Fly Shirley
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Flight Simulators are growing in popularity with today’s student pilots. The compute power provided by today’s typical PCs paired with cutting edge simulator software emulating accurate aerodynamic profiles creates a favorable time for pilots to look at simulators as a tool, rather than a toy. But once you have the simulator up and running, what’s the best way to use it?
FlyShirley is a software program that seamlessly integrates with X-Plane (Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 projected for Q2 2026) and assists, as well as grades the user as they complete maneuvers or phases of flight. Just as a real world flight instructor can wear multiple hats; A wealth of aviation knowledge, inputs or instruction on how to fly a maneuver, the best $100 hamburger spots, or a comprehensive review of a flight during debriefing. Shirley can do most of these (we haven’t connected it to Yelp for dining recommendations yet) but it can assist the pilot with practicing maneuvers and flow execution. It’s not an AI Flight Instructor, but it is a comprehensive flight assistant and we have additional features and ideas for how it can assist aviators in the future. Details on what it can do, as well as its ease of connection below. It’s easy to use!
A lot of flight simulator training scenarios or missions can be technically tricky to organize and activate when simulator folders on a hard drive are involved. Sporty’s own X-Plane VFR Scenarios caused installation headaches for some of our customers. We even tried creating a video to walk through the process, but it was still a friction point throughout the customer experience. FlyShirley avoids all the synchronization issues with a simple step, using a web browser to connect to X-Plane rather than downloaded content plugged into folders. No downloading of content, simply log into your account via the login portal and you’re ready to fly! You can have the web browser working in the background or as a portion of your viewable screen, whichever works best for your mission.
Analysis & Scoring
Shirley can review and rate your performance of a flight maneuver while flying the maneuver, as well as with graphical overlays and charts during the debriefing phase. Each maneuver is graded using ACS requirements using a 0-100% scale and a letter grade.
● Takeoff Maneuvers
○ Normal Takeoff Analysis
○ Short-field Takeoff Analysis
○ Soft-field Takeoff Analysis
○ Short & Soft-field Takeoff Analysis
● Landing Maneuvers
○ Normal Landing Analysis
○ Short-field Landing Analysis
○ Soft-field Landing Analysis
○ Short & Soft-field Landing Analysis
● Steep Turns
● (More maneuvers planned in Q2 2026)
After completing a maneuver with proper markers, Shirley will analyze the telemetry data and provide:
● Real-time Feedback: Instant scoring and performance commentary during your flight or anytime after your flight
● Detailed Scoring Breakdown: Piece-by-piece scores show the areas that were satisfactory for the maneuver, and areas that could use improvement
● Airman Certification Standards Comparison: Your maneuver performance is graded against the FAA tolerances with penalty calculations
● Historical Trends: Track your progress over time in a digital logbook with visual graphs
● Flight Transcripts: Full conversation history with Shirley for each analyzed flight
Your First Five Minutes - YouTube Tutorial
Additional Analysis & Scoring Details
Digital Crew Resource Management (CRM)
Shirley can act as your digital co-pilot to assist with tasks or questions you may have while flying. What’s unique about flying with Shirley as compared to a flight instructor, is that Shirley can access the web for information that may not be readily available, or memorized by a real live flight instructor during a flight.
CRM Tasks
● Flaps - “Shirley, give me 20 degrees of flaps” / “Retract flaps to zero”
● Landing Gear - “Configure us for landing Shirley”
● Lights - “Turn on our Landing Lights Shirley” / “Turn on the Taxi Lights”
● Radios & Transponder - “Tune 122.975 into Com 1 Shirley” / “Shirley, standby 110
● Aircraft Information - “Where’s the carb heat in this aircraft?”
● Enable Heading and Vertical Speed Autopilot Functions - “Set our descent in the autopilot to 500 feet per minute” / “Level the wings on a heading of 270”
● General Q/A - “What’s the speed limit under the Class B shelf?” / “What is the best rate of climb in this aircraft?”
Non-CRM tasks Shirley can tend to
● Current Location - “Shirley, what river am I flying over?”
● Airport Database and Location - “What’s the nearest airport with more than 3,000 feet of runway within 50 miles?” / “What's the pattern altitude at KLUK?”
● Navigation - “What’s the heading to O’Hare airport?”
● Telemetry Information - “How’s this approach looking?”
● Failures - “At 3,000 feet AGL activate an engine failure” / “15 minutes into this flight simulate an alternator failure”
● Set Airspeed & Altitude - “Shirley, take me to 3,500 MSL and 115 knots”
● Set Position in Traffic Pattern - “Put me on a four mile final for runway 21 left Shirley”
● Change Simulator Time & Date - “Shirley, make it mid October and 1700 local time”
● Change Simulator Weather - “Set up overcast clouds with a base at 7,000 feet and a light drizzle”
● Active Pause - “Freeze our position Shirley”
