Setting up an Aircraft or Fleet
This article gives you a high-level overview of each core field in the Aircraft module, so you can make informed choices during setup.
When you create a new Aircraft or Fleet in EBIS, you're prompted to fill in several key fields. Each of these fields plays a critical role in how the system tracks maintenance, assigns ownership, supports reporting, and drives automation across other modules like Work Orders, Compliance, and Invoicing.
This article gives you a high-level overview of each core field, so you can make informed choices during setup. If you're asking, "What do these fields mean and why do they matter?" — you're in the right place.
Meter Profile
What it is: A configuration that defines how EBIS tracks aircraft usage — Hobbs, Tach, Flight Time, Landings, etc.
Why it matters: The Meter Profile determines how maintenance intervals are calculated, how compliance items trigger, and what readings appear on reports, logbooks, and invoices.
📘 See also: Understanding Meter Profiles
Customer
What it is: The primary owner or operator associated with the aircraft.
Why it matters: Customer assignment drives billing preferences, reporting, and access. EBIS also allows you to associate multiple customers for cost-sharing, ownership transitions, or management firms.
📘 See also: Associating Customers to Aircraft
Primary City
What it is: The aircraft’s base location or typical operating city.
Why it matters: Useful for scheduling, dispatch, and filtering aircraft by geographic region. This field can also drive default values in reports or custom pricing logic.
Make
What it is: The manufacturer of the aircraft (e.g., Cessna, Piper, Bombardier).
Why it matters: EBIS uses the Make (along with Model and Spec) to group aircraft into Fleets, which allows you to share configurations, media, parts catalogs, and more across similar aircraft.
📘 See also: Applying Media by Make/Model
📘 See also: Applying a Parts Catalogs by Make/Model
Model
What it is: The aircraft model (e.g., 172S, PC-12 NGX).
Why it matters: Along with Make, the Model defines the Fleet to which the aircraft belongs. This impacts shared configurations and batch actions, such as importing compliance items or applying Fleet media.
Year
What it is: The year the aircraft was manufactured.
Why it matters: Helpful for identifying aircraft variants, syncing with FAA records, and driving compliance settings that vary by year of manufacture. Also useful for reporting and aging analytics. This will display on the Work Order and printouts.
Serial Number
What it is: A unique identifier assigned by the manufacturer.
Why it matters: Often used for regulatory reporting, cross-referencing maintenance history, and matching aircraft to FAA or customer databases. This will display on the Work Order, printouts and Log Book Entries.
Avg. Daily Utilization
What it is: A numeric estimate of how many hours or cycles the aircraft operates per day.
Why it matters: EBIS uses this to forecast upcoming maintenance, calculate due dates for Compliance items (maintenance tracking), and inform planning reports. Even if you don’t track actual daily usage, setting this field improves system projections.
What's Next?
Once you've reviewed or updated these fields:
- You can Customize Aircraft Fields for Reporting
- Set Aircraft-specific Pricing & Tax Rules
- Configure Access Limits by Work Center
Related Articles
- Creating an Aircraft or Fleet
- Understanding Meter Profiles
- Aircraft Module Fields, Definitions & Config Settings
- Applying Media to a Fleet
Keywords: Aircraft Fields, Setup, Meter Profile, Avg Daily Utilization, Make Model Year, Fleet Configuration, EBIS Onboarding Audience: Onboarding Teams, Admins, Configuration Specialists, Customer Success Article Type: Field Reference / Conceptual Overview