Description
Left Seat is the destination discovery app built for general aviation pilots. Whether you’re looking for a $100 hamburger run, an airshow this weekend, or a bucket-list fly-in, Left Seat puts the best destinations in your cockpit.
DISCOVER WHERE TO FLY
Browse thousands of pilot-friendly destinations across the US — restaurants within walking distance of the runway, fly-in festivals, airshows, pancake breakfasts, scenic airports, and weekend getaways. Every destination is tied to an airport so you’re always thinking like a pilot.
VFR SECTIONAL MAP
Explore the US on a live VFR sectional chart overlay with every airport plotted. Filter by distance from your home airport, zoom into any region, and tap any airport to see what’s there. 128 airports in view at a glance.
FLY-INS & EVENTS
Never miss an airshow or fly-in again. Left Seat tracks aviation events nationwide — EAA fly-ins, Blue Angels shows, pancake breakfasts, airshows, and more — with countdowns, performer lineups, and direct links to plan your trip. Festivals tab covers thousands of ground events near airports in 40+ states.
BUCKET LIST
Save the airports you want to fly to and track the ones you’ve visited. Sedona, Catalina Island, Oshkosh — build your pilot bucket list and work through it one flight at a time.
PILOT PROFILE
Log your visited airports, earn achievement badges, and track your cross-country adventures. See your recent flights, home airport, and aircraft on your personal pilot profile.
SURPRISE ME
Can’t decide where to fly? Hit Surprise Me and Left Seat picks a destination matched to your location, range, and interests. Every Saturday morning just got a lot more interesting.
BUILT FOR GA PILOTS
Left Seat is designed specifically for general aviation — not airlines, not military, not drone operators. If you fly piston singles, light twins, or anything with an ICAO code, this app was made for you.
• 4,700+ US airports
• VFR sectional chart overlay
• Fly-ins, airshows, pancake breakfasts
• Thousands of pilot-friendly festivals in 40+ states
• Bucket list with visited airport tracking
• Achievement badges and pilot profile
• Crew car and amenity info
• Distance and flight time from your home airport
• Built for iPhone
Left Seat. Find your next flight.
What's new (v1.1.2)
Profile
Community profile completely redesigned — cleaner layout, open stats, glass surfaces, better spacing
Photo posts grid on your own profile
Profile photos show in pilot search results (Discover + Hangar)
Founding Pilot Badge
Redesigned as a small verified-style gold star icon next to the pilot's name
Shows everywhere: profiles, feed, search results, follower lists, notifications, post modals
Celebration screen when one of the first 100 users signs up
Removed the old yellow "FOUNDING PILOT" text pill
Notifications
Full in-app notification system — new follower, post like, achievement unlocked
Notifications screen with unread indicators, actor photos, mark all as read, pull-to-refresh
Push notifications via Expo + Supabase Edge Function — works when app is closed
Tapping a push deep links to the relevant screen
Dedicated notification settings screen with toggles for each type
Fly Here This Weekend
Personalized weekly destination recommendation every Thursday at 6pm
Picks an airport within day-trip range based on your home airport and cruise speed
Scores by food, golf, attractions, flight time — skips weak picks
Tapping the notification opens the airport detail page
Search
Discover search auto-switches to Pilots tab when no airports match the query
Usernames that match airport codes (KSUS, KJFK, etc.) blocked during registration
Map
Fixed weather dot colors — MVFR now correctly shows blue, LIFR correctly shows purple
Feed
Auto-refreshes when returning from creating a post
Pull-to-refresh on Pilot Activity feed
Cost Control
Removed satellite map fallback images from Discover cards
Google Places API session cap halved, per-minute cap halved
Discover live fetch limit cut from 8 to 4
Hero photo API calls deprioritized