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Introduction

OpenFlyers is an AeroClub management software. It comes with numerous features, which we hope, will meet your needs and requirements.

This software has been designed for and by certified pilots who have joined hands to share their knowledge and hence to propose a modern and efficient tool to manage reservations within our respective organisations which are most of the time associations. This present manual will guide you through the daily use of OpenFlyers.

How to connect to OpenFlyers

OpenFlyers operates on a client/server architecture, your internet browser is connected to a server where the heart of the application is hosted. Which means that you do not need to install anything on your computer to be able to make reservations.

Only a computer and an internet connection are needed. Hence you can connect right from your home, from an aeroclub or even from a cybercafé.

To connect, just type the OpenFlyers URL in the address bar of your browser and click enter.

If you can´t access the site after five trials, a protection system will prevent you from making an additional attempt. You will then have to wait for at least 1 min 36 s to make another trial.

At the top right corner of your connection screen, you will find three buttons which will enable you, respectively, to

• go to the HELP page

• To have access to the OpenFlyers bugs management interface. If you discover any malfunction, please inform us immediately so that the problem can be

solved by our development team.

• To display general information on OpenFlyers and the supporting team.

URL Username

If you are in club access or if you are using your personal computer, you can insert your login and your password in the connected URL which you can of course save as a favorite. The URL should be in the following form :

http://openflyers.com/myclub/index.php?login=mylogin&password=mypassword

Or if you are not hosted by the OpenFlyers Association

http://www.mydomainname.ext/openflyers/index.php?login=monlogin&password=my password

Note : Beware, if you insert your password in the URL and that the latter is non-crypted, it will be visible on your computer and can be retrieved by any unauthorised user. It will also be visible throughout your internet pathway from your computer to the OpenFlyers Server. Subsequently, though we have not blocked this possibility, we strongly advise you not to do so. Only club access cases can be justified since password knowledge has no implications. In general,it is not recommended to save passwords in your browser.

Multiple Profiles

Some users may have more than one profile depending on their different responsibilities within the aeroclub organisation. These profiles will give them respective rights and permissions. For example : the possibilty to add or remove aeroplanes.

Illustration 2 : Choice of connection profile

Standby screen

Just like the reservation sheet that is permanently accessible at the club´s office, OpenFlyers can display permanently the daily reservation bookings.

All that is needed is to create a ¨no rights¨ profile followed by a user that fits this profile. When a conncetion to OpenFlyers is established, the user´s username and password will be needed.

The page ¨Daily logbook of planes and instructor¨ ( if the latter has been determined according to the club´s priorities) will remain displayed and will be refreshed regularly. Any attempt to reserve a slot will lead to the opening of a reservation window, then an authentication window, which once correctly filled will activate the reservation. Return to the standby screen will be again activated automatically.

If the first user of the connection is a member, after connecting, the OpenFlyers main page will be displayed and not the reservations logbook.It will be then necessary to reconnect through this ¨no-rights¨ user.

Alert messages

When a connection is established, you may be warned that your licence will expire soon.

Illustration 3 : Alert Messages

Ce type d'informations et leur paramétrage est expliqué dans le chapitre Modifier ses paramètres. If you tick the box ¨ Do not remind me ¨ the message will not reappear during future connections. This type of information and its configuration are explained in the chapter Settings Modification.

Reservation System

Presentation of the general display

To reserve a plane is one the most important functions of OpenFlyers. This is why the application is divided into logbooks that will enable the screeening of information that appear on your screen. The three logbooks are :

• Daily Logbook

The aeronautic day and night time corresponds to the passage of the sun at 6 degrees under the horizon. This is not an official definition, be it french or international (OACI). The calculation is valid for latitudes inferior to 65 degrees.It is one minute precise for latitudes inferior to 50 degrees. The precision decrease is proportional to an increase in latitude (i.e as we approach the poles)

The outcome of the calculation : The resulting figures does not necessarily correspond to the simple addition of + or - 30 minutes. But it has never been mentioned in any official text that an aeronautic day corresponds to the sunrise minus 30 minutes and that the aeronautic night corresponds to sunset plus 30 minutes. The only exception one will find is that the utilisation of + or - 30 minutes to do calculations for latitudes of 45 degrees (This happens at 15 minutes under the equator)

The proposed result is thus the right answer. If you do not wish to use this result, you will only need to substract or add 30 minutes to the sunrise and sunset calculation.

However, we draw your attention that it is advisable to use the correct calculation : This will help you to be on the safe side as far as security is concerned. In fact, if in summer you gain more minutes, it is because the sun takes more time to go down. On the contrary, if our calculations make you ¨lose¨ around 10 minutes, it is because the sun takes less time to go down. To calculate the difference between the aeronautical night and sunset ( and to compare with the 30 minutes) will enable you to have an idea of the speed at which the sun goes down,hence to be doubly cautious of nightfall and not to be overtaken by dusk.

By the way, who has not experienced being grounded while trying to dodge with the night and finding themselves face to face with the dark.

Whatever the logbook, the reservation proceedures remain the same throughout, you are given a chronological slot which is divided into quarters of an hour

Its colours allow you to locate yourself as far as the aeronautical night and the resevations made by the other members are concerned.

Illustration 5 : Non-Occupied resevation slot

When a reservation is made, a range of colours appears in the slot

The green zone represents one´s own reservations without any instructor.

The dark green zones represent one´s own reservations with an instructor

The pale red zones represent other members´reservations without any instructor.

The dark red zones represent other members´ reservations with an instructor.

The Brown zones represent an unavailability for mecanical reasons. File:007_slot_complete.png

Illustration 6 : Occupied reservation slot

Illustration 7 : Key

To visualise the Colour key, you can activate the option in your personal settings. These will appear as a pop up window during your future connctions.

Do not forget to activate your browser to display this type of windows, they are often deactivated by default.

As you may have noticed, the reservation zones content are not crystal clear. When you scroll your mouse over a reserved zone, an additional information window will appear.

Illustration 8 : Additional information on a solo flight

Illustration 9 : additional information on a training flight

Likewise, if you place the mouse on the name of the plane, you will get all the necessary information on the latter.

File:009_slot_info3.png]

Illustration 10 : information on a plane

Finally, if you click on the name of the plane, you will have access to its reservaion logbook (plane logbook)

Reservations

To make a reservation, all you have to do is click on the free zone of the slot, in the segment which corresponds to the beginning of your reservation. The Reservations Page will be displayed.

Illustration 11 : To reserve a plane

Depending on your profile, you can book a plane. The option will be found under the number of places at your disposal. File:014_bis_booking.png

Illustration 12 : booking

Vous do not need to fill in all the zones, some of them are already pre- filled thanks to the positioning of the mouse in the slot.

Thus, the plane,the member (pilot), the starting date and time are already filled. Only the flight type,the expected finishing time and eventually your comment need to filled.

Depending on the parameters set by the administrator, the minimum durations for reservation have been fixed s follows : 15 mins, 30 mins, 45 mins.

Once the fields have been duly filled, one will need to confirm the reservation by clicking on the validate button.

The ¨Back to the previous page¨ button allows you to go back to the logbook without making any reservation.

Normally the display reappears in the original logbook as soon as you have validated the reservation form; however a few different warnings may also appear.

Different messages and its meanings may appear as follows :

If in your personal file, you have given your email address and ticked the email notification, you will automatically receive a reservation confirmation in the following form:

The réservation

from 01/11/2005 at 17H00

to 01/11/2005 at 18H00

on the F-GDLZ

is confirmed.

This operation has been carried out by Sergeï Dupond

Modification – cancelling a reservation

This is a very simple operation, all you need is click on the slot you need to cancel or remove.

Illustration 13 : Modify or cancel a reservation

The window that will appear is similar to the one for reservations.

To modify informations, all you need is change all data and information that need to be replaced and confirm the modifications by clicking on the ¨Modify¨ button.

A window for request of confirmation will open to ask you if you really wish to cancel the reservation.

Illustration 14 : confirmation for removal

Just like for reservations, these modifications will be confirmed to you by email ( provided that you have ticked this option in your form

For a cancellation :

The reservation

from 01/11/2005 at 17H00

to 01/11/2005 at 18H00

on the F-GDLZ

is cancelled.

This operation has been carried out by Sergeï Dupond

For a modification :

The reservation

from 01/11/2005 at 17H45

to 01/11/2005 at 18H15

on the F-GDLZ

is replaced by

the reservation

from 01/11/2005 at 17H45

to 01/11/2005 at 19H45

on the F-GDLZ

This operation was carried out by Sergeï Dupond

Information messages

Depending on your profile or operations that you will perform concerning reservation proceedures - modification - cancellation, warnings may appear as follows :

Cannot proceed with reservation (restricted mode) when a qualification is missing or the latter is not updated.

If any qualification is missing or if the validity date is missing, a warning message will pop-up to allow you or not to continue with the reservation. This will depend on the restrictions imposed by the aeroclub rules and conditions.

This option can be disengaged by the administrator.

Illustration 15 : underqualified

Reservation is possible (warning mode) even if underqualified or if tje latter is not updated.

Illustration 16: Reservation s possible even if underqualified

• Réservation with an instructor When one reserves a flight with an instructor, the latter must be available. If this is not possible, the following message will appear :

Illustration 17 : Reservation not possible

If the profile used includes the right ¨ Emergency reservation from an instructor¨, the reservation can be overriden. In general, instructors have access to this option as they are the only ones who can decide if they capable to fly beyond normal hours

Illustration 18 : Emergency reservation with an instructor

• Reservation for another pilot :

Reserving a plane for another pilot is quite practical for secretaries and instructors. To proceed, the profile of these persons should include the option ¨ reservation for a third party.¨ If this is not possible, the following message will appear :

File:013_mess_reserv.png

Illustration 19 : Reservation for a third party not possible

• Réservation – Cancellation - Modification of a slot

where the date has expired.

There are two restrictions as far as modification and cancellation are concerned :

- one cannot cancel a reservation where the srarting date has expired.

Example : for a reservation slot which starts at 15h00, one cannot the latter after this time.

- One can only modify the ending time of a slot which has already started.

As soon as the ending time of a reservation time has expired, modifications and cancellations are not possible.

Illustration 20 : Cancellation - Modification when the date has expired

Daily logbook

It´s the one that is displayed by default, il displays plane reservations for a particularly date.

This logbook has 3 levels of sub-displays :

• Simultaneous display of planes and instructors.

• Display of planes only.

• Display of instructors only

These different displays serve one and only purpose : facilitate the reservations proceedure by displaying relevant information.

Le cahier journalier vous présente la liste des avions et/ou instructeurs disponibles pour une date donnée. The Daily logbook introduces you to a list of planes and/or instructors for a particularl date.

Illustration 21 : Display of planes and instructors

Illustration 22 : Detail of name

To display the complete name of instructor, if in doubt, place your mouse on the trigramme and click, you will be directed to the instructor logbook.

Plane logbook

This logbook enables you to display the resevation for a particular plane for a duration of 7 days as from the current date.

Of course you can change the starting date of the display by modifying it in the calendar.

Illustration 23 : plane logbook

By clicking on one of the week days, the display will shift to the daily logbook at the date of the selected day.

Instructor logbook

This logbook allows you to display the planning of a particular instructor for a period of 7 days as from the current date.

Illustration 24 : instructor logbook

By clicking on one of the weekdays, the display shifts to the daily logbook at the date of the selected day.

Reservations

This menu allows you to proceed with two actions :

• To make resevations

The button allows you to have direct access to the reservatioms form without having to go through a logbook. Go to section 3.2 - to make reservations for more details.

• Listing

This button allows you to list the overall resevations that you have made. For a clearer picture, only coming reservations will be displayed by default, one can however visualise past slots by ticking the box that has been purposely provided.

Data

This menu allows you to modify your personal parameters ; depending on your responsibilty within the aeroclub, options are different for members or instructors.

The members have access only to the option ¨display and personal data¨, the instructors have additional options ¨ unavailability¨ and ¨add an unvailability¨

Display and Personal Data

It´s here that one will be able to modify the interface display options as well as filling of the personal data form.

ODisplay option

File:023_option_display1.png	Display choice of the date to fit in the english or french format.
File:024_option_display2.png	Allows you to choose the default type of display for the daily logbook
File:025_option_display3.png	On connection, a pop-up window will appear to display the colour settings
File:026_option_display4.png	Choice of time zone of the user
File:027_option_display5.png	Choice of language of the user ; 4 languages are actually available  : French, English,Spanish and Italian	File:028_option_display6.png	Adjustment of the width and height of the reservations slots
File:029_option_display7.png	In fact, it is not always necessary to have a look at all the aeroclub planes, this will overload the display.
File:029_option_display8.png	Sinilarly as for planes, you can choose to have a look only at instructor/s who is/are giving you training (particularly for aspiring pilots)

Options of personal data

All the options of your personal data have a box ¨ visible by all¨ in order to be accessed by all the members of the aeroclub, the reason being to share your personal info to all the aeroclub members so that each and everyone can be easily contacted. For example ; for the purpose of sharing flights.

Please note that filling of this form is optional

File:030_option_form1.png	Your email address. It is compulsory if you wish to notify be email.
File:031_option_form2.png	To receive reservations confirmation by email.
File:024_option_display2bis.png	This option is only visible if the aeroclub has a list for circulation and enbles one to sunscribe or unsubscribe.
File:032_option_form3.png	Your phone number (personal)
File:033_option_form4.png	Your phone number (office)
File:034_option_form5.png	Your mobile number
File:035_option_form6.png	Your postal address These info are not visible. They are meant to be used for Openflyers future development.
File:036_option_fiche7.png	Système de changement de mot de passe.

Naturally don´t forget to click on the ¨validate¨ button at the bottom of the form after modification of any of the above elements.

Qualifications

This menu is accessible only to persons who can access the option "qualifications management¨ in their profile.

From this display, you can modify, add or remove your different qualifications.

The list of the different qualifications available are managed by the Aeroclub´s Manager.

Illustration 25 : qualifications management

Unavailability

This menu is accessible only to persons who are registered as instuctors. This zone allows instructors to specify their availability or unavailability slots File:037_availability.png

Illustration 26 : unavailability

To add an (un)availability

In this menu, one can access the regular or special availability/unavailability data form.

One must first of all enter the regular or special slots.

Regular presence are normal presence, those which are repeated week after week throughout the year.

The special absences/presences are those which do not automatically repeat themselves throughout weeks. This is the case when one is on holidays for a few days.

When you fill in the regular periods, they designate availability slots. If nothing is specified, then this means unavailability.

For example, an employed instructor who works on tuesday from eight a.m to one p.m and from four p.m to six p.m with a lunch break between the two fills this period as follows :

Illustration 27 : How to fill in - an example

The break period, i.e of unavailability, does not need to be specified.

Here is how is displayed this period in the different logbooks :

Illustration 28 : details of the display in a logbook

Illustration 29 : addition of regular (un)availability

Illustration 30 : Addition of special (un)availaibility

List of members

The list of the aeroclub members is displayed in the menu.

For those whose email address is displayed, you can click on the latter to start your email software automatically.

Administrator´s documentation