Zulu Time (Quick Flight Tips)
In the aviation world use and refer to time as Zulu time, which is actually Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in the non-aviation world. GMT is located on the 0⁰ line that runs longitudinally through Greenwich, England.
Aviation Zulu time is also known as:
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Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
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Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
Everything in aviation operates off Zulu Time (Z), such as:
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Aviation weather
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Flight plans
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Example: when you file a flight plan with Flight Service Station (FSS) they will ask what time you expect to depart in Zulu Time, not local time.
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First you must know how to get military time.
How to get military time:
Simply take your local time and add 12 hours to get military time.
Example:
Morning times are the easiest to figure out. Simply add a zero to the front. So, if your local time is 8:00am, the military time is 0800.
8:00am = 0800 hours
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Afternoon and evening times, 1:00pm to 11:00pm are the fun ones. If your local time is 8:00pm, the military time 2000 hours.
8:00pm + 1200 = 2000
12:00pm (midnight) + 1200 = 2400
How to get Zulu Time:
Take your local military time. Then Add or Subtract the amount of time zones you are from Greenwich Mean Time, depending on where you live in the world.
Example:
Since we are located in California, we are in the Pacific Time zone.
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9:00am local PT (Pacific Time) is 0900L (local) military time. Then add the number of time zones to GMT, for us we add 8 during Pacific Standard Time (PST).
0900 + 8 = 1700Z
9:00pm local PT is 2100L military time, again we add 8.
2100 + 8 = 0500Z
References:
Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical knowledge FAA-H-8083-25 (Ch. 16)
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