, like 12.0 gal · ~$78.00.
Under a wet or dry rate, the cost is its own figure, like ~$180.00. On a computer, hover over it to see how it was worked out, for example “1.2 hobbs h x $150.00/hr (wet, fuel included), at the rate in force when it flew”.
No “~” in front of that figure means an admin set this flight’s total by hand. Hovering shows “Set by an admin” and their note.
Hangar pays means the flight is billed to the hangar, not the pilot.
Est. cost in a day’s heading adds up every flight that day, including the ones the hangar pays.

The Cost summary in the Logbook adds up the flights you pick. Its receipt names any part of the total that’s the hangar’s. See the Logbook.

When no cost shows

A flight shows no cost when something the model needs is missing:

No price per gallon anywhere, under Fuel only or a dry rate. That means no Manual price, no priced fuel purchase, and no default price for the aircraft.
No fuel figures, under Fuel only or a dry rate. The first leg of a split flight is one example.
No hourly rate, under a wet or dry rate.
No tach readings on the flight, under a per-tach-hour model.

The Cost summary leaves these flights out and counts them as excluded — cost unknown.

Flights the hangar pays for

Switch on Bill the hangar, not the pilot when you log a flight that you didn’t fly for yourself, like a maintenance run or a repositioning leg. Ground-only entries go to the hangar automatically. An admin can change who a flight is billed to later.

Once a flight is logged, only a hangar admin can change what it costs: its rate, its fuel price, its total, or who pays. See fix a mistake.