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The results are in…

It was our honour to be awarded a Special Recognition by EASA for our app “Wings Toolbox“.

I’d like to congratulate the three main winners of the contest.

1st Prize: Open Glider Network – http://wiki.glidernet.org/
2nd Prize: EasyVFR 4 – https://easyvfr4.aero/
3rd Prize: Flytool – https://www.flytool.nl/nl/uk/

All great apps and great initiatives. Congratulations for your work and thank you for your contribution.

We are of course very happy that our ideas and efforts have caught the attention of EASA, and hope they can help us spread the word so that more people can benefit from our software. You can find the press release from EASA here.

Our entry – Wings Toolbox

Wings Toolbox was designed with a very narrow focus of raising situational awareness, and awareness of your own personal minimums. It does this by showing you what the situation is on the ground at nearby airfields, not just VMC/IMC but also measuring the conditions against preset criteria defined by you as part of your personal set of minimums. We call this feature your “Personal Barometer”.

Wings Toolbox – The Swiss Army Knife of Aviation
EASA & Sunny Swift updates

This is of course great when deciding if you should fly at all, but the app doesn’t stop there. The main screen lists all of the eligible airfields closest to your current position as well as a direction, distance and ETA, all updated on the main list in real time. Once you have selected a landing field, you can then drill down to get more details about the field including a suggestion of a runway based on your presets and the wind direction.

In addition to these crucial features, the app also has some smaller but super handy features that could in some situations prove to be of crucial importance. Features such as a backup set of instruments and weight and volume conversions.

We also deliver EASA news and Sunny Swift episodes directly to your pocket if you should choose to opt-in for such notifications.

You can learn more about Wings Toolbox on our website or download it directly from the Apple Appstore.

Stay tuned!

This is just the beginning. We hope to improve and expand on this app as well as the other apps we are working on, so watch this space! And thank you EASA for showing an interest in our work and sharing our passion for technology in aviation and aviation safety.

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Happy New Year

We’ve been a little quiet recently, and that is because we’ve been busy working on our initial product offering for pilots.

As you know, we already have software for clubs and schools, so offering some products for pilots was the logical next step.

We thought a lot about what could be useful to pilots on the various platforms, and have come up with two initial products, or rather two variations of the same product. That product is called Wings Toolbox for Pilots, and is completely free.

We have split the product in two by platform, a web app which requires an account, and an iOS app that does not. Both are free and easy to get started with.

The iOS App

Currently only available on iOS 13 capable devices, our toolbox app has a focus on safety both before and during a flight.

We thought long and hard about how we could bring something new to the market without re-inventing the wheel or being yet another aviation app that tries to do it all. For that reason, we have deliberately maintained a narrow focus for the app and its features.

We are describing the app as a “Swiss Army Knife” of aviation apps, as there are a number of scenarios where having the app could save you time, effort and in some cases maybe even your life or a bent plane!

The app has three main functions… 1, An overview of nearby airfields and details, 2, a personal barometer to manage your own minimums and 3, a backup set of instruments in case you lose one or more in the air.

We have worked hard to make the app simple and intuitive, the design should help ease the mental load in a stressful situation by giving you simple and visual aids to help you make decisions and guide you safely to a suitable airfield.

Additionally, the app will keep you informed of news from EASA and other safety related information.

The Web App

The web app is designed for use on the ground and offers a variety of tools for student and licensed pilots alike. Tools such as basic weather reports for your favourite airfields, an aviation chart with your visited fields pinned, a “smart” digital logbook and a comprehensive PPL and ATPL question bank for students.

This is an initial set of tools that we plan to extend based on user feedback, but already we are getting really positive feedback, especially on our question bank. We are actually considering putting this into its own app and bringing it as a native app on Android and iOS, what do you think?

What now?

Both of these apps are built for pilots of all levels and experiences, so go ahead and give them a try @ https://www.wingstoolbox.com/. Let us know what you think!

A very Happy New Year from everyone at Oscar Yankee! Fly safe.

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Safety Management

Wings has a built-in EASA compliant Safety Management System. This is important because it is required that all ATOs have a structured, and functioning SMS.

We have built our implementation around EASAs model while ensuring it remains simple and easy to understand. Wings SMS makes completing reports fast and easy, and help you continually add information to the report in the form of notes and pictures/files.

You will also be notified when the follow-up date is reached and prompted to follow up and archive the report if the matter has been dealt with.

Convenience

In-lesson action to quickly report an incident

It is possible to report an incident directly from the lesson. When this is done, the incident date/time is captured but no information is requested at this time. The idea is that the lesson can proceed, and relevant details can be added to the report during the debrief. When an incident is reported in this way then it will be connected to the lesson, and all lesson files will also be accessible directly from the incident report. Additionally, you can always find your way to the incident report from the lesson report, and vice versa.

There are a number of visual cues to help quickly find reports that are pending a followup. And it is trivial to navigate around between connected lessons, reports and files.

Following up

When a followup is overdue, the system wide alert system will alert all relevant parties, and prompt the case stakeholders to take the followup action(s).

Once a report is completed, images and notes can always be added. Though the original details of the report are locked and cannot be modified. This acts as a record, and a can be quickly produced in the event of an audit by the CAA.

Reliable data

EASA likes Wings because our system shows an accurate record of who did what, when and why. Our systems are supported by the worlds largest cloud infrastructure, AWS, and are backed up in near real-time. With Wings, your data is safe. EASA can trust it, and so can you 🙂

For more details about how Wings can help you and your ATO maintain EASA compliancy, get in touch with us on hello@oscaryankee.com

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Wings is now ADS-B ready

ADS-B is an awesome technology that is rapidly gaining traction in the GA community in Europe. For those who haven’t heard of it before, it stands for “Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast” and is a universal standard to transmit and receive traffic and weather information.

Support

Most modern avionics support ADS-B off the shelf, in some countries having ADS-B out is already mandatory. Some mode s transponders, have the capability to transmit ADS-B data packets for example.

Stratux ADS-B receiver

ADS-B out devices, especially devices certified for installation in a plane cockpit, are still pretty pricey. Thankfully though, ADS-B in devices are very simple and building a portable device that you can add to your flightbag can be built for less than 150 EUR.

For information on how you can build your own device, you can check out Stratux, an open source project, that is both functional and cheap!

How does this work with Wings?

As you know, when Wings is being used with a GPS equipped device, then some situational data is collected, and can be shown on a map once the lesson is completed. With this update, Wings now supports using GDL90 too. This is the protocol most commonly used to send situational data such as ADS-B for example. So if the device you are using with Wings is connected to a Stratux for instance, then it will automatically find the device and start capturing all of the situational data from that device instead of using the built-in GPS. This is a HUGE difference, as we can then collect data each second instead of at random intervals set by your device. But not only that, we have a lot more data such as AHRS, barometric altitude, more accurate directional and positional data (assuming the connected device has the necessary sensors).

Added benefits

Having such a device, and setting it up with your EFB is a good idea. It won’t only enhance your experience with Wings, but if you use an EFB such as Foreflight or Skydemon, then these software can also make good use of the GDL90 data coming from your connected device, and will overlay traffic and weather data right in the app.

Once you’ve set up your device, your phone should connect automatically. There is no need to do anything more, when your phone see’s the device it will connect, and start using the improved data source without you having to do anything. Just like your phone connects to your car’s bluetooth.

Give it a try

The feature is still relatively new, so we are very eager to get some customers using it and sharing their experiences with us. So give it a try today, and let us know what you think by sending a mail to hello@oscaryankee.com.

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Rental pricing & management

When wings was first released, we modelled it on a simple flat structure that was compatible with the few clubs we spoke to at that time. However as Wings gained traction and picked up some customers, we encountered some different constellations in the clubs and their members, and the feature requests started to roll in.

Improvements

Price overview from aircraft setup pane

At Oscar Yankee we pride ourselves on making our software powerful, simple and usable. So with that in mind, it’s hard designing features that cater to as many of our users as possible without over-engineering and complicating the system.

We are very pleased with what we have ended up with, and so are our customers. This latest update fits 95% of all club setup’s we have encountered, automatically calculating prices based on the booking duration, hours flown by the member and any price plans the user has been assigned for that aircraft.

Details

Price management dialog
Pricing strategies help pane

We have given this some thought and tried our best to design an interface and system that is intuitive and flexible.

A simple and flat structure is of course still supported. Simply set a tacho price, and that is what your members pay. But now we have some additional options such as commission (per tacho) and booking fee (per booked hour).

These three numbers set your base pricing, after which you can apply modifiers based on the member and their hours in this particular aircraft.

Price plans alter the base rate for the members assigned to that plan.

Price tiers calculate the price based on the number of tacho hours logged on that plane, for that user at the time of their booking.

The lowest price is applied. So if a user is in a price plan, but matches a price tier at a lower rate, the lower price is the one applied.

Accounting

The booking reports page has been updated to show all of the modifiers applied to the bookings, so it is completely clear how the final price has been calculated.

We have also added invoicing in this update, a PDF invoice is generated when a booking report is completed. For now, this invoice is only available via the booking report page, but there will be an option in a later release to attach this to the booking report summary email. There is an option to add a CVR number in the club settings page as well as a tax rate. Both of these fields are optional, and will be included on invoices if set.

This is a substantial update to the rental system, and we are very pleased with it. We are however, more interested in hearing what you think of the changes, as well as any other suggestions you might have for improvements to the platform.

As always you can get in touch with us at hello@oscaryankee.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

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The Calendar

The internet is filled with booking systems, almost all digital systems rely on time or scheduled events in some form to operate. This means there are a lot of booking systems out there already, some good, some bad and some _very_ bad. So how do we compare? What have we done to stand out, and what are we doing to stay current.

Well, for a start we don’t believe in reinventing the wheel, we use a lot of open source software in our technology, and also give a lot back. When it comes to dates and calendars, there is a LOT of software out there to choose from. We use one of the internets most popular and active calendars, which is very extensible and constantly updated.

Building on the foundation

With that very solid starting block, we have continued to build, augmenting the out of the box features with more open source products and custom code to ensure that our calendar and booking system does everything we need it to do while being user friendly. And in that, we have succeeded.

We believe that our booking system, with regards to the calendar but also the users flow through the system is flexible and simple, while at the same time working on a huge range of different devices customising the layout and features depending on the size and platform of the client device.

So what… just another booking system

Well yes… and no. Our booking page is at the heart of our flying club system and a key component in our aviation school system too. Straight from the main booking page, you can quickly get an overview of your bookings, create new ones, see plane and instructor availability and of course manage your existing bookings. In the club system you can access your booking reports from here, and from the school system you can access or create a lesson directly from the calendar. It’s the entry point into the system for most of our users, so it’s important that it’s intuitive and a rock solid part of the system.

In addition to the calendar itself, there are a number of calendar related features in the system that make the system complete. For example, from your profile page you can create an ICS calendar subscription link which you can use to show your Wings bookings in your own calendar. Most calendars support this, such as Google and Apple, and then you have all of your important bookings in a single view, in your favourite calendar app.

Save the date

Dates are important, much of what happens in Wings is based on events. Managing pilot currency, aircraft services, and yes, also bookings. Wings uses a number of technologies to ensure that we always deliver the best service to you, on time 🙂

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Inspiration behind Oscar Yankee and Wings

I am a “computer nerd” or “geek” first and foremost, playing with technology has always been my passion from a very young age. It wasn’t until later in life that I decided to get into flying.

Flying always seemed like it should be the most advanced technology in the world, next to space travel of course, imagine my surprised when I was asked to climb into a C150 from 1963 held together with nothing but gafa-tape and a few loose screws.

This was just the tip of the iceberg, aviation is actually an industry filled with regulation, documentation and process, but not a great deal of technology, so it wasn’t long before I found a few things I thought could be helped with a sprinkle of software and maybe even a dash of hardware too!

It starts…

I got talking to my instructor at the time, asking him how he manages bookings, it seemed chaotic, but he was an older guy and didn’t like the idea of using one of the many free and open online booking solutions. So I offered to help. Initially I made a very basic booking system for him, yes it was a little bit of reinventing the wheel, which I’m not a huge fan of, but I did it so my then instructor could reduce some of the chaos in his life.

Then slowly slowly, I started bolting on some additional features, such as aircraft, and adding the concept of an instructor to the system so that students could book a specific plane and a specific instructor. Now Wings was no longer just another off-the-shelf booking system, now it was an industry specific tool – At least in the making.

Gaining momentum

Once we had instructors in the system, the next natural question was, was if a plane or instructor was unavailable, how do we tell the system that – So we added a flexible availability system in for the instructors and allowed marking planes to service. But that seems like a lot of work, wouldn’t it be nicer if the system could tell us in advance if planes needed servicing of if instructors’ currency needed to be updated? Yes! And so the warning and alert system was born.

From here it snowballed into a fully fledged Flight School Management solution, supporting an EASA compliant Safety Management System (SMS) and powerful lesson progress, execution and reporting for schools, and some unique club features such as accounting, invoice generation and booking reports.

The system continues to grow in much the same way. We of course have plans on what we’re building next, but often customers say “It’s great, but it would be EVEN better if it just did <feature x>”, so then we build feature x.

Wings has grown from a small booking system into an enterprise level aviation management platform, and we are very proud of it. Oscar Yankee has a number of other projects too. For example, we have had a bit of a side project called World Flight Guide which is a community driven global listing of airfields, along with their current weather information. The system is driven by an open API that we have given back to the community providing fast lookup of airfields, current and historic weather data and other useful aviation data.

What’s next?

TrueTrack is our first hardware/software endeavour, we are working on an ADS-B in enabled device that not only provides you with traffic and weather data, but will track all of your flight information in real time to the cloud, allowing for you to track your students in detail while they’re flying solo, or allowing you to play back a flight dissecting it one bank at a time to help your students better learn from their practical sessions. Clubs and plane owners can also use this innovative device to understand how their planes are being used, and set alerts for when a specific flight metric exceeds a predefined limit.

Oscar Yankee’s mission is to modernise GA through technology, so who knows what else we’ll be working on in the future. If you have some thoughts or ideas about an area of aviation that needs the “Oscar Yankee treatment”, then please let us know. We are all aviation enthusiasts and want to give back to the GA community. You can contact us directly at hello@oscaryankee.com

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This is me

So I’m Pete Warnes, halfbreed (English/Danish), geek and aviation enthusiast.

I have always wanted to fly, my first (GA) flying experience was in the form of a helicopter lesson, my wife had bought it for me as a gift. Despite being a little afraid of heights, I loved it.

I was bouncing off the walls when we came back down, and I was determined to learn to fly, until I saw how much it costs to learn to fly a helicopter… That was the end of that dream.

A few years later…

A few years later I again had the opportunity to fly, this time with my uncle, in San Fransisco. We flew from San Jose, up to Half Moon Bay for a Burrito before flying over the Golden Gate Bridge and back down through the bay. It was truly inspiring to get those views. When we landed I got some information from the club, though that was in the US, and I lived in England at the time. After returning home I just didn’t follow up on it.

A few more years go by (about 6), now we live in Denmark. Again my family bought a “Pilot for a day” gift for my birthday, which is basically a quick ground school, briefing and flight. I loved every minute of it, even just nosing around the plane, being allowed to touch it and press buttons while it was on the ground.

Right this was it! I signed up to start the theory the following week, and the next course started a month later which I signed up for. Great! Finally I did it… but no, it was not meant to be. The school I’d signed up to had decided they only wanted commercial pilots and cancelled their part time ground school courses, which meant that the course I was on was no longer going ahead.

This was the closest school to where I lived, and the prospect of driving 3 hours 4 times a week to take the next furthest school wasn’t appealing, so once again, time slipped by.

Finally

Then, just by chance, I found a ground school in Aarhus town, just 30 minutes from where I live, this was it, why had I not heard about this before?! I called them up, unfortunately I then found that the school had been moved up to Randers, but that wasn’t so bad, just an hour drive away. I was invited to come along to the theory lessons, a new course had just started and I’d missed the first two, but the instructor seemed to think I would be able to catch up. So I figured, why not.

That was February 10th 2017, I got my licence on August 27th 2017. It was intense, I had decided that this was my one and only opportunity, I’d put it off long enough. I made getting my license the highest priority, higher than my job, and for a short period, even higher than my family and friends – Whatever it took.

I’m so pleased I finally did it. Others on my course had spent much of their working life saving up, and where now in their 50s and finally learning to fly… It felt like I had waited a long time, and wasted those years, but meeting these people who had been dreaming about it for even longer than me, and waited until they where much older than I was, I realised how lucky I was to have done it while I still have (hopefully) many years to enjoy it.

I guess if I had some advice for those out there that dream about flying, but don’t have the time, or don’t have the money… I say this – Every year you wait, is a year you could be a pilot and living your dreams. You will never have enough time, you will never have enough money. You just need to make it happen, and worry about the rest later. After all, flying is a great stress reliever 🙂

/Pete