The purpose of www.myfbo.com/ehfc is to provide for the scheduling of resources (aircraft, simulators, and instructors), to track actual hours logged for pilots and the resources, and to provide some basic reporting on the same items.
When logging in for the first time, all members will need to login via a user ID that consist of the first character of your first name and the next four characters of your last name (rbabu for Ron Babuka). DO NOT USE the new member function on entry screen. The password will be "reset". Once in, you will be prompted to fill out as much personal information as you can including an e-mail account and a new password to replace "reset". The system is normally designed to use your personal e-mail as the login into the system. This provides a destination for automatic messages regarding resource reservation and changes regarding hose resources. The shorter login should be blanked out if you are able to use your e-mail. We would like to reserve the use of the shorter login for those who do not have e-mail.
There are certain rules and qualifications that apply to reserving resources. Some involve hard edits that must be passed before a reservation is allowed. The only hard edit currently enabled are that no one an have more that 4 reservations active at any one point (a plane and an instructor only count as 1 reservation) and you cannot reserve more than 90 days in advance. The system will determine if student pilots have flown within the past 10 days for solo flights. All pilots are checked for flights within the past 90 days. Pilots are checked to see if they have been checked out in the type of aircraft or if their medicals are still valid. Instructors will be validated against aircraft they are permitted to instruct in. If qualifications are not met, a warning will be displayed but the reservation will still be processed. If you do not believe the warning is valid, please point it out to an instructor or system administrator for clarification.
The computer in the lobby of the club is designated the "Lobby" computer. When you log in from the lobby computer, you will notice several extra functions that are not available from your home or work computer.
Most club members will only be accessing the members panel that contain a number of specific operations. Club instructors and managers will be able to access a more powerful staff panel with an extended range of processes.
The normal transaction process for a flight is the reservation, the dispatch, and the checkin.
Reservations can be made by the members or by the instructors. You can reserve an aircraft any time or day that one is available. The system does not allow you to make same day reservations for instructors so as to enable them to manage their current day more effectively. If you need to schedule a lesson with an instructor for the current day, the best approach is to check if an aircraft is available and then to contact the instructor to request they create a reservation.
Reservations with instructors for the next day are not permitted after 9 pm. This allows an instructor to better manage his life (so to say).
Reservations with an instructor may be cancelled via the members panel up to 24 hours before a flight. After that a pilot must contact the instructor to have them cancel the flight.
From the members panel, the reservation logo that looks like an airplane is used to reserve a resource for a single day. The calendar logo is used to check future availability or to make multiple day reservations.
The online scheduler also has a function called "standby" scheduling which is similar to signing up as a number 2 against an already scheduled flight. Stand-by can only be used if you have an e-mail account. You will pick a start time, reservation duration, and an end time. What you end up with is a time range in which they would like to use the resource(s). You also have the option of establishing the time range to exactly match the flight duration or creating a larger range if their time is flexible. A manager or an instructor processes the standby function manually several times a day. If a resource becomes available, then a message with the openings is displayed and the staff can contact the member with the standby request. From that point, you can go back and reserve the aircraft for the time slots made available. You can also check the status of the standby request from the members panel.
Dispatching a resource is similar to checking into a hotel. It is a confirmation that the flight is being processed. Both the members panel (when accessed from the lobby computer at the Club) and the staff panel will allow a dispatch to be processed. When the system user activates the dispatch button, a screen will display all flights available for dispatch. When a dispatch is processed for a particular flight, a "ticket" will be displayed on the screen with relevant information about the flight such as Hobbes, tach, times till maintenance, instructor, and rates. This ticket should be printed and carried by the pilot.
Checking In a resource should be done after completing use of that resource, be it a solo flight, dual flight, or ground instruction. The important portion of the checkin will be the recording of Hobbes and tach information that will be used for billing the flight/instruction and for recording the hours on an aircraft. It is important to accurately record the Hobbes reading on an aircraft so that the next dispatch of the aircraft will match up. Similarly it is important not to dispatch an aircraft until the checkin of the previous flight is completed. The checkin process will also allow for additional charges to be applied such as extra ground school for instructors. The checkin will finalize with the receipt process that will print a receipt for the pilot if desired and make an account payable transaction. This final step will allow the club to import the data into its accounting system for accurate processing.
Members cannot dispatch or checkin from home computers, only the clubs computer.
The system is not designed to distribute hours among multiple pilots/passengers during a single flight. If ride splitting, the reserving pilot may enter their portion of the hobbes/tach during the checkin process. The other pilot PIC time may be entered in via the "Other Transaction" button on the Staff panel (provided a staff member is available). Since the times entered are recorded in the pilots log, only those who can log PIC time should proceed in this manner. If no staff member is available and the plane needs be immediately checked in due to a following dispatch of a subsequent flight, the first concern should be to accurately enter all Hobbes and tach data via the checkin . Adjustments to the billable portion of the flight can be made in a new data form available at the desk. If the flight involves distributing the cost amongst non-PICs, try to accurately enter PIC time in the system, then record actual billing time in the new data form. A binder with the new forms and instructions will be stored near the lobby computer.
If for some reason you are unable to proceed with the flight after dispatching the aircraft and would like to switch to a different aircraft, checkin the aircraft and mark the "Did not Fly" button to end the flight. Then schedule another aircraft and dispatch that aircraft. This is the only way to ensure that to any other member does not schedule an aircraft that you have already taken out. If a staff member is available and flight has not been dispatched the resources can be modified from the staff menu by pressing the View, Reassign, or Delete Members. Selecting the flight on the lobby computers schedule display can also launch the reassignment process.
When dispatching, do not enter any squawks in on the checkout line. Continue to use the existing system.
For at least the first month of operations it will be necessary to enter information in the old plane logbooks and the new on line system. We realize that this is an inconvenience but it will be a helpful tool to validate the use of the new system.
The system will work with both Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers. However the system is optimized to work with Internet Explorer Version 5.0.1 and higher.
When logged on, the system will log you out after 20 minutes of inactivity. All you will need to do is log in again.
A demo session will be held on July 26th at 5pm and July 28th at 4pm if you would like to see the system in use. The staff will be given an introduction to the system at 1pm on July 26th that may be observed.
Unless any unforeseen reasons develop, the online system will be used August 1st. All existing reservation data will be erased prior to going live. The schedule will be manually entered the system prior to it going live. For August, we will use both the log system and the computer as a validation tool. We appreciate your patience.
Please utilize the online documentation available from the Customer Guide link on the bottom of the login screen.