Case study · 02 · Academy operations platform
From first enquiry to first solo, on one platform.
Start something like thisThe short version
An AI co-pilot that answers and scores every applicant, then carries them to enrolment.
The problem
Prospective students go quiet if nobody replies within a day, while bookings and invoices live in separate tools.
What I built
An AI co-pilot, aptitude scoring, a drag-and-drop pipeline, scheduling and billing in one console.
Why it works
It answers only from knowledge staff approve, and hands over to a human when it is unsure.
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Connected modules
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Pipeline stages, enquiry to cadet
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Programs, first flight to commercial
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Always-on AI jobs: answering and scoring
Vector Academy runs a flight school from one place. An AI co-pilot answers prospective students around the clock and scores their aptitude, a pipeline carries each applicant through to enrolment, and the team schedules flights, sessions, programs and payments from the same console.
Rebuilt from a confidential client platform. Names, branding and data have been changed.
The challenge
Flight schools sell a high-value, high-anxiety product. Prospective students have dozens of questions about cost, medicals and time, and the best of them go quiet if nobody answers within a day. Behind the scenes, enquiries, bookings, lessons and invoices live in separate tools.
The goal was a single platform that answers and qualifies applicants the moment they arrive, then carries them through enrolment, training and billing without anyone re-keying a record.
The approach
Everything starts with the applicant. A short aptitude quiz scores each enquiry, the AI co-pilot answers their questions from the academy's own knowledge base, and anyone scoring highly lands in a high-value alert for a same-day call.
From there the platform follows them: a drag-and-drop pipeline from enquiry to cadet, flights and open days with live capacity, instructor sessions with weather holds, program pricing, instalment billing and a pro shop. Staff curate what the co-pilot knows and stay in the loop; it hands over to a human whenever it is not sure.
What's inside
The co-pilot, the pipeline, scheduling and billing all work from the same applicant record, so each part makes the others more useful.
01 · AI co-pilot
Prospective students ask the co-pilot about cost, medicals, timelines and aircraft, and get an answer drawn from the academy's own knowledge base. It can build a week-by-week study plan on request, and passes the conversation to an instructor when it is not confident.
02 · Aptitude scoring
An aptitude quiz ranks every enquiry before anyone has picked up the phone. High scorers surface in a hot-lead alert with the AI's engagement signal beside them, so the team calls the right people first.
03 · Pipeline
A board shows every opportunity by stage, with aptitude, track and source on each card. Moving someone forward is a drag, and a new opportunity takes seconds to add.
04 · Flights & sessions
Events carry live capacity so a full workshop is obvious at a glance, and one-to-one lessons are scheduled against an instructor and an aircraft, with weather holds handled as a first-class status.
05 · Programs & billing
Four programs from a first flight to a commercial foundation are priced and published from one screen. Every instalment, shop order and event booking lands in one ledger, with pending and failed payments separated out.
06 · Curriculum & community
Ground-school modules are organised by pillar with completion and score data, and a leaderboard and community feed keep cadets engaged between lessons, so the academy sees who is progressing and who has gone quiet.
In motion
The full tour is playing at the top of the page; these are the parts worth slowing down for. They play on their own, one after another, or pick one from the list.
Walkthroughs01 / 04
Gallery
Click any screen to see it full size, then use the arrow keys to move through the set.
Mobile
Instructors and admissions staff work from the apron and the open day, so every screen adapts and navigation collapses into a tab bar.
How it fits together
AI that does the heavy lifting, and people who stay in control of the relationship.
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The co-pilot only answers from entries staff have written and approved, so it never invents a price, a policy or a promise about a medical.
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When the co-pilot is not confident it says so, flags the question for an instructor and moves on. Staff review what it could not answer and turn the best of those into new knowledge.
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Every enquiry gets an aptitude score on arrival, so a small admissions team spends its time on the applicants most likely to enrol.
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The person who asked a question on Monday is the same record that books a lesson in March and pays an instalment in April, with their messages attached.
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Flying is cancelled by the sky, not the schedule. Weather holds are tracked as their own state, so cadets are told early and nothing slips through.
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The console adapts down to the phone, because instructors check the day's sessions from the apron, not from a desk.
Keep exploring
A few more things I've built and shipped, picked at random each visit.
