External Contacts

Overview

Every flying club depends on a network of people who aren't members but are critical to operations — the A&P mechanic who does the annuals, the avionics shop that handles glass panel repairs, the insurance agent, the FBO that holds the fuel contract. When something goes wrong with an aircraft, pilots and club officers need to reach these people quickly. Hunting through old emails or asking around for a phone number wastes time that could matter in an AOG situation.

External contacts give you a central, searchable directory for all of these relationships. Once added, they're available to reference from the organization-wide contacts list, from individual aircraft contacts, and by any member who needs to look up a number. Keeping this list current is a small administrative task with an outsized benefit when it's actually needed.

Required Role

You must have the Account Owner role to manage external contacts.

Accessing External Contacts

Click Setup in the navigation bar, then select the External Contacts tab.

Adding a Contact

1. Click Add Contact in the top-right corner of the External Contacts card.
2. In the dialog that opens, fill in the contact's details:
   • Name (required) — The person's full name.
   • Organization — The company or shop they work for (e.g., "Valley Aviation Services").
   • Phone Number — Their direct contact number.
   • Email Address — Their email.
   • Website — Their company website if relevant.
   • Description — Free-text notes about this contact. Use this for context like "Primary A&P for N12345", "Call for fuel card issues", "Emergency only — 24 hour line", or "Specializes in Garmin avionics".
3. Click Add Contact to save.

Editing a Contact

To update a contact's information:

1. Find the contact in the list (use the search bar if you have many contacts).
2. Click the Edit (pencil) button.
3. Update the fields in the dialog.
4. Click Update.

Removing a Contact

Click the trash icon on the right side of a contact row, then confirm the removal. Removing a contact from the external contacts list also removes them from any organization-wide or aircraft-specific contact lists they appear on.

Searching Contacts

The search bar at the top of the contacts list filters by name, organization, email, or phone number in real time. This is useful when you have a large directory and need to find someone quickly.

Connecting External Contacts to Aircraft and Organization

External contacts become most useful when you associate them with specific aircraft or with your organization's featured contact list:

• Aircraft contacts: When editing an aircraft (Setup > Aircraft > Edit), you can add external contacts as aircraft-specific contacts with a role description. For example, assign your A&P mechanic as a contact on the specific aircraft they maintain.
• Organization contacts: On the Organization tab (Setup > Organization), you can add external contacts to the featured contacts section that appears on member dashboards.

Adding an external contact to both places is fine and recommended for contacts like a chief mechanic who both handles all the aircraft and is a primary organization contact.

Tips

• Add external contacts before you need them. During an AOG situation or emergency is not the time to be figuring out where to find a phone number.
• Use the Description field generously. Note what each contact specializes in, their hours, whether they're available for emergencies, and which aircraft they're associated with.
• Keep numbers current. Aviation services businesses change ownership and contact information more often than you might expect. A quick quarterly review of your contact list takes five minutes and can prevent real problems.
• For insurance contacts, include both the general agent number and a 24-hour claims line if your policy has one.
• For FBO contacts, note which services each location provides — fuel, tiedowns, hangar, loaner cars — so members calling from the field know what to expect.