The North Sector PIREP Bot is a serverless, high-utility tool designed to solve the "information lag" in general aviation training environments. While official ATIS and PIREPs provide critical data, they often fail to capture the high-frequency shifts of the Sonoran Desert's thermal cycles.
This bot allows a community of pilots to log subjective conditions in seconds, which are then processed through a temporal-decay algorithm to provide a real-time, peer-reviewed status board of the practice areas.
Standard PIREPs (Pilot Weather Reports) are essential but suffer from high friction. Reporting via Radio (ATC) or Flight Service takes significant mental bandwidth during high-workload phases of flight. Consequently, reports are infrequent, and the data is often "stale" by the time a student enters the practice area.
The Solution: A Calm interface via Telegram that reduces a complex meteorological observation to three taps, processed at the edge with zero latency.
A live dashboard showing the status of the SATR, Local Patterns, and Anthem sectors. Instead of a simple average, the board uses a weighted scoring system that prioritizes recent data over historical logs.
To prevent "Subjective Drift," all reports are mapped to a strict Standard Operating Procedure (SOP):
- Turbulence: Calibrated from 1 (Glassy) to 5 (Unsafe/RTB Required) based on airspeed fluctuations and control workload.
- Winds: Calibrated from 1 (Calm) to 5 (Hazardous) based on personal and solo crosswind minimums.
A background process monitors the rate of change in the North Sector. If the average turbulence score jumps significantly (e.g., +1.0) within a 30-minute window, the bot autonomously blasts a 🚨 ** SHIFT** alert to the group to warn incoming blocks of rapidly degrading conditions.
The system compares new entries against a 2-hour rolling peer average. If a report deviates by more than 2.5 points from the current consensus, it is automatically flagged and its weight is reduced to 0.2, preventing a single outlier from "poisoning" the dashboard.
The heart of the bot is the Exponential Time-Decay Function. Weather is a high-entropy variable; a report from 10 minutes ago is significantly more valuable than one from 2 hours ago.
Each report is assigned a weight W based on its age t in minutes:
W = e^(-λt)
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
e |
Euler's number |
t |
Minutes elapsed since the observation |
λ (Lambda) |
Decay constant — shifts dynamically based on the Phoenix sun cycle |
Dynamic Lambda Values:
| Condition | λ | Half-Life | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midday (11am–4pm) | 0.02 |
~35 min | High decay as thermals peak |
| Morning / Night | 0.005 |
~140 min | Low decay for stable laminar air |
| Default | 0.01 |
~70 min | Standard transition periods |
The final score displayed on the dashboard:
Final Score = Σ(Scoreᵢ × Wᵢ) / ΣWᵢ
This ensures the live status is always an accurate reflection of the current atmospheric state.
Developed with a 100% iPad Pro-native workflow, utilizing Cloudflare's serverless ecosystem for maximum uptime and zero maintenance.
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Runtime | Cloudflare Workers (JavaScript / V8 Engine) |
| Database | Cloudflare D1 (SQL-based Edge Database) |
| Messaging | Telegram Bot API (Webhooks) |
| Scheduling | Cloudflare Cron Triggers (Shift monitoring) |
| Rating | Label | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glassy | Zero movement. Trim-only flight. |
| 2 | Light | Occasional rhythmic bumps. Standard AZ heating. |
| 3 | Moderate | Constant corrections required to maintain altitude. |
| 4 | Heavy | Airspeed fluctuations ±10 knots. Loose items shift. |
| 5 | Unsafe | Momentary loss of control. RTB Suggested. |
| Rating | Label | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calm | <5 knots. No crab required. |
| 2 | Within Mins | Noticeable wind, well within solo minimums. |
| 3 | At Mins | At personal/solo crosswind minimums. High focus required. |
| 4 | Exceeding Mins | Exceeding standard training minimums. Go-around likely. |
| 5 | Hazardous | Approaching control limits. Divert Recommended. |
