Flightdocs

What It Is: A software company providing off-the-shelf and customized flight operations, inventory, and maintenance-tracking solutions for corporate aviation.  

How It Grew: In July 2003, Flightdocs founder Rick Heine of Babylon, New York, purchased a 50 percent interest in DoberDocs, a software program for aircraft maintenance tracking—along with exclusive rights to market it for 10 years. Investing $2 million, Heine hired developers to enhance the software and introduced Flightdocs Maintenance Tracker later that year. 

Flightdocs also initially offered e-Logbooks, a program for scanning paper logbook pages into searchable digital files. In 2004, the company launched Flightdocs Information Center 1.0, which it claims was the first “true Web-based system” for aviation maintenance; and in 2005, it became a recommended provider for Boeing Business Jets. 

In 2009, two years after reaching an undisclosed settlement with DoberDocs, Heine moved Flightdocs to Florida, where he continued hiring staff to improve and market the software. Flightdocs Information Center 2.0, released in 2010, was the first program to incorporate FAA AC 120-8A–compliant eSignature documents, and introduced the first maintenance-tracking iPad and iPhone applications, according to the company. 

Flightdocs began development of its Enterprise platform in 2014, releasing its Inventory and Purchasing module that year, the Enterprise software for fixed-wing aircraft in 2016, and the HMX platform for helicopters in 2017. 

In 2018 Flightdocs opened a 6,200-square-foot technology center in Bonita Springs, Florida, to house more than 40 developers and technology experts. 

What It Offers:

Maintenance tracking. Collects and presents work order, logbook, routine and non-routine maintenance, and related flight information for all fleet aircraft on a color-coded dashboard. 

Inventory management. Facilitates tracking of parts and their service lives, purchase orders, repairs, reports, shipping, and more on desktop and mobile devices.  

Flight operations. Touted by Flightdocs to be the first “fully integrated flight department management system,” Fd Operations provides a cloud-based platform that combines maintenance and operational information for pilots, crew, schedulers, and dispatchers, including flight scheduling based on real-time maintenance data and resource availability.

Custom software development and consulting: Flightdocs’ Custom Development Solutions team can design, deploy, and maintain software to address complex customer requirements. 

Recent News: Flightdocs achieved Service Organization Controls (SOC) 2-Type 1 certification in October 2019. The SOC 2 designation, given by the American Institute of CPAs, indicates that the company’s information-security practices, policies, and procedures meet a high standard of criteria for security, availability, processing integrity, and confidentiality.

Fast Facts:

Founded: 2003

HQ: Bonita Springs, Florida

Employees: About 100

Annual revenues: More than $10 million

Chairman and CEO: Rick Heine 

Website: flightdocs.com