What are your favorite 5 apps on your phone?
When you work around helicopters, there’s an app for just about everything.
From flight planning and weather forecasting to tracking storms and checking wind conditions, modern technology has become an incredibly valuable tool for pilots and helicopter operators.
At Leisurew Heli Tours, we operate helicopter scenic flights, winery experiences, corporate charters and private helicopter transfers across Melbourne, regional Victoria and some of the state’s most spectacular destinations. While experience and good aviation judgement will always come first, there are a few apps we regularly turn to when planning our flights.
So, if you’ve ever wondered what’s on a helicopter operator’s tablets, here are our top three aviation apps and weather tools.
1. OzRunways – Our Go-To for Flight Planning
At number one is OzRunways.
For Australian pilots, flight planning is an essential part of every journey, and OzRunways has become an incredibly useful tool for helping us prepare for flights.
We use it for a range of flight-planning tasks, including checking aeronautical information, planning routes and reviewing information relevant to our intended flight. It is also particularly useful when working through weight and balance calculations, helping us ensure the aircraft is appropriately loaded before departure.
For helicopter operations, weight and balance are particularly important. Passenger numbers, individual passenger weights, luggage and fuel all need to be considered before we depart.
It’s also one of the reasons we ask our guests for their weights when making a helicopter booking. It might seem like an unusual question when you’re booking a scenic flight, but there’s a very important reason behind it!
And while technology has transformed the way we plan flights, there is one thing we haven’t changed.
Passenger manifests?
We’re still old school.
We continue to maintain our passenger manifests using good old-fashioned paper. Sometimes the simplest solution is still the best!
2. Bureau of Meteorology – Weather Is Everything
Our second essential app is the Bureau of Meteorology, or BOM.
When you’re operating helicopters, weather isn’t simply something you check before leaving home. It can determine whether a flight can safely operate in the first place.
The Bureau of Meteorology provides us with essential aviation weather information, forecasts and radar imagery. We regularly monitor forecasts and rain radar when preparing for our flights around Melbourne and regional Victoria.
This is particularly important because weather conditions can change quickly.
A beautiful morning in Melbourne doesn’t necessarily mean the same conditions will exist several hours later. When we’re planning a helicopter flight to the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula, Bellarine Peninsula or further afield, we’re constantly considering what the weather is doing along the entire route.
Rain radar is particularly useful when we’re watching developing weather systems. It gives us a visual picture of what is happening and helps us make informed decisions about the conditions ahead.
Of course, no app replaces the pilot’s judgement. Weather information is one part of a much bigger decision-making process.
For us, safety always comes before the schedule.
3. Windy – A Great Planning Tool
Our third favourite is Windy.
Now, Windy isn’t an official aviation weather application, and we don’t use it as a replacement for official aviation weather information. However, we find it incredibly useful as an additional planning tool, particularly when we’re looking at flights across rural Victoria.
As the name suggests, wind is a major focus.
Windy allows us to visualise weather conditions over a much larger area, making it useful when we’re looking at the bigger picture before a flight.
For longer helicopter journeys across Victoria, understanding how conditions may develop along the route can be particularly helpful.
Whether we’re planning a helicopter flight towards the Twelve Apostles, heading into Victoria’s wine regions or travelling across regional Victoria, having another visual reference for wind and weather patterns can help us build a better understanding of what we’re likely to encounter.
Again, it’s another tool in the toolbox — not a substitute for official aviation forecasts or sound pilot decision-making.
Technology Meets Experience
The great thing about modern aviation is the amount of information available to pilots and operators.
But having access to information doesn’t automatically make a flight safe.
It’s how that information is interpreted and used that matters.
At Leisure Heli Tours, we combine modern flight-planning technology with experienced pilots, detailed pre-flight preparation and ongoing weather monitoring. Every flight is assessed individually, and conditions can ultimately determine whether a flight proceeds, is delayed or needs to be rescheduled.
Because when you’re flying a helicopter, getting there isn’t the only objective.
Getting there safely is.
So, while we may not have five favourite apps, our top three — OzRunways, the Bureau of Meteorology and Windy — certainly earn their place on our phones.
And our number four?
Well, that’s probably still a pen and a piece of paper for the passenger manifest!
Ready to see Victoria from a different perspective?
From Melbourne helicopter scenic flights and Yarra Valley winery tours to private charters, corporate travel and flights along Victoria’s spectacular coastline, Leisure Heli Tours offers a unique way to experience the best of Victoria from above.
Sometimes the best view is the one you can’t get from the road.
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