Aviation · Pilot hiring marketplace
Wingman Pilot: a marketplace for hiring verified contract pilots
Wingman Pilot connects aircraft owners with verified contract pilots. We built the marketplace in 7 weeks. Owners now source a pilot in 6 hours at median instead of three to five days of calls, 34,000 flights have been staffed, and platform-booked flights have had zero currency or certification lapses.
- Client
- Wingman Pilot
- Industry
- Aviation
- Built
- Web app
- Timeframe
- 7 weeks
What changed
- 6 hours at medianto source a pilot, against three to five days of calls
- 8,900 pilotsverified, with credentials and currency tracked
- 34,000 flightsstaffed through the platform
- 22% lower costfor owners compared with agency placement
- Zero lapsesin currency or certification on platform-booked flights
- 7 weeksfrom start to finished build
Results as reported for this build after launch.
The challenge
Aircraft owners found it hard to locate qualified pilots for private flights, and pilots had no central place to find contract flying work.
An aircraft owner who does not fly their own plane needs a pilot, and usually finds one through a phone number passed on by someone at the airport. If that pilot is busy, the owner calls around until someone picks up.
Verification is the serious issue underneath. A pilot needs the right ratings, a current medical, currency on the type and suitable insurance. Owners were checking this by asking, or sometimes by glancing at a logbook, which assumes aviation knowledge many owners do not have.
Pilots faced the mirror problem. Many fly professionally on contract and could only be found through their own network. Both sides leaned on the same small circle of referrals, which works until your usual pilot is on holiday and you have a flight on Thursday.
What we built
We built a pilot hiring marketplace where owners review verified credentials and book pilots quickly, and pilots get access to flexible flying work.
Matching starts with aircraft type, because currency on the exact airframe is a hard requirement, then moves to availability and location.
Verified pilot profiles
Licence, ratings, type currency, medical validity, total and type-specific hours, and insurance status are verified at onboarding and monitored for expiry.
Type-first matching
Pilots are matched on aircraft type first, then on availability and location.
Automatic currency blocking
A pilot whose currency or medical has expired cannot accept a flight, which produces the zero-lapse record owners cite most.
Flight requests with duty time
Requests carry routing, schedule and duty-time considerations.
Agreed rates and held payment
Rates are agreed openly before acceptance, and payment is held and released after the flight.
Logbook entries and saved rosters
Completed flights generate logbook entries, and owners can save a small roster of pilots they trust.
Screens and design system
The result
Automatic currency blocking changed the risk for owners. Verification is no longer something they need to know how to do; the system simply refuses to let a lapsed pilot through.
For pilots, contract flying became a realistic main income instead of a side job, mainly because the platform supplies enough steady work to plan around. The saved roster has quietly rebuilt the old personal network model, now with verification underneath.
