Your airplane. This runway. Today's weather.
TLAR runs a physics model of your airplane once every second and shows your takeoff, climb, cruise and landing performance, live. Green, yellow or red tells you whether it's going to work.
Free to download · Pro and Expert unlock more · iPhone XS or newer, and iPad
POH charts cover a handful of conditions, and some handbooks barely cover those. TLAR models the forces on your airplane (lift, weight, thrust and drag), so it can predict performance between and beyond the published numbers, using your weight, today's weather, and the runway's real length, slope and surface.
TLAR's Expert version will display predicted turnback capability and allow you to rehearse it before takeoff so you are prepared. TLAR will then monitor your departure and update turnback predictions in real time, vastly increasing your situational awareness.
See how it works →
Live takeoff numbers for the runway you're on, with a to-scale runway graphic and your liftoff point.
Your landing drawn right on the runway, plus runway-side sVAPI glidepath cues.
The runway is drawn at its true axis on the compass rose, with wind, solar markers and your landing geometry.
Drone, chase and first-person views over real terrain and trees, with your flight path drawn in.
Heading tape, pitch ladder, flight path marker, FPA chevrons and a projection of your landing zone.
Live METAR wind, an animated NEXRAD overlay in the USA, and where the sun will be when you arrive.
Trainers, backcountry taildraggers, homebuilts, a warbird and one jet. Don't see yours? Expert subscribers can build their own model. See the full list →
Piper J-3 Cub
Cessna 172
Van's RV-7
Cirrus SR22
Piper PA-18
Aero L-39
Diamond DA40
Cessna A185F
Kitfox 7
Van's RV-10
Mooney M20F
Super Decathlon
T-6G Texan
CubCrafters FX
Cessna 180K
Van's RV-8
Piper PA-24
Glasair Sportsman
Cessna 150
Harmon Rocket II
Piper PA-28-181
Van's RV-14A
Cessna 170B
Piper PA-22
Van's RV-4Turn back, land straight ahead, or go off field? TLAR works that out for your airplane, at your weight, in today's wind, at least once every second, and checks the glide against real terrain and trees.
01 · PLAN IT ON THE GROUND
TLAR models your departure out to 5 NM using your climb profile and current conditions. A yellow X marks the last point you can still stop or land straight ahead. A green dot marks where a turnback first becomes possible, with its altitude, and a red dot marks where it stops being possible.
02 · REHEARSE IT
Emergency Sim and the 3D Terrain tile fly your planned departure through the real terrain. Tap TURNBACK to play the engine-out return and see where it ends. It's more than an animation: the simulated airplane runs through TLAR's calculations, so your other tiles respond too.
03 · FLY WITH IT ARMED
In flight TLAR stops assuming and uses where you actually are. The Land tile shows AHEAD when the runway in front of you will do. Otherwise you get a route with its crossing height, or the footprint, and a spoken “Turnback possible” or “Off field.” It works in cruise as well as after takeoff.
Decision support, not a guarantee. A turnback is inherently dangerous, and in most cases the safest choice is to land on the most suitable surface ahead of you. TLAR doesn't consider airspace or traffic. Its answer is only as good as the aircraft, weather and runway data you give it.
Included with TLAR ExpertWe fly what we build. This video is from a test flight at Caldwell, Idaho (KEUL), takeoff on runway 12, power to idle, 20° flaps to simulate windmilling propeller drag, turn back to runway 30. This test was flown using the legacy TLAR interface, replaced by the new tile-based interface. The aero is the same, the look and usability vastly improved!
Glasair Sportsman, 210 HP, 1,830 lb · Vy climb-out at 78 KCAS · Idle power, flaps 20° · Turnback and glide at Vref, 71 KCAS · Wind 050 at 12
You don't have time to study numbers on short final. TLAR boils it down to the one thing you need to know.
You'll clear the fence with your safety margin intact.
It fits, but not with the margin you asked for. The tile turns yellow and shows MARGIN TIGHT.
The predicted takeoff distance is longer than the runway you have. Rethink it.
Ground run starts at your line-up point and ends at liftoff. TLAR adds the climb to your fence height, then checks the total against the runway and your safety margin. Turn on ASTOP and it adds accelerate-stop distance too.
Your flight path angle and fence height set the fence shadow. Then come the touchdown zone and braking distance, all checked against the runway with the same green, yellow and red logic.
TLAR models where a turnback can make it back to the runway, and where it can't. The answer is waiting before you need it. See Emergency Glide →
Download high-resolution terrain and tree data, down to 1-meter lidar, and TLAR scans beyond each runway end for anything that rises into your path.
Ranch strips, gravel bars and backcountry airstrips don't show up in airport databases. TLAR gives you three ways to create your own runway, and then treats it like any other.
01 · MAP SURVEY
Put the crosshair on the approach end and tap Set Approach End, then do the same for the departure end. TLAR works out the runway's axis and length and looks up the elevation of each end when you're connected. You can build a strip from your couch the night before.
02 · GPS SURVEY
On the ground: stand at each end and tap Mark. TLAR computes heading, length, elevation and slope. From the air: pick a survey height (50 to 200 feet AGL, or your own), fly that height down the runway and tap Mark over each end. TLAR subtracts your height to find the ground.
03 · NEW
Already have surveyed data? Enter the approach threshold's latitude, longitude and elevation, then the runway's true axis, length, width and slope. Tap Create and it's saved.
Check your survey. TLAR treats every MyStrips runway as precise, but it can't verify what you entered or marked. Before you rely on one, check its endpoints, approach end, direction, elevation, length, surface and obstacles.
Read the Pilot GuideWith high-resolution terrain and tree data on your device, 1-meter lidar where it's available, TLAR scans the ground beyond both runway ends and shows you where your approach and departure are clear, and where they aren't.
01 · AUTO FENCE
In every lane, TLAR compares the terrain and the trees with your approach path and your climb path. From that it works out the fence height you need at the approach end and the departure end, and feeds those into your takeoff and landing numbers. Choose the best lane, the centerline, or the worst case.
02 · REAL RUNWAY SLOPE
A runway's average slope hides its humps and dips. With high-resolution terrain, TLAR uses the slope of the part of the runway you'll actually use: the ground run on takeoff and the braking segment on landing.
03 · ELEVATION CORRECTION
While you're stopped on the runway, TLAR compares your GPS altitude with the 1 m elevation directly under the airplane and applies a correction when one is needed. You'll see it beside GSL, for example “GSL (+9).” It can also correct a runway's stored end elevations to match the 1 m data.
Know what the data covers. Coverage and resolution vary by location, and 1 m data isn't available everywhere. Tree heights come from a canopy dataset. Neither dataset includes wires, towers, buildings or fences, so look at the actual runway environment before you rely on a fence value.
Included with TLAR ExpertChoose from 20 tiles and arrange them in the layout that suits each phase of flight. Then flip any tile over and pick the chicklets around its edges: the small readouts and buttons you want within reach. Choose the color palette that reads best in your cockpit's light. Save up to five presets and switch the whole dashboard with one tap.
Live readouts you place along the top and sides of a tile.
Examples include:
Controls you place along the bottom, to change a mode or a source with one tap.
Examples include:
Pick the palette that's easiest to read in your cockpit's lighting. It changes how the dashboard looks, never the numbers behind it.
Tap a tile to flip it over, tap a position on any edge, and choose the chicklet you want there. Every tile can be set up differently, and your choices are saved with your presets.
Which tiles and chicklets you can pick depends on your plan.
Each level keeps everything from the one before it.
The core performance numbers for your airplane.
Real runways and live weather, on a moving map.
Everything in Basic, plus
Emergency glide, 3D terrain and your own airplane model.
Everything in Pro, plus
Subscribe inside the app. Cancel anytime, manage subscriptions in iOS settings.
In military aviation, “TLAR” is what you say with a thumb held up like a gunsight: that looks about right. It means an estimate that's good enough to be useful.
We grew up in military aviation, with solid performance manuals for every airplane. Then we started flying the backcountry of Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Colorado, and found that many GA handbooks, especially for experimental aircraft, didn't give us the numbers we needed. So we built TLAR to put real physics behind the thumb.
More about TLAR
Download TLAR free on the App Store. Want release news? Email to join the TLAR status list. We won't share your info or send spam. Read the Pilot Guide →