Aviator runway method notes

This column documents the ranking protocol used for the Aviator shortlist on danielfranklingomez.com. It is not a fifth app review. Every figure cited below was read from the South Africa Google Play storefront on 9 November 2026.

Inputs locked before sorting

Four package ids were supplied: com.thirdwire.sfs_gp, com.AXgamesoft.TurbopropFS, com.ParsisGames.AirCombatEn, and com.thagiwara.aircraftmaster. The protocol does not add or remove packages mid-pass. Titles are taken from each card’s public name field, which is why the fourth entry prints as War Plane Strike: Sky Combat rather than a package nickname.

Central ranking table

Sort keys for the Aviator batch

Primary key: published star average, higher first. Secondary key: rating count when averages would otherwise collide. Install bands are logged and shown but never override a lower average. That rule is why Turboprop stays above Ace Fighter despite sharing a 10M+ band, and why Strike Fighters leads despite a thinner rating sample.

Fields refused

Size, OS version, and app version were omitted when the ZA card did not yield a clean authoritative string during the pass. The protocol prefers an explicit gap over a plausible fill. Histogram star bars were not present as publishable breakdowns on these cards, so the homepage chart maps only the mean.

Publication gate

A ranked card is not published without a review URL under the year folder. Ads / purchases lines are copied as printed. Age labels stay as store text. The desk remains unaffiliated with Google Play and every named developer. Binaries are not hosted on danielfranklingomez.com.

Re-checks append to the check archive. They do not silently rewrite older stamps.