The Flight Coach Project develops data driven tools for precision aerobatic RC pilots and judges with the aim of making the sport more objective.   The project was started by a group of keen F3A and IMAC competitors. This project does not support full size aircrafts.

Most of our work involves installing inexpensive GPS and attitude tracking hardware in the aircraft, then post processing the data on the ground to provide feedback. All the Flight Coach project outputs are free to use (see specific license details in Instructions/Software).

The Plotter – The key output of the Flight Coach project is the Plotter, which displays a 3D interactive visualisation of the recorded data tailored to the needs of aerobatic pilots. Best way to experience it first time is to open one of the templates using a Template button. You can also see a real flight demo demo flight download link – right click on the link, select “Save link as”  and save this file to your PC, then open the plotter (also a link is along the top menu of this website), select ‘Open Flight’ and load the saved file.

The Map – Flight Coach Map (FCMap) is an addon that will assist pilots in locating a competition box at a site. It takes the site Pilot and Center positions and draws the box angle lines as well as the outline of a box on a map background (Google Maps Satellite and Streets view. Currently supported competition styles are F3A (default), IMAC and F3S

The Judge – Flight Coach Judge (FCJudge) is an addon that will assist pilots in judging recorded flights. It animates the recorded flight with realistic graphics with minimal computer prompts and allows to enter a score for each maneuver. Currently supported competition styles are F3A.

The FCGeo – Flight Coach Geo (FCGeo) is an addon that draws the pre-recorded flight ribbon within the geospatial environment that includes terrain information. It has been designed to orientate the pilot within the visual surroundings of the site.

Research – Some of the work we do as part of the Flight Coach project is quite novel and useful to the wider aerospace community. Our first publication ‘Enabling the Automated Assessment of Precision Aerobatic Manoeuvres’ was presented at the AIAA Conference in January 2022.