"We used to have to put the plane away and then record everything that was pertinent to us, make sure there weren’t any mistakes and then submit. All we're doing now is just clicking send and walking away from the plane and we're done for the day. Before, I would normally spend 30 minutes on paperwork."
Coterra Energy Experiences Smoother Flight Operations with Flightdocs
By integrating ATP Flightdocs Maintenance and Operations, Coterra Energy saw time savings in scheduling and building flight logs/reports in addition to improved cross-department communication.
Return on Investment
Trahern Timblin talks about the impact that going fully digital with Flightdocs has had on the process of building flight logs and eliminating errors.
Paperless Access on the Fly
As a pilot himself, Trahern mentioned that phones are extremely important to pilots as it has “saved them a lot of time.” Using a calendar linked to an email is a great way to communicate & see trip information, but it is not always the easiest to digest at a glance.
With Flightdocs, the information for each trip is completely organized and makes seeing the entire trip and trip details much easier. Having access to the flight information in an organized way via mobile devices was non-negotiable for Coterra.
Not only was it important for them to have access on their mobile devices, but they also didn’t want to rely on paper for their processes. After a long day of flying, “making a mistake on a flight log is pretty easy when you’re tired,” Trahern mentioned.
Any error made on paper no matter how small, if it's not caught, there is always the possibility of having to tear up the entire days' worth of trips and start all over to ensure you’re submitting an error-free report.
Having flight logs built out on their phones with the proper fields makes it easy and convenient. The automatic error alerting in the flight logs feature proactively validates flight log entries to reduce the chance of human error. Data is generated and reported in a clean format by Flightdocs so Coterra’s reports are always easy and error-free.
Crew Connection is Seamless
Another benefit of having Flightdocs available on their mobile devices is the seamless crew connection and communication.
Prior to using Flightdocs Operations, the Director of Aviation at Coterra would have to get the calendar prepared for the flights. He would build the trip, figure out every detail of the flight (passenger and crew information, pilot etc.) and build an email to send out to the flight crew. He would also have to make sure everyone got the email and wait for a reply to ensure everyone was informed.
With Flightdocs Operations, “crew connection and the chain of planning is happening much earlier” according to Trahern. They get notified of a trip immediately on their phones, and can review a trip without a phone call or email from everyone involved. For the Director of Aviation alone, “that’s a huge time savings.”
This is a huge benefit to the crew as well because they know what each day holds for them before they arrive at work. They get notified of their schedule right away and can get ahead of completing all their tasks. When they get prepared for the flight, all the information they need before taking off is there for them to reference and acts as a briefing tool for them.
Communicating with Passengers Made Easy
One of the newer features Flightdocs Operations offers is the ability for Coterra to communicate trip specifics with passengers. Before Flightdocs, Coterra would have to build passenger itineraries in house and then distribute them out on their own. If they needed to make any updates, they would have to re-build and re-distribute the itinerary to passengers. This was a time-consuming process.
With Flightdocs, Coterra’s passenger itineraries are automatically built as soon as the trip is built in Flightdocs. They are able to share the itinerary with their passengers immediately and in real-time. Any updates made to the itinerary are automatically live to passengers, no need to re-create or re-distribute.
Flightdocs ensures that Coterra’s passengers and crew are always viewing the most up-to-date trip information.
The Flightdocs Operations and Maintenance integration was a game changer for the Coterra team. Having their maintenance data synced into their flight schedule just added to the cross-department cohesion.
The integration between Flightdocs Maintenance and Operations allows the Coterra team to see all the maintenance data in real-time from the flight schedule. It can easily be toggled on and off depending on what is relevant at the time.
Any open work orders can be viewed in real-time from the flight schedule. On top of that, maintenance write-ups can be submitted within the app and the record is automatically added in Flightdocs Maintenance. This takes an extra step out of the process for Coterra. In addition, having access to all the information in a single platform saves them a lot of time and eliminates the hassle of having to toggle back and forth between multiple systems.
“We're able to respond to things without having to go back and forth between multiple systems to find the notes we need.”
Trahern Timblin talks about how Flightdocs has helped the Coterra team achieve a high level of crew connection.
Attention Makes a Big Difference
Something that was a pleasant surprise to Trahern and the Coterra team was the focused attention they would receive from the ATP team. Whether they experienced a small problem or tricky situation, someone would always be in contact with them via email or phone call to solve the problem – and quickly!
Any time Coterra needed support in getting something customized or updated, it’s done quickly and correctly. Trahern mentioned that he “legitimately can email somebody and say ‘this is what my flight department needs’. And the change is made.” It’s that easy.
The attention Coterra receives from ATP sets us apart from other systems, and we take pride in the level of customer support that we offer.
Summary
Before using Flightdocs for their flight operations, Coterra energy relied on paper to gather details for flights and multiple platforms to notify the broader team. This bogged them down in paperwork, led to errors, and negatively impacted crew communication.
Flightdocs has completely transformed their flight scheduling process, keeping the team instantly in the loop and supplying access to all the information for each flight. Flightdocs has enabled the Coterra team to generate error-free reports (and at a much quicker rate) and communicate seamlessly across the organization.
Integrated with their Flightdocs Maintenance platform, Coterra has a single system for all of their flight operations and maintenance tracking needs.
