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useFlightManager provides direct control over the flight lifecycle: starting, pausing, resuming, ending, and commenting on flights. It hydrates state from GET /api/flight-manager/state and subscribes to flight:manager Socket.io events for real-time updates. For most plugins, useTrackingSession is the better starting point — it wraps useFlightManager with derived state (isTracking, isPaused, elapsedTime, phase) and recovery handling. Use useFlightManager when you need lower-level control or want to avoid the extra derived state computation.

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Import

import { useFlightManager } from "@skyvexsoftware/stratos-sdk";

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Signature

function useFlightManager(): UseFlightManagerReturn

type UseFlightManagerReturn = {
  currentFlight: CurrentFlight | null;
  startFlight: (plan: FlightPlan) => Promise<StartFlightResult>;
  pauseFlight: () => Promise<boolean>;
  resumeFlight: () => Promise<boolean>;
  endFlight: (
    status?: "completed" | "diverted" | "crashed" | "cancelled"
  ) => Promise<boolean>;
  addComment: (message: string) => Promise<boolean>;
  runPreflightChecks: (plan: FlightPlan) => Promise<PreflightCheckResult | null>;
};

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Return value

FieldTypeDescription
currentFlightCurrentFlight | nullActive flight state, or null when no flight is in progress
startFlight(plan: FlightPlan) => Promise<StartFlightResult>Begin a new flight with the given flight plan
pauseFlight() => Promise<boolean>Pause the active flight
resumeFlight() => Promise<boolean>Resume a paused flight
endFlight(status?) => Promise<boolean>End the active flight with an optional terminal status
addComment(message: string) => Promise<boolean>Attach a pilot comment to the active flight
runPreflightChecks(plan: FlightPlan) => Promise<PreflightCheckResult | null>Validate a flight plan before starting

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Types

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FlightPlan

type FlightPlan = {
  source: "va" | "simbrief" | "manual";
  sourceId?: string;
  callsign: string;
  flightNumber?: string;
  airlineCode?: string;
  departureIcao: string;
  arrivalIcao: string;
  route: string[];
  aircraftIcao: string;
  aircraftName?: string;
  cruiseAltitude?: number;
  plannedDistance?: number;
  estimatedFlightTime?: number;
  departureCoords?: { lat: number; lon: number };
  arrivalCoords?: { lat: number; lon: number };
};

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StartFlightResult

type StartFlightResult = {
  success: boolean;
  flight?: CurrentFlight;
  preflightResult?: PreflightCheckResult;
  /** VA-issued confirmation message pilot must acknowledge */
  vaConfirmation?: string;
  /** Sim variables sent to VA for display in confirmation dialog */
  simVariables?: Record<string, string>;
  error?: string;
};

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PreflightCheckResult

type PreflightCheckResult = {
  passed: boolean;
  checks: PreflightCheck[];
};

type PreflightCheck = {
  name: string;
  passed: boolean;
  message: string;
  severity: "error" | "warning";
};

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CurrentFlight

type CurrentFlight = {
  flightPlan: FlightPlan;
  status: "preflight" | "starting" | "active" | "paused" | "completing" | "completed" | "failed" | "cancelled";
  vaTrackingId: string | null;
  stratosFlightId: string | null;
  startedAt: number | null;
  pausedAt: number | null;
  totalPausedMs: number;
  elapsedMs: number;
  timeCaptureMode: "block" | "air";
  timeCaptureStartAt: number | null;
  timeCaptureEndAt: number | null;
  currentPhase: FlightPhase;
  latitude: number;
  longitude: number;
  altitude: number;
  groundSpeed: number;
  heading: number;
  startingFuel: number;
  currentFuel: number;
  lastUpdateSentAt: number | null;
  updatesSent: number;
  updateIntervalMs: number;
  comments: FlightComment[];
  lastError: string | null;
};

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Usage

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Start a flight

import { useFlightManager } from "@skyvexsoftware/stratos-sdk";

export function StartFlightButton() {
  const { startFlight, currentFlight } = useFlightManager();

  const handleStart = async () => {
    const result = await startFlight({
      source: "manual",
      callsign: "SWR123",
      departureIcao: "YSSY",
      arrivalIcao: "YMML",
      route: ["SY", "ML"],
      aircraftIcao: "B738",
    });

    if (!result.success) {
      console.error("Failed to start flight:", result.error);
    }
  };

  return (
    <button onClick={handleStart} disabled={currentFlight !== null}>
      Start Flight
    </button>
  );
}

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Run preflight checks first

const { runPreflightChecks, startFlight } = useFlightManager();

const plan: FlightPlan = { /* ... */ };

const checks = await runPreflightChecks(plan);
if (checks && !checks.passed) {
  const errors = checks.checks.filter((c) => c.severity === "error");
  console.error("Preflight failed:", errors);
  return;
}

await startFlight(plan);

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End a flight

const { endFlight } = useFlightManager();

// End with a specific status
await endFlight("completed");

// Without a status — defaults to "completed" on the server
await endFlight();

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Notes

  • All action methods (startFlight, pauseFlight, etc.) call REST endpoints on the local shell server at port 2066. They return a boolean or result object indicating success.
  • State updates arrive via flight:manager Socket.io events — the currentFlight value updates reactively without polling.
  • runPreflightChecks returns null if the server is unreachable.