Frequently Asked Questions
We believe FAQs are important because they save you time. No need to go through the trouble of contacting us directly, if we answer some standard questions already here. If this list doesn’t answer your question, please feel free to reach out!
Application
Can SKYOPS help me become SORA compliant?
Yes, to facilitate the SORA process, additionally the so-called Standard Scenarios (STS) may be developed within SKYOPS for certain types of operations, with known hazards and acceptable risk-mitigations on air and ground risk classes. The STS may then be used by operators and regulating authorities as a template to reduce the amount of work involved with approving UAS-operations.
Is there an app?
Yes! Currently there is an app on Apple iOS (and soon on Google Android) which is primarily focused on being in the field, so it offers OPMET briefing, an electronic flight bag (EFB), mission overview and various maps. The app can be used both with our cloud solution and your on-premises installation.
Do I need a computer to work with SKYOPS?
For managing SKYOPS you need a web browser. SKYOPS is primarily built as a mobile friendly web-application, meaning it will scale to the device you use, for example your phone. Although the majority of the operational tasks can be easily executed on your phone, we strongly recommend using it on a device with a resolution of an iPad or higher.
I would like to have extra functionality; is that possible?
Sometimes we refer to SKYOPS as being built by our customers. Throughout the years and as a result of working closely with our customers, SKYOPS became the solution it is today, and we are proud of that. It means we get great requests from our customers all the time and if it contributes to the majority of our customer base, we definitely will look into it and put it on our roadmap. Requests dedicated for a customer or requests with high priority are treated as a project for which a surcharge applies.
I found a bug, what should I do?
Excellent question! The majority of the bugs are being squashed before our customers are even confronted with, but sometimes they show themselves and we don’t like that. So please report them via the support site at https://support.skyops.com or send us an E-Mail at support@skyops.com.
We will do our best to resolve it as quickly as possible but sometimes a bug can also be a designed feature, in that case if it’s not working as expected, we might need to re-design which takes more time. Note: security bugs have our highest priority and will be worked on same day!
Is there an API available?
We currently have multiple API’s which we use to interconnect parts of our application. We think these API’s would be also of great benefit for companies who want to use parts of our application. For more information, please contact us at info@skyops.com.
Data
What kind of data is stored in SKYOPS?
Basically, you control what data you store in SKYOPS. In practice a customer stores real name, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, fleet- and operational information to make optimal use of the application. We call this user data. System data is data which is required by the application to function properly. For security reasons we also save connection information like IP addresses to determine any (attempt to) unauthorized access to your application environment. This data is always visible for you, as the owner of the data. For customers who require absolute secrecy, like military or secret services, this functionality can be disabled.
Can we host the data ourselves?
Yes! For an extra annual surcharge SKYOPS can be hosted on-premises. Please be aware that in comparison with SKYOPS cloud this will cost some extra effort in getting product updates and customer support, depending on your company security policies. To make sure we can provide you the best- and most efficient support the installation at your site needs to be signed off by our consultants or an authorized implementation partner.
Is my data shared with other parties?
The data you store in SKYOPS is your data, you are the owner of it! We do not share it with anyone. The data is stored in your own environment which is isolated from any other customer.
Can SKYOPS see my data?
Yes and no, we examine the diagnostic data at a daily basis to solve any bugs as quickly as possible. This data does not contain any personal- or operational information, only references to our codebase. But, on request for e.g., support purposes, we can login to your application environment and then we might be able to see your data.
Is my data secure?
Yes! We at SKYOPS.COM know that it takes a lot of trust to put your data in the Cloud. As a customer, you need to know that we have the secure treatment of such information as our top priority. We also understand that we have customers in many different regions, who in turn deal with many different standards and frameworks
for the proper treatment of sensitive information. With this in mind, we pursue globally respected industry benchmark standards put forth by the International Organization for Standardization in the form of ISO 27001 and ISO 27018.
The ISO/IEC 27000 standards provide a series of frameworks to help organizations benchmark their treatment of data. The most common of these standards, “ISO/IEC 27001” provides requirements for an Information Security Management System (ISMS) and assurance that requirements are met for organizations that complete a successful audit.
ISO/IEC 27018 provides guidelines based on ISO/IEC 27002, and is focused on the protection of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for Cloud service providers, such as SKYOPS.COM.
Do you have an example how you protect the data?
Yes, all the data that get stored in SKYOPS gets encrypted based on the latest technologies and security guidelines. This includes data at rest, data in motion and data in use.
How do you deal with local legislation?
Data localization can be explicitly required by law or is the result of other restrictive policies that make it infeasible to transfer data. They require companies to store a copy of the data locally, process data locally and mandate individual or government consent for data transfers. In practice it means that the local law in your country might require SKYOPS to have the application servers physically located in your country. This results in your data being processed solely in your country complying with local legislation. As we are a cloud organization, we can easily expand our services worldwide.
The data provided by SKYOPS, is it reliable?
Yes! We only offer data from the official and validated data sources as required by local law. Contact us for more information at dataprivacy@skyops.com.
What happens with my data when the contract is terminated?
By default, we keep the data for 30 days after the date of termination after which it is permanently deleted including the database backups. On request the data and its database backups can also be deleted instantly. This only applies to our production systems, data of customers with e.g., trial accounts, is deleted immediately.
Any other question about data?
Please contact us at dataprivacy@skyops.com
Public Safety
We are a public safety organization, our data is highly sensitive and our operation is secret.
No problem, we can’t tell you who our clients are, but we can tell you that we are proud to have them onboard and keeping us safe! With other words, you keep us save, we keep your operation safe!
We are a public safety organization running a sensitive operation, we work along the border together with other “organizations”.
Interesting, that’s what our customers do as well. The advantage of using the SKYOPS for your flight operation is that you are able to share data securely within the platform, on an ad-hoc basis or based on a mutual agreement. Customers can decide what to share; e.g. systems/aircraft, people, CONOPS templates, checklists or even entire missions. Curious? Please reach out to us.
So, SKYOPS is the perfect solution for all of the emergency services of my country! I love that they can collaborate and have awareness of who flying where and with what, but I don’t want to exchange all of the data between them.
This sounds like having one big environment, but separating the emergency services in so called “departments”. No problem, we have this running at some of our customers, especially the bigger customers covering an entire country or customers with a mix of public operations versus secret. For example; a secret operation needs to see everything around them for having the optimal situational awareness, but can’t have their operation being visible. This sounds complicated, but honestly it is not!
Sales
Can I testdrive the solution before I purchase?
Yes! You can try SKYOPS in a demo environment for 2 weeks free of charge. Use the Get a Demo button on the website to register and we will reach out to discuss your needs to ensure SKYOPS is a fit before you start.
How does the licensing work?
SKYOPS uses a named user license model which allows individuals to use (parts of) the SKYOPS Flight Management-, Safety application- and Maintenance modules at any time without any restriction. A named user is defined as an individual authorized by you to use the SKYOPS application modules which are installed on a SKYOPS CLOUD instance or on a self-hosted single server, regardless of whether the individual is actively using the application at any given time.
Do you also license parts of the application?
In short: no. SKYOPS is built in a way that all modules interact with each other and therefore we can't leave parts out of it.
How can I pay for licenses?
Currently we only accept bank transfer as a payment method. We will start offering online payment methods as credit card and PayPal soon.
Do you also offer site licenses?
For customers with more than 250 users we offer a site license enabling you to add an unlimited number of users. Below 250 users we use a tiered pricing model. For more information contact us at sales@skyops.com.
Can I combine manned and unmanned operation within a single deployment?
Yes, you can. SKYOPS has been developed to support both operation types and our license structure doesn’t require any additional modules; it’s just a matter of configuration and you’re good to go.
SKYOPS is labeled strategic within our organization: do you offer ESCROW services?
Yes, we offer escrow serviced in combination with our partner NCC. Please reach out to get more information.