Flight School Enrollment and Onboarding

Onboarding forms are built in Settings with a visual builder, one for customers and one for instructors. Customer forms can differ by category, so a student pilot, a renter, and a time builder each see the steps that apply to them. Each form is made from blocks:

• File uploads for a medical, photo ID, pilot certificate, or anything else. Require an expiration date, or use a first-, second-, or third-class medical preset that calculates the expiration from the exam date.
• Policy documents like your school policies, rental agreement, or waiver, signed in one of 3 ways (more below).
• Questions as short answer, long answer, or multiple choice, plus checkboxes for simple acknowledgments. Ask about training goals, prior experience, or emergency contacts.
• Links to a handbook, a video, or anything students should read before they fly.
• A signature block with your own agreement text.
• Card on file, once your school's Stripe account is connected. Make it required or optional.
• Sections to break a long form into steps.

Uploads land in the person's Documents with their expiration date, where staff can verify them. The flight school compliance page covers how those documents are tracked after enrollment.

Each policy document uses one of 3 signing modes:

1. Draw. The student signs with a finger, stylus, or mouse.
2. Click to sign. One click records their acceptance.
3. Annotate the PDF. The student fills in and signs the document itself, which suits rental agreements with blanks to complete.

There's no separate waiver tool. Upload your waiver as a policy document and it's signed the same way.

Documents don't have to wait for onboarding, either. When the rental agreement changes mid-year, send the new PDF to a person for signature. They get an email with a link, sign it in the app, and admins are notified when it's done.

Sign-up links. Your school has its own sign-up links for customers, instructors, and office admins. Treat them like passwords.

Invitations. Invite a student by email from the Customers list, and they get a sign-up link for your school.

Website embed. Put a sign-up form on your own website with your heading and copy. New students create their account without visiting a separate site.

Categories at sign-up. Turn on category choice and new students pick a category during sign-up, such as Student or Renter Pilot. They inherit that category's permissions and onboarding form.

Approval. With account approval on, new customer accounts wait until staff approve them. Instructor and office admin sign-ups always need approval.

From lead to student. When a discovery flight goes well, convert the lead to a student in one click from your flight school CRM.

Here's how a typical enrollment runs once everything is set up:

1. Sign up. The student signs up from your website or a link. If approval is on, staff approve the account.
2. Onboard. The onboarding form opens. With Block dashboard until complete turned on, it fills the screen until the student finishes.
3. Submit. They upload documents, sign policies, answer questions, and add a card. Admins can get an email as soon as someone completes onboarding.
4. Review. If the form requires staff approval, staff approve it or mark it as needing revision. Uploaded documents are verified from the student's profile.
5. Nudge. For anyone who stalls, staff send a reminder from the student's Onboarding tab.
6. Gate. With onboarding before scheduling turned on, students who haven't finished don't appear in reservation search. Ground lessons and discovery flights are exempt. A separate setting blocks aircraft check-out until onboarding is done.

Once they're through, enroll the student in a training program and book their first lesson.

The card-on-file step is the simplest way to get paid from day one. A student who adds a card during onboarding can be charged for their first invoice without anyone calling them for a number. You can also require a card on file for new students, and Sky Schedule prompts them to add one on their invoices page.

After approval, sell a package of hours or a membership from your catalog by charging that saved card or by emailing the student an invoice with a checkout link. The flight school billing software page covers packages, memberships, and prepaid balances.