Flight Review & Auto-Approval

Overview

The Flight Review page provides a streamlined queue for staff to manually review flights that require attention. It works in conjunction with the auto-approval system, which automatically processes flights that meet certain criteria, reducing the manual workload for staff.

This page covers two related topics:

• Flight Review -- The manual review queue for flights with PENDING_STAFF status.
• Auto-Approval -- The system-side logic that automatically approves or escalates flights based on FDM results and configuration settings.

Backoffice path: backoffice/flight-review

Available to roles: System Administrator, Administrator

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Flight Review Queue

The Flight Review page presents pending flights one at a time, ordered oldest first (FIFO). When you open the page, it loads the oldest flight with PENDING_STAFF status and displays its full flight details, including route, times, FDM events, telemetry, and payload information.

This single-flight view allows staff to focus on one flight at a time and make a deliberate decision before moving on.

Staff Actions

Four actions are available on each flight in the review queue:

Approve

Immediately approves the flight and sets its status to ACCEPTED_STAFF. No additional input is required. Use this when the flight is acceptable despite any FDM events that caused it to be held for review.

Warn

Accepts the flight but marks it with a warning. Sets the status to WARNING_STAFF. A reason is required and must be at least 3 words long. The reason is recorded in the audit log and visible to the pilot.

Use this when the flight is acceptable overall but the pilot should be made aware of a concern, such as a marginal approach or minor procedural deviation.

Reject

Rejects the flight and sets its status to REJECTED_STAFF. A reason is required and must be at least 3 words long. The reason is recorded in the audit log and visible to the pilot.

Use this for flights with serious safety concerns, evidence of simulator abuse (slewing, unrealistic sim rates), or significant deviations from the planned operation.

Skip

Moves to the next pending flight in the queue without taking any action on the current flight. The skipped flight remains in PENDING_STAFF status and will appear again later in the queue.

Use this when you need more context before making a decision, or when another staff member is better suited to review a particular flight.

Audit Logging

All review actions (Approve, Warn, Reject) create entries in the audit log. Each entry records:

• The staff member who performed the action.
• The action taken.
• The timestamp.
• The reason provided (for Warn and Reject actions).

Skip actions are not logged, as they do not change the flight's status.

Events

Review actions fire corresponding system events that can be used by notifications and integrations:

Action	Event Fired
Approve	FlightApproved
Warn	FlightWarned
Reject	FlightRejected

Queue Empty State

When no flights with PENDING_STAFF status remain in the queue, the page displays an "All caught up!" message. The queue will repopulate as new flights are submitted and processed by the FDM system.

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Auto-Approval Logic

The auto-approval system runs automatically after FDM analysis completes for each submitted flight. It determines whether the flight can be approved without staff intervention or must be held for manual review.

Decision Flow

The system evaluates flights in the following order:

1. Alternate diversion -- If the pilot diverted to an alternate airport (the arrival airport does not match the planned destination), the flight is always sent to PENDING_STAFF for manual review, regardless of FDM results. Diversions may be operationally valid but require staff verification.

2. FDM violations detected -- If any FDM trigger with event type Violation fired during the flight, the flight is sent to PENDING_STAFF. Violations always require human review.

3. FDM warnings detected (no violations) -- If the flight has warning-level events but no violations:

   • If Auto-Accept Warnings is enabled in system settings: the flight is automatically set to WARNING_SYSTEM.
   • If Auto-Accept Warnings is disabled: the flight is sent to PENDING_STAFF for manual review.

4. Clean flight (no warnings or violations) -- If the flight has no FDM warnings or violations (only information-level events or no events at all):

   • If Auto-Approval is enabled in system settings: the flight is automatically set to ACCEPTED_SYSTEM.
   • If Auto-Approval is disabled: the flight is sent to PENDING_STAFF for manual review.

Configuration Settings

Auto-approval behavior is controlled by system-level settings:

Setting	Default	Description
Auto-Approval	Enabled	When enabled, flights with no FDM warnings or violations are automatically approved with status ACCEPTED_SYSTEM. When disabled, all flights go to PENDING_STAFF
Auto-Accept Warnings	Disabled	When enabled, flights with only warning-level FDM events (and no violations) are automatically accepted with status WARNING_SYSTEM. When disabled, flights with warnings go to PENDING_STAFF

These settings are configured through the system settings area of the backoffice.

Status Mapping Summary

Scenario	Auto-Approval ON	Auto-Approval OFF
Clean flight (no events/info only)	ACCEPTED_SYSTEM	PENDING_STAFF
Warnings only (auto-accept warnings ON)	WARNING_SYSTEM	PENDING_STAFF
Warnings only (auto-accept warnings OFF)	PENDING_STAFF	PENDING_STAFF
Any violations	PENDING_STAFF	PENDING_STAFF
Alternate diversion	PENDING_STAFF	PENDING_STAFF

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Recommended Workflow

1. Enable Auto-Approval to handle the majority of clean flights without staff intervention.
2. Disable Auto-Accept Warnings initially so staff can review warning-level events and calibrate FDM trigger thresholds. Once triggers are well-tuned and false positives are minimized, consider enabling this setting.
3. Check the Flight Review queue regularly to process pending flights promptly. Pilots receive status notifications, and delays in review can affect the pilot experience.
4. Use the Warn action instead of Reject for borderline cases. Warnings acknowledge the issue while still crediting the pilot for the flight.
5. Use the Skip action sparingly. Skipped flights remain in the queue and may be reviewed by another staff member, but excessive skipping can lead to a backlog.