PlaneWX
TBMOPA Webinar · Sep 24, 2026
Fly like it's
your job.
Professional-grade tools and professional-grade habits for pilots flying on their own time.
PlaneWX: a pilot decision support system for GA.
Mark Wolfgang · Founder · TBM 900
planewx.ai QR code
planewx.ai
About Mark
Risk management
as a profession
  • U.S. Navy veteran
  • 22 years as a professional penetration tester
  • IT risk management for a living
  • Sold consulting firm Dec 2022
Mark with aircraft
About Mark
From first lesson
to the TBM 900.
  • My first airplane was a Diamond DA40 NG.
  • Private pilot certificate in about six weeks, then an accelerated instrument rating in five days.
  • Commercial certificate. Over 1,000 hours, reached in my first two years of flying.
  • Bought my TBM 900 at the end of May. About 115 hours in it so far.
  • Now flying Veterans Airlift Command missions.
Mark flying the Diamond DA40
I built PlaneWX so I would not kill myself and my wife.
I am still building it for that reason.
Mission
Bring professional-grade tools and professional-grade habits to GA.
  • Pilots flying on their own time, with their own families aboard.
  • Hold yourself to the same standard as the pilots who do this for a living.
Purpose
Pros stay safe because they run a process every time.
Airline / charter
  • SOPs and hard minimums. Brief. Assess. Decide. Debrief.
  • The system gives permission to stand down.
  • Not fit to fly? Call in sick. No questions. No guilt.
General aviation
  • No dispatcher. No chief pilot.
  • Minimums? Loosely defined, flexible, or none at all.
  • Just the pressure, the passengers, and the reservation already made.
  • No one on call.
  • Only accountable to yourself, unless you have regular mentor check-ins.
The gap
A GA pilot might have a friend or a mentor to call. At 6 AM, it's just the pressure, the passengers, and the reservation already made on the other end.
GA's professional SOPs
Personal minimums, the FRAT, and the debrief.
  • These are how GA pilots run a professional process without a dispatch desk.
  • Most pilots write their minimums once for a checkride, then never look at them again.
  • Pilots who debrief a flight are about twice as likely to run a FRAT on the next one.
Non-negotiable
No personal minimums, no WX Score.
  • Every pilot on PlaneWX must set personal minimums before a WX Score can generate.
  • 100% of PlaneWX pilots have documented personal minimums.
  • Minimums are front and center on every briefing, not in a drawer.
Community pulse
Do pilots actually use a FRAT?
TBMOPA forum poll
5 of 12
did not know what a FRAT is
12 voters
COPA poll
  • 43% rarely or never run one
  • 23% did not know what one is
53 voters
Airplanes and Coffee (Facebook)
  • 21% rarely or never run a FRAT
  • 14% don't know what a FRAT is
The process
The Loop
PlaneWX is a pilot decision support system built around one loop.
WX Score briefing, FRAT, GO / NO‑GO, Self Debrief
1 · Days out to hours out
Weather Briefing
WX Score against your personal minimums and airplane.
2 · 4 hours out
FRAT
Pilot, Aircraft, enVironment, External pressures.
3 · The call
GO / NO‑GO
PlaneWX never recommends go or no-go. The pilot makes the call.
Staying is a legitimate outcome, not a failure.
4 · After
Self Debrief
Your Self Debrief looks back at the FRAT you ran.
Coming next
Every debrief feeds your next FRAT.
Alongside
Mentor
Optional. Pilot-opened. Standing Mentors coming soon.
Loop · 1
Weather Briefing
  • WX Score from days out to hours out.
  • Scored against your personal minimums and this airplane.
  • Early enough to change the plan before pressure wins.
Would pilots recommend it?
8.7
out of 10
how likely pilots are to recommend PlaneWX (1,724 responses)
Would pilots recommend it?
Not perfect. Hard to get right. Continuously improving.
WX Score card
Loop · 2
FRAT, when it matters
  • Pilot, Aircraft, enVironment, External pressures.
  • Opens 4 hours before departure, when you can honestly rate how you feel.
  • By design a choice: you can require it before every flight.
  • Pros follow an SOP because their operator requires it. In GA, you're the operator.
Loop · 2 · FRAT
What makes this FRAT different
Not a blank paper form. PlaneWX fills in what it already knows, automatically.
Weather briefing
Your WX Score and briefing conditions suggest the weather and environment ratings.
Airport complexity
Class B/C airspace, towered fields, training traffic, and traffic volume where we have the data.
Your recent flying
Hours in this aircraft over the last 30 days, and whether you've flown into this destination before.
Day or night
Sunrise and sunset at your airports against your planned times.
Your aircraft
Runway fit against your aircraft's minimum runway, plus open squawks.
Coming next
Self Debrief and full flight history
After the flight, your Self Debrief looks back at the FRAT you ran.
→
Assembled for this flight
Your FRAT
PAVE ratings you review and own
Risks are stacking
Three or more elevated factors on one flight (a MEDIUM or HIGH self-rate, fatigue, an open squawk, a tight runway, night, an unfamiliar field, get-there-itis) trigger a banner that names them. It never makes the call for you and never changes your WX Score. The decision stays yours.
5X5 partner: up to 10% aircraft insurance discount tied to PlaneWX platform usage.
Suggestions, not verdicts. You still make every call.
Who chooses the FRAT
Completion by aircraft type
43%
TBM
35%
PC-12
27%
Other TP
27%
Cirrus
22%
Cessna
About 12% of confirmed flown flights have a FRAT. That is a choice pilots make, not a mandate.
PlaneWX FRAT decision screen
FRAT Document the call. PlaneWX does not decide for you.
Loop · 3
GO / NO‑GO
  • The loop ends in a decision, not a score.
  • PlaneWX never recommends go or no-go. The pilot makes the call.
  • Staying is a legitimate outcome.
  • It is not a failure.
Sometimes it takes more courage to stay than to launch.
When passengers are counting on you, when the reservation is already made, that is when pressure is highest, and when the loop matters most.
Loop · 4
Self Debrief
  • How it actually went, not how you hoped it would.
  • Your Self Debrief looks back at the FRAT you ran.
  • PlaneWX Labs, on Pro Plus.
  • Pilots who debrief a flight are about twice as likely to run a FRAT on the next one.
Coming next
Every debrief feeds your next FRAT.
Alongside the loop
Mentor
  • Optional. Pilot-opened.
  • Same briefing. Same FRAT. A second set of eyes.
  • You remain PIC.
  • Coming soon Standing Mentors
Ask a Mentor
Aligned incentives
5X5 rewards preparation
  • Up to 10% aircraft insurance discount tied to PlaneWX platform usage.
  • Insurers and pilots want the same thing: safer pilots.
Live
Live product demo
app.planewx.ai
Vision
A GA community that closes the loop on every flight.
  • Staying home is legitimate.
  • Your Self Debrief looks back at the FRAT you ran.
  • Desired outcome: measurably reduce GA accidents.
  • 2,200+ users in 35 countries.
Coming next
Every debrief feeds your next FRAT.
Are you fit to fly?
Are you flying as safe as you could be?
One more thing for TBM owners
TBM Boldface app icon
TBM Boldface
Free iPhone and iPad app for TBM memory items: study, test, and chair-fly before the airplane asks.
Search TBM Boldface on the App Store
Landing: planewx.ai/boldface
TBM Boldface Home screen
TBM Boldface Study screen
TBM Boldface Test screen
TBMOPA Webinar
Questions
Mark Wolfgang · Founder · TBM 900
Fly like it's your job.
Close the loop. Stay is legitimate. Debrief every flight.
planewx.ai
5X5 members: up to 10% insurance discount.
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