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Air Control is Aloft’s new enterprise platform to help organizations better manage their UAS operators, aircraft, and their activities. Air Control brings more tools for program managers to get better data and be better informed while streamlining the pilot’s experience.

Once your account has been set up, there are a few steps listed below to help set up your account and structure the team’s workflow. Account management will take place on the web dashboard, https://air.aloft.ai.

You may have received an email invite or an account may have been set up for you. The first step in gaining access to your account will be to set your password. Here is a direct link to the password reset tool if needed: https://app.aloft.ai/password/reset.

As a pilot, we have a few recommendations to help get your profile information squared away and your assets added to the account. This process can vary between organizations so please refer to your Admin’s instructions or Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Once you log in, on either the app or the web dashboard, you’ll need to finish your profile information in order to take advantage of all the features, such as the LAANC system. You can access your profile from the menu in the top-left corner of the app and tapping on your name. You can also access this from the web dashboard by going to the Manage > Users section.

For enterprise: You will want to upload a digital copy of your Part 107 certificate along with any recurrent certifications, or other operator permits. You can also add DJI credentials on the screen to set up automatic imports from the DJI cloud. Some accounts may have limited permissions applied, so please coordinate with your Admin if you’re having trouble updating this info.

The next step in onboarding involves getting your assets added to the account. The recommended process involves conducting a flight in Air Control with your aircraft. For each battery that needs to be added, a quick flight will suffice. Once you’ve rotated through your batteries, tap the red exit button to end the in-flight experience. This will bring pilots to Post-Flight where they will upload their flight logs.

Once the upload process is complete, almost instantaneously, we can now look up those aircraft and battery records on the web dashboard. Pilots will want to go in and update their aircraft identifiers, registration information, as well as battery identifiers.

The platform uses the internal serial numbers of the equipment so we can associate activity with that asset no matter who on the account is using it.

There are other options to add your aircraft and batteries, such as setting up a DJI integration or providing the support team with a bulk file upload in .CSV format. Please contact Support@Aloft.ai for assistance.

As you explore the airspace around you, either at your current location or by searching or dropping a pin, you’ll notice the airspace advisory button updates for each location alerting the pilot of nearby airspace and restrictions that may affect their flight.

Our airspace maps are focused on the information that directly affects drone operators and is designed to make understanding the airspace around you as easy as possible. As you search around the map, the advisory panel will update to alert the pilot of nearby advisories: controlled or restricted airspace, Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs), heliports, private airports, and much more.

You can tap on the map to explore, or use the search function to enter addresses, lat/long coordinates, and even airport designations. Once you select a location, the advisory panel will update and then you can tap on it or slide up to display additional information.

Next to the advisory details, you can also switch over to the weather tab for a readout of current conditions at the selected location.

Instant LAANC authorizations at or below the FAAs predefined altitudes are available for everyone. When requesting for higher altitudes, this requires a Part 107 operator to submit for "Further Coordination", which involves a manual review and approval process by the FAA/ATC. The biggest difference between LAANC and Further Coordinated LAANC is that on the final step we will need to provide a safety justification.

There are tons of examples on the internet, but this is essentially a text message that the FAA/controller will read to confirm you understand the risks of flying in the area and have mitigated against them. We recommend including as much detail as possible regarding experience, training, and providing a second phone number, high visibility gear, drone equipped with strobe light for visibility, etc.

Further coordination is a complex and largely misunderstood feature with high instances of people thinking they should "call the tower" even though the FAA specifically states not to, for example.

FAA requests submitting these at least 48 hours in advance. After that, it is up to each airport as to how quickly they go through their queue of requests. Usually it's a few days, but we've seen everything from a few hours, to a few weeks, to not at all. Note, 90 days is how far in advance you can request. Best to plan out as far ahead as possible to give ATC time to review and approve.

Also note, if you’re within a LAANC enabled area you will likely run into DJI’s Geofence system that requires a separate unlock code obtainable through their app/website.

Air Control has offline support built in. The app will seamlessly collect and queue your activity that includes any mission assignment, risk assessment logs, checklist logs, flight activity, and even media uploads. Once data connectivity is reestablished, the upload process will begin automatically.

Pilots can bookmark a large portion of the airspace map for offline use with the bookmark feature. You can also save smaller, more specific areas by simply searching for them. Once the area shows in your recent searches you can also reference the map for offline use this way.

Missions can also be used for preparing to go offline. On the Missions tab, you’ll see the option to download each mission for offline use. Downloading the mission will save the mission details, notes, surrounding airspace, workflow steps, and more. This will ensure you can continue planned activity even when operating in cell-denied areas.

Once you are back online, whether through cellular data or a wifi connection, the app will automatically start syncing when opened and online. The sync arrows will appear in the top left every time you launch the app and will remain while syncing. Please allow the process the complete and the sync arrows disappear before closing the app.

Here is a video walkthrough of the process of loading an unlock code onto the drone, and flying in Air Control. This is best done in advance when operating in DJI Geo Zone areas. This also helps minimize issues if showing up in the field at a Geo Zone or NFZ area and no internet connection.

Upon tapping Fly or loading an automated flight, pilots will be presented with the workflow that’s been assigned to their role by an administrator.

Workflows are customized for each account, and in some cases may not be required at all. Workflows are simply preconfigured steps for your operations: mission selection, risk assessments, and checklists. These items may be required by your administrator.

Depending on permission levels and the workflow assigned to you, mission creation can happen on both in the field from the app or back at the office from the web dashboard.

Missions can be created ahead of time for planning purposes. You can also set a mission boundary to define the operation area for admins and management. This stage of planning can also be used for filing LAANC requests ahead of time, especially if there’s a need to fly above the FAA’s predefined altitudes in controlled airspace and further coordination is required.

By selecting the mission in the Air Control app, any flights, checklist logs, and risk assessment logs will automatically be associated along with weather and airspace details. This can also be done after the flight, through the web dashboard, by going to the Manage > Flights page, selecting the flight in bulk, and choosing Apply Action > Attach Flights to Mission. Then, search for your mission name and apply! You can also search for flights to add when editing a mission.

Preflight procedures can include checklists, risk assessments, airspace checks, LAANC requests, and weather forecast to name a few. Once you’ve selected the appropriate mission and completed your preflight procedures, the operation is ready to begin.

To launch the aircraft, simply pinch the sticks down and in or down and out to engage the propellers. If launching an automated flight, you can tap the Play button from a standstill to launch the automated mission.

Air Control offers some inflight control over your return to home location and altitude. These settings can be adjusted on the fly and you’re also able to update the home point at any time to the drone’s location or the mobile device’s location. The RTH button on the controller is used to initiate the RTH procedure, and can also be used to cancel RTH or automated flights.

Aircraft Details

General readout of aircraft details and stats:

Camera Details

Once you enter the in-flight screen, where Air Control prompts you to connect your aircraft, you will also have the option to proceed with manual flight logging.

This feature allows users to track their safety and compliance steps such as missions, checklists, and risk assessments while flying outside of the Air Control platform (Such as the DJI apps or even a non-DJI drone). Pilots can start a timer to track time or enter it manually. When the flights are complete, simply switch back to Air Control to end the flight and finish logging your activity. When all flights are logged, use the red Exit button to proceed to post-flight.

Live streaming in Air Control is encrypted end-to-end and only available to those that have permission to view streaming on the account. Audio communications are also built-in to the platform, no extra hardware or cables needed.

Streaming can be started or stopped at any point in the flight. Streaming settings are available in the top-right inflight menu, and the settings can only be adjusted while streaming is off. Streaming can be automatically enabled by admins across the account.

When activated, the broadcast interface will appear in the top-left corner of the inflight view. You can tap the microphone icon to unmute and talk to stream-viewers. The broadcast icon tells you that you’re actively streaming, and the number next to the eye icon tells you how many viewers are watching.

Streaming quality is largely dependent on the device being used to broadcast and the internet connection quality. If you experience high latency or low frame rate, try reducing your quality settings.

Upon pressing the red exit button and confirming you’re done flying, you’ll be presented with the post-flight screen. At this point, the pilot can review pending flight logs, add flight notes, and select whether to upload captured media to the device or the cloud. Please note: To properly log and upload your flight information, use the red exit button on the in-flight screen. Do not force close the app at this point without completing the post-flight process. The post-flight process is complete when the airspace dashboard appears again.

Depending on permission levels, a pilot can access their flight logs through the Manage section of the web dashboard. On the web, proceed to Manage > Flights to add flight notes, review and download uploaded media, and more.

Support

If you have questions or need further assistance please reach out to Support@Aloft.ai.
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