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10, 9, 8, 7… We’re so close to lift-off!
We’re so close! The FL1 engineering team is putting the final touches on FlightLevelOne to prepare it for its launch later this month. While we’re all waiting, I thought it would be a good idea to give a brief background on FL1, how it came to be, and how it’s intended to help the general aviation community.
The Problem
As a CFI, I see the same issues time and again. General aviation pilots, in general, don’t tend to fly a lot during the year. While there’s no inherent problem with this, problems can be compounded because when GA pilots do venture out, they tend not to focus on flight tasks and drills that will keep them proficient or, better yet, build their skills. FL1 is designed to engage the pilot in enjoyable, objective-focused flights personalized for their circumstances and constructed in such a way as to keep pilots sharp and proficient.
The Safety Dashboard
The Safety Assessment Dashboard is at the heart of FL1. Behind the scenes, we’ve used an AI-derived model to generate risk profiles from NTSB and AOPA accident and incident reports.
Once we have your digital logbook, we can compare your recent experience with known risk factors generated by our model to determine where you might need a little extra emphasis. Recency, currency, and the type of flying you do all contribute to the calculations. We even derive data about your crosswind data and consider your crosswind exposure in our evaluation. We know that crosswinds can contribute to LOC (Loss of Control) accidents.
Never be “Not Current” Again
We know that at a bare minimum, we need to be current. The FAA has very specific rules regarding this and they’re pretty simple. FL1 will track your currency and alert you when you’re currency is close to expiring. While there are plenty of logbook solutions out there that will track your currency, FL1 puts it into a larger context and we consider it just one facet of your overall safety and proficiency score. That’s why we place extra attention on maintaining currency across the board (Day, Night, IFR) because the data is clear: If you’re constantly current, you’re flying and if you’re flying you’re more likely to be proficient. Here’s what the Currency Dashboard looks like. On the back-end, you’ll also get email alerts when you’re close to expiring on any of these:
Crosswinds, the Monster Under the Bed. We can Help With That Too!
We know that spirited crosswinds have kept more than one pilot on the ground. No judgement here. We all have our limits. But this really got us thinking: what would we do to help pilots push their skills out a litte with respect to crosswinds? FL1 gives a particular focus to crosswinds and is designed to help pilots ease into more challenging crosswind situations. We do this in two ways.
The first way is by tracking your crosswind exposure on FL1’s Crosswind Dashboard
Based data from your logbooks, some crafty historical METAR work, and math, FL1 is able to piece together likely winds you encountered on your flights. Pro-tip here: if you’re using ForeFlight and a Sentry you’re crosswind data will be more accurate because we’ll have your take-off and landing times pinned down. This gives the FL1 system an idea of what kind of crosswinds you’ve been flying in. The purpose then is to have you gradually expose yourself to higher crosswinds, thus lowering the risk of an LOC accident.
Stealth Mode: FL1’s Training Weather Forecasts and Training Alert System
As we head towards our debut launch, we’re busy working on a game-changer feature that we’re going to preview here: FL1’s Crosswind Training Forecast and Alert System. We’re putting the final touches on this one but it’s going to be an invaluable tool. Our Crosswind Forecaster will gather the latest TAFs for your home airport. Though still in early development, this is what the Crosswind Weather Forecaster is shaping up to look like:
We feel this innovative tool will help push pilots to incrementally fly in crosswinds that are slightly beyond their current comfort level but not by much. We also always encourage pilots to grab their friendly neighborhood CFI to go along as well. In either case, this tool will help you head to the airport at the perfect time.
So head on over to Flight Level One and get ready!