AircraftIQ Launches New Platform to Simplify and Improve Aircraft Maintenance Planning

AircraftIQ has officially launched a smart platform that optimizes aircraft maintenance planning while considering all crucial data points, from digital logbooks to inspection tracking.

The solution is ideal for aviation professionals like:

• Maintenance providers
• General aviation owners
• Partnerships
• Flight schools
• Clubs

This platform helps make it easier to coordinate aircraft maintenance—especially when communicating between multiple shops and systems and reviewing several records.

This involves consolidating traditionally fragmented tools into one system that intelligently assists with tasks like maintenance planning and coordination, bringing together crucial maintenance activities like:

• Records
• Logbooks
• Maintenance tracking
• Calendars
• Communication

For maintenance providers, AircraftIQ’s most helpful capabilities include:

• Mechanic and shop communication tools
• Maintenance scheduling
• FAA-compliant digital logbook access
• Inspection tracking
• AI-assisted logbook and maintenance record scanning and organization

Owners and operators can also use AircraftIQ to centralize squawk tracking and resolution workflows and schedule activities and payments with clubs and flight schools.

Additionally, AircraftIQ can help aircraft owners navigate maintenance activities, including:

• Component lifecycle and trend tracking
• Maintenance shop invoicing
• Cost estimation for maintenance
• Workflow quotes

Several piston aircraft types now use Aircraft IQ, though the company is currently developing more features, like tools for maintenance intelligence and predictive maintenance insights.

Why was AircraftIQ created?

Co-founder and CEO Brad Smith identified the need for AircraftIQ after a renting pilot had to conduct an emergency landing of Smith’s Cessna Cardinal on Huntington Beach in 2025

No one was injured, but the aircraft had to undergo heavy maintenance to ensure it could be brought back to airworthiness after a surprise landing on sandy terrain.

This included tasks like:

• Careful removal from the beach
• Transport to a repair shop
• Disassembly and inspection
• Wing removal
• Airframe inspection

The aircraft’s airworthiness was restored through the collaboration of several maintenance providers, including:

• Repair shops
• Inspectors
• Maintainers
• Documentation handlers

This highlighted a need for less-fragmented aircraft data to ensure it’s easy to access key information and coordinate maintenance with various providers.

After the incident, Smith and Bill Forelli—co-founder and CEO of AircraftIQ—started working on the platform.

“That event made everything painfully clear,” said Smith, “The idea to do this existed in my mind for a long time. This event just pushed me to do something about it. We weren’t just dealing with a maintenance issue, we were dealing with a coordination problem.”

Smith continued, “Logbooks were at home, records were in spreadsheets, squawks were in notes and communication was spread across too many channels. Getting that aircraft back online safely took far more effort than it should have.”

“I own multiple aircraft and manage even more on behalf of other owners,” Smith noted, “I was juggling Apple Notes, spreadsheets and logbooks just to stay on top of basic maintenance. After the second time I showed up to an annual without the logbooks, I knew something had to change.”

“Brad had the real-world aviation problem, and I immediately recognized it from a systems and scalability standpoint,” said Forelli.

Forelli added, “This wasn’t just an inconvenience for Brad. It was a workflow problem that every aircraft owner and maintainer experiences constantly.”

“We built AircraftIQ by working through every pain point we personally experienced as owners and operators,” Smith shared, “Every feature came from a real moment of frustration.”

AircraftIQ is currently onboarding new aircraft owners, partnerships, flight schools, clubs and operators.