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Show HN: I'm an airline pilot – I built interactive graphs/globes of my flights

jameshard.ing

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Show HN: I'm an airline pilot – I built interactive graphs/globes of my flights

#1

Post by jamesharding »

Hey HN!

Pilots everywhere are required to keep a logbook of all their flying hours, aircraft, airports, and so on. Since I track everything digitally (some people still just use paper logbooks!), I put together some data visualizations and a few 3D globes to show my flying history.

This globe is probably my favourite so far: https://jameshard.ing/pilot/globes/all

If you’ve got ideas for other graphs or ways to show this kind of data, I’d love to hear them!

Show HN: I'm an airline pilot – I built interactive graphs/globes of my flights
jameshard.ing

Re: Show HN: I'm an airline pilot – I built interactive graphs/globes of my flights

#3

Post by jonlucc »

This is great data visualization of interesting data! I'm curious about the last graph; there seems to be something making some of the longest flights take more time/nm. Is that real or an artifact, and is there an explanation for the tail?

Re: Show HN: I'm an airline pilot – I built interactive graphs/globes of my flights

#4

Post by jamesharding »

alabhyajindal wrote: post #2

Very cool! I didn't know pilots are required to maintain a logbook. What's the official recommendation for this - using a paper logbook?

Each country has slightly different requirements! For the US, here is the FAA rule for it: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-D...

A lot of people still use paper (and fill it in after landing each flight), but there are quite a few digital options on the market now. I use one called LogTen, which stores everything in a SQLite file behind the scenes which is what I used to make this.

Re: Show HN: I'm an airline pilot – I built interactive graphs/globes of my flights

#6

Post by pinoy420 »

jamesharding wrote: post #4
alabhyajindal wrote: post #2

Very cool! I didn't know pilots are required to maintain a logbook. What's the official recommendation for this - using a paper logbook?

Each country has slightly different requirements! For the US, here is the FAA rule for it: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-D... A lot of people still use paper (and fill it in after landing each flight), but there are quite a few digital options on the market now. I use one called LogTen, which stores everything in a SQLite file behind the scenes which is what I used to make this.

What happens if you lose it?

Re: Show HN: I'm an airline pilot – I built interactive graphs/globes of my flights

#7

Post by jamesharding »

jonlucc wrote: post #3

This is great data visualization of interesting data! I'm curious about the last graph; there seems to be something making some of the longest flights take more time/nm. Is that real or an artifact, and is there an explanation for the tail?

Great question! It is not an anomaly, it is very geographically specific.

Due the the Ukraine war (and my home base being in the UK), we have to fly the long way around to get to far-east destinations like Tokyo and Hong Kong. Flying outbound from London we have to fly down over Turkey (which adds about two hours of flight time).

Flying home from Tokyo with the ongoing airspace closure, if the the weather is suitable at the ETOPS airports enroute, it is actually quicker to fly home eastbound again, flying up over Alaska. A proper around-the-world in 4 days!

Re: Show HN: I'm an airline pilot – I built interactive graphs/globes of my flights

#10

Post by jamesharding »

arccy wrote: post #5

I wonder if you can spread out the airport labels a bit when they're clustered together, like the cluster around CYOO in the US.

Good idea! Not sure exactly how to do this with globe.gl but I will look into it.
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