CloudAhoy Adds Facts to Landing Appraisals

Every pilot’s heard the tale, that the quality of their skills as an aviator hangs on just one aspect of every flight: the landing. Whether that’s true or not, judging an arrival as a good or nearly perfect in a small airplane has always been subjective, until now.

CloudAhoy, the flight debriefing people, said last week their newly updated software offers customers precise data about each arrival, down to the aircraft's speed crossing the runway threshold and even the exact spot on the runway where the aircraft first touches down. CloudAhoy's tracking software runs on an iPad or smartphone capturing nearly every piece of data about a flight and storing it for later review once the aircraft is safely parked.

The newest CloudAhoy version updates approach segment information by creating a graphical axis highlighting the distance the aircraft was from the landing threshold when the wheels first touched the pavement, as well as the airspeed at which the aircraft touched down. The CloudAhoy readout will indicate how much runway remained beyond the touchdown point. During a missed approach, the software will also show precisely when the climb away from the runway began.

While CloudAhoy can work with almost every aircraft, the accuracy of the touchdown point depends on the quality of the data being collected. That means an external GPS with good sky visibility will yield better information than logging with just a phone or iPad’s GPS. The best data overall will be gathered from an EFIS equipped aircraft. The CloudAhoy team will be at Booth 3081-3082 in Hangar C at this year’s AirVenture.