Oil & Fuel Tracking

The Health tab contains three sub-tabs: Oil Usage, Fuel Usage, and Oil Analysis. Oil and Fuel track consumable usage over time and display trend charts. Oil Analysis records and trends lab reports from companies such as Blackstone Laboratories and Aviation Laboratories (AvLab).

Oil Usage Sub-Tab

The Oil Usage sub-tab tracks oil additions and consumption.

Auto-Created Records from Flight Log

When you log a flight on the Flights tab and enter a value in the Oil Added or Fuel Added fields, the app automatically creates the corresponding oil or fuel record here, dated to the flight date. You can edit or delete these records independently of the flight log.

Adding an Oil Record

  1. Click Add Oil Record (owners and pilots).

  2. Fill in:

    • Date – When the oil was added.

    • Flight Hours – Aircraft hours at the time.

    • Quantity Added – Amount of oil added in quarts.

    • Level After – Oil level after adding (optional).

    • Type – The oil brand/type used (optional).

    • Notes – Any additional details (optional).

  3. Click Save.

Oil Consumption Chart

When you have two or more oil records, a trend chart appears showing oil consumption over time in hours per quart. This helps you monitor engine health – increasing oil consumption can indicate wear.

The chart plots each data point against flight hours so you can spot trends over the life of the engine. The dashed line shows the average consumption rate, calculated from the most recent 20 data points.

Outlier Detection

Events like an oil change (where a large quantity is added after only a few hours) can skew the average. When there are five or more data points, the chart automatically identifies statistical outliers using the IQR (Interquartile Range) method: any data point that falls outside Q1 − 1.5 × IQR or Q3 + 1.5 × IQR is considered an outlier.

  • Outlier points appear as larger orange dots on the chart.

  • The average line is recalculated excluding those outliers, and the legend notes how many were excluded (e.g., Average (8.2, 1 outlier excluded)).

  • In the records table, outlier records are flagged with a ⚠ warning icon next to the date. Hover over the icon for an explanation.

Outlier detection requires at least five inter-record intervals and does not fire when all consumption rates are identical.

Oil Records Table

Below the chart, a table lists all oil records with date, hours, quantity, level after, type, and notes. Records whose consumption rate was identified as an outlier are marked with a ⚠ icon next to the date. Owners can click the pencil icon to edit a record.

Fuel Usage Sub-Tab

The Fuel Usage sub-tab works identically to the Oil Usage sub-tab but tracks fuel consumption.

Adding a Fuel Record

  1. Click Add Fuel Record (owners and pilots).

  2. Fill in:

    • Date – When you refueled.

    • Flight Hours – Aircraft hours at the time.

    • Quantity Added – Amount of fuel added in gallons.

    • Level After – Fuel level after refueling (optional).

    • Type – The fuel grade (e.g., 100LL) (optional).

    • Notes – Any additional details (optional).

  3. Click Save.

Fuel Consumption Chart

With two or more records, a trend chart displays fuel burn rate in gallons per hour. This helps verify that fuel consumption is within expected parameters for your engine and flight profile. The dashed line shows the average burn rate, calculated from the most recent 20 data points.

Outlier detection works the same way as for oil: records whose burn rate falls outside the IQR bounds are rendered as larger orange dots on the chart, excluded from the average, and flagged with a ⚠ icon in the records table below. Common causes include a missed refueling entry (which inflates the hours between two records) or an unusually large top-off after a long flight.

Oil Analysis Sub-Tab

The Oil Analysis sub-tab tracks oil analysis lab reports and trends elemental wear-metal data over time. Each report stores the PPM values for up to 20 elements (iron, copper, chromium, aluminum, lead, silicon, etc.) and optional oil properties (flashpoint, viscosity, water content).

Reports can be added manually or imported from a PDF lab report.

Adding a Report Manually

  1. Click Add Report (owners only).

  2. Fill in:

    • Engine Component – The engine component the sample came from (optional but recommended for multi-engine aircraft).

    • Sample Date – Date the oil sample was taken (required).

    • Analysis Date – Date the lab performed the analysis (optional).

    • Lab – Laboratory name (e.g., Blackstone Laboratories).

    • Lab Number – Lab-assigned sample or report number.

    • Engine Hours at Sample – Total engine hours when the sample was taken.

    • Oil Hours at Sample – Hours on the current oil at time of sampling.

    • Oil Type – Oil brand and grade (e.g., Phillips XC 20W/50).

    • Oil Added (qt) – Makeup oil added during the sample interval.

    • Lab Status – Overall assessment: Normal, Monitor, or Action Required.

    • Elements (PPM) – Element concentrations in PPM. Enter the elements that appear on your report and leave the rest empty.

    • Lab Comments – Verbatim lab technician comments.

    • Notes – Your own notes about this sample.

  3. Click Add Report.

Importing from a PDF

PDF import reads lab reports and automatically populates all sample fields. A single PDF may contain multiple samples (current plus historical); all are extracted and presented for review.

  1. Click Import from PDF.

  2. Select the PDF file from your computer.

  3. Click Extract Data and wait for the report to be processed.

  4. Review the extracted samples. For each sample:

    • Check the checkbox to include it (all are checked by default).

    • Assign an engine component from the dropdown.

    • Verify element values and lab comments.

  5. Click Save Selected Samples.

Supported labs: Blackstone Laboratories and Aviation Laboratories (AvLab). PDF import requires a text-based PDF (the standard output from both labs); scanned image PDFs are not supported.

Element Trend Chart

When two or more reports are present, a trend chart appears showing selected element PPM values over time (by sample date). Each element is plotted as a separate colored line.

Element toggles: Click the element chips above the chart to show or hide individual elements. The six default elements shown are Iron, Copper, Chromium, Aluminum, Lead, and Silicon — the most common wear indicators. Additional elements (nickel, tin, molybdenum, etc.) can be toggled on.

Outlier detection: The same IQR method used for oil/fuel records is applied per element. Outlier data points are rendered as larger orange triangles. Each element’s dashed average line excludes outliers.

Multiple engines: If the aircraft has more than one engine component, a component filter dropdown appears so you can focus on a single engine’s history.

Status Labels

Each report can carry a lab-assigned status:

  • Normal (green) — No concerns; oil analysis is within expected parameters.

  • Monitor (orange) — One or more elements are elevated; recheck at shorter interval.

  • Action Required (red) — Immediate attention needed; investigate before further flight.

Status labels appear in the reports table and are derived from lab comments during PDF import or set manually.