User Guide

You will be asked to supply an email address, username and user password. The reason for these three inputs is for the application software to create a unique user profile and identification of all the flights you enter from here forward. As the database grows, your specific user identity will then allow the app to sort only your specific flight records for editing, adding, deleting etc.

The username is your access to the app and your password will allow you to log into your profile at any time.

For further ease of use, fingerprint access has been installed onto the app, for faster access to your data.

All other fields can be entered at your own leisure later and will not affect your registration process.

There are several other fields that you can complete but are not required as mandatory. To add, change or delete, you can enter the Profile section under the … more tab.

You are now ready to add your first aircraft to the application.

2. Home

The home button takes the user to the opening page of the application. After the user has completed section 1 and added the first aircraft in section 4 below, this will always be the start point of the application. Here the user can

· Add an Aircraft

· View the latest FDP

More will be described in the following sections.

3. Log

The log section is the heart of the FlightLine application. There are two main sections associated with the Log

LogBook

In this tab, the user can select the format required for the logbook to be viewed/printed. Currently three formats are supported but others are in development.

· ICAO

· EASA

· FAA

On selection of any of the formats, the application will take the user to two selections, viz Preview and Print.

Preview

In the preview mode, the logbook will be depicted as a single page that is two A4 pages (in landscape) wide. The user can easily follow each flight with each row showing all the available columns for each of the formats selected

Print

In the print selection, the one extra wide page is split into two printable A4 pages that can be printed and kept as a hard copy for record.

Cancel

This cancels the action, and no logbook will be requested

After selecting either Preview or Print, the data will be formatted into the correct layout. A prompt will appear saying that the logbook is being generated. The logbook will be sent to the email address that was created in the Profile setup originally as well as an HTML type layout that will appear on the screen.

Summary

FlightLine has an extensive summary selection available. The user can choose from several different options (or multiple combinations thereof) to view a summary report. By selecting the Summary tab, the following will appear:

· By Aircraft type

· By Engine type

· By Aircraft class

· By Flight crew

· By Aircraft family

· By Pilot function

· Flight simulation time

· Instruction time given

· By weight, from and to

· By date, from and to

By Aircraft Type

In this selection, the user can select from any aircraft that has been added to their library of aircraft flown.

By Engine Type

The user can choose the various engine type for the summary report. These can be from:

· Piston

· Turbine

· Jet

· Turboprop

· Electric

· Turbofan

· Turbojet

· Turboshaft

By Engine number

The summary allows for either single engine or multi engine aircraft to be selected.

By Flight Crew

The user can select either

· Single Pilot

· Multi Pilot

By Aircraft Family

In this selection, the user can choose what type of aircraft has been selected. These include:

· Airplane

· Glider

· Seaplane

· Amphibious

· Airship

· Autogyro

· Helicopter

By Pilot Function

The user can select from the following

· Dual

· Pilot in command (PIC)

· Pilot in command under supervision (PICUS)

· Co-Pilot (SIC)

By FSTD (Simulation)

In this selection only those flights that have occurred in the simulator will be shown

By Instruction Given

If the user has logged as an Instructor in the add flight section of add new aircraft, then only those flights where instruction was given will be shown.

By Weight

In this selection, the user can restrict the size of aircraft to be viewed in the summary. It allows a range between a minimum and maximum value. Note a maximum and minimum must be inputted.

By Date

In this selection ONLY those flights that occur during the date range (From and To) will be shown in the summary report. NO historical data will be added to any of the report fields if this selection is made.

Generating the Summary Report

Once the Generate button is selected, a summary report will be generated. The first page of the report will identify all the aircraft the user has flown over the duration of their career.

The second page of the report will complete all the fields that are relevant for the selection/s made above. The report is broken into multiple components with each having specific information relating to each of the report types, viz. ICAO, EASA and FAA plus additional common components to each of the types.

4. Adding and editing Aircraft

Adding Aircraft

To add an aircraft, do the following:

· click on the aircraft tab.

· Now click on the large + sign

· You have the option of inserting an aircraft type from a very large database of aircraft that resides in the database.

o For example, if you wish to add a Boeing 737 to the aircraft list, then under “Aircraft Type” start entering Boeing. As you type you will notice all the Boeing aircrafts appearing. If you know the specific aircraft you want, then continue typing or scroll down the list shown. Note that if the aircraft does not exist in the list, no need to panic. Choose a name that resembles the one you want to add, then you can modify the name as you wish.

o The second line in the added aircraft is the name that appears on your logbook. Once again you can edit this to whatever you wish. Try and keep it the same as the data that appears in your flight roster. This will be covered in a later section.

o The item Multi/Single engine is used in all logbooks and this field must be inserted.

o The type of engine must also be inserted if it is not shown. This is typically PISTON, TURBINE, TURBOPROP, TURBOFAN etc.

o The aircraft family is also important for those pilots needing a FAA type logbook. The family “airplane” is the default, but this can include the following:

§ airplane

§ seaplane

§ helicopter

§ amphibious

§ gyrocopter

§ PCADT (a pc-based simulation program)

§ Glider

o The next item is Multi or Single pilot selection. This is used in all logbook formats and is a mandatory field

o The aircraft weight can be inserted. Currently this is shown in kilograms, but you as the user can insert the weight as lbs if you so wish.

o Finally, you can add the new aircraft to the list

· Once the aircraft has been added, you may need to “flick down” and the added aircraft will appear.

Editing the aircraft

Edit Aircraft

You may edit the aircraft at any stage. Even if you have added many flights and wish to change the name, this can be done. By pressing on the “Edit Aircraft”, the short name (on the second line) can be changed as desired. By changing this name, all the aircraft that you have entered in your logbook, will automatically change the name to the one you have just entered. All fields are editable. Once you are happy, press on the “Update” button and the aircraft will have these new fields.

Note at this point that if you change the aircraft details, it will affect all the records. Therefore, if you change for example, the crew size from single pilot to multi pilot, all records in the logbook will change accordingly.

Edit Previous Experience

For those pilots who have completed their logbooks in another format and do not wish to go through the exercise of entering many years of data, this is for you.

On selecting “Edit Previous Experience” a new page will open. You can now add all fields relating to that aircraft.

· Instrument all in hours and minutes

o AC – actual instrument time

o FSTD – simulation or hood instrument time

o IFR time

· Instructor (this field is entered where YOU are the instructor)

o SE – Single engine instruction

o ME – Multi engine instruction

o FSTD – flight simulation instruction

· Landings

o Day landings on that aircraft

o Night landings

· Take offs

o Day take-offs

o Night take-offs

· FSTD

o FSTD time where you spent time in a simulator of the same make as the aircraft you are editing.

· Single Engine Day

o Dual time

o PIC time

o PICUS time

o Co-Pilot (SIC) time

· Single Engine Night – same as Single Engine Day but night hours

· Multi Engine Day – same as Single Engine Day but multi engine day hours

· Multi Engine Night – same as Multi Engine Day but night hours

Finally, after you are happy with the information, you can “Save and Exit”. Note, you can return to the edit previous experience selection anytime you want. The data shown in the previous experience is added to the logbook data. In the ICAO format, it will be shown in the previous line at the top of the first page of the logbook. In both EASA and FAA formats it is shown in the Previous Page line in the first page footer.

Delete Aircraft

By deleting an aircraft, you will remove all details in the database pertaining to that aircraft. This must be done with absolute caution. You will be prompted before any deletion takes place as a last resort.

As a precautionary note, it is better to rename the aircraft you wish to delete to a new name for an aircraft you wish to add. This is entirely up to you as the user.

5. Adding Flights

There are two ways to add your flight. Manual addition or via a roster-based csv file from your airline company. Most non-commercial pilots would choose the manual method.

Manual Addition of a flight

In this mode, you will be prompted to fill in several pertinent details.

· Sign On date: By clicking on this block, a thumb wheel will appear, and you may enter the date of the flight you wish to add to your logbook. Please note that this date must be the same day as your first take-off flight. In other words, if you leave at 00:01 in the morning, then the date must be that date and will form part of the “Off Block Time” for departure and be captured as yyyy/MM/dd 00:01. However, if the off-block time was before midnight and the arrival on block time was the following day, the FlightLine app will automatically compensate for the change in date.

· Aircraft Type: By clicking on this block, all the aircraft that you added in the previous section above, will appear. By clicking on one of the aircraft, will add it to the logbook data for that flight.

· Registration: This is the registration number of the aircraft flown

· PIC Name: This is the name of the pilot in command for the flight. If you are the PIC, all you will need to add is “SELF”

· Pilot Function: A drop-down menu will appear as you click on the open block next to Pilot Function. The options are Dual, PIC, PICUS and Co-Pilot (SIC)

· Departure AD: The departure address can be entered either in the IATA or ICAO format as desired. Please note that the application has the facility to view nearly every airport in every country worldwide. This will be dealt with later in the section headed “Airport Lookup”. It is imperative to select a known airport acronym here as it is used to calculate the time of day for day or night take off.

· Arrival AD: This is the same as the departure address and determines the time of landing and based on the date and time, whether it is a night or day landing

· Off Block: This is the departure time in hours and minutes (preferably Zulu time)

· On Block: This is the arrival time in hours and minutes

· Total Flight Time: This value is calculated and not editable

· Day Landing/Night Landing/Day take off/Night Take off: This is a number that is calculated by the take-off/Landing times entered above and then modified by the application based on the latitude and longitude of the airports. This field can be edited as you wish. Many student pilots may do circuits, so this number may have take-offs and landings more than 1 unit.

· Night Hours: This is an input field that the pilot needs to enter if he/she has flown any night hours during the flight. If you add a value for night hours greater than the total flight time, the total flight time will automatically be shown here.

· Day hours: This is a calculated field and will be the difference between the total flight time – the night hours. This field cannot be edited.

· Instrument time: This is an editable field and can be entered as hh:mm via a thumbwheel.

· Approach: This field can be selected via a pull-down menu. Options include Visual, ILS, CAT II, CAT III etc.

· Place: This is a text field that displays the place where it took place

· Instructor: This is a selection that is used only if you are the instructor for this flight. The default is Instructor false. The total flight time will be added to the Instructor multi engine, single engine times as well as the total flight time for that aircraft.

· Simulator: This selection is used if you are flying in a simulator. The total flight time will not be added to your logbook’s total flight time. However, the instrument time will be added to the Simulation instrument time.

· NOTE: it is possible to select both instructor as well as simulator, then this time will be added to the FSTD Instructor time.

· Cross Country: This is automatically set as true in the application. It assumes that you are flying cross country from the departure airport to the arrival airport. This can be changed by the pilot if circuits or any other reason prevents the cross-country selection from being true.

· IFR: Most commercial flights use some form of IFR for the entire flight. This is defaulted to true but can be changed if required.

· Remarks: This is a text field that can be edited and will form part of the logbook.

Import From a Roster

This will be discussed in more detail in the section Import Flights below.

6. The “More” selection

The More selection has a few very useful subheadings. Each of these will be described in detail.

Profile

The profile selection has been introduced previously in the registration process. In this section you can input the following information:

· Pilots Name. This will appear on your logbook

· Pilots Surname. This will appear on your logbook

· Country ID number (optional). Please note: This data is encrypted and not shared or sold to any other person or institution.

· License Number (optional)

· License expiry date (optional)

· Medical expiry date (optional)

· Street address (optional)

· Suburb (optional)

· City (optional)

· Postal / zip code (optional)

· Username (mandatory). This username is used to log into the application together with your selected password

· User email address (mandatory). This email address is used to deliver the logbook and/or summaries to the user. It is also used when a user loses or forgets their password

· Change Password. This field can be edited with caution. This is a mandatory field

· Pilots Signature. (optional) This field alleviates the necessity to sign each page of the logbook that must be submitted to the authorities.

Duty

The Duty selection is a very quick reference to the FTP calculations associated with flying over a period of 24 hrs, 7 days, 30 days, 90 days and 365 days. The fields shown in each of the periods is automatically calculated and then compared to the preset limits that are entered in the “Settings” field described below.

As the user scrolls down, more duty calculations are shown. Here the pilot can get immediate calculations of what is the expected sign off time for various scenarios. Here the pilot will select the

· Flight Crew (Multi or Single)

· Sign on Time (hh:mm)

· Acclimatization (yes or no)

· Number of sectors flow for that duty

· If any extension time has been authorized and the value thereof

· Finally, the sign off time will be calculated based on the inputs chosen. You will notice that this time changes as each of the values is modified.

It must be stressed that this calculation is as accurate as possible, but the final calculation and responsibility resides with the pilot to verify the data.

Previous Flights

This section maintains the logbooks accuracy. Every flight in the logbook can be edited from this section. On selecting Previous flights, the flights appear in the sequence of the newest flights first. Once you have reached the 200th record, Flightline will automatically retrieve the next 200 records for edit or view, until the last record is found.

· The flight identifies the month (small letter on top of the date on the far-left side). The day of the month in the middle left in slightly larger numerals, and finally the year.

· In the main body of the previous flight, the top section identifies the route taken (Departure to Arrival airports). In the centre of this top section, the flight time is shown. The bottom section shows the type of aircraft flown and its associated registration

On selecting a previous flight, a new pop up appears where you can choose various actions. These are:

· View Flight

· Edit Flight

· Delete Flight

· Cancel

These will be described below

View Flight

In the view flight section, the user is unable to edit any of the fields. It is purely used to validate that the data is correct or needs to be edited.

Edit Flight

The edit flight has the same inputs as the Add Flight in Step 4 above. Changing any of the input values will modify the record permanently once the Update button is selected at the bottom of the screen. The user has the option to Cancel the changes made in the edit flight. All fields except for Day Hours are editable. (Day hours is a calculated value where Day Hours = Total Flight Tome – Night Hours.

Once the user is happy with the data in the edited flight and has completed the Update, then the screen will return to the various previous flights to all ow for editing a new flight. Note: By flicking the screen down, the update will automatically be visible.

Airport Lookup

This selection allows the user to scan the database of most airports around the globe. You can either search based on the country or based on a known ICAO address.

Search by Country

· In the search by country option, once the user begins typing the country name, the application will automatically prompt the user with multiple countries with the same letter/s.

· Once the country is selected, then the city needs to be selected. Similar to the county option, once the first letter is selected, multiple options are shown. On selecting the city, several airports associated with that city are shown

· Selecting the airport will show the ICAO 4 alpha character code, the airport code and finally the latitude and longitude of that airport. (In future revisions of the application, by selecting this, will result in a world map showing the airport on that map).

Search by ICAO

If the ICAO address is known, the search will yield the information shown in the Search by Country option.

Settings

Screen Orientation

There are two possibilities here, either allow the page to be viewed in landscape or portrait mode. (This setting is currently being reviewed and will possibly be removed in later versions).

Sign On and Sign Off time adjustment

This allows the user to automatically assign a fixed value to the sign on and sign off times, based on the departure (push back) and arrival times.

Sign On time = Departure time – fixed value

Sign Off time = Arrival – fixed value

The purpose here is to use these values in the future releases to automatically calculate the FDP time for a particular day.

FDP Limit Adjustment

The user can modify the various limits for 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days, 90 days and 365 days that are used in the FDP calculations in the Duty section above.

Logbook Settings

The user has the option to view the logbook in either decimal time (xx.y) or standard time (hh:mm)

Update

On selection of the update button, all changes in the settings menu will be updated.

Import Flights

The import flights feature is being expanded with each new revision of the software. Currently the application can import a flight roster from rostering programs such as Aims.

Import Roster

The following steps are required to import a roster.

· Before you can import a roster, the csv file must be downloaded to the mobile device and stored in a file location on the device.

· Once downloaded, click on the Import Roster button. You will then be taken to the recent file download directory on the mobile device

· Select the file needed in the download

· A message will appear that says, “Import Complete xx records imported”. Press Ok

Clear Imported Flights

If you, for some reason, have imported the incorrect file, you can then clear the roster records that have been incorrectly imported

View Imported Flights

Once the user is happy with the correct file import, then the roster details can be viewed at this point. At this point the user can then click on each of the flights shown in the list and

· Insert the flight selected

· Delete the flight selected from the roster list

· Cancel the action

If Insert Flight is selected, then the flight details will appear in the same format as Add Flight manually. The main advantage here is that most of the input fields are automatically filled by the rostering program. It may be necessary to scrutinize the various inputs and manually change them to suit the actual requirements. Often fields such as day/night take-off and landings are omitted by the rostering program. These can be filled in manually at this point.

Once the user is happy with the data, they may then scroll to the bottom and then Add Flight in the same way it is done manually. Once it is added, the user will get a prompt to accept the flight and not to show the message again. By flicking down. You may probably need to go to the top of the list before the flick down is activated. The flight that is added is then removed from the list and the second flight can be added.

Back

The back button takes the user to the previous menu

Clear List

Clears all the remaining flights that have not been imported. (Perhaps the user may have already performed an import already).

About

The about selection has two important functions. These are:

· View our website

· Log a ticket

View our website

The user will be taken directly to the FlightLine website

The latest version number will also appear at the bottom of the page and may be required when logging a ticket in the next section.

Help Request

Logging a Ticket

In this section, the user can send a message to the developers and support directly without going via an email. The email to the support team is automatically created and send to the correct person at FlightLine

Select a Subject

In this section, the user can select several different options:

· Trouble adding a flight

· Can’t find my aircraft

· Missing Flights

· Incorrect Flights

· Other

After selecting a subject matter, a brief description of the issue can be made

How can we contact you?

FlightLine allows three methods of communication after a ticket is logged. This can be by:

· Email

· WhatsApp, or

· Telephonic call

Exit

This takes the user out of FlightLine and a new log in is required when returning to the app. If exit is not selected, then the program will continue to run in the background

...