Capture, analyze, and learn
The power of a post-flight debrief
At what point do you take a moment to reflect on that last flight to assess how it went? Were you at the correct altitude and airspeed for a certain maneuver? Was your approach stabilized? How was your airspeed and pitch control on approach and landing? To ask and answer this question starts with an inner desire to learn from your own performance.
Every landing aboard an aircraft carrier is observed and graded by a landing signal officer, or LSO—hand-picked and specially trained pilots from each of the embarked squadrons—to “ensure the safe and expeditious recovery of aircraft.” Every landing is recorded on video from a flush-deck camera buried in the centerline. And every pilot receives a personal landing debrief and grade by the LSO. During my career, I was on the receiving end of these debriefs 555 times—213 of those at night—and it was an effective and brutally humbling learning experience.
As of March 2025, the U.S. Navy announced that student naval aviators destined to fly F–18s, F–35s, or EF–18Gs no longer complete carrier qualifications as part of earning their wings of gold. The carrier landing requirement is now completed during transition training in those fleet fighter jets. This is thanks to a technological leap forward called MAGIC CARPET. Developed and tested for 10 years by U.S. Navy engineers and test pilots at Patuxent River, Maryland, this technological improvement in flight control systems resulted in reduced wear and tear on T–45 trainer jets, reduced time and cost for training, and has improved the overall safety of landing on carriers. This is a great example of boldly leveraging data and innovative new technology to improve a time-tested process and seeing very positive results.
But these types of cutting-edge improvements aren’t limited to military flying. The general aviation world has also been benefiting from easy access to flight data to measure, analyze, and improve our performance in the air. And the GA industry is adapting—quickly.
Today, pilots can access flight tracking data derived from GPS and ADS-B via platforms like FlightAware or ADS-B Exchange to quickly see exactly how they did on that last flight. Large flight schools and corporate flight departments may have expensive flight data recording equipment onboard to enable flight data monitoring, but typical GA pilots have this post flight analysis at their fingertips for little to no cost. A few owner and pilot groups are also leveraging post-flight data analysis to improve safety and reduce accidents.
A great example is the TBM Proficient Pilot Program (PPP). Started in 2024 as a grassroots effort by TBM pilots, TBM PPP seeks to reduce preventable landing accidents (specifically prop strikes) by adopting airline-style flight data monitoring, strict adherence to stabilized approach criteria (SAC), and assigning a compliance grade to each flight. The TBM PPP analysis tool assigns this grade after assessing 10 in-flight parameters. The early results are impressive. Five pilots have achieved a 100- percent SAC compliance score, and 39 pilots have above 90 percent. Pilots with a more than 75-percent compliance score have not experienced any landing accidents. The goal is to grow participation in TBM PPP from 50 to 100 members in three years with zero accidents.
The Piper M-Class owners and pilots are also exploring data-based post-flight analysis to improve safety in their ranks. And Citation Jet Pilots have adopted a CJP-FOQA (flight operation quality assurance) program as part of their suite of safety programs.
The insurance industry is also paying attention to the improved safety benefits of post-flight data analysis. Two new aviation insurance underwriters (5 x 5 and Class A) have recently announced direct-to-customer service to owner-flown single- and twin-engine turbine aircraft based on data and proven track records in the air. This data-based approach to insurance means the agency doesn’t decide on your coverage based on your age. I love the concept. These are exciting developments, and we are confident these data-driven approaches to safety and insurance will drive accident rates down.
The foundation in each of these examples is a commitment to capture, analyze, and learn from the data after each flight. These organizations have made the commitment to ask the question: How did I do on that last flight?
As GA pilots, we don’t have Navy LSOs waiting to debrief our flight, but we certainly can receive and learn from a meaningful data-based post-flight debrief. There are several tools available right now, most notably CloudAhoy by ForeFlight and FlySto.
Your data is talking to you…are you listening? Stay safe and stay focused! 
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