WindCheck
When I was a kid my dad used to take me to the airport, where he taught me to ride a bike. The airplane hangars had large numbers printed on them, and riding past them is how I learned how to count. I used to watch the airplanes take off, and like many others, I dreamed of one day being on the other side of the fence.
A couple of decades later, I returned to that same airport and learned to fly. I eventually had kids of my own and took them flying with me. I didn’t end up fulfilling the entire dream as I pursued a career in software. However, I combined my skills and passion for flying and decided to develop an EFB that would be easy to use and affordable.
In 2013, I built my first mobile app: WindCheck. It was super rough but allowed users to look up METARs, and I had managed to build it all and put the application in the AppStore on my own. Since then I’ve had several jobs, built several apps, gained a lot of experience, and eventually decided it was time to update WindCheck.
I formed a little team and put in some serious effort to make WindCheck what I originally aspired it to be: an easy-to-use and affordable EFB. I wanted it to be useful to the bush pilot in the Philippines, just as much as to the general aviation pilot in Texas, or the ocean crossing airline pilot.
We completely refreshed the user interface. We built a widget so pilots could check the latest METAR from their iPhone’s home screen. We brought in NOTAMs and started displaying TFR’s on the map, and marked closed airports and runways. It was a lot of work as we struggled with reliability, app performance, and data quality. A modern EFB requires a massive amount of data, which is updated frequently, aggregated from dozens of data sources, and needs built-in redundancies for when services are down.
Check out WindCheck EFB on the AppStore: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id892063425?pt=120283709&ct=apc&mt=8. We’re building out more features and trying to make this your best assistant on the ground and in the air. As we’re trying to fulfill more and more advanced needs, contact us and let us know how we can better serve you. Don’t forget to WindCheck before you fly!
Stay up to date with WindCheck updates on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/windcheck.app/.