How PilotFlows Started: From a Simple Tool to a Bigger Vision

Every great project starts somewhere. For PilotFlows, it started with a simple problem, a little curiosity, and one tool: mass and balance.

It all started in the cockpit

Back in 2022, and even before then, I was already interested in web development. As a pilot flying with my club, I often found myself dealing with the same challenge: calculating aircraft mass and balance.

Every aircraft had its own quirks. Different loading graphs, different limitations, different conditions to consider. Preparing a flight meant understanding these differences and making sure everything was calculated correctly.

I saw an opportunity to make the process easier.

So I started building a web-based tool that allowed me to calculate mass and balance for the aircraft I flew. I wanted something intuitive, straightforward, and practical — a tool that would help me prepare for a flight without adding unnecessary complexity.

As the project evolved, I found a way to generate clean, professional-looking load sheets that could be downloaded as PDFs. What had started as a personal experiment was already becoming a genuinely useful tool in my day-to-day flying.

And then I had another thought.

What if every pilot could create their own aircraft mass and balance profiles and share them with others?

Instead of building something just for myself or my own aviation club, why not make it available to any club, any pilot, and anyone who needed it?

That idea was the first step towards something much bigger.

Bringing Gilles on board

I knew I could take the project further, but I also knew I needed help. That's when I brought my good friend Gilles on board.

Gilles already had considerably more experience in web development. Before PilotFlows, he had worked on several smaller projects, including LenoxBot, a Discord bot, and Freschkescht.lu, a food-box delivery company.

Together, we started working on a backend and a basic dashboard that would allow users to create their own aircraft profiles and share them publicly.

It was exciting to see the idea develop beyond a simple calculator. We were starting to build the foundations of a platform that other pilots could use, contribute to, and benefit from.

But our first version had its limitations.

We were using technologies such as Node.js and Handlebars, and although we managed to build a working minimum viable product, our codebase wasn't structured for the scale we eventually envisioned. We had learned a lot, but we also recognised that the project needed a stronger technical foundation.

Eventually, development came to a pause.

Sometimes, stepping back is part of moving forward.

From a small tool to a much bigger vision

After completing our Commercial Pilot Licences and taking our first steps into airline aviation, we began thinking seriously about what we wanted to build next.

We had learned from our first project, and we now had a much clearer picture of the problems we wanted to solve.

Why should pilots need different platforms for their logbooks, aircraft information, and operational tools? Why should an aviation club, a flight school, or a skydiving organisation have to piece together multiple systems to manage their activities?

And why should switching between organisations mean losing the convenience of having your aviation data in one place?

I had always liked the idea of managing my flying activity through a single platform. Whether I was flying with one club today and another tomorrow, I wanted my personal aviation data to remain accessible, organised, and under my control.

We started imagining a platform that could connect aviation clubs, skydiving organisations, flight schools, and individual pilots.

A platform where operational tools and personal logbooks could coexist, with information connected in a way that made sense.

This time, we didn't want to build another small experiment. We wanted to build something that could grow.

That was the beginning of the PilotFlows we know today.

Building the foundations properly

We decided to start again with a much more robust technical architecture, using technologies including Next.js and NestJS.

This was a significant step up from our original project. We weren't just rebuilding the mass and balance calculator; we were laying the groundwork for an entire aviation software ecosystem.

By 2025, after a long period of development, we had established the basic structure of the platform. But we were still far from where we wanted to be.

We had built the foundation. Now we needed to build the tower on top of it.

That meant making difficult decisions, revisiting our assumptions, improving our architecture, and continuously refining the way we worked.

With just two people and a limited budget, every decision mattered. We weren't only responsible for coding. We also had to think about product design, marketing, search engine optimisation, customer feedback, project management, and everything else that comes with building a company.

Working together day and night to solve problems across so many different areas could be stressful. Keeping track of issues, communicating effectively, and making sure we were working towards the same goals required discipline and constant improvement.

It has been challenging, but incredibly rewarding.

Every problem solved, every improvement shipped, and every piece of feedback received has helped us get closer to the platform we originally imagined.

Realising that a web-based logbook wasn't enough

As PilotFlows evolved, so did our understanding of what pilots actually needed.

We knew that a digital logbook could be useful on the web. But we also knew that flying doesn't happen behind a desk.

Pilots need their information when they're preparing a flight, at the airfield, between flights, or travelling. A logbook should feel natural to use wherever aviation takes them.

We realised that a web-only experience wasn't enough to deliver the quality we wanted.

Our first mobile experiments involved displaying the website in an app-like interface. It was a useful way to explore ideas and test concepts, but we soon understood that it wouldn't be sufficient for the truly great logbook we wanted to create.

So we took another step forward.

Building a native iOS app

We decided to dive into Swift and begin developing a native iOS application.

This was another learning curve, another technical challenge, and another opportunity to rethink the experience from the ground up.

Over the following months, we worked to turn our early concepts into an application that felt more natural on mobile. Rather than simply displaying a website on a phone, we wanted to build an experience designed specifically for pilots using iOS devices.

The result has been incredibly rewarding.

We are proud of how far the app has come, and development is still ongoing. We continue to push updates, improve existing features, and explore new ways to make the logbook more useful.

Just as importantly, feedback from our customers has played a major role in shaping what we build. Their suggestions help us understand what works, what is missing, and where we should focus next.

We're grateful to have a growing community of pilots who take the time to share their experiences with us. Building software in isolation can only take you so far. Building it alongside the people who use it makes all the difference.

Our ambition: the best pilot logbook

Today, PilotFlows is about much more than the mass and balance calculator that started it all.

That original tool still represents something important to us: the belief that aviation software should solve real problems, make complex tasks easier, and be enjoyable to use.

Our ambition is to build the best pilot logbook we can — a platform that combines a great user experience with useful tools, meaningful integrations, and features that genuinely support pilots throughout their flying journey.

And we're only getting started.

We have plenty of ideas for new tools, improved workflows, and deeper integrations. We want PilotFlows to grow alongside its users, whether they fly recreationally, belong to an aviation club, work in professional aviation, or simply want a better way to manage their flying history.

We also know that creating great software takes time. We'd rather build things properly, listen to our users, and continuously improve than rush features out simply to tick a box.

The journey continues

Looking back, it's remarkable to think that PilotFlows began with a simple mass and balance calculator built to make my own flight preparation easier.

That small project led to a collaboration with Gilles, an early MVP, a complete rethink of our technical foundations, and eventually a much broader vision for aviation software.

There have been plenty of challenges along the way. We've had to learn new technologies, rethink our approach, work within tight constraints, and balance the many responsibilities of building a company alongside our aviation careers.

But the original motivation remains the same: we want to build tools that make life easier for pilots.

We're still learning. We're still building. And we're still listening.

To everyone who has supported PilotFlows, shared feedback, tested our products, or encouraged us along the way: thank you. Your contribution makes a real difference.

PilotFlows started with one simple tool. Our vision is to build something much bigger.

And we're just getting started.