> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.skyvexsoftware.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Flight Tracking

> Set how Flight Tracking behaves for every pilot at your airline. Position report intervals, how flight time and fuel are captured, what pilots may do, and online networks.

Flight Tracking is the plugin that tracks your pilots' flights and files their PIREPs, so every pilot has it and it can't be removed. Its **Settings** tab changes how tracking behaves for everyone at your airline. Most airlines only need to look at **Time capture**; the rest have sensible defaults.

Open it from **Plugins → Flight Tracking**. Its other tabs are [Event rules](/console/event-rules.md) and [Additional fields](/guide/additionalfields.md).

![Flight Tracking's settings for the airline](https://mintcdn.com/skyvexsoftware/bs1lqmNtmj0XilDu/images/screenshots/console/flight-tracking-settings-light.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=bs1lqmNtmj0XilDu\&q=85\&s=41e1acf1d31c7e54b06cb14d6454c0b5)

## The settings

Settings save as you change them. They're grouped under **Position updates**, **Flight time and fuel**, **Pilot permissions** and **Online networks**.

| Setting | What it does |
| - | - |
| **Position report interval** | How often Stratos sends each pilot's position to your own backend: every `15`, `30` or `60` seconds. Lower means a smoother live map on your site and more traffic to your backend. Free tracks every 60 seconds; the faster intervals come with [Pro and Pro+](https://skyvexsoftware.com/pricing). On Pro+, **Custom interval and altitude split** lets you type any interval from 1 to 600 seconds, and split it at an altitude from 1,000 to 10,000 ft with one interval below and another above. This only paces updates to your backend: Skyvex Software's own tracking stays at 30 seconds. Reports slow down while a flight is paused. |
| **Time capture** | How flight time is measured for the PIREP: **Block time** (pushback to arriving at the gate) or **Air time** (takeoff to landing, the default). |
| **Starting fuel capture** | The phase where starting fuel is recorded for the fuel burn: **Pushback** (the default) or **Takeoff**. |
| **Count time compression as real time** | If on, flight time follows the sim rate, so an hour at 4x logs as four hours. Off by default. |
| **Cancel bookings** | If on, pilots can delete flights they've booked from their booking list. Off by default. |
| **Change aircraft** | If on, pilots can swap the aircraft on a booking before they start, limited to aircraft eligible for that flight (rank, type rating and location rules still apply). Off by default. |
| **Only submit after arriving** | Submit stays disabled until the flight reaches Arrived or Deboarding, and the Submit button says why. On by default. |
| **Allow Start anyway** | If on, pilots can skip a failed pre-flight check (for example, the aircraft isn't on the ground) and start anyway. If off, every check must pass first, and the button tells the pilot your airline has turned it off. On by default. Some aircraft don't set the simulator's "on ground" flag properly, so with this off those pilots may not be able to start at all. |
| **Ask which network pilots are flying on** | Pilots pick an online network (VATSIM, IVAO and so on) while tracking. The choice is sent with the completed flight, and can be streamed through Additional fields. On by default. |

### Allow Start anyway and your flight-start API

**Allow Start anyway** also governs your airline's own confirmation dialog. When your flight-start API returns a `confirmation` message, its "Start tracking anyway" button follows this setting. Your API can return `can_override` on `/flights/start` to decide for one start: `true` always allows the bypass, `false` always blocks it, and leaving it out falls back to this setting.

### Online networks

While **Ask which network pilots are flying on** is on, the list below it sets the networks pilots choose from. **Shown to pilots** is the name they see and **Sent as** is the value your backend gets. **Offline** is always first and always sent as `offline`; only its name can change. **Add network** adds one, the handles reorder them, and **Reset to defaults** puts back the standard list (VATSIM, IVAO, PilotEdge, POSCON, BeyondATC and SayIntentions AI).

## What pilots set themselves

Pilots choose some settings for themselves in Stratos, such as Auto-Start Tracking and Auto-Submit Flight. They're listed under **Set by each pilot** at the bottom of the tab, for reference.

## Related

* [Event rules](/console/event-rules.md)
* [Additional fields](/guide/additionalfields.md)
* [Flight phases](/guide/flight-phases.md)
* [How changes reach your pilots](/guide/how-changes-reach-pilots.md)


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