Flight Funded Experiment

Building a Flight Funded Career

I'm a commercial pilot building income streams to fund the next block of flight hours. KDP aviation workbooks are the cleanest proof line, FeedFare is live, and the AI automation material now stays in the background until it proves demand.

📚 Get the pilot workbooks funding this See the receipts
✈️
381.2
Total Flight Hours
Part 135: 500 · ATP: 1,500
💰
$526.87
KDP Aviation Royalties (USD)
62 March-May aviation workbook units · + €9.41 from Amazon.fr
See the workbook catalog →
📈
7.9
Avg Hours / Month
Lifetime avg · Last flight May 22, 2026
⏱️
~15
Months to Part 135
~15 mo at 7.9 hrs/mo · 500 hrs minimum
🎯 Part 135 Minimum — Near-Term Goal 381.2 / 500 hours (118.8 remaining · ~15 months)
✈️ Later Target — Airline Minimum (ATP) 381.2 / 1,500 hours (1,118.8 remaining)
💸 Tracked Funding Progress $526.87 + €9.41 KDP aviation royalties tracked through the May dashboard

Last updated: May 31, 2026 · Follow the journey on YouTube →

☕ Support the experiment
Every dollar goes directly toward flight hours. Tracked publicly above.
☕ Buy me a coffee → flight time
What’s Funding the Hours
Kalshi Weather Bot
⏸️ Paused
Weather-only realized PnL is -$142.16 after stripping sports. Trading is paused and the bot is being rebuilt around calibration and cleaner scoring.
iOS App
🎉 FeedFare LIVE
Build 26 approved Apr 2. New onboarding funnel, quiz-driven walking rules, delayed paywall. First trial conversion watch begins.
Aviation Study Products
Live
May 2026 KDP dashboard: 31 aviation-workbook units, $270.87 USD, 0 refunds, and 123 KENP read. March-May aviation workbook tracking now stands at 62 units and $526.87 USD plus €9.41 EUR. PPL leads, Instrument is second, and Multi-Engine has early proof. Compare the pilot workbook series →
AI Automation Notes
Background
The OpenClaw playbook is still available, but it is not the lead offer until buyer demand proves it deserves oxygen.
Cleanest revenue proof line

Pilot workbooks that help fund the next block of flight hours

The workbook catalog is not a vanity shelf. It is the current proof that useful aviation study products can sell to pilots and turn into flight-hour money.

Compare Pilot Workbooks

What Flight Funded Is Measuring

01

Flight hours

The whole point is to close the gap between where I am now and a Part 135 cockpit. This page tracks the hours, the pace, and whether the timeline is actually improving or just getting romanticized.

02

Income quality

Not all revenue is equal. I care about whether an income stream is durable, repeatable, and boring enough to count on. That is why KDP matters more right now than hype around one lucky trade or a flashy launch week.

03

Capital discipline

If a system is unstable, it does not stay live just because it sounds cool on the internet. That is why the Kalshi bot is paused while the weather strategy gets rebuilt around calibration instead of ego.

Read next if you want the full picture

These pages explain the flying path, the weather bot post-mortem, and the aviation products funding the experiment.

📚 Pilot Workbooks 🎙️ VFR Radio Calls 🤖 Kalshi Weather Bot 📚 Aviation Workbook Catalog ✈️ Commercial Pilot Career Guide 📘 Commercial Workbook Launch 🛫 Multi-Engine Workbook Launch
Kalshi Bot Status
⏸️ Kalshi Bot — Paused for Redesign
The original live weather run lost money once sports activity was stripped out. The current job is to rebuild calibration and scoring before any live return.
PAUSED · redesign
Weather-only realized PnL: -$142.16 · LaunchAgent off · no live restart
How the Experiment Works
01

The Problem

I need 118.8 more flight hours to reach the 500-hour Part 135 target. At about $200 per hour, that's roughly a $23,760 gap. Instead of waiting until I can afford more flying, I'm trying to build assets that help fund the next block of hours.

02

The Strategy

I'm testing three real funding lanes: iOS apps, aviation study products, and small digital products. Kalshi stays paused until the redesign earns its way back.

03

The Bot

The original weather bot compared NOAA and Open-Meteo forecasts to Kalshi prices, but the live version was overconfident and structurally flawed. It is now paused while I rebuild it around calibration, cleaner scoring, and better abstention.

04

The Transparency

I update this page with real numbers from the experiment: flight hours, revenue, and major milestones. No fake wins, no inflated screenshots.

Milestones

Condensed proof log: only the numbers that changed the flight-hours or revenue thesis. Longer receipts stay off the page.

May 22, 2026
Flight log updated from KMCE→KCIC and back. Total time is now 381.2 hours, cutting the 500-hour gap to 118.8 hours.
381.2 TT262.7 PIC76.2%
May 31, 2026
May KDP dashboard reconciled. The aviation workbook lane reached 62 March-May units and $526.87 USD, with PPL still leading and Multi-Engine adding a second paperback unit.
62 units$526.87 USD0 refunds
May 17, 2026
KDP export reconciled through May 16. 51 processed workbook units booked, with PPL still leading and Multi-Engine now showing its first processed unit.
$424.15 USD€9.41 EUR51 units
May 16, 2026
Flight log updated. The 500-hour gap is down to 124.8 hours, with commander time now at 23.1 hours.
375.2 TT256.7 PIC75.0%
May 13, 2026
May KDP kept moving. March-May tracking reached 47 workbook sales. Actual buyer intent, not spreadsheet incense.
47 sales$392.63 USD€9.41 EUR
May 10, 2026
Flight log crossed 373 hours. Next clean gate became 400 TT, then the larger push to 500.
373.2 TT254.7 PIC126.8 hrs left
May 8, 2026
KDP joined the verified tracker. The workbook lane became a real proof line, with PPL leading and Instrument second.
37 units$299.58 USD€9.41 EUR
May 2, 2026
March-April exports reconciled. Aviation workbooks moved from idea to verified sales evidence.
31 units$256.00 USDPPL leads
Apr 29, 2026
April KDP hit real traction. PPL carried volume while Instrument added higher-dollar units.
24 sales$198.34 USD€9.41 EUR
Apr 23, 2026
Logged 1.5 flight hours. The public 500-hour plan updated with the latest gap math.
371.0 TT129.0 hrs left500 plan →
Earlier checkpoints
Apr 25, 2026
OpenClaw Playbook shipped. Product lane went live on Gumroad while Kalshi stayed paused.
shippedbot paused
Apr 21, 2026
April KDP reached 18 paperback sales. PPL led, IR followed, and Multi-Engine joined the catalog.
18 sales$140.80 USD
Apr 17, 2026
Multi-Engine workbook went live. The aviation catalog now covered private, instrument, commercial, and multi-engine prep.
catalog complete$125.04 USD
Apr 13, 2026
KDP reached 17 paid units. April alone was up to 9 paperback sales, with PPL clearly leading.
17 units$139.88 est.
Apr 10, 2026
Weather bot results corrected. Sports activity was separated from weather-only results; Kalshi stayed paused.
-$142.16 weatherredesign
Apr 6, 2026
Commercial workbook went live. The aviation catalog expanded to PPL, IR, and Commercial.
Amazon livecatalog grows
Apr 3, 2026
FeedFare and KDP both improved. App progress continued while workbook sales validated the lane.
appKDP
Apr 2, 2026
FeedFare Build 26 approved. Activation-first onboarding, quiz rules, and delayed paywall shipped.
App StoreBuild 26
Mar 31, 2026
KDP became the cleanest proof line. The first Instrument ebook royalty hit while paperback sales kept proving demand.
first IR ebookpaperback proof
Mar 28, 2026
Kalshi went live, then got humbled. The post-mortem showed the weather strategy was not capital-ready.
live testpaused
Mar 2, 2026
FeedFare went live. First public iOS app shipped with free and premium tiers.
Feb 26, 2026
First KDP sale landed. The PPL Workbook generated its first paperback royalty.
first salestranger money
Feb 23, 2026
Flight Funded launched. Track the hours, track the revenue, and see whether the stack funds more flying.
public experiment

Study Resources

Chill lofi beats for your next ground school session. Pair it with the PPL Workbook, the Commercial Pilot Workbook, or the Multi-Engine Workbook and get to work.

Related Aviation Guides

If you're here for the pilot path, read these next

This experiment exists to buy more flight time. These are the pages that explain how I'm training, studying, and trying not to light money on fire.

✈️ Checkride Prep Guide 📱 Best Apps for Student Pilots 🛩️ Commercial Workbook on Amazon 🛫 Multi-Engine Workbook on Amazon 💸 Cheapest Ways to Build Flight Hours