PlaneWX
TBMOPA Touch and Go · Steamboat · August 22, 2026
The Pilot’s Decision
Support System
Three pillars to a go/no-go
Mark Wolfgang · Founder  ·  Dan Torgerson · 5X5 Aviation Insurance
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Code TBMOPA · 20% off any plan
5X5 Aviation Insurance
Our exclusive insurance partner
Insurance that treats
preparation as risk data
Who they insure
TBM, Citation, King Air, M-series — high-performance fixed-wing. Direct to the pilot. 38 states, expanding.
How they underwrite
AM Best A- paper. Data-driven. Training, hours, and how you prepare show up in the quote.
“Safety isn’t a premium feature and it shouldn’t be treated like one.” — Doug Tibbs, 5X5
Dan Torgerson
Dan Torgerson
Chief Aviation Officer · Insurance Agent
5X5 × PlaneWX
Reward the pilots
who actually prepare
  • Commercial · CFII / MEI · still instructing at a 141 school
  • Pro Plus members: 5% credit at quote and bind
  • Use PlaneWX on ≥75% of flights — more at renewal
  • Up to 10% total through Safety Rewards
PlaneWX doesn’t tell you not to fly. It gives you the picture days earlier — when you still have options.
The PlaneWX community
Since March 1, 2025
2,100+
Pilots
50+
Countries
68
TBMs
Not a side project. Same go/no-go problem — now including this room.
What runs every day
The briefing keeps watching
13,000+
Briefings generated
Daily
Refresh at minimum
More often as departure gets close. You don’t re-brief it.
Show of hands
Who’s in the hangar?
1 · Who uses AI for flight planning or weather?
2 · Who already uses PlaneWX?
3 · Who already fills out a FRAT?
The question every pilot dreads
“Are we going to be able to
make the flight?”
That’s the question a decision support system is for.
About Mark
Risk management
as a profession
  • U.S. Navy veteran
  • 22 years — professional penetration tester
  • IT risk management for a living
  • Sold consulting firm Dec 2022
Mark with aircraft
Personal risk
Willing to take the risk —
not willing to be surprised by it
I’ll do things many people would call risky. I just want every risk on the table — so I can mitigate as much as possible.
The activity
  • ~7 years freediving & spearfishing
  • Breath-hold dives to 150 ft
  • Cave exits · fight the fish · surface
The mitigation
  • Every certification course available
  • Best practices — always
  • Risk work done *before* the dive
Aviation risk
Same risk discipline
in the air
IT risk · personal risk · aviation — same loop
  • Learn failure modes early — incidents, training, experience
  • Stack mitigations before the moment — mins, FRAT, proficiency
  • Re-check under pressure — independent brief, second opinion
  • Decide with eyes open — not surprised mid-flight
A lot of flying
in a short time
  • DA40 NG → PPL in ~6 weeks
  • IFR rating in 5 days
  • Now: TBM 900
  • ~1,000 hrs total time — in under two years
  • Commercial / Instrument · SEL/MEL
ForeFlight flight log
PlaneWX
“I built PlaneWX
because I needed it.”
— Mark Wolfgang, Founder
The origin story
Thanksgiving 2024
  • Trip planned weeks out
  • Bentonville, AR → Fremont, NE
  • Bags packed · Dog ready
  • Family waiting
Thanksgiving 2024 flight — Bentonville to Fremont
What I told my wife every time:
“Yeah, we should be fine.
I’ll know after the
TAF tonight.”
TAFs only go 24 hours
Your trip planning window is much longer.
D-7
Plans made
No forecast
D-3
Commitments
accumulate
D-1
TAF arrives
Pressure: max
D-day
Decision forced
under pressure
Good information arrives at the worst possible moment.
Before TAFs exist
Area Forecast Discussions
Written by NWS meteorologists — for other meteorologists. Not for pilots.
Departure
Tulsa
covers Bentonville
En route
Wichita
corridor weather
Arrival
Omaha
covers Fremont
  • I tried to learn every technical term
  • Updated four times a day
  • Read three · synthesize · repeat until departure
November 2024 · the lightbulb
I sent the Tulsa AFD to AI and asked:
what are my chances?
What that became
Synoptic Intelligence™
NWS Area Forecast Discussions — synthesized for your route — in language a pilot can use. The big-picture layer before TAFs exist.
Synoptic · days out
Schedule decisions — reschedule or don’t lock that day
TAFs · day-of
Execution decisions — still required, still yours
Regional Watch — powered by Synoptic Intelligence
Regional Watch · Synoptic Intelligence™ The big picture — before TAFs exist
The pilot’s decision support system
Three pillars
Use all three. Get to a go/no-go. You still own the call.
01
Weather briefing
National, regional, and Synoptic Intelligence™ — scored to your airplane and your mins.
02
Integrated FRAT
Flight Risk Assessment Tool. Built on the FAA’s PAVE framework. Weather already filled in.
03
Mentor matchmaking
A second set of eyes on your exact briefing — when the call still feels hard.
Complementary to ForeFlight and other EFBs. 14 CFR 91.3 — you decide.
How we charge
We don’t make you
pay for safety
The briefing is full quality on free. Paid is the watching — not a better go/no-go.
Free
  • Full-quality weather briefing
  • Integrated FRAT
  • Mentors
Paid
  • Auto-refresh · watches between flights
  • Alerts · Labs · more trips
  • Pro Plus is the 5X5 path
Pillar 1 · Weather briefing
National · regional · synoptic
National
The pattern across the country — what is moving, and when.
Regional
23 GA flight-planning regions. Multi-office AFDs blended into one pilot summary.
Synoptic Intelligence™
Your route. Your offices. Calibrated with NBM. Plus your single local forecast office — their words, their timing.
At its core
We quantify weather risk
Aircraft
Your TBM’s capabilities
FIKI · cruise · equipment · performance
Pilot
Your personal minimums
Ceiling · visibility · wind · icing · turb
Not generic weather — a WX Score for this airplane and this pilot.
WX Score card
Same route · Same day · Two aircraft
SR22T (non-FIKI)
61
WX SCORE
SR22T
non-FIKI
  • Icing: beyond mins above 8,000 ft
  • Route requires FL120
  • Ceiling marginal departure
TBM 900 (FIKI + pressurized)
86
WX SCORE
TBM 900
FIKI
  • FIKI handles en-route icing
  • FL260 available: above weather
  • TAS: 330 kts — minimizes exposure
Pillar 1 · Live demo
My weather briefing
A real trip — scored to this airplane and these mins
Pillar 2 · Integrated FRAT
A Flight Risk Assessment Tool
with the weather already in it
Built on the FAA’s PAVE framework. Opens in the last 4 hours — so it’s you, today.
P
Pilot
IMSAFE · fatigue · currency
A
Aircraft
Your TBM · squawks · gear
V
enVironment
Auto-filled from the briefing
E
External
Get-there-itis · passengers
Paper FRAT vs. this FRAT
Same four boxes.
Different homework.
Typical paper FRAT
  • You check the weather, then check boxes
  • Generic airplane
  • Filed in a cabinet
  • No look-back
Integrated FRAT
  • Environment comes from the briefing
  • Your TBM — FIKI, mins, equipment
  • Saved with the trip
  • Ready for the debrief later
FRAT final decision — PIC owns the call
FRAT · Your decision You document the call — PlaneWX does not make it
Pillar 3 · Mentor matchmaking
No pilot faces the call alone
Mentors see your exact briefing and FRAT. The conversation starts with real data.
Need Help Now
Broadcast to available mentors. Shared briefing. Off-platform call — phone, text, WhatsApp.
Browse Mentors
Find someone who flies your type. Direct request. Experience finally transfers.
Optional. We never assign a mentor. Standing Mentors — a person you choose, on a cadence — is coming.
Ask a Mentor — Need Help Now and Browse Mentors
Ask a Mentor They see your briefing — you still own the call
On the horizon
The risk loop
Weather briefing
Watch early. Get precise.
→
FRAT
Last 4 hours. You, today.
FAA PAVE
→
Fly or stay
The decision.
Pilot Self Debrief
How it actually went — weather vs. brief, pressure, discipline. Feeds the next trip.
Mentor
Optional. Same data. Second set of eyes.
On the horizon
Self-debrief → a living FRAT
The debrief asks how it actually went — while the flight is still in your head.
  • Live today (Labs / Pro Plus): structured look-back after you land
  • Weather vs. brief · pressure · discipline · lessons
  • Does not change your WX Score
  • Next: those debriefs feed a living FRAT — updated from how you actually fly
Live demo
My self-debrief
How the flight actually went — while it’s still in my head
Bring it home
A decision support system
The whole purpose of PlaneWX is to help you come to a safe decision — considering all the risks.
Briefing
Weather · this airplane
FRAT
You · today · pressure
Mentor
Second set of eyes
Debrief
How it actually went
That’s the go/no-go. 14 CFR 91.3 — you decide.
After this hangar
Use it on a real trip
  • Put a trip in this week — not a demo airport
  • Code TBMOPA · 20% off any plan
  • Join the Touch and Go group
The confidence to go,
or the courage to stay.
™
PlaneWX
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