Spreadsheets worked. Until they didn't.
Spreadsheets are free, familiar, and flexible. They're also why you double-booked N172SP last Tuesday, missed that 100-hour by 3 hours, and spent Sunday night chasing payments. HangarOS replaces the patchwork — scheduling, maintenance, invoicing, training, and AI tools in one platform. Starting at $49/mo.
The real cost of “free”
Spreadsheets don't charge you monthly. They charge you in lost students, missed maintenance, and wasted hours.
Scheduling conflicts
Family drives 45 min, aircraft double-booked, enrolls elsewhere. One lost student = $5,000-15,000 lifetime revenue.
Missed maintenance
100-hour slips because Hobbs was in one spreadsheet and schedule on the whiteboard. Aircraft grounded mid-week.
Manual invoicing
2+ hours/week creating invoices and chasing payments. That's 100+ hours/year of admin work.
Student attrition
Student stalls at maneuvers, nobody notices until checkride prep. They quit.
Instructor burnout
20+ minutes after every flight on paperwork. Times 4-5 flights/day. Not sustainable.
One scheduling conflict costs more than a year of HangarOS.
At-a-glance comparison
When to Switch
The switch point: 3 aircraft or 10 active students. After that, spreadsheets become a liability.
Switch when you have 3+ aircraft, 2+ instructors, have had a scheduling conflict, spend 1+ hour/week on invoicing, or can't answer "which students are behind?" without asking around.
Bottom line: If you recognize any of these, you've outgrown spreadsheets.
What You Get at $49/mo
The base Scheduling module includes: real-time scheduling with conflict detection, student self-booking portal, Hobbs & tach time tracking, live METAR integration, 14 booking types, dispatch board, waitlist management, and calendar sync.
Then add what you need: +$25/mo: Maintenance (ADs, SBs, work orders, component lifecycle) +$20/mo: Training (endorsements, stage checks, curricula) +$15/mo: Invoicing (Stripe payments, auto-invoicing) +$15/mo: AI Tools (dispatch assistant, document analysis) +$10/mo: Knowledge Base (documents, SOPs) +$29/mo: Multi-Location
Unlimited users — no per-seat charges.
Bottom line: One scheduling conflict costs more than a year of HangarOS.
Common concerns
“We'd have to migrate all our data”
~1 day setup. We help import everything.
“Instructors won't learn a new system”
If they can use a smartphone, they can use HangarOS.
“What if it doesn't work?”
Free trial, no credit card. Try alongside your spreadsheets.
“Another monthly cost”
One prevented scheduling conflict pays for 12+ months.
“We've always done it this way”
That's the most expensive sentence in aviation.
Choose HangarOS if you want
- Schools with 3+ aircraft or 10+ active students
- Schools that have experienced a scheduling conflict
- Operations spending 1+ hour/week on manual invoicing
- Schools that can't quickly answer "which students are behind?"
- Anyone tired of maintaining multiple disconnected spreadsheets
Choose Spreadsheets if you need
- Solo instructors with 1-2 students
- Brand new operations still figuring out if they'll continue
Frequently asked questions
Ready to see the difference?
Start your free trial — no credit card, no sales call, no contracts.