Hello fellow aviation friends, curious pilots, industry pros. We'd like to introduce Windsock, where we believe owning an aircraft should be transparent, fast, and open to all.
Every pilot learns dead reckoning. You plot courses, calculate wind corrections by hand, and estimate drift. It's foundational. But in practice? Nobody navigates by dead reckoning when they have GPS, WAAS, ForeFlight with real-time weather and traffic.
Aircraft valuations have been stuck in the dead reckoning era.
Windsock is here to change just that.
Windsock v1.0 is an ai-powered, data backed tool for aircraft valuations. Windsock uses machine learning models that learn from millions of aviation data points.
Instead of experts deciding what should matter, and by how much, the Windsock model discovers what actually drives prices in real world markets.
The result? An easy to use self-serve valuation tool.
Simply enter a tail number or model (plus a few details), and within minutes you get:
Our goal is to combine rigor with ease of use, so pilots and aviation pros get insight, not guesswork.
We back each valuation with our Ground Truth Guarantee: if our valuation doesn’t match reality (beyond our range), we’ll make it right with refund or credit.
In aviation, valuation knowledge in today's market are often the domain of brokers, appraisers, or specialists. These experts may charge high fees or keep their methods proprietary. For many pilots or private aircraft owners, the lack of transparency is frustrating. The methods lack innovation, and the pricing charged is unreasonable to the available tools and technology.
We wanted to change that. By democratizing valuations, we open up:
We believe fair markets are built on good data, so let’s make that data available to all.
Let me walk you through what a Windsock valuation report actually gives you.
You get a central “Windsock Value” along with a plausible range around it. Because the market isn’t a single point, the range shows possible variation. You also get a confidence score; how much we trust the estimate given the current available data.
You get insights into what features pushed prices up or down, and how your aircraft stacks up against the comparable aircraft market.
A big part of aircraft value is not just the airframe, but what’s inside: radios, GPS, autopilot, engine condition, structural status, interior/exterior condition. We separate out how much each contributes. Unlike other methods, these are valued based on data instead of a static depreciation schedule.
Example: a Garmin GNS-430 may have a larger impact on value for a late model Cessna 172 than it would a newer Archer.
Every good valuation needs context. We check and include registration histories, accident or incident records, etc...
We don’t stop at “what it’s worth now.” We also project forward where might this plane’s value go over the next year, based on market trends? That helps when you’re deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold.
We showcase the model's reasoning. It’s not just a number. If something seems off, you can dig in or question it.
Here’s an example pulled from one of our sample reports: a 1962 Cessna 172C valuation:
You also see a breakdown of how each avionics component, condition rating, and airframe detail contributes to that value.
We support a U.S. aircraft registry database of over 361,000 aircraft. You can look up by tail number and get full registration history, ownership records, aircraft status, and more.
You don’t need to be a pilot, broker, or mechanic to use Windsock. If you can punch in a registration number or model and answer a few basic questions, you can run a report.
For more advanced use, we offer Enterprise / API access for aviation businesses, brokers, or services that want to embed valuations at scale.
Pricing is simple: Windsock LITE reports cost $49 per valuation. It is that simple!
We know trust is earned, not claimed. Here’s how we try to earn yours:
Windsock is more than an aircraft valuation tool; it’s a movement toward fairer, more open aircraft ownership markets. We want pilots, owners, buyers, and sellers to have real, actionable insight, not mystery.
To everyone reading this: go ahead, create an account, run a report, poke at the numbers. Ask questions. Challenge the assumptions. We’re building this with you.
Welcome aboard. Let’s take off together.
Happy landings,
The Windsock Crew
