Flight Operations Data Model

Flight operations generate a rich stream of data — every trip planned, every leg flown, every crew assignment made, every passenger boarded, and every maintenance item tracked. Understanding how this data is structured and how it flows through PlaneConnection is essential for getting the most out of both the Operations and Safety modules. More importantly, this operational data is a primary input to your Safety Management System, providing the factual context that makes risk assessments and safety performance monitoring meaningful.

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Core Entities and Relationships

PlaneConnection’s operations data model centers on the trip as the primary unit of work. All other entities connect to trips directly or through their components.

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The Trip Lifecycle

A trip is the top-level container for a planned sequence of flights. It progresses through a defined lifecycle:

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Trip Creation

A trip begins as a request or a planned movement. At creation, it captures the high-level intent: who is traveling, where they need to go, when they need to arrive, and any special requirements (catering, ground transportation, customs). The trip is assigned a unique trip number that serves as its identifier throughout the system.

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Leg Planning

Each trip is composed of one or more legs — individual flight segments from one airport to another. A round trip with a fuel stop might have three legs: origin to fuel stop, fuel stop to destination, and destination back to origin. Each leg captures the airports (origin and destination as ICAO/IATA codes), scheduled departure and arrival times, which aircraft is assigned, the crew (pilot-in-command, second-in-command, and any additional crew), which passengers are on board for this specific leg, planned fuel load and uplift, and weight-and-balance calculations for the specific load. Legs are independent entities within a trip. Different legs can use different aircraft (for repositioning), have different crew (for crew swaps), and carry different passengers (for multi-stop itineraries).

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Crew Assignment

Crew members are assigned to specific legs, not to trips as a whole. This flexibility supports complex scheduling scenarios where crew rotate between legs or where a positioning flight uses different crew than the revenue flight. Each crew assignment records the crew member’s role on that leg (PIC, SIC, flight attendant) and contributes to their duty time, flight time, and currency tracking. When a crew assignment is made, PlaneConnection can check certification and type rating for the assigned aircraft, medical currency, duty time limitations under Part 135 Subpart F, and recency and currency requirements.

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Passenger Manifests

Passengers are associated with specific legs through manifest entries. Each manifest entry links a passenger record to a leg, capturing the seat assignment (if applicable), baggage count and weight, special requirements, catering preferences, and ground transportation needs. The passenger record itself — maintained independently of any trip — stores contact information, travel documents, preferences, and flight history.

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Flight Execution and Logging

When a leg is flown, the flight log captures what actually happened versus what was planned. This includes block time (gate-to-gate duration), flight time (airborne duration), fuel burn and fuel uplift, number of landings (relevant for cycle tracking), instrument approaches flown (relevant for currency), the actual route flown, any delays and their causes, and discrepancies — aircraft issues noted during the flight. Flight log data is the authoritative record of operational activity. It feeds into multiple downstream calculations and records.

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Aircraft Records

Each aircraft in PlaneConnection maintains a comprehensive profile: Static data — Registration (tail number), type/model, serial number, configuration (seats, baggage capacity), and specifications (range, speed, payload). Running totals — Total airframe hours, total cycles (landings), engine hours, and APU hours. These totals are updated automatically from flight log entries. Due items — Maintenance inspections, airworthiness directives (ADs), service bulletins, and other compliance items tracked against time (calendar date), hours (airframe or engine), or cycles. Each due item has a compliance deadline and a warning threshold that triggers notifications as the deadline approaches. Discrepancies — Open items recorded during operations — squawks, write-ups, and deferred maintenance items. Discrepancies are tracked to resolution and can be linked to maintenance work orders.

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Crew Records

Crew records maintain the personnel data needed for scheduling, compliance, and safety: Qualifications — Type ratings, certifications, check ride dates, and training records. Each qualification has an expiration date that PlaneConnection monitors for currency. Medical status — FAA medical certificate type, issue date, and expiration. Medical currency is checked during crew assignment. Flight time — Accumulated flight hours by aircraft type, role (PIC, SIC), and conditions (day, night, instrument). Flight time records are built automatically from flight log entries. Duty time — Work periods tracked against Part 135 Subpart F limitations, including weekly flight time limits, required rest periods, and quarterly rest requirements. Schedule history — Complete record of past and upcoming trip assignments, enabling workload analysis and equitable scheduling.

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How Operations Data Feeds Safety

The integration between operations and safety data is one of PlaneConnection’s most significant architectural decisions. Rather than treating operations and safety as separate systems, the platform connects them so that safety management is grounded in operational reality.

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Flight Hours and Fatigue Tracking

Flight log data flows directly into fatigue-relevant calculations. Duty periods, flight hours, rest intervals, and cumulative workload are available to the safety module for monitoring against Part 135 Subpart F requirements and for use in fatigue risk assessments. When a safety report references crew fatigue as a contributing factor, the actual duty time and flight time data from operations provides objective context for the investigation.

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Discrepancies as Hazard Sources

Aircraft discrepancies entered in operations are potential hazard inputs for the safety module. A recurring discrepancy on a specific aircraft type — persistent avionics issues, recurring hydraulic leaks, frequent brake wear — can be identified as a systemic hazard and entered into the risk register for formal assessment.

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Operational Context for Safety Reports

When a safety report references a specific flight, the report can link to the operational record. Investigators can see the crew assignments, passenger load, weather at the time, airport characteristics, and flight log data — all without leaving the investigation workflow. This contextual linkage makes investigations more thorough and findings more accurate.

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Utilization Data for Risk Assessment

Aircraft utilization patterns — hours flown, cycles accumulated, types of operations (IFR vs. VFR, day vs. night, domestic vs. international) — inform risk assessments. Higher utilization in challenging conditions increases exposure to certain hazards, and that exposure should be reflected in your risk register.

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Reporting Normalization

Safety report counts in isolation can be misleading. Reporting 10 events in a month means something different for an operator flying 500 hours than for one flying 50 hours. Operations data provides the denominators (flight hours, departures, cycles) needed to normalize safety metrics into meaningful rates.

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The Reporting Layer

PlaneConnection’s operations module includes 40+ report types that provide views into the underlying data model: These reports are views into the operational data model, not separate data stores. They pull from the same trips, legs, flight logs, and financial records, ensuring consistency across every report.

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