AeroBalance

A preflight planner that shows its math.

I started with a C172S weight-and-balance worksheet. It grew into a browser tool with 21 checked aircraft profiles, live weather, and runway calculations.

Open AeroBalance

Role: Product direction · Research · Development
Product: Independent product
Status: Live planning tool
Evidence: Code, POH library, audit outputs, and tests reviewed July 2026.

AeroBalance desktop worksheet showing aircraft loading controls beside the center-of-gravity envelope — The live worksheet keeps loading inputs and the CG picture side by side

01 · What I built

See the loading picture without chasing numbers across a worksheet.

I started with the Cessna 172S, then grew the worksheet into a browser product that connects loading, CG, weather, and short-field runway performance.

Load

Build the aircraft

Enter this tail number's current empty weight and arm, then add people, baggage, and fuel.

Check

See every phase

Plot takeoff and landing CG on the envelope and keep the underlying math visible.

Plan

Check the runway

Bring weather and runway inputs into the same flow as the aircraft loading plan.

02 · Loading and center of gravity

The inputs and the answer stay together.

The left side builds the loading picture. The right side shows where takeoff and landing sit inside the published envelope.

Aircraft-specific inputs and saved calculations

AeroBalance center-of-gravity graph plotting takeoff and landing inside the Cessna 172S envelope — Takeoff and landing plotted on the CG envelope

The product fills in published station arms and fuel conversion when the POH defines them.

Weight, moment, and CG stay visible through taxi, takeoff, fuel burn, and landing.

03 · Runway performance

Turn nearby conditions into a practical runway check.

AeroBalance combines field elevation, altimeter, temperature, runway heading, wind, and surface with validated POH tables.

Weather

Use nearby conditions

Location can load the closest recent complete METAR, while every field remains editable.

Calculation

Interpolate inside the grid

Pressure altitude, weight, temperature, wind, and surface corrections stay within validated table limits.

Boundary

Do not invent an answer

Outside the supported range, the product returns a clear limit instead of extrapolating.

04 · Checked aircraft data

Only checked aircraft data reaches the calculator.

The audit separates manuals I have collected from aircraft profiles I have checked closely enough to calculate with.

Working today

Source documents audited

118The retained POH, AFM, owner-manual, and pilot-information library was inventoried, classified, and checked after removing 13 partial or non-manual files.

Working today

Valid source PDFs

118Every PDF in the audited library passed the file validation check; no duplicate groups were found.

Working today

Catalog entries

98The 102 raw model and edition records were normalized into a searchable catalog while retaining their source status.

Working today

Calculation-ready profiles

21Only aircraft with visually checked loading limits, station arms, usable fuel, baggage limits, and CG-envelope data are exposed for calculation.

05 · How it grew

Start with one aircraft. Add capability in reviewable steps.

01 · Start focused

Map the C172S source before building the interface

The first profile came from a C172S information manual, with source pages recorded for loading limits, stations, fuel, CG envelopes, and performance tables.

02 · Reduce input burden

Automate what the manual already defines

Published station arms, fuel conversion, location weather, pressure altitude, and runway wind components reduce repetitive entry while leaving aircraft-specific values with the pilot.

03 · Make it auditable

Put the math beside the answer

The product exposes moment, weight, and CG calculations for ramp, takeoff, and landing, then places those phases on the envelope instead of showing only a pass or fail.

04 · Scale carefully

Turn source review into a repeatable pipeline

Audit and catalog scripts classify the document library, normalize aircraft names, and promote only validated profiles into the working product. The latest review added the Cessna 182S, Diamond DA20-C1, Diamond DA40-180, and Piper PA-28-181 Archer II.

06 · What works today

Twenty-one aircraft profiles, with the source math intact.

Working today

Planning coverage

21 profilesCalculation-ready aircraft profiles backed by checked loading data.

Working today

Flight phases

Ramp → landingOne trace carries the loading picture through taxi and planned fuel burn.

Working today

Portable output

1-page briefA Letter landscape print view keeps the calculation and CG envelope together.

Evidence and limits

AeroBalance is a planning aid, not an approved flight manual. Pilots must verify results against the current aircraft-specific POH or AFM, weight-and-balance record, runway conditions, NOTAMs, and procedures.
The source audit reflects the project library reviewed in July 2026. Twenty supported profiles map directly to reviewed library files; the C182T profile uses separately validated source data.
The 118 retained documents resolve to 102 raw model and edition records and 98 consolidated catalog entries. A stored manual is not treated as a calculation profile until its numeric data and applicable configuration are visually verified.
Runway performance coverage varies by aircraft. Unsupported tables and requests outside a validated grid return an explicit limit instead of an extrapolated result.
Location weather uses the closest recent complete aviation weather report found within the product's search area. Manual weather entry remains available.

Open to senior and principal product roles

Need a product leader who stays close to the work?

I can set direction, work through hard technical details, and help a team ship.

Email me about a role View my resume