Flight Coach

Flight Coach is part of a family of software tools designed to record and analyze the flight of a radio-controlled model. It was developed for aerobatic pilots and judges with the goal of making the sport more objective. The software tools are continuously being refined by experienced pilots and are available for free online:

www.flightcoach.org

The hardware—a small box about the size of a receiver with GPS positioning and flight attitude detection capabilities—is installed in the aircraft. Power is supplied by a small 2S LiPo battery. Data is recorded during flight and can then be retrieved using a micro-SD memory card on a laptop or at home on a PC.

Using it at the model airfield is therefore very simple. The hardware is attached to a flat surface on the model using Velcro. It must not be mounted too close to the high-voltage motor, battery, or ESC, as this could cause recording errors. I usually fly several programs before analyzing the data so that I can better identify systematic errors that occur across all my flights.

The on-screen analysis allows me to evaluate the maneuvers based on various criteria. I can view the entire program or individual maneuvers from above, from behind, from the side, from the pilot’s perspective, or even from the judge’s perspective. This enables a wide range of perspectives; here are a few examples:

• Adherence to the F3A window; consistent and correct distance throughout the routine
• Altitude maintenance during entry and exit maneuvers
• Placement of maneuvers within the window (center and boundaries)
• Geometry, such as angles, centered placement of rolls, and the roundness of loops

Using these analyses too early can also lead to frustration. The maneuvers look terrible, and you have no idea where to even begin analyzing them. That’s why I recommend that a beginner in aerobatics first use conventional resources—such as assistants, fellow pilots, and instructors—to get a handle on the typical beginner’s problems.

This achieves the primary goal of using Flight Coach: to provide objective feedback—unbiased by personal preferences—on the precision of the maneuvers. However, the analysis of errors and their causes only really begins at this point. I can see my systematic errors and can now set out to identify their root causes. A personal example: In the P25 program, a backward spin is flown in the center of the window. Even before using the Flight Coach, I had noticed several times that after exiting the spin, I was too close and had thus lost the required distance. Is it perhaps due to the crosswind? Upon analysis, I discovered that I tend to let the wing hang toward me during the backroll maneuver. Surely just a few degrees of bank, but it’s crucial. On my next flights, I made sure that—based on my subjective feeling—the wing was banking outward until my eyes had adjusted to the correct flight attitude. That’s just a small

At this point, I don’t think so. First, there’s the fundamental issue of equal opportunity. If a pilot isn’t allowed to use aids during a flight, should he then be evaluated using digital aids? Gymnastics, figure skating, and other sports are graded using validated evaluation criteria, but the scoring is still subjective and carried out by individual, well-trained judges. The saying, “It’s not the one who flies most precisely who wins, but the one who makes it look most precise,” still holds true. A scoring system is already implemented in the software; however, I have not yet seen any concrete application of it. The scenario I can most easily imagine is that the Flight Coach evaluation would be incorporated into the scoring as an additional B-grade (geometric accuracy) with a weighting yet to be defined. For now, however, that’s still a long way off.