Today we're launching a new tier of PlaneBud built specifically for CFIs and flight schools. We've spent the past few months talking to flight school owners, instructors, and students about what makes managing a school painful — and the answer kept coming back to the same handful of things: tracking who's current to fly, signing off student flights without a paper logbook, keeping a clean endorsement record for FAA audits, and knowing at a glance whether an aircraft is actually safe to dispatch.
The new Flight School plan is just $9.99/month — with a 14-day free trial — and includes unlimited aircraft and unlimited users (instructors, students, renters, all of them). Here's what's in it.
Pilot Currency Dashboard
Every pilot in your school gets a single screen showing their FAR currency status:
- Medical (FAR 61.23) — 1st/2nd/3rd class or BasicMed, with the right validity period for the pilot's class and age
- Flight Review / BFR (FAR 61.56) — auto-calculates the next-due date 24 calendar months out
- IFR currency (FAR 61.57(c)) — tracks the rolling 6-month requirement for 6 approaches, holds, and intercepting/tracking
- Night currency (FAR 61.57(b)) — 3 takeoffs and 3 full-stop landings in the preceding 90 days
Each item has a color-coded status badge — green when current, orange when expiring within 30 days, red when expired. Instructors can see the whole roster at a glance from the new School Dashboard, sorted with the most-overdue students at the top.
Instructor Sign-Off with Drawn Signatures
When a student logs a flight, it shows up with an orange "Pending instructor sign-off" banner. An instructor (Owner, Admin, or the new Instructor role) can review the flight, optionally add a CFI number and notes, and then draw their actual signature on the touchscreen. The signature image is stored with the flight record and displayed inline whenever anyone views it later.
It's the closest digital equivalent to signing a paper logbook — and it gives schools a defensible audit trail for every dual instruction flight.
PDF Endorsement Records
Pilots can record their CFI endorsements (pre-solo, 90-day solo, complex, high-performance, tailwheel, BFR, IPC, and more — all with the right FAR reference auto-filled). Then with one tap they can export a clean PDF of their entire endorsement history — pilot name, generation date, every endorsement in a table with issued/expiration dates, instructor name, and CFI number.
It's not a replacement for the original signed endorsements (those remain the FAA's official record), but it's a great record for personal reference and for sharing during a checkride.
Pre-Flight Dispatch
The new Pre-flight Dispatch screen on every aircraft is the pilot's go/no-go check in one place. It pulls together:
- Live METAR weather for the aircraft's home base (with VFR/MVFR/IFR/LIFR flight category)
- All open squawks, color-coded by severity
- Inspections due in the next 30 days or 10 hours
- Last known Hobbs / Tach / Fuel / Oil readings
If the aircraft has a grounded squawk or an overdue inspection, the screen shows a red "NO-GO" badge and disables the "Begin Flight" button. Otherwise, one tap kicks off the flight create flow with the right aircraft pre-selected.
Squawk Acknowledgment Audit Trail
When a pilot logs a flight on an aircraft with open squawks, they're shown the full list and have to check "I have reviewed these squawks and accept responsibility for this flight" before the flight will save. The acknowledged squawk IDs are stored on the flight record so you have a defensible answer to "did the pilot know about this?" months later.
School Dashboard
Owners, Admins, and Instructors get a dedicated School Dashboard with at-a-glance stats (active students, aircraft, flights in the last 30 days), a list of flights pending instructor sign-off (tap any one to jump straight to it), and the full pilot roster sorted by currency urgency.
What About Billing?
PlaneBud already supports per-flight billing through Stripe Connect, which works just as well for schools as it does for co-ownership groups. We're not trying to be a full POS / invoicing system — schools that need that should keep using their existing tools (FlightCircle, QuickBooks, etc.) and let PlaneBud handle the operations side.
Pricing & Free Trial
The Flight School plan is $9.99/month and includes everything in Pro plus all the school-specific features above, unlimited aircraft, unlimited users (no per-seat charges), and a 60-minute onboarding call with our team.
Every new school gets a 14-day free trial — no credit card required to start. Partner schools can also use promo codes for extended trials or up to 90 days of complimentary access. Get in touch if you'd like to discuss a partnership.
PlaneBud is a tracking aid, not a regulatory authority. Always cross-check the FARs and your logbook before flight. Original signed endorsements remain the official record per FAA regulations.
