Like many areas, the words "winter" and "flying" do not go together in the Pacific Northwest and this break from flying has given us a chance to create a fantastic new feature in MyRCLog.com v0.32 aptly named; "Maintenance Search".

Some people replace parts when they break and others (who don't crash as much) replace parts when they wear out.  If you're lucky (or diligent) the "worn out" part will not result in a crash and you can replace it before it becomes a hazard.

Since you're already logging your flights with MyRCLog.com and you're entering your Preflight Modifications (replaced dampeners, tail case bearings, motor etc), we thought it would be a great idea to provide you with a way to see how many flights you have on those parts.

Here are a few use cases:

You've noticed that your dampeners are wearing out and want to know how many flights you've got on them--use the Maintenance Search Function

You're selling a motor and want to publish the number of flights on the motor as a courtesy to prospective buyers--use the Maintenance Search Function

You're a nitro pilot (or gasser pilot) and want to know how many flights you've got on your engine's bearings--use the Maintenance Search Function

You make it a habit to replace your ball links every x-number of flights to prevent catastrophic failure--use the Maintenance Search Function

So how does the feature work?  Simply click "Models" from the menu bar, select the model you'd like to do a search on, enter the keyword in the Maintenance Search box that you are searching for (i.e. "motor", "bearing",  "dampener", "links" etc.) and hit the search button.  In the example on the right, I wanted to know how many flights I have on my Vbar Flybarless System.

On the Maintenance Search Results page (shown on the left), you will receive a page that looks similar to the flight log, but it will include the model's flight number and a column containing the number of flights since the maintenance was performed.  In this case, I can see that I've got 80 flights on the model since the Vbar was installed.

Although this feature seemed like a logical addition to MyRCLog.com--it wasn't until we started using it that we found how powerful it truly is.  It has taken the guesswork out of preventative maintenance and allowed us to be more proactive when working on our birds. 

Now that we can determine part "age", if we're going to do a tear-down, it's easy to see if a particular part is geting "long in the tooth" and should be replaced during the tear-down (much like the auto mechanic who suggests that you should replace your $30 water pump while replacing your $300 alternator). 

It has also allowed us to order replacement parts more effectively.  If I'm submitting an order from my favorite parts retailer, I can take a quick look to see if I should add some bearings, or dampeners to the order so they'll be ready during the next maintenance interval.

We hope you find this feature as useful as we have.  Enjoy!