For VFR pilots · Android & iPhone · Works offline
WingsLevel turns your phone into an attitude indicator with speed, altitude and vertical-speed tapes, and an HSI with Direct-To navigation. Its GPS-aided attitude stays true in turns, where ordinary phone apps drift back to wings-level.
New to WingsLevel? Read the Quickstart
Built for the cockpit: large, readable instruments, night mode, and nothing to configure before engine start.
Pitch ladder, bank scale and aircraft symbol, with a turn indicator (wing tip on the mark = standard-rate turn) and a slip ball that stays centred in a coordinated turn, even with the phone slightly rolled in its mount. Full-screen mode with a heading tape. If the phone's sensors ever stop, a red X replaces the horizon at once: it never shows a frozen attitude as if it were live.
Ground speed, altitude and a smooth vertical-speed indicator from GPS combined with the phone's accelerometer. Tap the altitude tape to set an altitude bug. Red flags when GPS is poor or stale.
Magnetic compass rose, like your compass, charts and ATC, with heading bug, bearing pointer and a GPS course-deviation bar with TO/FROM. Distance, ETA and ETE at a glance.
During a Direct-To a sign stands on the destination in the attitude view, and a green flight path marker shows where the aircraft is really going: turn until it sits on the sign. The heading tape points to the heading to fly, wind correction included, and an arrow shows the way when the destination is behind you.
Line up with a runway and the attitude view shows its extended centreline and gates down an advisory 3° path, with sideways and glide path scales, with or without synthetic vision. It picks the runway by itself; one tap for the parallel one. A VFR aid for a stable final.
Nearest airports and navaids by true distance from your GPS position, anywhere in the world, or search by ICAO code and country. Runways, surfaces and frequencies for every airport, with what each frequency is for.
3D terrain of the whole world behind the horizon, coloured by height above you, sharp out to the horizon. Runways sit where they really are, drawn by surface with their markings, with taxiways and aprons; lakes, rivers, motorways and main roads help you find your way; detailed 90 m terrain in the mountains. Download the areas you fly in once and it works with no connection.
One tap turns every instrument, button and dialog red on black to protect your night vision.
Level removes any tilt of your mount on the ground (in flight only when you fly straight and level, so a turn is never stored as level), and the app learns by itself if the phone points slightly left or right of the nose, on the takeoff roll.
Record raw sensor and GPS data and export it after the flight, to review or share.
The app, this website and the user manual in English, German and Brazilian Portuguese. Pick the language at the first start and change it any time in Settings.
Installs from your browser like an app, full screen, keeps the screen on, and offers updates when you are online: you choose when to install them.
A phone's accelerometer can't tell gravity from the aircraft's own acceleration. In a coordinated turn, the force you feel points straight "down the seat", so an ordinary phone app slowly decides the wings are level while you are still banked. The same happens in pitch on the takeoff roll or when you add power.
WingsLevel runs a GPS-aided Kalman filter, the technique used in real inertial navigation systems. It compares what the accelerometer measured with how the GPS says the aircraft actually moved, so it knows how much of the force is turning and accelerating, and keeps the horizon where it belongs.
Figures from the filter's flight simulation tests. Real-world performance depends on the phone and the mounting.
Portrait or landscape, day or night. These are real screens from the app.
Step by step for Android and iPhone, with the basics in flight: Quickstart guide. Every feature in detail: user manual (PDF).
Open the app on your phone and tap Install app (Android) or Add to Home Screen (iPhone). It opens full screen, like any other app.
While on Wi-Fi, download the terrain for the areas you fly in from the Terrain Manager, so synthetic vision works with no connection.
Mount the phone upright facing you, tap Level on the ground, and go. No signal needed in the air.
No. WingsLevel is not a certified instrument and must not be used for primary navigation or in instrument meteorological conditions. It is a situational-awareness aid for VFR flight. Always cross-check with your aircraft's instruments and look outside.
Yes. Once installed, everything runs on the phone: instruments, airports and navaids, and synthetic vision (after you download the terrain for the areas you fly in). GPS works everywhere; it doesn't need mobile data.
It works everywhere: the terrain covers the whole world, including the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and all of Europe. You only keep the areas you choose on your phone: most countries take a few MB to a few tens of MB, and the detailed 90 m terrain for mountainous countries such as Switzerland adds up to a few hundred MB. Add or remove areas at any time in the Terrain Manager.
The attitude filter holds bank within a couple of degrees in sustained turns in our simulations, and learns your mount's alignment by itself. Real accuracy depends on your phone's sensors and a solid mount: recent phones from the main brands work best. Speed and altitude come from GPS, so they are ground speed and GPS altitude, not airspeed or pressure altitude.
Only as a VFR aid. When you line up with a runway, WingsLevel shows its extended centreline and gates down an advisory 3° path, built from GPS and open airport data. It is not a published instrument approach, shows no obstacles and must not be used in cloud. Cross-check with your altimeter and the PAPI, and look outside.
You see it straight away. If the motion sensors stop, a red X replaces the attitude and the HSI shows a flag. If the GPS is lost or too imprecise (for example a phone falling back to mobile network positioning), the speed and altitude tapes show a red X instead of old values, and the map position is not moved by inaccurate fixes.
Android with Chrome is recommended and gives the best sensor access. iPhones work through Safari. Check it on your own phone and in your own aircraft before you rely on it.
Yes. Install it on each device you want to use, and download the terrain areas on each.
Your position and sensor data never leave the phone. There is no tracking in the app.
Another question? Write to us at wingslevel@ppoinha.com.
Safety notice. WingsLevel is a non-certified situational-awareness aid. It is not approved by EASA, the FAA or any other authority, must not be used for primary navigation or IFR flight, and consumer phone sensors can drift or fail. Always maintain visual reference and cross-check with the aircraft's instruments. The pilot in command remains responsible for the safe conduct of the flight.
