The Cockpit is your performance dashboard, providing comprehensive statistics and analytics across all your flights. Use it to track progress, identify patterns, and discover your best flying sites and conditions.
Overview
Access the Cockpit to see your complete flying statistics.
Cockpit Views
The Cockpit has eleven views, each providing unique insights:
- Overview - Statistics and totals about filtered data
- Trends - Your flying over time, day by day up to year by year
- Thermaling - Climb rates, circling and thermal quality, season by season
- Phases - How your air time splits between thermal, search, glide and float
- Glider - Air time breakdown by wing
- Takeoff - Site-specific statistics with z-scores
- Country - International flying statistics
- Season - Year-over-year comparison
- Month - Monthly breakdown and seasonal patterns
- CIVL - Your CIVL world ranking
- Map - Your takeoffs on a map
Navigation
- Pick a view from the Cockpit menu
- Each view is scoped by filtered data
Overview Statistics
The Overview page Cockpit displays filtered data flying statistics. Every distance, altitude and speed is shown in the units you picked in your profile.
Flight Totals
The headline strip at the top gives you the big four:
Total Flights
- Definition - Count of all flights in your logbook
Total Air Time
- Definition - Sum of all flight durations
- Unit - Hours and minutes
- Calculation - Sum of all (Landing time to Takeoff time)
Distance
- Definition - Total track length across all flights
Longest Flight
- Definition - Your longest flight time
- Display - Duration; click it to open that flight
Flight Efficiency
- Definition - Time spent circling in thermals (Thermaling) versus time spent in straight flight (Gliding)
- Unit - Hours and minutes, plus the split as a percentage
Thermaling Balance
- Definition - How your thermaling time splits between Left turns and Right turns
Flight Mode Balance
- Definition - How your air time splits between Solo and Tandem flights (only shown when you have tandem flights)
Distance & Scoring
All XC distances & scoring are computed by igc-xc-score open source library maintened and created by Momtchil Momtchev.
XC Distance
- Definition - Sum of all scored cross-country distances
- Use - Track your total XC achievement
XC Points
- Definition - Sum of all XContest scores
- Includes - All multipliers (free flight, triangles)
- Use - Compare your XC performance over time
Track Length
- Definition - Sum of all GPS track distances
- Always > XC distance - Includes all circling and deviations
Personal Bests
Each best links to the flight it came from: click the value to open it.
Max Altitude
- Definition - Highest altitude reached across all flights
- Unit - Above sea level (ASL)
Max Height Gain
- Definition - Largest altitude gain in a single flight
- Calculation - Max altitude - Min altitude
Max Speed
- Definition - Fastest ground speed held for 5 seconds, with GPS spikes filtered out
- Note - Includes wind effect
Best XC Distance
- Definition - Longest scored cross-country flight
- Achievement - Your personal best XC!
Best XC Score
- Definition - Highest XContest score for a single flight
- Note - May differ from best distance (due to triangle multipliers)
Lowest Low Save
- Definition - The lowest point (above ground) from which you climbed back out, and how much height you regained
Performance Metrics
- Med. circle time - Median time per 360° turn
- Med. circle radius - Median turn radius while circling
- Median G-factor - Load factor (see the G-Factor Pilot Guide)
- Strongest thermal peak - Best climb rate, sustained over 5 seconds; click it to jump straight to that thermal
Trends View
Access at /cockpit?view=trends to see how your flying evolves over time.
Choose a Metric (Air time, Flights, Avg distance, Avg air time, Avg speed), an Interval (Day, Week, Month, Year), a Period (30 days, 12 months, This year, All) and a Breakdown (Total or By glider). Switch the Display between Chart and Table. Click a column to open its flights in the logbook.
Thermaling View
Access at /cockpit?view=thermaling for your climbing statistics across every thermal in the filtered flights: Median Climb, Best Climb, Median Height Gain, Thermals/hr, Thermaling Time, circle time and radius, and Low Saves. The season-over-season charts are grouped under Efficiency, Volume, Technique and Mastery.
Phases View
Access at /cockpit?view=phases to see how your air time splits between Thermal, Search, Glide and Float, with your Median Glide Ratio, Median Glide Speed and Circles / min, season by season.
By Month View
Access at /cockpit?view=month to see monthly statistics.
Monthly Breakdown
- Most Active Months - Your busiest months, with Total Flights across all years, your Most Active Year and Activity by Year
- Visual Analysis - Monthly Duration, Count and Z-Score, per year, as Grouped or Stacked bars
- Monthly Breakdown by Year - A month by year table of your flights
Seasonal Patterns
Identify patterns:
- Which months do you fly most?
- When are thermal conditions strongest?
- How does your flying change throughout the year?
Use Cases
- Plan your season - See when you typically fly best
- Track consistency - How many months per year are you active?
- Identify peak season - When do you rack up the most air time?
By Season (Year) View
Access at /cockpit?view=season to see annual statistics.
Year-over-Year Comparison
For each season (year), the table shows:
- Flights
- Total hours
- Avg/flight (hours per flight)
- Z-score of the average flight time
The chart above lets you compare seasons by Duration, Count or Z-Score.
Progress Tracking
Compare years to see:
- Are you flying more?
- Are your flights getting longer?
- How do different years compare?
Use Cases
- Track long-term progress
- Compare different years
- Set annual goals
By Glider View
Access at /cockpit?view=glider to compare your wings.
Per-Glider Statistics
For each glider in your logbook:
- Flights
- Total hours
- Avg/flight (hours per flight)
- Z-score of the average flight time
Comparing Wings
Answer questions like:
- Which wing keeps me in the air longest?
- How do my different gliders compare?
- Which wing do I fly most often?
Use Cases
- Equipment decisions - Choosing your next wing
- Performance comparison - Compare different wing classes
- Specialization - See which wing works best for different conditions
By Takeoff View
Access at /cockpit?view=takeoff to analyze site-specific performance.
Per-Site Statistics
For each takeoff site, a sortable table shows:
- Flights from that site
- Total Hours
- Avg/Flight (hours per flight)
- Z-Score - Statistical outlier detection (see: Z Score Pilot Guide)
By Country View
Access at /cockpit?view=country to see international statistics.
Per-Country Statistics
For each country you've flown in:
- Flights
- Total hours
- Avg/flight (hours per flight)
- Z-score of the average flight time
CIVL View
Access at /cockpit?view=civl to see your CIVL ranking (world, Europe and country) and its history. Add your CIVL ID in your profile settings first.
Map View
Access at /cockpit?view=map to see every takeoff you've flown from on a map, with the number of flights at each.
Tips & Best Practices
Build Your Dataset
- Upload all flights - More data = better statistics
- Historical flights - Upload old IGC files for complete picture
- Consistency - Regular flying builds better trends
Use Filters Strategically
- Start broad - See overall patterns first
- Then narrow - Apply filters for specific questions
- Compare apples to apples - Use same filters when comparing
Understand Context
Statistics are powerful, but consider:
- Skill progression - You improve over time
- Equipment changes - New gliders affect performance
- Conditions - Weather varies season to season
- Sample size - 2 flights vs 200 flights (which is more reliable?)
Set Goals
Use statistics to:
- Track progress - Compare to previous seasons
- Set challenges - Beat your personal bests
- Plan improvements - Identify areas to develop