A business aviation trip sheet template has one block for the whole trip and one row per leg. The trip block holds the trip number, revision, aircraft, operating rule and the people to call. Each leg row holds the airports, the departure and arrival times in both local time and UTC, the crew, the passengers, the FBO or handler at each end, ground transport, catering, the crew hotel, fuel, any permits or slots, and notes. The crew’s copy carries what they need to fly the trip on the day. The office keeps the rest: billing, passenger identity documents and the cost references that never belong on a page left in a cockpit.
You can download a free trip sheet template (CSV) to open in a spreadsheet. Every value in it is fictional, and the first row says so; replace it all with your own trip.
What is a trip sheet in business aviation?
A trip sheet is the one document that describes a trip from the first show time to the last shutdown. Scheduling builds it, the crew flies from it, and the office closes the trip against it afterward. In a small flight department it’s often a spreadsheet tab or a word processing file that gets emailed out. In a larger one it comes out of scheduling software. Either way, everyone working the trip reads the same times, names and phone numbers from it.
No regulation defines a “trip sheet.” Several rules require information that usually ends up on one, though, and the trip sheet is where most operators put it:
- Under 14 CFR 91.103, “Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight.” For an IFR flight or one away from the airport’s vicinity, that includes “weather reports and forecasts, fuel requirements, alternatives available if the planned flight cannot be completed, and any known traffic delays of which the pilot in command has been advised by ATC.” A trip sheet doesn’t replace the weather briefing or the performance numbers, but it gives the crew the airports, times and fuel plan to brief against.
- A Part 135 certificate holder flying a multiengine aircraft must prepare a load manifest “before each takeoff” (14 CFR 135.63(c)). The list includes “the number of passengers,” “the origin and destination,” and “identification of crew members and their crew position assignments,” and the pilot in command “shall carry a copy of the completed load manifest in the aircraft to its destination” (135.63(d)).
- A Part 91 subpart K program manager has the same manifest duty (14 CFR 91.1027(c) and (d)), plus a written document stating “the name of the entity having operational control on that flight and the part of this chapter under which the flight is operated,” which the pilot in command must carry to the destination (91.1027(e)).
Those manifests also need weights and center of gravity, which most operators produce separately from the trip sheet. If you’re not sure which rule a given trip flies under, our comparison of Part 91, Part 135 and Part 91K covers the differences. Put the rule on the trip sheet either way, so nobody has to guess.
What should a trip sheet template include?
Here is every section in the template, what goes in it and who reads it.
| Section | What goes in it | Crew copy | Office copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trip | Trip number, revision and time issued, operating rule, purpose or bill-to | Number, revision, rule | All of it |
| Aircraft | Registration or identifier, and any equipment note the crew needs | Yes | Yes |
| Legs | Departure and arrival airports; dates and times in local and UTC; time en route; positioning legs marked | Yes | Yes |
| Crew | Names, seats, phone numbers, show times | Yes | Yes |
| Passengers | Count, names per leg, lead passenger and a contact number, special requests | Count, names, contact, requests | Plus identity and travel documents |
| FBOs and handlers | The one at each end of each leg, with a phone number | Yes | Yes |
| Ground transport | Passenger cars and crew transport, with pickup times and phone numbers | Yes | Yes |
| Catering | What, how many, who delivers, by when | Yes | Yes, with the cost |
| Hotels | Crew hotel, address, phone, confirmation number | Yes | Yes, with the rate |
| Fuel | Uplift plan per leg, vendor, any fuel release number | Yes | Yes, with price |
| Permits and slots | Landing or overflight permits, airport slots, customs arrangements | Yes | Yes |
| Notes | Anything that changes how the day runs | Yes | Yes |
| Cost references | Quote, budget or cost center | No | Yes |
Trip and aircraft
Give each trip a number and keep it the same through every change. Add a revision number and the time it was issued, in UTC, at the top of the sheet. When the crew has revision 2 and the office has revision 3, the revision line is how anyone notices. The operating rule goes here too, since it decides which duty limits, manifests and documents apply.
Legs, with local and UTC times
Each leg needs its departure and arrival airport, the date, the departure time, the estimated time en route and the arrival time. Write every time twice, once in that airport’s local time and once in UTC. Mark positioning legs, the ones with nobody aboard, so the crew knows which legs carry passengers and the office knows which hours to cost to the trip.
Crew and contacts
List each crew member with their seat (pilot in command, second in command, cabin crew), a mobile number and their show time. Add the duty phone for scheduling or the director of operations, whoever the crew calls when something changes on the road.
Passengers
The crew needs the passenger count, each leg’s names, the lead passenger with a contact number and any special requests: a wheelchair, a pet, extra bags, a child seat. The office needs more: dates of birth, passport numbers and other travel documents for international legs. Keep those off the crew’s printed copy. A trip sheet gets printed, photographed and forwarded, and a passport number on it travels with every copy.
FBOs and handlers, ground transport, catering, hotels
For each airport, the FBO or handler’s name and a phone number someone answers. For each leg, who is picking up the passengers, where and when, and how the crew gets to the hotel. For catering, what was ordered, for how many, who delivers it and the time it must be at the aircraft. For hotels, the address, phone and confirmation number. The rates and costs stay on the office copy.
Fuel, permits and notes
Fuel is a plan per leg: top off, a set uplift, or tanker for the next leg, with the vendor and any release number the FBO will ask for. International legs add landing and overflight permits, customs arrangements and sometimes slot times, each with its reference number and validity window. Notes cover the rest: a curfew, a hangar door that closes at a set hour, passengers who usually run late.
How to write trip times in local and UTC
FAA operations run on UTC. The AIM states that “FAA uses Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) for all operations,” and “The term ‘Zulu’ may be used to denote UTC” (AIM 4-2-12). Flight plans, NOTAMs and weather use UTC. Passengers, caterers, drivers and hotels use local time. A trip sheet has to work for both, so every time on it appears both ways.
The AIM’s conversion table adds 5 hours to Eastern Standard Time, 6 to Central, 7 to Mountain, 8 to Pacific, 9 to Alaska and 10 to Hawaii, and notes “For daylight time, subtract 1 hour” (AIM 4-2-12).
A worked example
These times are illustrative. The trip is a day trip on November 12, 2026, after daylight time has ended, so both airports are on standard time. Home base is on Central Standard Time (add 6 hours to get UTC), and the destination is on Eastern Standard Time (add 5 hours to get UTC).
| Leg | Departs (local) | Departs (UTC) | Time en route | Arrives (UTC) | Arrives (local) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1, home base to destination | 0730 CST, Nov 12 | 1330Z, Nov 12 | 2+18 | 1548Z, Nov 12 | 1048 EST, Nov 12 |
| 2, destination to home base | 1700 EST, Nov 12 | 2200Z, Nov 12 | 2+30 | 0030Z, Nov 13 | 1830 CST, Nov 12 |
The example shows three common sources of time errors:
- Time zones change between ends of a leg. Leg 1 is 2 hours 18 minutes long, but the local clock moves 3 hours 18 minutes, from 0730 to 1048, because the aircraft crossed into Eastern time. Do the arithmetic in UTC, then convert each end to its own local time.
- The UTC date rolls over before the local date. Leg 2 lands at 1830 on November 12 by the home base clock, which is 0030Z on November 13. Put a date next to every UTC time, or someone will file, log or bill the leg on the wrong day.
- Daylight time changes partway through a trip. A trip that spans the weekend daylight time starts or ends has a different UTC offset on its first and last days. Convert each leg with the offset in effect on that leg’s date, not the date the trip was booked.
If you write local times in 24-hour format with the zone (1048 EST, not 10:48 a.m.), the sheet reads the same whether the reader thinks in local or UTC.
What crews need on the day vs what the office needs
A trip sheet usually has two readers with different jobs. The office builds the trip, pays for it and answers to the passengers and the company. The crew flies it, often from a phone on a ramp. One sheet serves both if it’s ordered the crew’s way and the office-only details sit on a separate copy.
| On the day, the crew needs | The office also needs |
|---|---|
| Show time and the revision they’re working from | Who requested the trip and who pays |
| Each leg’s airports and times, local and UTC | Quote, budget or cost center |
| Passenger count, names per leg and the lead passenger’s number | Passenger dates of birth, passports and other documents |
| FBO or handler at each end, with a phone number | Rates for hotels, catering and handling |
| Who meets the passengers, where and when | Fuel prices and vendor accounts |
| Catering: what arrives and by when | Expense receipts after the trip |
| Fuel plan and any release number | Permit costs and agent fees |
| Hotel address and confirmation number | The final cost of the trip |
| Permit and slot references with their validity | Changes made and who made them |
| Notes: curfews, door times, late passengers |
A few habits keep the crew copy usable:
- Put the next thing to happen at the top. On the day, a pilot opens the sheet to find show time, the first leg and the FBO phone number. Billing references above those make the sheet harder to use.
- Print phone numbers in full with the country code for international legs, so they work from any phone.
- Put nothing on the crew copy that you’d mind seeing on a ramp. Passport numbers and dates of birth belong in the office record, and the crew gets them only where a leg requires it.
- Reissue the sheet with a new revision number on every change and tell the crew which line changed.
After the trip, the office copy becomes the checklist for closing it: every leg flown, every fuel uplift recorded, every expense in. Our guide to what a trip really costs covers that side, including why positioning legs belong on the trip’s total.
How to fill in the trip sheet template
The CSV template lists one field per row, with a column for each leg. Its crew_copy column marks each field yes or no, so you can filter it down to the crew’s copy before you print or send it. Add a column for each extra leg.
- Fill in the trip block: number, revision 1, the time issued in UTC, the aircraft and the operating rule.
- Enter each leg’s airports and its departure date and time in local time at the departure airport.
- Convert the departure to UTC, add the estimated time en route, and convert the arrival to the destination’s local time. Write the UTC date next to every UTC time.
- Assign crew to each leg with seats and show times, and check the duty day against your limits before you go further.
- Add passengers per leg, not once for the trip. On a multi-stop trip, people get on and off at different stops.
- Book and record each FBO or handler, ground transport, catering order and hotel, each with a phone number and confirmation.
- Add the fuel plan, then permits, slots and customs for any international leg.
- Write the notes, filter to the crew copy, and send it. Each change after that gets a new revision number.
If you build trips in a spreadsheet today, how to run flight scheduling in a spreadsheet covers keeping one per trip from turning into five versions in five inboxes.
Common trip sheet mistakes
- Local times with no zone. “Depart 0800” at an airport two zones from home base is a guess for anyone reading it.
- UTC times with no date. Late evening legs in the Americas land on the next UTC date.
- One passenger list for the whole trip. Passengers who get off at the second stop are still on the manifest for the third leg.
- No revision number. The crew flies from an old version and nobody can tell.
- Office details on the crew copy. Passport numbers and rates end up on printouts that get left in the aircraft.
- A phone number nobody answers. An FBO’s main line after hours, or a driver’s office instead of the driver.
- Changes made by phone and never written down. The trip sheet stops matching the trip, and the office closes it against the wrong one.
Building trips in Avion Desk
In Avion Desk, you build a trip leg by leg, finding each airport by its code or name, and enter each time in that airport’s local time; it’s stored once and shown correctly everywhere. Each leg has its own passenger manifest drawn from passenger records that hold passports and other travel documents, with identity fields encrypted, and a missing or expiring passport is flagged. Each trip has its own conversation thread, and every change is kept in the trip’s history. A trip is released only after its checks, the aircraft’s state and a risk assessment pass. See trips and scheduling, passengers and travel documents, release and trip paperwork. To try it, start a free trial and build your next trip in it, or request a demo.
Frequently asked questions
What is a trip sheet in aviation?
A trip sheet is the document that describes a trip leg by leg: aircraft, airports, times, crew, passengers, FBOs, ground transport, catering, hotels, fuel, permits and notes. Scheduling builds it, the crew flies from it, and the office closes the trip against it.
Should a trip sheet use local time or UTC?
Both. FAA operations use UTC (AIM 4-2-12), while passengers, drivers, caterers and hotels use local time. Write each time in both, and put a date beside every UTC time.
Is a trip sheet required by the FAA?
No regulation requires a document called a trip sheet. Part 135 certificate holders flying multiengine aircraft and Part 91K program managers must prepare a load manifest before each takeoff (135.63, 91.1027), and every pilot in command must become familiar with all available information concerning the flight (91.103). Many operators keep that information on the trip sheet.
What passenger information goes on a trip sheet?
The crew copy needs the count, the names on each leg, the lead passenger’s contact number and special requests. Dates of birth and passport details belong in the office record, not on a printed crew copy.
How do I share a trip sheet template with my crew?
Filter the template to the rows marked crew_copy yes, save it as a PDF or print it, and send it with the revision number in the file name. Send a new revision with every change.
This article explains the rules in plain language and isn’t legal advice; the regulation text governs.
