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Flight Operations System Software: 10 Questions to Ask

Written by Veryon | Mar 15, 2023 12:00:00 PM

When deciding if a new flight operations system software is right for your organization, communication features that streamline data flow and keep flight scheduling and trip planning moving effortlessly is paramount.  

Here are the top 10 questions we get asked most when it comes to our computerized flight operations management software, which ultimately saves time, aircraft maintenance costs, and gets clients more uptime. 

1. How long does it take to onboard flight operations software?

This varies from customer to customer, but generally, onboarding our flight operations system takes four weeks or less. An operator with two or three tails can usually be up and running within a week or two if the customer is engaged and time is of the essence. With a larger fleet and more operational complexity, it can take longer.

Veryon has a full team of trained specialists to help customers get successfully onboarded. Customers receive white-glove treatment from the very beginning, and Veryon will help build out everything from aircraft and personnel profiles to passenger databases, currencies, and certificates.

2. Can flight logs be customized?

There's no end to the type of data points that can be put on a flight log through our custom fields. The general, high-level 30,000-foot view is fully customizable. Flight logs, even a paper flight log, can be recreated on our platform.

 

3. Is the Pilot App available offline?

The fully native mobile solution (iOS app) can operate completely offline, which means as long as there's an internet connection, it's continually linked to the cloud. Items like push notifications or any changes that are applied to the pilot schedule or the maintenance status of the aircraft will automatically update if the app loses connection.

If you’re in the air or in a remote area where there isn't internet connectivity, you can still go in and enter flight logs and use all the functions of that app. Once the app gets connectivity again, it will automatically upload that data to the cloud. It’s a huge benefit for pilots because a lot of times they're operating in remote environments or 30,000 feet in the air where cell signals are spotty. Many companies don’t want the added expense of a data subscription for their aircraft for in-flight Wi-Fi. Having that offline capability is super valuable.

4. How does it sync to Veryon Maintenance Tracking? 

It synchronizes through our electronic flight logs. If you’re a Veryon Maintenance Tracking customer, our flight logs on the operation side push the actual aircraft times (airframe, engine, propeller, auxiliary power unit) to the maintenance side. That drives the next items due on the maintenance list and keeps track of those that are time sensitive. It eliminates the need to enter those numbers manually, which can often lead to mistakes.  

5. Do I have to call Veryon to run reports?

No, you do not have to call Veryon to run a report from Veryon Tracking. There are an unlimited number of ways to pull data from the system. Customers can filter almost all of the submodules to run reports. To run a report on flight logs, we give you all the data points so you can select them yourself and build a filter. That setting can be saved so that it doesn’t have to be recreated the next time you want to run the report.  

This is unique because other programs require a call to a third-party vendor to create reports. That ends up wasting time and money. Veryon's suite of solutions is one of the few platforms that has voluminous amounts of data available to customers to draw out of the system and then they can do what they want with the data. Some systems have canned reports, but it’s very limiting and not at all customizable like Veryon Tracking.

6. Do you have the ability to track currencies and certificates? Can I set my own thresholds?

Yes to both. We allow you to track any training or recurrent certificate in our system by allowing you to build it yourself. It’s easy to build a certificate or a training that you want to track with a certain validity period and then assign that to various personnel groups. For example, it’s possible to create a 12-month certificate, set a notification for 30 days before it comes due and then the person assigned to that certificate or training will get a notification e-mail saying that it's coming due and another notification e-mail when it expires.  

For the currencies, you can define your currencies in a very similar manner to the way the FAA tracks them based on calendar months with grace periods. Clients can build out the rolling period and alert threshold for a notification of when that currency is about to expire. The nice thing about this system is that it will alert the scheduler when they're building a trip if there's a crew member who has something that's expired or that's forecasted to expire at the time that the trip is scheduled.

7. Can the pilots submit non-routines and discrepanices?

Whether it’s a tire that looks worn, a circuit breaker pop or something else, pilots are able to submit squawks, MEL’s, or an info-only note from the crew via the mobile app or on the web, which goes directly to our maintenance dashboard — all in real time. No phone calls have to be made, and it’s all handled through the platform. It’s a very streamlined process that saves a lot of time.

8. Can I view the calendar in a 30-day view?

Yes, we have very configurable views. For the schedule, you can view it in the classic timeline, which is just linear for each aircraft, or you can view all the aircraft and personnel on the classic calendar grid like an Outlook or Google Calendar. A busy flight department will have a lot of aircraft and dozens of people on the system, so it makes it hard to make sense of it unless you filter that calendar down to just the resources you want -- and we allow you to do that.

9. Can I still work a trip that is not assigned to a tail?

Absolutely. Customers can unassign a trip and remove the tail number. In circumstances where a tail number is assigned to a trip and the aircraft breaks, the program allows for swapping tails if necessary. Passengers and crew can still be added, and the legs, dates, and departure times can be changed without losing the trip, even without knowing if that aircraft is going to fly again.

10. Can I customize the trip sheet? 

Yes. You can add your own logo to it, add passenger notes, and contact information on trip sheets. When that document gets sent out to the crew members and to the passengers, they’ll be branded and professional.  

Summary

When it comes to flight operations software, Veryon Tracking is the answer for complete flight department scheduling software – all in a single seamless solution.  

The Veryon Tracking software suite provides everything needed to manage a fleet – large or small — effectively. This fully integrated solution is proven to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce costs, and increase aircraft uptime with scheduling software in a modern and secure cloud-based environment. Want to see it in action? Book a demo today