Needs statement for right-seat pilot (Louise): Needs to be able to find a way to allow for after flight planning (restaurants with healthy eating alternatives, car rentals, way to predict arrival time).

Needs statement for pilot (Mary): Needs to be able to complete required flight planning more efficiently, using less time.

Big ideas for Mary’s need statement:

  • E6B app for use in flight planning
  • Electronic log forms organized by airport location
  • E6B and flight calculator combination with all requirements for iPad or other tablet device
  • Flight plan paperwork virtual assistant (app) to walk the pilot through all aspects of the flight paperwork using voice commands (so it is easier to use in the air)
  • Paperless Planning workflow for pre-flight planning and in-flight route monitoring

 

 

Paperless Planning App

After meeting with the client then shadowing the pilot and right seat pilot, the need for increased assistance with paperwork tasks became apparent as Mary (the pilot) felt that the time spent manually flight planning using maps, forms and a circular slide rule (E6B) was excessive and took away her enjoyment for flying. The user persona for this app is amateur pilots who tend to give up flying when faced with too much paperwork done by hand. The site map would have Pre-Flight and In-Flight choices. The Pre-Flight choices would include any maps, log forms, and other pre-flight calculations assisted by a computer-generated slide rule. Airports could be chosen from a list to ease in the distance calculations. In the In-Flight choice, weather, wind and other notifications could be generated and landing times could be given based on speed, wind, runway availability etc.  Perhaps a concierge service could be added to choose car rentals, restaurants, activities, and lodging to also address the right seat pilot’s concerns. Each pilot would have a user profile that could also be used to give suggestions to other routes for future flying and would keep a record of the paperwork under the profile. A prototype would be created and then be discussed with the client and used by the pilot and other pilots to gain feedback. The final design would be changed based on functionality as expressed by the pilots as well as feedback from the client.