Introduction to Tailplane

What is Tailplane?

Tailplane is an online platform for flight schools, flight academies, universities and flying clubs that allows you to manage the reservations schedule, resources (aircraft, simulators), and members (e.g. students).

Tailplane consists of two separate web interfaces:

• Scheduling Web App for organization owners, staff, and instructors.
• Student's Portal, which is a separate website designed specifically for students and members.

Both web applications have also been optimized for mobile and tablet use.

You can create a Tailplane account by visiting https://tailplane.com/get-started.

Logging in to Scheduling Web App

Navigate to https://app.tailplane.com to visit the sign in page.

Logging in to Student's Portal

Navigate to https://book.tailplane.com to visit the sign in page.

Setting up your flight training organization

After creating a Tailplane account for your organization, you'll need to provide basic information, such as:

• locations (airports/aerodromes) you operate from
• aircraft and simulators available to be booked
• users (administrators) and instructors

Setting up locations

First, navigate to the Manage tab in the main menu:

Then click on Locations, and Add location button. A modal will appear, in which you can find an aerodrome by typing its ICAO code, name, or the city. Tailplane has a database of over 70,000 aerodromes all around the world.

Once selected, click Save changes to add the location. If your organization operates from more than one location, add the rest in the same manner.

Setting up users and instructors

While on the Manage tab, click Users option in the left-hand menu. Users represent both instructors working at your organization, as well as administrative staff. Each user can be assigned to both roles (e.g. that can be booked for flight lessons, but also have permissions to manage the organization settings) and needs to be assigned to at least one of them.

Click Add user button to open the new user modal dialog.

If you select Instructor role, you will also need to provide a short Summary text, that will be displayed publicly (e.g. you can type in what ratings the instructor is certified for, or if they're only available to be booked on specific days) and will need to assign them to one or more locations. Instructor can't be booked at a location they're not assigned to.

You can add as many users as you need. When you click Save changes, we'll send an email to the address you provided for that user with instructions on setting up the password and how to access the portal.

Setting up resources

Navigate to Aircraft tab in the main menu.

Click Add aircraft button to bring out a new aircraft modal.

You can add the following information about a resource:

Manufacturer (required) - the manufacturing company, e.g. Cessna or Cirrus

Model (required) - specific model name, e.g. 172 Skyhawk

Registration/tail number (required) - tail number of an aircraft, or a serial number of a resource. Need to be unique within your organization and will be publicly visible.

Production year (optional) - the year in which a resource was produced

Location (required) - which location is the resource is assigned to

Type (required) - whether a resource is an aircraft or a simulator

Image (optional) - you can upload a photo that will be displayed alongside the resource

Once done, click Save changes. There's no limit on how many resources you can add, and you can also edit the information at any point in the future.

Inviting members

Members are people who can make bookings at your organization - most likely your flight students, and pilots who rent your aircraft.

You can view a list of members and invite new ones but navigating to the Members tab.

Click Add member and add required information: name, email, and phone number. Click Save changes to add member to your organization, they'll also receive an email with their login information.

From now on, you can start creating reservations from the scheduling web app, as well as manage ones created by your members through a self-serve student's portal.