Configure FDM settings
This article covers the admin-facing configuration steps for Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) in Safety Hub: connecting ingestion sources, mapping aircraft registrations, choosing reporting behavior, turning AI features on or off, assigning the right permissions, and tuning the parameters that control how flights match to reservations. It is written for FSP administrators and safety managers who are setting up FDM for the first time.
Before you start
FDM configuration requires these FSP permissions. You assign them in FSP under Settings → Users → Roles & Permissions → Edit Role → Permissions → Flight Data Monitoring.
What you need to configure | Permission required |
Open FDM at all | View My FDM Flights or View All FDM Flights |
Access FDM Settings (AirSync, Garmin, Aircraft Registrations, Reporting, AI Features) | Manage FDM Settings |
Create and publish Event Definition Sets | Manage Event Definitions |
Manually import flight files | Import Flights |
Operator-wide vs. per-user. The Settings page in the FDM sidebar holds operator-wide configuration that applies to your whole organization. Individual viewing and notification preferences live on the separate My Preferences page. This article covers the operator-wide Settings page.
The FDM Settings page
In the FDM sidebar, select Settings. The page shows five cards, each with a Manage action:
AirSync Settings — connect your AirSync account to attribute aircraft automatically.
Garmin Connections — see which Garmin accounts and aircraft are connected, and disconnect ones you no longer want to import.
Aircraft Registrations — map your FSP aircraft to official registrations to enable ADS-B monitoring, squawk capture, and traffic data.
Reporting — choose whether newly detected events are auto-included in reports or held for human review.
AI Features — turn AI-generated flight and maneuver insights on or off for your whole operator.
Connect an AirSync ingestion source
AirSync is a self-service automated ingestion path. Once you connect your AirSync account, AirSync sends flight data to FDM automatically.
On the Settings page, under AirSync Settings, click Manage.
Enter the AirSync token from your AirSync administration page.
Alternatively, under AirSync Account URL, paste your AirSync account URL and click Check URL.
Review the account details that come back, then click Connect account to link it. Discovery runs automatically when you connect — you do not need to trigger it manually. Your aircraft appear shortly, and AirSync re-syncs on an hourly schedule after that.
Review the My aircraft and Unassigned aircraft tables. Any tail in the Unassigned table is not yet linked to an FSP aircraft record.
For each unassigned tail, click Edit tail to match it to the correct FSP aircraft, or Release to remove it from the list.
Manual tail edits you make here are preserved across future discovery runs — AirSync re-discovery does not overwrite them.
Levil is another automated ingestion path. Levil aircraft attribution is handled by the Pilotbase account team, not through self-service settings. Contact your Pilotbase account manager to add Levil-sourced aircraft.
Connect a Garmin ingestion source
Garmin is a self-service ingestion path. Aircraft you share with Pilotbase on FlyGarmin are imported into FDM automatically.
On the Settings page, under Garmin Connections, click Manage.
The Connections table lists each connected Garmin link with its aircraft, Status (for example, Active), and the date it was connected.
To stop importing new logs from a connection, select Stop importing.
Disconnecting stops Pilotbase from importing new logs — it does not change anything on FlyGarmin. To fully sever the link, also disconnect on FlyGarmin.
Map aircraft registrations for ADS-B monitoring
Mapping your FSP aircraft to their official registrations enables ADS-B monitoring, squawk capture, and traffic data. Until an aircraft is mapped, those features are unavailable for it, and the Flight List shows a banner such as "13 aircraft need a registration to enable ADS-B monitoring" with a Review registrations link.
On the Settings page, under Aircraft Registrations, click Manage.
The Aircraft table lists your FSP aircraft with columns for FSP Aircraft, FAA Registration, Source, Status, and Actions. A banner at the top shows how many aircraft still need a registration.
Search by FSP tail, or filter by source or status (for example, Needs review).
For each aircraft, select Edit to set its FAA registration, or use Auto-map to match aircraft in bulk. Use Reset to FSP tail to clear a mapping.
Enable manual flight import
Users with Import Flights permission can upload flight files directly from the FDM Flights page. Supported formats: KML, KMZ, GPX, CSV (with column mapping).
To grant this permission, go to FSP → Settings → Users → Roles & Permissions, edit the relevant role, and check Import Flights under the Flight Data Monitoring section.
Imported flights go through the same normalization, event detection, and visualization pipeline as automatically ingested flights.
Set the default report inclusion rule
This setting controls whether newly detected events are included in reports automatically or held for human review first.
On the Settings page, under Reporting, click Manage.
Choose one of the two options: - Automatically include in reports — every new event is included immediately and locked against reprocess deletion. - Require human review (exclude until reviewed) — events are excluded until a reviewer marks them for inclusion. This is the default.
Click Save.
This setting applies only to events detected after you save it — it does not retroactively change existing events. Making an event durable (by including it in a report or linking it to a Safety Report) protects it from deletion on reprocess. Tags alone do not protect events from reprocess deletion.
Turn AI features on or off
A single operator-wide switch controls both AI-generated flight summaries and per-maneuver analyses.
On the Settings page, under AI Features, click Manage.
Choose AI features enabled or AI features disabled.
Click Save changes.
When enabled, AI-generated flight summaries and per-maneuver analyses are produced automatically and shown to reviewers. When disabled, no new insights are generated and existing ones are hidden — but stored insights are not deleted and reappear if you re-enable AI features.
Configure fleet and reservation matching
Accurate reservation matching drives the Pilot, Instructor, and Reservation columns you see in the Flights list. Matches depend on FSP data being complete and consistent.
Set scheduling-location time zones
FDM matches flights to reservations using timestamps. If a scheduling location's time zone is wrong in FSP, flights will fail to match.
Go to FSP → Settings → Scheduling and confirm that every scheduling location has the correct time zone set.
Enter aircraft V-speeds
V-speeds power airspeed arc overlays in the 3D flight visualization and feed maneuver detection. Without them, the airspeed arc display is absent.
Go to FSP → Aircraft, open each aircraft record, and enter the V-speeds for that airframe.
Resolve unmatched flights
Unmatched flights show — in the Pilot, Instructor, and Reservation columns, and N/A in the tail column when the aircraft is unidentified. If flights are not matching, confirm that scheduling-location time zones are correct in FSP and that the aircraft is mapped to its registration.
Set up event detection
Event Definition Sets control which exceedances FDM detects. At least one active set must exist before FDM can generate events.
For a full walkthrough of building and publishing an Event Definition Set, see the "Configure Event Definition Sets" article.
Configure per-user notification preferences
Notification preferences are now per-user and live on the My Preferences page, not in operator-wide Settings. As an admin, direct users to My Preferences in the FDM sidebar. Under My Notification Preferences, each user turns Email and SMS alerts on or off per priority level (P1, P2, P3).
SMS notifications use the mobile number from the user's FSP profile. This number is read-only here — users cannot enter or change it on My Preferences; they update it in their FSP profile. A one-time SMS consent prompt (with STOP/HELP instructions) appears when SMS is first enabled.
Recommended role assignments
Role | Recommended FDM permissions |
Safety / Ops Manager | View All FDM Flights, Import Flights, Manage FDM Settings, Manage Event Definitions |
Chief Flight Instructor | View All FDM Flights, Annotate All Flights, Manage FDM Settings, Manage Event Definitions |
Flight Instructor | View My FDM Flights, Annotate My Students' Flights |
Student / Pilot | View My FDM Flights |
Assign permissions via FSP → Settings → Users → Roles & Permissions or via the per-user Role Override modal for one-off grants.