Why Your Skydiving School Needs PilotFlows Dropzone

Manage training programs, students, instructors, and manifest in one place

Running a skydiving school involves much more than teaching people how to skydive. Behind every successful training jump, there is a whole process of planning, briefing, instruction, evaluation, and record-keeping.

As an administrator, you need to keep track of training programs, student progress, instructors, completed jumps, and the next steps in each student's journey. Without an integrated system, this information can quickly become scattered across spreadsheets, documents, and paper records.

PilotFlows Dropzone brings your skydiving school and manifest together in one platform.

The best part? The skydiving school module is included at no additional cost.

Let's walk through how you can set up an AFF training program, enroll a student, and manage their progress directly through PilotFlows.

1. Create your first training program

To get started, navigate to the Skydiving School section. This is where you'll find the tools to structure and manage your training programs.

The first step is to create a training program.

Training programs can cover a wide range of activities, from a comprehensive AFF (Accelerated Freefall) course to a weekend canopy-flying course. You decide how to structure your program based on your school's needs.

Let's create a basic AFF course.

Click Add New Program and enter the essential details:

• Program title: Give your course a clear name.
• Program type: Select the appropriate type of training program.
• Description: Explain what the course covers.
• Image: Optionally upload an image to make the program more visually appealing.

Once you've entered these details, you have the foundation of your training program. Next, it's time to define what students will actually learn.

2. Structure your course into modules

A training program is organised into modules, allowing you to break a course into individual training stages.

For our example, we'll create the first module of our AFF course: AFF Level 1.

Each module can contain the information needed to organise and evaluate the corresponding training jump.

You can configure details such as:

• Module title: For example, AFF Level 1.
• Altitude: Specify the planned training altitude.
• Minimum jumps: Define the minimum number of jumps associated with the module.
• Skip option: Indicate whether the module can be skipped, where appropriate.
• Instructor requirements: Specify whether an instructor is required and the minimum number of instructors.

This structure helps your school define consistent training requirements and makes it easier for instructors and administrators to understand what each stage involves.

Add briefing and debriefing items

Training doesn't begin and end in freefall. Briefings and debriefings are essential parts of the learning process.

PilotFlows lets you add briefing and debriefing items to a module, helping you document the topics that need to be covered before and after a jump.

This gives instructors a structured reference for each training stage and helps keep important learning points organised.

Define your grading criteria

You can also configure grading criteria for a module.

These criteria provide a framework for instructors to evaluate a student's performance after the jump. By establishing the grading structure in advance, your school can maintain a more consistent approach to student evaluation.

The exact criteria remain yours to define, based on your training program and applicable instructional standards.

3. Add tasks to evaluate student performance

Now let's make the training program more detailed.

Within a module, you can define individual tasks that a student is expected to perform.

For our AFF Level 1 example, tasks might include:

• Tracking
• Altitude awareness
• Arch position

You can add the relevant tasks for your module and configure them to be graded by the instructor.

Instead of recording only whether a jump has been completed, your school can document how the student performed on specific tasks.

Over time, these evaluations build a more detailed picture of the student's development. Instructors can review performance across multiple jumps and identify areas that may need further attention.

The result is a training program that records not just progress, but the learning behind that progress.

Once you've configured your modules, briefing and debriefing items, grading criteria, and tasks, your training program is ready to use.

4. Enroll your first student

With the AFF course created, let's enroll our first student.

For this example, we'll use Gilles H. as our demonstration student.

Once enrolled, Gilles can access the training program through the My Skydiving section of his account.

There, he can see the structure of the course, review his progress, and access his training records.

This creates a connection between the school managing the course and the student completing it. Instead of relying entirely on separate records or manual updates, the student's training information is available within the same platform.

As the student advances through the program, their training history develops alongside them.

5. Connect training directly to manifest

This is where PilotFlows Dropzone really brings the workflow together.

We've created the training program, configured its modules and tasks, and enrolled our student. Now it's time for his first training jump.

Head over to the Manifest page and add the student to a load as you normally would.

PilotFlows recognises that the student is enrolled in a training program and provides the option to work on their training program as part of the manifest workflow.

You can then select the appropriate training module and assign the required instructors.

Depending on the module's configuration, you can specify whether one or two instructors are needed.

This integration helps connect the operational side of the dropzone with the educational side of the school.

The student is manifested for the jump, the relevant training module is associated with it, and the necessary instructor information can be included in the process.

No need to treat manifest and student training as two completely separate workflows.

6. Complete the jump and record the evaluation

Once the jump has been completed, the student has an open training record that can be filled out by the instructor.

The instructor can complete the evaluation using the tasks and grading criteria configured for the module, along with the relevant debriefing information.

This creates a record of the training jump and the student's performance.

Rather than simply marking the jump as completed, the instructor can document how the student performed and what was covered during the debrief.

As the student progresses through subsequent modules and jumps, these records accumulate into a structured training history.

This helps instructors and administrators follow the student's development and understand which tasks are progressing well and which may require more work.

7. Track progress as students develop

A well-structured training program becomes even more useful when students have completed multiple jumps.

Because tasks and evaluations are recorded across training sessions, instructors can review performance over time and see how a student's skills develop.

Administrators can follow progress through the training program, while instructors can use previous evaluations as context for subsequent training.

PilotFlows also offers additional ways to compare student progress, helping schools explore how students are progressing through their programs and identify differences in their development.

These insights can be useful when reviewing training activity, provided that comparisons are interpreted in context. Students learn at different rates, and progression should always be assessed against the relevant training requirements and instructor judgement.

8. Available on the web and mobile

Your skydiving school doesn't operate from a desk alone, so access to training information shouldn't be limited to one location.

PilotFlows makes the training workflow available through the web and on mobile devices, allowing users to access the relevant information while working around the dropzone.

Whether you're managing the school, organising manifest, instructing a student, or reviewing your own training progress, the goal is to keep the process accessible and connected.

More than a training register

Setting up a training program is just one part of what PilotFlows Dropzone can do.

By connecting training programs, student records, instructor evaluations, and manifest, the platform helps bring essential parts of your skydiving school's workflow together.

And because the Skydiving School module is included at no additional cost, you can organise your training operations without purchasing a separate school-management add-on.

From your first AFF course to a growing school with multiple students and instructors, PilotFlows is designed to help you structure training, maintain records, and make everyday administration easier.

Ready to organise your skydiving school?

Explore PilotFlows Dropzone and discover how an integrated platform can help your team spend less time managing records and more time supporting great training.

Visit pilotflows.com/dropzone to learn more.