With smartCARS 2, we introduced a service called smartCARS Premium. As the service is geared toward the individual pilot, instead of a virtual airline, it gives us the option to add features that extend smartCARS beyond existing flight tracking solutions. This article is intended to offer suggestions, instructions, and use cases for smartCARS Premium, not a "getting started" guide.



Active Cloud Flight Backups

The most powerful feature of smartCARS Premium is the Active Cloud Flight Backups. This system, however, can offer more than simply recovering from a crashed flight. Below are two possible uses for this system.


  • Restarting your computer (potentially to install software or fix a problem).
  • Moving your flight between computers.


The smartCARS Premium flight backup system can bring unprecedented mobility and flexibility to your flying experience.


Cloud PIREP Backups

Every PIREP you submit through a smartCARS Premium-enabled client is sent to both your virtual airline and TFDi Design. We then keep a complete copy of that flight on our servers, indefinitely. Old flights are not removed, nor are incomplete ones - if you submitted it, it's kept. This offers two major benefits:


  • If something were to happen to your virtual airline's records, you could simply share your smartCARS Premium logbook with them to recover your flights. If you fly for multiple virtual airlines, the airline the PIREP was submitted to is also displayed in our record.
  • if you were to switch virtual airlines, you could use your smartCARS Premium logbook to request transfer hours from the new virtual airline (providing their policy allows it).


You can access your logbook via the smartCARS Premium panel in the client area. To get there, follow these steps:


  • Log in to the client area, if you haven't already.
  • Click "My Account" on the menu.
  • Click "My Products/Services" on the dropdown.
  • Click the "View Details" on the right of the "Services - smartCARS Premium" row.


That panel will look similar to this:



Via this panel, you will be able to see a basic overview of recent flights, as well as an option to download the flights as a CSV or email the CSV. You can also access the mobile app(s) via the provided link(s). The email function has a particularly useful function: sending an official, verified copy of your hours to a virtual airline. Sending it this way sends a CSV generated by the TFDi Design web server directly to the email address of the recipient - meaning that there is no way for it to be modified before it arrives. As a virtual airline administrator, you should treat records received from this system as trustworthy.