I launch my little wing, punch Memory and then Start/Stop on my talking timer.

It begins silently counting down.

Next to me, Bic is flying his Formosa. He’s been in the air for a few minutes already.

Bic was the first person I saw using these $12 talking timers.

At first I thought they were weird, intrusive, gimmicky, annoying.

I enjoy a quiet flight. Conversation is often enjoyable, but silence is a pleasure, too.

The timer was intrusive. But … I like to time my flights, and I really don’t want to take my eyes of my plane while I’m flying.

Copying Bic. As I saw Bic using his, it started to make sense. Soon I ordered my own.

“Six minutes… left,” says the woman inside Bic’s timer.

A few seconds later, mine chirps up. “Nine minutes… left.”

Same woman, different time zone.

I always time my flights, so I know when my battery is getting low.

My transmitter has a built-in timer, but I don’t like to look away from my airplane, so I don’t use it.

Short Attention Span. These timers allow you to set the count-down time. I always use 10 minutes, which I’ve decided works best for my attention span and enjoyment. It also leaves reserve power in my battery.

Since I don’t flatten my batteries they don’t die at a young age. I regularly fly several batteries that have been in service for more than two years.

“Four minutes… left,” I hear. Was that my timer or Bic’s? A moment later, my timekeeper says “Seven minutes… left.”

Her voice has no accent. She always pauses a beat before hitting the word “left.”

I wonder if friends of the woman who recorded these words hear echoes of their friend when they encounter people using talking timers.

“Two minutes… left.” That was Bic’s timer. My turn: “Five minutes… left.”

I like her voice, but it’d be great if we could choose custom voices, particularly if more people start using talking timers in close quarters.

Very Famous Voice. From an Internet search, I learn that the voice might be that of Jane Barbe, who began recording automated telephone messages in 1963. Her voice has been used for phone system messages, time and weather announcements, hotel wake-up systems and voice-mail systems in the US and around the world.

Among her oft-heard phrases are

• I’m sorry, the number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service.
• At the tone the time will be…
• Press 9 for more options.

She died in 2003 at age 74.

“Fifty seconds… left.” I rarely hear her say this because the last minute of the talking timer is truly annoying. She announces every 10-second marker until she hits the last 10 seconds, then she counts the seconds off one by one.

A Cuckoo Clock? Bic lets he count down all the way, and when she finishes I hear the repeated sound of a cuckoo clock.

Mine doesn’t do that. It ends with a series of staccato beeps.

Perhaps, I think, Bic has a more advanced model, the Tel-Time Pro or Tel-Time Cuckoo Edition.

Later I discover a secret panel on the timer that lets me choose other alarm sounds: cuckoo clock, ringing bell, boing, car horn and more.

But I always turn off the timer at one minute. I keep track of that last small interval on my own, enjoying the quiet.

So I close the secret panel, satisfied that I can time my flights just as well as Bic can.

“One minute… left.” It’s my timer—Bic has landed and left the Great Meadow. I hit the Start/Stop button to silence the timer, make a wide circle, then another, kill the throttle and glide to a quiet landing.

Tags: Baylands, Flying, Radio Control, Tools, Wings.

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