Log Hobbs Time Once. Bill It to the Right Client.
Hobbs-Time Logging Tied to Training Records & Invoices is part of AviationAlley. In most FAA training operations, the flight happens in one place and the invoice gets built somewhere else. Hobbs times come off the aircraft and simulator on paper, get keyed into a spreadsheet, and then someone reconciles them against the accounting system at the end of the cycle — and hours go missing. AviationAlley is built so Hobbs time is logged once against the trainee's training record and flows into billing, with no second entry. AviationAlley is a pre-launch product, a 'Coming soon' platform being built with a founding cohort of FAA training centers, Part 142 first — it is not yet generally available. This is the Hobbs-based billing it is designed to run, and founding spots are open now.
The problem: flight records and invoices live in separate systems
Generic accounting tools and consumer checkout were never built for how a training center bills. Revenue isn't a card swipe at the front desk — it's Hobbs time burned on an aircraft, a simulator, and ground instruction, owed by a named client. When the flight record and the invoice live in two different systems, every billing cycle becomes a manual reconciliation: someone pulls the Hobbs logs, matches them against the schedule, and re-keys the hours into the accounting software by hand.
That gap is where money leaks. Hours get missed because a logged session never made it onto an invoice. Numbers get transcribed wrong between the logbook and the ledger. And when a client questions a charge, there's no clean line from the invoice back to the actual session that generated it — so the dispute drags on while staff dig through records to prove the hours were real.
- Hobbs times come off the aircraft and sim on paper, then get re-keyed into a separate billing system — twice the entry, twice the error
- Invoices get built from estimates instead of actual logged Hobbs time, so the bill and the flight record don't match
- Logged sessions slip through the cracks and never make it onto an invoice — hours billed end up less than hours flown
- There's no clean link from a line on the invoice back to the training record that produced it, so disputes are hard to settle
- Reconciliation against accounts receivable is a manual, end-of-cycle scramble across the logbook, the schedule, and the ledger
- Consumer card-on-file is the wrong model when the bill is owed by an airline or corporate flight department, not the student in the seat
How AviationAlley ties Hobbs time to the bill
AviationAlley is designed so the Hobbs clock and the invoice are part of the same workflow. When an aircraft or simulator session is scheduled, it ties directly to the trainee's training record. Hobbs start and end are logged against that session, and the logged time becomes the basis for the charge — simulator, aircraft, and instruction time billed on actual logged hours rather than an estimate keyed in after the fact. Because the session, the training record, and the invoice line all reference the same source, it is built so hours flown and hours billed come from one number, not two.
Those charges are designed to roll up to a named client account — the airline, charter operator, corporate flight department, or Part 141 school that actually pays for the training — rather than to the individual in the seat. Invoices age against that account in standard buckets (current, 30, 60, 90, 90+) on the billing hub, so a center can see what's outstanding and who owes it without a separate aging report. The platform is built to carry a session from the schedule, through the training record, onto the invoice, and into the receivable as one connected path.
The deep-dive billing screens keep the receivable where the work lives. Invoice aging sits next to the means of getting paid, and a B2B client invoice can be sent on to QuickBooks Online with one action, so the books stay reconciled without double entry. The accounting record lands where the bookkeeper already works, while the receivable and the training records it came from stay together in AviationAlley.
- Aircraft and simulator scheduling with Hobbs start/end logging tied directly to the trainee's training record
- Simulator, aircraft, and instruction time billed on actual logged hours, not estimates keyed in after the fact
- Charges designed to roll up to a named B2B client account — airline, charter operator, corporate flight department, or Part 141 school — not the individual student
- Invoice aging buckets (current, 30, 60, 90, 90+) on the billing hub, so outstanding receivables are visible at a glance
- A clean line from each invoice back to the session and training record that generated it
- One-action QuickBooks Online bridge that maps the invoice and client account into QBO, so the books reconcile without re-keying
- International wire reconciliation, so a received wire can be linked to the open invoice it funded and the client's aging drops automatically
What's included
Hobbs-based billing is built as part of one connected platform, not a billing add-on bolted onto a scheduling tool. Scheduling, training records, and billing share the same data, so logging a session, completing the training documentation, and generating the invoice are steps in a single workflow rather than three systems to keep in sync. AviationAlley is designed around the billing reality of an FAA training center — Hobbs time, named client accounts, and B2B receivables — instead of being adapted from generic school-management software.
Because it is pre-launch and opening to a founding cohort Part 142 first, the founding centers in the first wave help shape exactly how this billing path works before public launch. The pieces below are what the platform is built to run; a founding center comes in early, encodes its real billing workflow into the product, and locks in founding pricing.
- Hobbs start/end logging tied to the trainee's training record, so the flight and the bill share one source
- Simulator, aircraft, and instruction time billed on actual logged hours
- Named B2B client accounts for airlines, charter operators, corporate flight departments, and Part 141 schools
- Invoice aging buckets (current, 30, 60, 90, 90+) on a billing hub, alongside the wire-transfer summary
- One-action QuickBooks Online invoice bridge that maps the invoice and client account into QBO
- International wire reconciliation that links a received wire to the open invoice it funded
- Founding-cohort onboarding with records-migration support and locked-in founding pricing
Frequently asked questions
Is AviationAlley's Hobbs-based billing available now?
AviationAlley is a pre-launch product — a 'Coming soon' platform being built with a founding cohort of FAA training centers, Part 142 first. The Hobbs-based billing described here is the workflow the platform is built to run; it is not yet generally available. Founding centers can request early access at info@roffik.com to come in first and help shape it before public launch.
How does logging Hobbs time once avoid double entry?
AviationAlley is designed so a scheduled aircraft or simulator session ties directly to the trainee's training record. Hobbs start and end are logged against that session, and the logged time becomes the basis for the charge — so the same hours flow from the flight record onto the invoice instead of being re-keyed into a separate accounting system.
Who gets billed — the student or the organization that pays for the training?
Charges are designed to roll up to a named B2B client account — the airline, charter operator, corporate flight department, or Part 141 school that pays for the training — rather than to the individual in the seat. Invoices age against that account, and a B2B invoice can be sent to QuickBooks Online with one action.