AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - September 2024 - 42

BRIEFING
FIRST LOOK /
More than a tattletale
FlySto is a logbook on steroids
BY DAVE HIRSCHMAN
IN THIS ERA of evermore powerful computers and lifelike graphics, it's rare to be
astounded by any new analytical tool. The first time you log into FlySto.net and
upload your aviation data, however, expect to be amazed. I was stunned by the
quantity and variety of flight information your glass-panel avionics collect as well
as FlySto's accurate presentation and instant analysis of it.
From engine start to shut down, the free web-based tool tracks aircraft and
engine performance, and highlights temperatures, pressures, pitch and bank angles,
or acceleration units that exceed pre-set limits, as well as weather, traffic, and terrain.
It notes the amount of runway used on every takeoff as well as the placement and
firmness of each landing.
But FlySto is more than a tattletale.
It gives pilots a powerful tool to self-critique every flight in detail and at their own
pace; it's a logbook on steroids that lets pilots replay and share highlights of their trips
using 3D graphics, and it's an engine monitor that can identify troublesome trends
before they become critical.
For flight schools and aircraft managers, FlySto provides unique insights into the
way every flight is conducted and how each airplane performs. If cylinders are getting
too hot or cold, or oil pressure is too high or too low, or fuel flow is out of tolerance,
or acceleration units are exceeded, the software takes note.
FlySto was founded three years ago by a Russian-born software engineer who
lives in the European Union and started learning to fly.
" He was looking for a better way and came up with this elegant software, " said
Patrick Leinhart, a principal in the nine-employee firm with offices in Austria and
Cyprus. " Word started to spread, and now we've got 10,000 users. "
42
AOPA PILOT / September 2024
FlySto is free for individual users, and
the company plans to charge for commercial
operators. One large university flight school is
using it, he said, and so are charter managers.
An aviation insurance start-up firm is exploring
the possibility of having policy holders share
their FlySto data in much the same way that car
insurance companies use dashboard cameras: to
monitor driver behavior and proficiency.
I downloaded flight data from the Dynon
HDX in my personal RV-4 as well as a Garmin
G500 in the Beech A36 Bonanza that AOPA
uses for photography flights, and reviewing the
results was an eye-opener.
In the RV-4, loops entered at 160 KIAS were
almost exactly 1,000 feet in diameter, and each
one began and ended with a 3-G pull. Overhead
approaches had a max bank angle of 55 degrees,
and takeoff rolls and landings consistently used
less than 800 feet of runway.
In the Bonanza, the number three cylinder
runs hottest and regularly flirts with the upper
limit of 380 degrees F during sustained climbs.
Its actual ground roll usually is about 1,400 feet
FLYSTO

http://www.FlySto.net

AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - September 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - September 2024