Traditional assumptions fail
Legacy maintenance tracking assumes a recoverable airframe with a long service life, scheduled inspections, and a return-to-base flight profile. FPV and one-way aircraft violate every one of those assumptions.
What changes
- Batch creation. Aircraft records are created in lots, not one at a time.
- Expected expenditure. A one-way mission outcome is a normal terminal state, not an accident report.
- Lightweight binders. A short-life airframe needs a build record, a config record, and an outcome, not a decade of inspection history.
- Route type matters. Planning must distinguish return missions from one-way profiles at the point of assignment.
Why it still needs rigor
Disposable does not mean untracked. Build configuration, component lots, and failure outcomes are exactly the data that improves the next batch.