Aircraft records company, Bluetail, announced this week that its MACH Conformity software has completed development and will become part of Bluetail’s software portfolio. 

MACH Conformity is designed to cut the time it takes to complete conformity inspection in half. An aircraft conformity inspection aims to verify that your aircraft conforms to its type design and is configured/bridged to your approved program and operations.

“The recent unprecedented growth of [the] Part 135 on-demand charter market has put pressure on operators to on-board additional onboard aircraft onto their certificates faster and more efficiently than ever before,” said Stuart Illian, chief operating officer and co-founder of Bluetail.

Conformity features

MACH Conformity includes features such as:

• Conformity binder builder needed for the applicable FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO)

• Digital paper clip-related lead documents, including Form 337s with supporting 8130-3 forms, into single units of work
• Ability to upload airworthiness directives (ADs), as well as Chapters 4 and 5 requirements
• Ability to link supporting documents to the appropriate AD and OEM requirements
• Ability to track the status of each binder chapter through a color-coding task manager
• Exporting the documents into a standard format for the FSDO’s review

“Just doing all the paper records search and conformity steps required by the FAA can add weeks to the process and cost the operator tens of thousands in lost revenue,” Illian said.

Saving Time and Money 

The Phoenix-based company said it worked with a series of charter operators to develop the software. Those design partners include Solairus Aviation, Wheels Up, Jet It, Wing Aviation, and Mach Point Aviation.

Bluetail said feedback from these operators and management companies indicated that MACH Conformity helped reduce the conformity inspection by five days, which translates to tens of thousands of dollars in added revenue after each aircraft completed the conformity process.

“Bluetail is building an impressive customer list of charter operators, and they rely on our industry-leading software innovation team to create a way for them to handle all of their conformity requirements more efficiently and effectively,” Illian said.

“The result is MACH Conformity, purchased as a software subscription. New features include task management, an FAA binder builder, manage AD and SB lists, deep search, with the ability to digitally paperclip any FAA forms to other documents, and export the resulting binder for sharing with the appropriate FSDO.”

The post Bluetail Software Aims to Reduce Part 135 Inspection Time appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

When you get so familiar with a tool like the ForeFlight flight planning app, you may find yourself using only a select portion of the vast array of features that it seems developers are continually adding to the program.

And that would just be, well, wrong, because it may mean you’re missing functions that could not only make your planning easier, but maybe even make your entire flight run more smoothly—or more safely.

At EAA AirVenture 2022, ForeFlight is hosting a series of forums that go over new and popular features alike—and we have a round-up of those key elements here. So, whether you’re a newb or a “power user,” you may find something to like with ForeFlight that you didn’t know before.

Per Leg Altitude Planning

While it may seem like a simple thing, ForeFlight now gives pilots the ability to select multiple altitudes over a given flight, based on the leg. You know you rarely fly the single altitude you entered in your initial plan—you may need to duck around the weather, navigate airspace, or avoid terrain along the way. Now the app lets you reflect this in your planning stages.

Hazard Advisor Enhancements

One of the best parts of ForeFlight is its ability to help you foresee hazards and plan to mitigate them, via Hazard Advisor. New functions enhance this capability, including:

• Altitude preview, to manually control Hazard Advisor’s altitude before a flight, and
• Auto Hazard Advisor, which transitions HA into auto mode after you take off, following your current altitude for a view of the surrounding terrain

Global Graphical NOTAMs

Once only available in Europe, graphical notices to air missions (NOTAMs) can now be shown on the app around the world. The new NOTAMs map layer color-codes the advisories in red, yellow, or gray depending on whether they are active, and their type and severity.

Toggle Airways, Waypoints, and Navaids

A feature driven directly by user input? You can now customize your ForeFlight map display by toggling between airways, navaids, and waypoints, quickly decluttering the screen—these were formerly included in a single toggle.

Enhanced, Integrated Weight and Balance

The weight and balance planning feature in ForeFlight was once an isolated portion of the app—and now it is built into the Flights function, automatically incorporating fuel quantities and cargo loads, and instantly responding to changes.

• READ MORE: FLYING‘s Complete Coverage of EAA AirVenture ’22

New features such as Saved Loads and Standard Weights streamline the weight and balance planning process overall.

Influencers and Experts at OSH22

If you make it to AirVenture this week, ForeFlight offers a host of forums and opportunities to talk with its roster of experts and popular pilots you may follow on social media channels, such as Steve Thorne, aka “Flight Chops,” and Emily Norman, from “Between Two Wings.” Catch the full schedule here.

The post Did You Know ForeFlight Did This? appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Aircraft Performance Group (APG) revealed its latest aviation software product for business aviation—iPreFlight Genesis Pro—at the National Business Aviation Association’s Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (NBAA-BACE).

The product was developed through a collaborative effort between APG, Seattle Avionics, and RocketRoute.

“APG’s runway performance system is the industry leader in business aviation. Now, with global route optimization and flight plan filing from RocketRoute and global charts from Seattle Avionics, iPreFlight Genesis Pro brings together the many data, calculations, and performance considerations into a seamless interface that is powerful, easy to use and integrated in both mobile and web applications—no matter where in the world a mission takes you,” said Shawn Mechelke, president of the Aviation Group at AFV Partners.

For the past two decades, APG has developed runway performance data for more than 350 aircraft types at more than 9,000 airports.

RocketRoute has become known for its global routing and filing capabilities, a process that is particularly complex overseas.

A specialist in global chart data, Seattle Avionics completes the partnership under the parent organization AFV Partners.

The program connects dispatchers and pilots through the app to optimize:

• Routing
• Runway performance
• Weight and balance
• Flight plan calculations and filing

This happens with aircraft specific data—not just type specific, but specific to the actual tail number.

The runway analysis provides intuitive green, yellow, and red highlights to quickly show the pilots and dispatcher whether a runway at the destination is viable for the aircraft under the current conditions. Once weight and balance data has been entered, a graph is available to show where the aircraft is within the weight and balance envelope.

Data in the app and on the web are continuously synchronized, allowing both dispatchers and pilots to make modifications. Dispatch can control which data the pilots are able to modify.

Charting, routing, and filing capabilities are available for the global database of airports and routes, and weather data can be incorporated as well.

The flight plans can be uplinked to the aircraft, provided the aircraft can receive such data.

The post Partners Combine to Deliver Integrated Flight App appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Collins Aerospace has announced plans to buy FlightAware, which provides the world’s largest flight tracking and data platform.

FlightAware will join Collins’ Information Management Services portfolio within the company’s Avionics strategic business unit, according to a news release.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“Global connectivity now shapes and impacts every segment of aviation,” said Dave Nieuwsma, Collins Aerospace’s head of Avionics in a statement. “[The deal] will help Collins unlock the full power of the connected ecosystem for our customers. FlightAware’s flight tracking and data platform, the largest in the world, has the potential to deliver new capabilities and innovations across our entire business.”

“The world’s aerospace companies and aircraft operators are looking to digital aviation to provide the next revolution in aviation efficiency and reliability,” said Daniel Baker, CEO of FlightAware.

“We are excited to join Collins Aerospace and Raytheon Technologies at this pivotal time to continue to lead that revolution at an even broader scale.”

Collins is a part of Raytheon Technologies, which was formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and United Technologies Corp.

Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space, and Raytheon Missiles & Defense make up the remainder of the company, which has 195,000 employees globally.

Closure of the acquisition is subject to the completion of customary conditions and regulatory approvals.

The post Collins Aerospace To Acquire FlightAware appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

We have all been there on a preflight: You come to the point in the checklist when it calls for a check of the tire pressure. Be honest. How many times have you just eye-balled the tire and considered it safe for flight?

Most of the time, that’s been good enough.

But there have been countless incidents—and a handful of accidents each year—that stem from runway excursions. Many of them come down to a tire failure of some kind, and most likely a few would be prevented with foreknowledge of inadequate tire pressure.

Beringer-Aero has built upon its knowledge of wheels, brakes, and landing gear for light aircraft with the SensAir tire pressure monitor and app. The French company—with its US headquarters and service in Greenville, South Carolina—built its reputation serving high-performance cars and motorcycles beginning in 1985, but transitioned over to focusing exclusively on aircraft in 2009.

According to company founder Gilbert Beringer, “Using technology similar to automotive TPMS systems, we have developed a balanced, lightweight module that can fit into any Beringer wheel and communicate with your smartphone.” And it gets you past the hurdles introduced by wheel pants, restricted movement in the parking area or hangar, and lack of time.

Installation comes readily, said Beringer: “Split your modular Beringer wheel and slip the sized and balanced band on. Then reassemble. The encapsulated batteries last for two to three years; change them when you change tires.”

A single wheel assembly weighs 3.3 ounces, including the batteries.

Once installed, the app will show the tire’s pressure and internal temperature, in degrees F or C.

The STC for experimental and light sport aircraft is pending approval, and the kits will fit all 4-inch, 5-inch, 6-inch, and 8-inch Beringer wheels.

The company produces wheel kits for a wide range of aircraft makes and models, including:

• Piper
• Cirrus
• Van’s
• Kitfox
• CubCrafters
• Just

The post Tire Pressure Monitor Puts Data to a Smartphone App appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

With their Summer 2021 update to version 13.5, ForeFlight has added several new features that will enhance safety while also making one of IFR flying’s most demanding tasks easier. The app has also added support for several jet makes and models to their Runway Analysis product, including the Bombardier Global 5000, Global Express, Global XRS, Learjet 60R, and Learjet 70, the Gulfstream GVII-G500, and the Embraer Phenom 300 and 300E.

The new Hold Advisor feature is included with the Pro Plus subscription plan and above, and it allows the set-up of any type of hold, making one of IFR flying’s often-frustrating procedures much easier. Like most all of ForeFlight’s features, pilots can access Hold Advisor with just a few taps, and the app will then automatically select the appropriate pattern entry based on the course to the fix, which can be a waypoint along the route, outside the route, or any arbitrary lat/long coordinate.

Another new feature is Augmented Procedures, which allows a pilot to quickly find the appropriate minimum for an approach procedure and display it as part of their route to supplement the plate and reduce the risk of errors. ForeFlight uses Jeppesen procedure data to recreate the information displayed on the plate itself, narrowing down the available minimums for each approach type based on your aircraft category and airport equipment status. Augmented Procedures is available with ForeFlight Performance Plus plans.

With support for more jet makes and models, Foreflight’s Runway Analysis tool now can directly display the various engine-out procedures (EOPs) available for a given runway directly on a preview map, simplifying comparisons between multiple EOP options. Foreflight works closely with major OEMs to enable support for the most widely flown jet aircraft in business and general aviation, with many more models coming in the near future. See a full list of currently supported models here. The Runway Analysis tool and EOP feature are available in ForeFlight’s Performance Plus subscription plan.

“ForeFlight’s June release broke ground on some amazing new technology,” said Tyson Weihs, ForeFlight co-founder & CEO. “Augmented Procedures represents the logical next step in the progression from paper charts to digital charts, in which we leverage Jeppesen’s high-quality data to enhance how pilots engage with procedures; in this case by helping them quickly find the appropriate approach minimum as a supplement to the plate. The other major feature, Hold Advisor, is a long-time customer request that we’re thrilled to finally be able to fulfill. With this in their toolkit, IFR pilots will never again have to deal with the mental gymnastics required to set up a holding pattern.”

ForeFlight can be downloaded for free in the Apple Store, with subscription plans starting at $99 per year for the Basic Plus plan, which includes the essential feature set for VFR and IFR flying. Their Pro Plus plan starting at $199.99 per year adds more safety and situational awareness features like geo-referenced charts and synthetic vision. The top-tier Performance Plus subscription at $299.99 per year  adds more support for jet aircraft but has been swiftly growing in utilization amongst a broad spectrum of GA pilots. Devices that are compatible with the latest version of ForeFlight Mobile are any iPad or iPhone that can update to iOS 13, including iPad Air 2 and newer, iPad Mini 4 and newer, and iPhone 6S/6S Plus and newer. Each annual subscription grants license to one individual to use ForeFlight on two iPads and one iPhone, or one iPad and two iPhones. One geographic region is included (United States, Canada, or Europe), with additional regions available for purchase for $100.

The post ForeFlight’s Latest Update Includes New Hold Advisor Feature appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

A wide world of apps compete for space on your smartphone or tablet—and now that you’re thinking about learning to fly, you have a few more to consider.

Primary among these are apps that host training programs, and these should be the first you look at because having a tool accessible on your phone whenever you have a few minutes to study can help ensure you do spend time learning to fly every day.

Learning styles determine what programs work best for you in training, and your instructor can help guide you to the training aids that will correspond to your syllabus and course outline. We’ve found that, over the years, the following companies have provided quality aviation training and now deliver that quality in mobile formats, so you can study wherever and whenever you have a few minutes to spare.

It’s not an exhaustive list, to be sure, but the apps in this roundup should get you started navigating the aviation training landscape.

King Schools offers access to its online courseware through its Companion app for iOS-compatible platforms. The app works for customers using the Cessna Sport/Private and Instrument courses as well, and you can download videos and answer those questions for the commercial, multiengine and flight-instructor courses. Those who use Android devices can view the courseware through a browser on the device.

Sporty’s Pilot Shop offers several apps for both iOS and Android devices that will keep you focused on training. Of particular use for students are the Learn To Fly and Instrument courses, accessible through the Sporty’s Pilot Training Online portal. Avionics courses might help you dive into the details on your training airplane’s equipment as well and get you back on track if you’ve had to lay off from flying for a while.

Aviation Supplies & Academics hosts a wide range of pilot training apps covering the gamut from test prep to the latest FAR/AIM. Geared toward those who want a comprehensive system, with digital and print versions of most titles, ASA is a great starting point to orient a budding pilot. With multiple ways to study the information, ASA products allow you to change your study method depending on where you are in your training—and where you need to physically access the material.

CloudAhoy’s newest version of its flight-tracking software offers the CFI Assistant feature that will score your maneuvers based on Airman Certification Standards. A free trial helps you determine if the system will be useful for you. You don’t need to use the app with your instructor to gain the benefit of scoring—make it a game, and you can use it to foster friendly competition between yourself and your friends in training with you.

Boldmethod specializes in shareable digital aviation content, with a sharp focus on flight training. The power behind its programs lies in their daily engagement, with quizzes, video stories and instructor tools to supplement your study plans. A series of apps features content from their online courses, covering VFR Publications, Aviation Weather and Airspace. Course progress uploads to the Boldmethod cloud for users of the program.

Gold Seal Online offers a comprehensive way to focus your studies on passing the private pilot tests, and it gives free access to instructors, so yours can track your progress. After you receive your certificate, the company provides a flight-review course—for when you need to renew your credentials every two years—and a means for you to get current again if you get “rusty.”

Once you have your certificate and you’re ready to use it, you can look into a broad selection of aviation apps to help keep you flying, such as flight-planning tools like ForeFlight and FlyQ and pilot-logbook apps including Smart Logbook. The Smart Logbook app automatically syncs your entries, preserving your flight time; the first 50 hours you log constitute a free trial, with in-app purchases to give you the features you need.

Pilot Workshops is one source to check out once you’ve earned your certificate—and even as you work through the final stages of your first ticket. Of particular interest are the company’s courses and tips on flying on instruments and using flight simulation at home to supplement your training and flight currency.

And who among us doesn’t like to pretend they’re flying when they’re stuck on the ground because of bad weather? While desktop flight simulators can be helpful—and fun—what if you’re not near your computer? In late 2019, Laminar Research, parent to the well-known X-Plane flight-simulator software, released a mobile version the company says can mimic nearly 80 percent of their desktop version.

The new X-Plane software is available for free from the Android and Apple app stores. The full-featured system comes with a Cessna 172 and Cirrus VisionJet installed as well as options to alter the local weather, time of day, and even the opportunity to fail a system or two.

The app gives you the flexibility to choose from any of 30,000 different airports around the world, 11,000 of which Laminar says come with rich, locally realistic scenery. For a $5.99 monthly fee, the app also offers pilots the chance to fly a variety of other airplanes, such as a Beech Baron or King Air, a Boeing 737, 747 or 777, and even a number of military fighters.

This story appeared in the Learn to Fly Special Issue of Flying Magazine

The post Best Apps for Pilots in Training appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

How many times has it happened to you? Having your mobile device fall asleep or you need to cycle through to another app in the midst of a big Airport Data download to ForeFlight? The app will now continue to download the charts and data selected when the app shifts to the background, so pilots can use other apps without interrupting the stream. The ability to drag and drop multiple files at the same time has also been added—and it works with any Document Drive docs or folders.

New features in the late-April release include special capabilities to help pilots prep for night flight—the app toggles between Day and Night modes, and shows “realistic” Runway Lights in its Airport 3D mode, for those users on the ForeFlight Performance plan. The edge lighting is the basic lighting shown for most airports open at night, with additional lighting available, such as centerline and touchdown zone lighting, functional PAPIs/VASIs, and end light flashers. The daytime mode is the default mode for the first time an airport is viewed in 3D, but ForeFlight will retain the mode you last selected when toggling back to 3D mode—so it will stay in night mode if that’s how you last viewed the airport. Not only does this reinforce the sight picture, but it will also help reduce blue light on the flight deck if you view the app prior to the approach after darkness falls outside.

The app’s new Dynamic Winds and Temperatures features land alongside a new color legend poised just above the time slider on graphical weather pages. The legend appears any time the following layers are activated: Radar (Composite, Lowest Tilt, ADS-B, Sirius XM), Enhanced Satellite, Color IR Satellite, Icing and Turbulence (US, Global, ADS-B, Sirius XM, 557WW), Clouds, and Winds (Temps) and Winds (Speeds) layers—the last two being the latest weather additions.

ForeFlight has a new interactive series of features within its ForeFlight Labs section, with the first being Taxi Routing. By using the feature and giving feedback to the developers at the company, pilots can improve functionality. Taxi Routing allows pilots to chart a path to or from the active runway with an interactive and “contextually aware” taxi route bubble editor. ForeFlight also just finished its compatibility testing between the app and iOS/iPad 14.5.1 and users have the “all-clear” to proceed under the new operating system. The latest release joins recent updates to the app that include improved aircraft tracking features.

The post ForeFlight Update Includes Dynamic WX, Background Downloads appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Sam Taylor, ForeFlight’s senior video marketing specialist, on April 14 hosted a virtual update at Sun ‘n Fun of new features added to the company’s software in the first quarter of 2021. At the top of Taylor’s list was mention of changes to ForeFlight’s efforts to learn from the successes inherent in the original traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) now standard in most transport category aircraft. Taylor said pilots will now see nearby traffic outlined either in yellow or in red depending upon their proximity. “We’ve been inspired by TCAS alerts and now account for an aircraft speed and direction of flight. He said the software is now predictive relative to the ForeFlight user aircraft’s direction of flight. “Targets expected to pass within two nautical miles of your airplane and within 1,200 feet vertically will be outlined in yellow. If within the next 25 seconds the traffic will come within 1.3 nm and 1,200 feet vertically it will be highlighted in red.” He added that for safety concerns, traffic alerts are disabled when aircraft enter the airport traffic pattern and are flying near to other airplanes.

Additional updates include a Flight Aware feed that offers users the ability to track any aircraft currently being tracked via ADS-B and other systems. There’s also a new map feature when pilots touch an airport icon on the map. Rather than bring up user-requested airport information on top of the airport queried, ForeFlight now sends that data to MAPS sidebar to ensure the airport is no longer blocked. “Jeppesen is now the only source of NOTAMs for ForeFlight,” Taylor added. “Their data is better curated and managed than the previous NOTAM source, especially for aircraft flying outside the US.” ForeFlight has also improved its traditional flight binder system to better organize approach data.

Recordings of all Foreflight sessions can be viewed here.

The post ForeFlight Gives Pilots a Look Under the Hood appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Saving fuel directly translates to saving dollars for any flight operation’s bottom line, and the latest release from GE Digital apparently is doing the job for crews using it on Qantas. FlightPulse—announced on March 9—is an app and flight analytics tool that GE Digital developed in concert with Qantas as a way to enhance safety and support operational decision making for pilots. The app uses both airline-specific and pilot-historical data to give pilots the ability to access their own efficiency metrics and trends following every flight—with the goal of increasing fuel efficiency and improving risk management. FlightPulse is built using the Microsoft Azure platform.

GE describes the app: “FlightPulse is a fully configurable, modular mobile app that becomes a part of a pilot’s electronic flight bag (EFB). Data from GE Digital’s Event Measurement System (EMS) is organized specifically for the needs of a pilot. The Pre-flight module provides rich aggregated data for pilots to identify any safety-related or general traffic flow considerations for more informed fuel decisions and departure briefings. The Post-flight module provides secure access to a pilot’s individual flight history allowing them to analyze their own operation of the aircraft in relation to peers and review areas to optimize personal operations and efficiency.”

So, how does it work from the pilot’s view? Flying asked Qantas first officer David Summergreene his initial impressions of the app and how well it integrated into his workflow on the flight deck. “I use FlightPulse in different ways depending on where I am flying to,” said Summergreene. “For example, if I am flying to an airport for the first time, then I would start to look at the information a few days in advance as part of my preparation, and this would continue up to the day of departure. If I am flying a particular route regularly, it serves more as a reference point to confirm my established flight plans. It’s now part of my regular debrief process to take a look at the Past Flights module after every flight, reflecting on how that flight performed both individually, and in comparison to the rest of my fleet.”

Summergreene said that learning to use the app was straightforward. “The app was designed to be intuitive, so learning how to use it only took a few minutes. The app contains explanatory text alongside each metric which is really helpful in understanding the data.” He also shared these tips for pilots that might use FlightPulse in the future: “My number one tip for a pilot using FlightPulse for the first time is to approach the data with an open mind. Some of the data will challenge the perceived norms, which is a good thing, because it becomes a learning curve for everyone and goes towards driving more efficiencies for the operation.”

Qantas has already seen the app benefit its operations. In the first year, the airline avoided 5.71MM kg in carbon emissions and witnessed an increase of 15 percent in the adoption of fuel-saving procedures. According to the company, 50 percent of Qantas’ pilots regularly used the app in the first two months of deployment and experienced significant fuel savings as a result.

The post New App for Pilots Leads to Fuel Savings for Qantas appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Sporty’s Bret Koebbe—also a contributor to Flying’s Pilot’s Discretion column—first showed us the company’s Learn to Fly course on its new courseware hub in October 2019 at Redbird Migration. With more than 30 courses now collected into one place, the hub demonstrated Sporty’s desire to make training accessible and easy to use for its customers. A year later, the company has driven more user feedback into the hub to increase that user-friendliness to a new level.

Koebbe joined John Zimmerman (vice president of the catalog division and also a Flying contributor) and Eric Radtke (president of Sporty’s Academy) in flying over from Clermont County Airport in Batavia, Ohio, to my home base at the Hagerstown Regional Airport in Maryland. Like most of us, the team is working hard to stay current during COVID times, and they clearly enjoyed the excuse to light up the engines and make a visit—and demonstrate one rock-solid reason why folks learn to fly: to take advantage of general aviation and its ability to connect us in business and in our personal lives.

With Sporty’s first venture into cross-platform apps about five years ago, and last year’s addition of course delivery via Apple TV, RokuTV, and ChromeCast, the team aims to meet pilots-in-training where they most conveniently study. Because the course is tracked through the hub, a pilot can begin studying on a laptop at the (home) office, take in a few sessions on an iOS or Android mobile device while out and about, and finish up with a review piped through their living-room television.

When it was originally deployed, the courses weren’t all optimized for the various platforms on which they were viewed. The latest releases change that, and scale with a swipe between a full-screen version and mobile version in decreasing size all the way down to a smartphone presentation. “It’s responsive to mobile now, and optimized, rather than previous compromises,” said Koebbe. This is important, because these courses aren’t meant to be “one and done” experiences. When a pilot purchases a course, they gain unlimited access to it indefinitely—and can return to it whenever a review is needed, or the pilot wants to view new video and other updates that Sporty’s drives into the courses each year.

Within the private course that Koebbe demonstrated for me, the focus is not on memorization for the knowledge exam—though that’s still a main reason why customers purchase the course. More than 15 hours of HD video comprise the Smart Study Sessions, which also feature review notes, video transcripts, and quizzes—and these are not based on knowledge test prep but on real-world concepts. The quiz questions are linked to the specific point within the video segment where the concept is covered. Maneuvers sessions go through all of those found on the private pilot check ride. Sporty’s Academy students, in fact, are asked to complete the course prior to beginning an accelerated training program. Radtke mentioned that they’d also included a generic pre-solo exam that can be customized for use by flight schools and instructors accessing the courseware.

For knowledge test preparation, the course features a number of ways to work through the questions—by category, randomized, or by your prior strengths and weaknesses on previous practice tests. A new study session feature uses a flashcard mode to move through the 1,000-plus questions in the Sporty’s test bank. They’ve generated their own questions through interviewing students following knowledge exams, as well as designated pilot examiners and flight instructors. The airmen certification standards are cross-referenced throughout, so that users are exposed to the criteria they’ll need to meet on the check ride from the early stages of their training.

Other features incorporate flight simulation sessions—tied in with flight lessons in the syllabus and including keyboard shortcuts and settings for each plus performance goals —and a nod to the modern tools most pilots will use when flying after gaining a certificate. Zimmerman noted that they’d figured out that you can use ForeFlight in airplane mode to simulate the traditional paper-chart-and-pencil cross-country flight planning method. “We know we’re not the first to figure this out,” he said, but it shows how they are striving to balance what has been done for decades with real-world flying today. Integration with CloudAhoy allows for the course to be used as a debriefing tool, and pilots can upload docs to the hub for building a convenient library. ForeFlight users can export endorsements from the courses directly into their logbooks.

At $249 for unlimited access to the private course and all of the tools above—with more to come—the latest programs on the learn-to-fly hub from Sporty’s offer a compelling and complete solution.

The post Sporty’s Reinvents Its Learn-to-Fly Apps For 2021 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Learning styles determine what programs work best for you in training—and your instructor can help guide you to the training aids that will correspond to your syllabus and course outline. We’ve found that over the years, the following companies have provided quality aviation training and now deliver that quality in mobile formats—so you can study whenever and wherever you have a few minutes to spare.

It’s not an exhaustive list, to be sure, but the links below should get you started in navigating the aviation training landscape.

King Schools offers access to its online courseware through its Companion app for iOS. The app works for customers using the Cessna Sport/Private and Instrument courses as well—and you can download videos and answer those questions for the commercial, multiengine, and flight instructor courses. Those who use Android devices can view the courseware through a browser on the device.

Sporty’s Pilot Shop offers several apps for both iOS and Android devices that will keep you focused on training. Of particular use for students are the Learn to Fly and Instrument courses. Avionics courses may help you dive into the details on your training airplane’s equipment, as well.

Aviation Supplies & Academics hosts a wide range of pilot training apps covering the gamut from test prep to the latest FAR/AIM. Geared towards those who want a comprehensive system, with digital and print versions of most titles, ASA is a great starting point to orient a budding pilot.

CloudAhoy’s newest version of its flight-tracking software offers the CFI Assistant feature that will score your maneuvers based on airman certification standards. A free trial helps you determine if the system will be useful for you.

Boldmethod apps feature content from their online courses, covering VFR Publications, Aviation Weather, and Airspace. Course progress uploads to the Boldmethod cloud for users of the program.

Other online flight training providers you might consider include Pilot Workshops, and Gold Seal Online.

Once you have your certificate and you’re ready to use it, you can look into a broad selection of aviation apps to help keep you flying. Happy training!

The post So You’ve Started Flight Training: Flight Apps appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

A recently updated version of flight tracking app CloudAhoy–CloudAhoy Pro—aims to streamline flight evaluations for flight instructors. A new feature called “CFI Assistant” evaluates multiple parameters of flight, such as indicated airspeed deviation, altitude deviation, sink rate, descent angle consistency, and centerline deviation, and it provides scores for those parameters as well as an overall score for the flight. Scores are recorded on a scale from 0 to 100, and they are color-coded green for 85-100, yellow for 50-85 and red for below 50.

“The CFI Assistant certainly does not replace a human flight instructor–flight instructors are indispensable–but specific aspects of pilot performance and proficiency are objective and measurable, and that’s where the CFI Assistant comes in,” said CloudAhoy’s founder and CEO, Chuck Shavit. Shavit and his team have been working on the CFI Assistant feature for more than two years and tapped feedback from thousands of flights conducted by military, flight-school and individual pilots.

The update also provides improved instrument-approach performance analysis. The app can automatically detect which approach is being flown, and it compares the flight path track to the horizontal and vertical approach paths. CloudAhoy Pro can also be linked to some avionics systems, such as Garmin’s G3X, G1000 and G3000, to stream primary flight data, power settings, configuration changes and more to the app for evaluation.

In addition to adding features, CloudAhoy has made several interface improvements and added more aircraft performance parameters (the app supports hundreds of aircraft models), to help make the flight analyses more accurate.

There are three levels of annual subscriptions. The Pro version costs $150, while the previous “standard” version remains at $65. There is also a free version, which includes 2D flight tracking and flight logging. Creating an account is easy, and CloudAhoy offers a 35-days free trial for new users.

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