Flight Schedule Pro releases all new app for flight schools

Flight Schedule Pro is the industry-leading software platform used by flight schools across the U.S. and provides digital solutions for airplane scheduling, student training records, and billing. What started as a basic online airplane scheduling program has evolved into a full-service software solution that all but eliminates the need for paper-record keeping at flight schools, greatly simplifying and automating the routine tasks among students, CFIs and flight school management.

The company recently released an all-new app for iPhone and iPad that makes interaction with the system even more convenient. In addition to being able to schedule and modify airplane reservations, instructors and students can access all of their flight school’s interactive lesson plans and enter flight times and lesson grades right in the app, eliminating the need for a paper TCO or syllabus book. Best of all there is a new offline mode in the app that allows instructors to access the lesson plans in the air and grade the maneuvers as they’re accomplished during each lesson. Here’s how it works.

Getting Started

First, to use the Flight Schedule Pro app your flight training organization must use Flight Schedule Pro and you must have a user account. The first thing you’ll see after logging in to the new app is the airplane schedule. Here you can quickly view availability and schedule a flight:

The new tab-bar interface in the iPad app allows quick navigation to other sections of the app. The Reservations section allows students and instructors to view past and upcoming reservations:

Student Training Hub

The real value in the new app comes from its integration with Flight Schedule Pro’s Student Training Hub. This is the component that replaces paper record-keeping and allows a flight school to transition from paper TCOs and syllabi to full digital records. While there is some administrative work required by flight school management on the front-end to set up each lesson in Flight Schedule Pro’s record-keeping system, the payoff and time-savings are well worth the effort.

When scheduling an airplane for a lesson, the instructor can also assign the relevant flight lesson to the reservation from the course the student is actively enrolled in.

It then takes just one tap in the app from the instructor’s device to save that lesson for offline viewing, which then provides access to grade each maneuver throughout the flight lesson:

When back on the ground, notes can be added to the flight, and both the student and instructor sign and save the lesson using a unique digital PIN:

Flight times are automatically assigned to the lesson when the airplane keys and flightbook are checked back in at the flight school desk, significantly reducing the potential for data-entry errors in each lesson. It also simplifies the instructor’s tasks when a student finishes a course, by making sure all the times add up and FAA requirements are met.

Flight Schedule Pro’s system can be used by schools offering both FAA Part 61 and 141 training (141 use requires FAA approval). While the online portal is still Flight Schedule Pro’s core interface, this new app provides a nice alternative for scheduling lessons when on the go, and accessing and grading lesson plans when offline and away from a computer.

Download Flight Schedule Pro from the app store