Are there any calculators you wish existed? I want to create a few

SkyDemon ForeFlight and Easy VFR have w&b calculators. WnB pro is an Apple/Android app and undoubtedly there are dozens of others

The calculation I happen to do the most is the Top of Descent.

To simplify things I created the table below, which I printed out and store in the cockpit next to my checklists. The table makes some assumptions, mainly the speed, and will have some error when flown at different speeds. Still, the error is low enough (as well as my capability to hold a constant rate of descent in rough air) to be acceptable.

Peter_Mundy wrote:

SkyDemon ForeFlight and Easy VFR have w&b calculators. WnB pro is an Apple/Android app and undoubtedly there are dozens of others

I tried various W&B calculators, including the Skydemon one. The one I find easiest to use is my excel table… call me old fashioned
(also works on ipad)

etn wrote:

I tried various W&B calculators, including the Skydemon one. The one I find easiest to use is my excel table… call me old fashioned

I think that’s what most GA pilots do – that way you know what formulas and numbers are used, and don’t have to verify the APP’s calculations in your spreadsheet. :)

Flying is best served by the seat of your pants

Aviation calculators/computers looks like this:

I think an issue here is that people like to have stuff at one place. For instance Sky Demon can be used for most, if not all the calculations etc you would do, at least flying VFR.

What I would like though, is an F-35 style helmet/visor/glasses with data projected onto it.

I like the AircraftPower App. Pick your engine type and operating conditions and it gives you percentage power. It would be nice as @LeSving says if it were incorporated into EFBs, but it’s free as-is so I’m not complaining.

The only time I use a calculator in flying is after landing, when I calculate

(86.2 – LFOB) * 3.778

and compare the result to the pump fill

LFOB is the Landing Fuel on Board from the fuel totaliser.

And I have two calcs on my phone; one simple and one very complicated; probably even has an HP35 RPN emulation mode

I would like a calculator which reproduces the (very small and fuzzy) printed takeoff and landing distance graphs that are in my POH.

In principle these could be turned into spreadsheets that would take the relevant variables as inputs and output the result based on the relationships graphed in the POH . Also it would be good to include other factors such as various surfaces, slopes and tailwinds.

Meantime I use my own W&B spreadsheet, where the inputs list all possible things I would normally fly with and output the overall effect:

The X axis is inches and the Y axis pounds weight. The dashed blue lines are the effect of varying fuel levels in main and tip tanks. The continuous coloured lines are the aircraft plus its other contents by category. In this example with 100 USG of fuel, I can’t carry more fuel while staying within the envelope unless I put more weight in the baggage compartment (green line); the graph makes this obvious.

LeSving wrote:

What I would like though, is an F-35 style helmet/visor/glasses with data projected onto it.

I’m sure someone will sooner or later come out with an app for those fancy Apple augmented reality glasses :D