RotorLab logo RotorLabDocs

Standing and service record

This page is part of My Record and follows Recording a flight. It covers the standing stamped on a flight and the service record.

Standing at the moment of flight#

Every flight is stamped when it is filed, however it arrives (this form, File Flights, Land on Dispatch, the Crash Analyzer, the API or a ground station), with what the records said about it for the flight's own day:

  • Aircraft: the aircraft's reading (Go, Ready, advisory, Ready with limits, Condition unknown or No go) with its reasons, for a flight filed on the day it was flown. The aircraft's reading on an earlier day is not on record, so a flight filed on a later day than it was flown reads not stamped for the aircraft, with the day it was filed, and carries no aircraft mark.
  • Pilot: the pilot's standing on the day flown (current, due soon, training not met, lapsed, or not aircrew), from the same answer the Currency tab gives, with what had lapsed. The flight is also read against the privileges it uses: a night flight by a pilot not current for night flying is stamped and marked, while a day flight by the same pilot is not.
  • Authorization: the standing of the authorization named under Flown under authorization on that day, and whether the flight was outside it: it had expired or was not yet in effect, it had been marked surrendered or expired by that day, it did not cover the aircraft that day, or it was issued under another regime than the one flown. An authorization with no aircraft recorded on it (a LAANC authorization, for example) is not tested against the aircraft, and the stamp says no aircraft are recorded on it. A flight that names no authorization is never outside one; the stamp names the authorizations in force that covered the aircraft that day, if any.

Marks on a flight#

A flight typed here is answered, as it is filed, with what the records said: an aircraft that reads no go, a pack flagged, retired, past its life or degraded, a lapsed pilot. The stamp is kept with the flight and never recomputed: a defect cleared next week or a credential renewed later does not change what the flight carries. A flight flown on an aircraft reading no go or condition unknown, by a pilot whose currency had lapsed, or outside the authorization it names carries a red mark on its row (for example aircraft no go; pilot lapsed); hover over it for what was said and the reason given. Nothing is refused for standing.

A flight flown on a pack that Dispatch would refuse at Launch (flagged unserviceable, retired, past its cycle ceiling or calendar life) also carries a pack mark, and a degraded pack is named in the stamp; flights filed before this reading was kept carry no pack reading.

Airspace at filing#

Airspace at filing, on the flight's form, shows what the airspace data said about the flight's position when it was filed: the class, whether an authorization was indicated, the published ceiling and the facility, with the date and the data it was read from. A flight filed with no position reads "Filed with no position, so no airspace check was possible." When the data was more than one 56-day charting cycle old at the check, a warning under it says how many days old it was, because it may not show the airspace as it was that day.

Under the United States regime an authorization is indicated in Class B, C and D airspace and in Class E only within a surface area designated for an airport; Class E that starts at 700 or 1,200 feet reads as controlled airspace above its floor with no authorization needed below it.

Reading the stamp and giving a reason#

Open a flight with edit to read its stamp in full under At the moment of flight. A marked flight filed without a reason (a ground station, the API and the Crash Analyzer file without asking) shows Give the reason: the pilot, the person who filed it or an organization admin gives it once, in one line of up to 500 characters, and it is kept beside the stamp and listed for your organization's admins. A reason is never rewritten.

Flights filed before stamps were kept are stamped once, later, from the records as they stood on each flight's day where the records allow it: the pilot's standing and the authorization's dates and regime. The aircraft's reading on an earlier day is not on record, so it reads not stamped. Which aircraft an authorization covered on those days is not on record either, so a stamp made later never marks a flight for the aircraft and says the coverage that day is not on record. The stamp says it was made later, and nobody was asked for a reason.

Saving once, overlaps and no signal#

Save is pressed once. The button is disabled while the flight is on its way, and each opening of the form carries its own filing key, so a double click or a second press after a dropped connection never files a second copy: the answer names the flight the first press made ("Already filed as flight #N."). A new flight that overlaps another flight on the same aircraft in time is filed, and a message names the flight it overlaps, since one of the two may be a copy; see Possible duplicates.

The same message names a timing that cannot be right: a pack named on the new flight that is already on another flight at an overlapping time, the pilot already on another aircraft at an overlapping time (check the times, or that an authorization covers one person flying more than one aircraft at once), or a flight dated before its aircraft's in-service date. The flight is filed either way, and each is listed under Records to check until it is corrected.

With no connection, Save on a new flight keeps it on your device instead, marked not yet filed, and RotorLab files it when the connection returns (an edit to a flight already on the record needs a connection; see Recording with no signal). If a flight on the same aircraft that overlaps it in time reached the record meanwhile, most often one filed from the aircraft's log, it is held until you choose File it as well or Discard. A flight filed that way says so in the list, for example "Recorded offline at 2026-06-15 13:40 CDT, filed 2026-06-15 15:02 CDT".

Editing and voiding a flight#

Press edit on a row to open the flight: the form is titled Edit flight #N, with its number, and a Void button. An edit saves only the fields you changed, so a field the form could not show is never blanked. If the flight changed after you opened it (in another tab, by a colleague, or by a ground station re-sending it), Save is refused with "This flight was changed after you opened it", naming who changed it and when, and nothing is saved: close the form, open the flight again, and make your change once more.

A flight is voided, never deleted: Void asks for a reason, and the flight leaves the record and every total and lands whole in the organization's void ledger with your name, the reason and the time; any log file stored with it stays. Pressing Escape closes only the top layer, so backing out of the Void confirmation leaves the flight open with your edits in it. A flight on legal hold (one an occurrence names, one placed on hold from the form, or one a legal hold by matter reaches) cannot be voided until the hold is lifted.

A public-safety flight (one whose What for is public safety, or that carries a call type, requested by or outcome, now or at any time since it was filed) is voided only with an organization admin's approval: for anyone else the button opens Ask to void this flight, and Send the request files the request with your reason. The flight stays on the record, in every total and on your public page, and its row reads void requested until an admin decides. An organization admin's own void of a public-safety flight needs no approval.

While your request waits, the button on the flight reads Withdraw void request: press it and confirm to withdraw the request. Only the person who asked can withdraw a request, and only before an admin decides. The flight stays on the record, and the withdrawal is kept in the flight's history and the activity log.

Corrections#

Every correction you make to a flight is kept field by field with your name, and the Audit page lists corrections and voids both. On the flight form, Corrections lists them, oldest first: each field with its old and new value, who made the change, and when, in your organization's time zone. A correction and its line in the activity log are saved together, or not at all.

Public safety details#

Organizations that hold Public Safety Ops and do public-safety work (public reporting is set up, or a flight already carries public-safety details) see an additional optional block on the form; anyone else in an organization with the add-on sees one folded line, Add public safety details (call type, outcome, public reporting), that opens it, and a flight that already holds those details always opens with the block. The block's fields are sent only when it is on screen, so an ordinary entry never blanks them.

The block holds Call type, Requested by, Outcome, Location (latitude and longitude), Imagery retained, and Public reporting (include normally, hold, or out of scope), with a one-line Why when a disposition is set. Anyone who files the flight can hold it: a held flight still counts in the public totals but is not listed on its own, and its Why is optional. Only an organization admin can mark a flight out of scope, put it back, or change the reason, and Why is then required: the flight is not counted, the public page says how many flights were left out, and whoever approves the period sees each one with its reason. Anyone else sees out of scope on a flight that carries it but cannot choose it or change its reason. See Public Reporting.

When the Call type is crowd monitoring and your organization is a public safety organization billed in Florida, a Florida crowd authorization reminder appears in the block: "Florida requires the head of a law enforcement agency to give written authorization for a drone used over a crowd of 50 people or more, and to keep a copy on file at the agency. Name the authorization record, or note where it is kept." Pick the Authorization record from your Authorizations, type Where it is kept, do both or do neither. It is a reminder, not a check: RotorLab reads nothing from what you enter, and the flight saves either way. A role that cannot read the register of authorizations sees the note box alone. A flight keeps what you entered if you later change the call type, and says it was saved for an earlier crowd call type. An organization whose billing address is elsewhere sees no reminder.

Outcome includes the search outcomes subject located, subject not located and stood down. When your organization holds public-safety flights in review (see Retention), the block says so: a public-safety flight missing its call type, requested by or outcome is still filed, and public reporting counts it without listing it until they are filled in.

Only a rounded area around the location is ever publishable. The form says how long the exact position is kept: the number of days your organization's position window sets, or for the life of the record when the window is set to keep. Once the window passes, the form reads "Exact position no longer held" and shows the area on record. See Retention.

Service record#

The Service record section at the foot of the form says what the work was, shaped by the kind of work. Choose the Kind of work: Spray application, Survey and lidar, Inspection, Public safety, Delivery or Film and photography, or leave No service record. When no kind is chosen yet, choosing survey, inspection or public safety under What for picks the matching kind; change it if the work was something else. Every field is optional, and a kind with nothing filled in saves no record.

  • Spray application: Product applied, EPA registration number (as printed on the label, like 524-475 or 524-475-1234), Crop or site treated, Target pest (the weed, insect or disease the product was applied against), Application rate and its Rate unit, Area treated and its Area unit, Quantity applied and its Quantity unit (the total amount of product applied, as measured), Wind speed and its Wind speed unit, Wind from (like NW or 320), Temperature and its Temperature unit, Application started, Application stopped, Applicator, Applicator certification number
  • Survey and lidar: Accuracy class, Checkpoints, Horizontal RMSE and Vertical RMSE with their RMSE unit, Datum, Deliverable
  • Inspection: Asset inspected, Findings, Most severe finding (none, minor, moderate, major or critical), Deliverable
  • Public safety: Call or incident number, Case number, Evidence reference, Call received, On scene, Cleared, Requesting agency, Supervising officer, Authorized use, Video recorded, Kept for training, Imagery to be destroyed by, Search area or segment, Operation this flight served (a criminal investigation, another law enforcement operation, or not a law enforcement operation: training, a test or a demonstration, or a fire, rescue or medical flight), The aircraft aided it, How the flight aided, Information collected on people or property not the subject, Type of that information
  • Delivery: Package, Package mass (kg), Drop point, Handoff
  • Film and photography: Production, Location, Location release

A number needs its unit: a number given without one is refused with a message asking for its unit. The units offered are gal/acre, fl oz/acre, oz/acre, lb/acre, L/ha, mL/ha, kg/ha and g/ha for a rate, acres or ha for an area, gal, fl oz, oz, lb, L, mL, kg or g for a quantity, mph, kt, km/h or m/s for wind speed, F or C for a temperature, and cm, m, in or ft for RMSE. A temperature must be from -60 to 140 F, or from -50 to 60 C. Gallons and fluid ounces are US measures, and oz/acre is the avoirdupois ounce. An EPA registration number is two or three groups of digits joined by hyphens.

Values are kept as you wrote them, in the unit you chose. A spray record also keeps its rate, area and wind speed in metric beside them, so each reader sees them in their own units with the values as typed beside them, for example 18.71 L/ha (recorded as 2 gal/acre); a reader who reads the unit it was typed in sees it exactly as typed, and a small rate reads in mL/ha, g/ha, fl oz/acre or oz/acre.

Application started and Application stopped each take a date and a time in your organization's time zone, and the application cannot stop before it started. Call received, On scene and Cleared each take a date and a time in your organization's time zone, cannot be later than now, and run in that order. Imagery to be destroyed by is a date and may be in the future. When an organization admin has set a list of authorized uses, Authorized use offers only those.

The operation a public safety flight served, whether the aircraft aided it, how, and any information collected on people or property that were not the subject are what the Texas 423.008 export counts; a field left blank reads as not recorded there, never as no.

The service record saves with the flight. A value that is refused stops the save with a message naming the field, and nothing is filed or changed until you correct it. Every change to a service record, and its removal, is kept with who made it and when. The service record of a flight on legal hold can be corrected but not removed.

Flights whose public-safety service records carry the same call or incident number are one call, listed under Calls on the Retention page. A job carries a service record of its own, on its job page. Service records ride in your organization export (service_records.json and service_records.csv, with every change in service_record_history.json) and on each flight in an audit package.