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By the end of this guide, you will have assembled the trip binder with all required documents, shared it with crew, and archived it for regulatory retention.
The Operations module must be enabled for your workspace. You also need the appropriate operations permissions. Contact your workspace administrator if you cannot access these features.
You need the dispatch.read permission to view binders and dispatch.update to add or remove documents.

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Prerequisites

  • A trip must exist in Draft, Confirmed, or Active status. The trip binder is created automatically when a trip is created.
  • Documents you plan to attach (PDFs, images) must be under 25 MB each.
  • For auto-populated documents (weather, NOTAMs), the trip must have a route with valid ICAO airport codes.

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Open the trip binder

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Understand the binder layout

The Trip Binder page has a document list on the left (organized by category) and a document preview on the right. Categories include Flight Plan, Weight & Balance, Weather, NOTAMs, Approach Plates, Passenger Manifest, Customs & Immigration, Crew Documents, Catering, and Other.
Categories marked with a red “Missing” badge indicate documents that your organization’s dispatch policy requires but have not yet been uploaded. Resolve all missing items before releasing the trip.

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Add documents to the binder

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Auto-populated documents

PlaneConnection can automatically generate and attach certain documents when the trip has a complete route:
Auto-populated weather and NOTAMs reflect conditions at the time of retrieval. For regulatory compliance under 14 CFR 135.213, the PIC must verify that the weather briefing is current before departure. Click Refresh on any auto-populated document to pull updated data.

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Remove or replace a document

  1. In the document list, hover over the document row and click the three-dot menu icon.
  2. Select Replace to upload a new version (the previous version is moved to the document’s version history), or select Remove to delete the document from the binder.
  3. Confirm the action in the dialog.
Replaced documents are retained in the version history accessible from the document detail view. This preserves the audit trail required for record retention.

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Share the binder with crew

Sharing the binder as a PDF bundle is useful for crews who need offline access during flight. The bundle includes a table of contents with page numbers for each document category.
Click the Print button in the Binder tab toolbar to generate a print-ready PDF of the entire binder. The print version includes:
  • A cover page with the trip number, route, date, aircraft, and crew.
  • A table of contents listing every document by category.
  • All documents rendered sequentially.
The PDF opens in a new browser tab for printing or downloading.
Under 14 CFR 135.63, the certificate holder must retain completed trip records including the load manifest, flight plan, and dispatch release for at least 30 days (and 12 months for some records). Digital binders in PlaneConnection satisfy this requirement, but if you print a hard copy, ensure it is stored according to your organization’s records retention policy.

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Archive a completed trip binder

When a trip reaches Completed status, the binder is automatically locked to prevent further edits. The locked binder remains accessible from the trip detail page for the full retention period. To manually archive an active binder before trip completion:
  1. Click the three-dot menu in the Binder tab toolbar.
  2. Select Archive Binder.
  3. Confirm the action. The binder is marked as archived and becomes read-only.
Archived binders are searchable from the Ops > Documents page using the trip number or date range filters.

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Binder completeness check

The trip detail header displays a Binder status badge: The release checklist references binder completeness as a required item. A trip cannot be released for dispatch if required binder documents are missing.

Create a Trip

Build a trip and start populating the binder.

Use the Release Checklist

Verify binder completeness as part of the pre-departure release.

Manage Passengers

Passenger data feeds into the manifest document.

Use the Weather Page

Detailed weather tools that feed auto-populated briefings.
Last modified on April 11, 2026