Foundations For Flying: 4 Types Of Info EU Flying Clubs Need To Track & How To Make It Easier For Everyone

When I showed up for my flying test, I ate the exam paper…

That means that sooner or later, I’ll pass the test…

I apologize, that joke wasn’t in good taste at all, but when my daughter used that joke about her math quiz, I lost my mind. It was hilarious.

So now we can have that in common.

One other thing that we probably have in common, assuming you’re also part of a flying club, is a deep-seated annoyance at all of the paperwork.

I get it, it’s important, necessary even, but does there have to be quite so much of it, and isn’t there an easier way to manage it!?

That’s the question I asked myself nearly 6 months ago, and since then, it’s been a wild adventure. I’ve learned a lot about administration, and more importantly, I’ve learned a little about software.

Photo by Maksim Chernishev on Unsplash

In the past, my flying club might as well have been started by the Wright brothers for all the technology we used. Everything was tracked on paper, and it was a nightmare.

I’ll be the first to admit that it worked, for decades even, but it just kept getting more and more complicated until it got totally out of hand, and we had to do something about it.

Thankfully, we live in an age of amazing technology, and honestly, finding a software solution that did everything we wanted was pretty easy.

The first step, though, was making a list of what to look for, so that we could get the right software for our flying club on the first try.

I know it’s not quite as do-or-die as flying a plane, but we really didn’t want to have to bail out on our first software choice, so we took a little time to get it right instead.

Here’s what we decided we absolutely had to have, and how it’s making our lives easier.

Photo by Tyler Franta on Unsplash

1. Memberships & Individual Info

While there are many things that software can help us to keep track of, personal info is the most important in my mind.

I’m tired of having a drawer full of messy folders, not to mention all the individual lists that are randomly shoved in here and there. It was a nightmare.

Digitally, the information is much more organized, but the real benefit here is that it’s also searchable.

The old way was searchable too, I guess — just pull out a stack of folders and start digging… But this way is a lot easier, and so much faster.

2. Reservations Are Readable

I don’t know what your club’s strategy is for reservations, but we used a calendar. Simple, obvious, easy, right?

That’s what we thought, and it was while the club was still really small, but it quickly turned into a right mess.

There’s just not enough room to write everything down, then things get erased, shuffled, or modified, and it just turns into a big slop of illegible scribbles over time.

One problem I’ve never had with software is running out of room, and the writing is always legible and clear, even when Frank writes it. Frank has terrible handwriting; we barred him from adding to the calendar.

When we gave up the paper calendar, we opened ourselves up to a much better scheduling method — one that people can easily access and understand without a magnifying glass.

Photo by Horizon flights on Unsplash

3. Flight Logs & Fleet Maintenance

I know, I know, we’ve got a book for that… right?

Well, my flying club had books for it too, and they were mostly a pain in the behind if you actually needed to look anything up.

Sure, I’ll admit that it’s not that hard to keep a log for flights, records for maintenance, and so on — but wouldn’t it be better if they were actually useful?

What I mean is, a book is okay, but it can’t send you reminders when you need maintenance.

You can’t type some keywords into a book and search for the most recent maintenance on a specific part.

You can with software, though — it’s easy. You can even access it without carrying the book in your back pocket.

4. Real Time Tracking

Finally, something you actually cannot do with a book is tracking your flights in real-time. Where are they now, what are they doing, and is everything going to plan?

These are the kind of real-time questions that really matter, and that you can’t just record after the flight.

They’re just baked into the best software, though — automatic updates on all the info you need, as it’s happening.

Even for flying clubs that are in love with their paper records, I can’t explain just how helpful real-time data tracking can be. I would switch to a software approach just for this alone.

It’s been a long time since flying clubs began, and while tradition is a wonderful thing to have, I don’t think that should include paperwork.

If there’s one thing about the club that needs to change, it’s how much time we waste writing things down that could be recorded automatically.

This is the future we’re living in. It’s time to start acting like it.