Circling Approaches: Identified and Scored

We enhanced the flight analyzer’s -circling approaches now automatically identified.  This is available in both CloudAhoy Standard and CloudAhoy Pro.  If you have CloudAhoy Pro – it will have the additional information like with any instrument approach: waypoints, and scoring by CFI Assistant.

Circling approach – Auto-Segmentation

CloudAhoy now automatically identifies a circling approach and it is added to the segment list.  This is available for CloudAhoy Standard and Pro (Pro users have more details – see below

Example:

Circling Approach, 2D view (Click to enlarge)

Circling approach, 3D view (Click to enlarge)

Circling approaches in CloudAhoy Pro

Like with any Instrument approach, CloudAhoy Pro, an instrument approach is listed in the Segment Manager as an hierarchical segment: initial intercept, and then a subsegment for each waypoint.

Circling approach with waypoint. [Barth, Germany] (Click to enlarge)

Segment Info, Standard vs. Pro and CFI Assistant

As always, you can click or tap on the  icon to get the detailed information.

If you are a Pro user you will get the CFI Assistant, and the waypoints are annotated on the graphs.

Circling approach – CFI assistant, waypoints are annotated on the graphs. (Click to enlarge)

In CloudAhoy Standard, the Segment Info will be displayed:

Circling approach, Segment Info – CloudAhoy Standard. Wind vectors are also displayed. (Click to enlarge)

 

AirSync for Automatic Upload G1000 Flight Data

Flight data from the Garmin G1000 is an excellent input for debrief.   To use it you need to import the data from the SD card to CloudAhoy.   Or – you can use AirSync and configure it to upload the data automatically into CloudAhoy.

AirSyncFor details how to configure AirSync to automatically upload flights data to your CloudAhoy account see https://help.cloudahoy.com/importing-flight-data/airsync/

 

Getting the rich data directly from the G1000 EFIS enhances the debrief’s accuracy and quality.  You can see engine data, gauges, fuel, and other parameters, aligned and synched with the flight segments – as seen the screenshot below (click to enlarge):

Tuneup of the CFI Assistant’s Scoring

We tuned the CFI Assistant’s scoring. If you debrief today a flight which you already debriefed before, you may notice that your scores have changed; in most cases the new scores are higher. The changes we made are a result of insightful feedback we received. It affect the scoring of both instrument approaches and visual approaches, as well as of the departure climb. Most of our adjustments were made by changing our default “CloudAhoy Basic” envelope.

Click the screenshots to see them in full size.

Example 1: Visual Approach Scoring

NOW:                                                                       BEFORE:

 

Example 2: Instrument Approach Scoring

NOW                                                                        BEFORE: 

 


Tune-up changes – Details

For those interested in the details –

Scoring of Visual Approach tune-up:
Users told us that our default envelope put too much emphasis on the descent angle’s consistency. We agree.

We modified the weights of the components making up the score. This change emphasizes maintaining stable airspeed and sink-rate, and puts less emphasis on maintaining a consistent descent angle.

Here are the score details from the examples above (revealed by clicking the arrow).

NOW                                                                               BEFORE: 


 

Scoring of instrument approach tune-up:
We made three changes:

  1. We now have two different airspeed goals: one for 1000ft-500ft AGL, and one for 500ft to the runway’s threshold.
  2. We modified the weights of the various components making up the score. This change emphasizes maintaining stable airspeed and sink-rate, and puts less emphasis on maintaining a consistent descent angle.
  3. We give higher weight to the decent angle’s consistency for ILS approaches.

 


Safe Departure Airspeed
Users told us that our altitude ranges for the departure’s scoring are too restrictive. We agree.

 


Summary of Changes


Your Feedback

Please continue sending us feedback!
Click the Feedback button in the segment information view,
or the feedback link on the top-left
,
or
 simply send an email to team@CloudAhoy.com.

 

Zoom-in on VFR & IFR charts – as much as you want

Per users’ requests, we improved the visualization of VFR and IFR charts: it is now possible to zoom-in continually in 2D Track to a very high zoom level (in addition to continuous zoom in 3D which has always been available).

You can zoom-in using the “+” and “-” buttons, using the mouse wheel, or using finger gestures on iPad and other touch devices.

** Available to all users, Standard and Pro **

The following screenshot shows a debrief with close zoom-in of VFR charts:

In this flight, the pilot was concerned whether he busted Class D airspace.  The debrief – with zoom-in of the VFR charts – shows the flight path over the Class D (‘1’ at the top of the screenshot), however class D’s top is at 4199 feet and  ALT 4712 (‘2’ & ‘3’ at the bottom-left of the screenshot),  so – no Class D violation.

. . .

“Did I bust Class D airspace?
I was flying along on a site-seeing flight when my iPad overheated in the Arizona sun. Got distracted trying to cool it down in front of a vent.. looked outside….runways! Oh no! Quick 180. Luckily Stratus 2S continued to record while iPad was off, and I was able to import that flight log into CloudAhoy.
Debrief: I was right on the edge of class D. ALT 4712, class D up to 4199 -> Legal!
Noted: Situational awareness! and I ordered a mount with a fan.”
— told by Chris

More Gauges! with CloudAhoy Pro 6.0

With CloudAhoy Pro we display gauges when available, and the types of gauges which we display keeps growing.  If your favorite gauges are not shown for some reason, let us know and in most cases we can add them very quickly.

Recently added per uses’ requests:

ITT, %NG, and Torque using the Garmin G1000 EFIS data from his Turbo-Caravan:

 

RPM and the trim setting from Garmin G300 EFIS:

Press Release: CloudAhoy 6.0 – CFI Assistant Provide Automatic Scoring

September 24, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CloudAhoy 6.0 – CFI Assistant Provide Automatic Scoring

CloudAhoy introduces a Pro version

Lexington, MA (September 24, 2019) — CloudAhoy announces the release of CFI Assistant, for automatic scoring of pilot performance. The CFI Assistant is included in CloudAhoy Pro, along with additional advanced features for post-flight debriefing. It is released as part CloudAhoy 6.0 which has numerous new capabilities and enhancements.

“Automatic scoring of pilots’ performance has been in our vision since the very beginning of CloudAhoy.  We believe that data-driven, objective, automated scoring of a pilot’s performance provides valuable feedback to any pilot at any level, for flight training and for proficiency of experienced pilots.” says Chuck Shavit, the founder and CEO of CloudAhoy. “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.”

The CFI Assistant leverages the automatic flight segmentation which is part of the core CloudAhoy technology.  It scores individual maneuvers as well as the entire flight. The user interface and visualization enables drilling down and highlighting areas for improvements, using smart graphs and visualization.

“The CFI Assistant is released after more than two years of development.”  says Shavit. “We combed through data from thousands of flights, and received valuable feedback from beta testers in the military, flight schools and individual pilots.”

Additional capabilities of CloudAhoy Pro include detailed analysis of instrument approaches, and advanced display of gauges when data is available – such as power settings, G force, flaps, gear, etc.

CloudAhoy 6.0 has many additional improvements, available in both CloudAhoy Standard and CloudAhoy Pro. Those include a redesign of the iPhone interface, predefined layouts, user-friendly segments info and graphs, and other usability improvements. For more accurate analysis, hundreds of aircraft models and their parameters have been added to the aircraft models database.  For organizations such as flight universities and schools, military units, airlines & business operations and alike, CloudAhoy 6.0 includes an organization manager, with subscription management, organization-wide aircraft parameters, and organization-wide customizable scoring envelopes.

CloudAhoy is running a ‘6.0 Special’ until October-23 2019, giving a one-month free subscription of CloudAhoy Pro to every CloudAhoy user, and an extra month for every purchase (12+1).  “We are reaching out to all users, including early adopters of CloudAhoy” says Shavit, “to use the full Pro capabilities.“.  The subscription price of CloudAhoy Pro is $150/yr, the price of CloudAhoy Standard remains unchanged at $65/yr. NAFI and SAFE members have discounted price.

About CloudAhoy
CloudAhoy builds post-flight debriefing products. It integrates flight data with information from a comprehensive suite of aviation resources, analyzes the flight using rule-based knowledge engine, and presents the analysis via detail-rich interactive display.  CloudAhoy brings technology to post-flight debriefing, adding value to any flight training, enhancing the experience of flying, and helps make better pilots. This applies equally to primary, advanced, and recurrent training, and to day-to-day flight operation for self-improvement, and for fun. To learn more please visit www.CloudAhoy.com .

Contact:
CloudAhoy 6.0
Tani Shavit
VP Products & Strategy
(718) 572-5446tani@CloudAhoy.com

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Image links attached.

Video 6.0 announcement: https://youtu.be/F4wcehDfWjw

More about version 6.0: http://www.cloudahoy.com/cloudahoy6.php

CloudAhoy.com: http://www.cloudahoy.com