pp-airframe

airframe — Printing Press CLI

Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the airframe-pp-cli binary. You must verify the CLI is installed before invoking any command from this skill. If it is missing, install it first:

1. Install via the Printing Press installer. It defaults binaries to $HOME/.local/bin on macOS/Linux and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\bin on Windows:

   npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install airframe --cli-only
   

2. Verify: airframe-pp-cli --version
3. Ensure the reported install directory is on $PATH for the agent/runtime that will invoke this skill.

If the npx install fails (no Node, offline, etc.), fall back to a direct Go install (requires Go 1.26.6 or newer):

go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/developer-tools/airframe/cmd/airframe-pp-cli@latest

If --version reports "command not found" after install, the runtime cannot see the binary directory on $PATH. Do not proceed with skill commands until verification succeeds.

The two-tier model (read this first, every invocation)

Tier	Dataset	Install requirement	Answers questions like
1	FAA Aircraft Registry	none — just airframe-pp-cli	"Who owns N12345?" • "How old is this plane?" • "What aircraft does Berkshire Hathaway own?" • "What type is this Mode-S code?"
2	NTSB CAROL accident database	mdbtools package	"How safe is a Cessna 172?" • "Crash history for the Boeing 737 MAX 8" • "Has tail N12345 ever been in an incident?" • "Probable cause of event ERA22LA001"

airframe flight <ident> additionally requires flight-goat-pp-cli installed + FLIGHT_GOAT_API_KEY_AUTH set, and only works within ~72 hours of departure (airlines don't assign a specific tail to a flight before then). For pre-purchase or pre-booking "is my flight safe" questions, use a Tier 2 model-level lookup with the equipment type from the booking site.

Step 0 — Always run doctor first

Before answering any user question, run:

airframe-pp-cli doctor --json

Parse the JSON to determine:

• db_exists — has the user ever synced?
• sync_meta — which sources (faa_master, ntsb_avall) are present and how fresh?
• mdbtools.detected — can we serve Tier 2 questions?
• flight_goat.detected — can we serve flight <ident> questions?

Branch from here based on what the user actually asked.

Decision tree (use this to drive every user interaction)

A) User asks a Tier 1 question and Tier 1 is missing

Example: "Who owns N628TS?" but airframe-pp-cli doctor shows db_exists=false or sync_meta is empty.

1. Tell the user: "I need to download the FAA registry first (~80 MB, ~30 seconds, no setup needed)."
2. Offer to run airframe-pp-cli sync for them.
3. After sync completes, answer their original question.

B) User asks a Tier 1 question and Tier 1 is ready

Just answer it directly:

airframe-pp-cli tail N628TS
airframe-pp-cli owner "Berkshire" --limit 20

C) User asks a Tier 2 question (safety / accident / NTSB) and mdbtools is missing

This is the most important branch — handle it with care.

Surface a clear explanation:

"To answer that, I need NTSB accident data, which requires the mdbtools package (NTSB ships their data in Microsoft Access format). It's a one-time install — would you like me to install it for you?"

If the user says yes, detect their OS and run the right command:

# Detect OS
uname -s   # → "Darwin" for macOS, "Linux" for Linux
# Detect Linux distribution if Linux
cat /etc/os-release 2>/dev/null | grep -E '^ID='

Then propose before running:

OS detected	Command to run
macOS (Darwin)	brew install mdbtools
Ubuntu / Debian (ID=ubuntu, ID=debian)	sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y mdbtools
Fedora (ID=fedora)	sudo dnf install -y mdbtools
RHEL / Rocky / Alma (ID=rhel/ID=rocky/ID=almalinux)	sudo dnf install -y mdbtools
Arch (ID=arch)	yay -S --noconfirm mdbtools (AUR — needs yay or paru; if neither is present, tell the user to install one first)

Important: never run sudo commands without first showing the user what you plan to run and confirming. The --noconfirm for yay is OK because the user has already opted in once.

After mdbtools installs, run:

airframe-pp-cli sync --source all

Then answer the original question.

D) User asks a Tier 2 question and mdbtools is present but NTSB hasn't been synced

doctor shows mdbtools.detected=true, but sync_meta has no ntsb_avall row.

Tell the user: "I have the NTSB ingest tool installed but haven't synced the data yet. Would you like me to run that now? It's ~90 MB and takes about a minute."

If yes:

airframe-pp-cli sync --source ntsb

E) User asks a flight-ident question — first, check the 72-hour gate

Examples: "Is UA1234 safe?", "What plane will I be on for AA200?", "Is my flight on DL5678 tomorrow OK?"

Critical context: Airlines don't assign a specific tail to a flight until ~48–72 hours before departure. If the user is more than 72 hours from their flight (or shopping a ticket they haven't booked yet), looking up the specific tail is impossible — there is no tail yet. Don't burn a flight-goat call on it.

Step 1 — establish when the flight is. Ask the user (or infer from context):

"When is the flight? Tail assignments are made 48–72 hours before departure — if you're shopping or it's further out than that, I'll point you at the model-level safety lookup instead, which is more reliable for that horizon."

Step 2 — branch:

• Flight is >72 hours away or hypothetical → recommend the model-level fallback. Most airline booking sites tell you the equipment type (e.g. "Boeing 737 MAX 8" or "Airbus A321neo"). Run:

  airframe-pp-cli model "Boeing 737 MAX 8"
  

  This answers the user's underlying question ("is the type of plane I'll be on safe?") and needs no flight-goat at all. (It still needs Tier 2 / mdbtools for safety data — fall through to branch C if missing.)

• Flight is ≤72 hours away OR the user is asking about a flight that already happened (post-incident research) → proceed with flight-goat resolution. Continue to step 3.

Step 3 — flight-goat present? If not, install it.

If flight_goat.detected=false, tell the user:

"To resolve a specific flight ident (like UA1234) to a tail number, I need flight-goat-pp-cli. Would you like me to install it? It also requires a FlightAware AeroAPI key — that part you'll need to provide."

If yes:

go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/travel/flight-goat/cmd/flight-goat-pp-cli@latest

Step 4 — FLIGHT_GOAT_API_KEY_AUTH set? If not, explain the cost.

If the env var is unset, tell the user that flight-goat routes through FlightAware's AeroAPI (paid service) and they'll need to sign up at flightaware.com/aeroapi to get a key. Don't push past without explicit direction.

Step 5 — run the lookup.

airframe-pp-cli flight UA1234

Note that the result may include multiple recent tails that have flown the same ident over the past 14 days — flight-goat returns the history, not just the next scheduled flight. For post-incident research, look at the date-aligned tail; for pre-departure curiosity, look at the most recent one.

Commands

Command	Tier	What it does
sync [flags]	both	Download bulk data, replace local tables, VACUUM
tail <N-number>	1 (+2 enriches)	Aircraft dossier + accident history
owner "<name>"	1	Aircraft fleet by registered owner
model "<make> [model]"	2	Aggregate NTSB events by model
event <event-id>	2	One NTSB event
flight <ident>	1 + flight-goat	Resolve ident → tail → enrich
search "<query>"	1+2 + --with-fts	FTS5 search
doctor	—	Health check

All commands accept --json, --select <dotted-path>, and --db-path.

Trigger-phrase → tier mapping

For fast classification of what the user is asking. Most user questions are answered by Tier 1 or Tier 2 alone — the flight-goat path is the exception, not the rule.

Tier 1 phrases → just need FAA sync

• "who owns N…", "who owns the plane with tail N…"
• "what aircraft does own", " fleet"
• "how old is this plane", "when was this tail manufactured"
• "what type/model is N…", "what's the Mode-S for N…"
• "find aircraft registered to <name/state/LLC>"

Tier 2 phrases → need NTSB + mdbtools

• "how safe is a ", "is the safe", "safety record of "
• "accident history for ", "crash history of "
• "ever had an incident with this tail" (when N-number is known)
• "NTSB events for", "show me event ERA…"
• "fatal accidents in this year"
• "crashes in last "

Tier 1 + flight-goat phrases → require ident resolution and only work within ~72 hours of departure

• "is UA1234 safe" (only useful if flight is within 72 hours)
• "what plane is United 1234 today/tomorrow"
• "my flight is DL567 in a few hours — what aircraft"
• "what tails did UA89 fly last week" (post-incident — always works)

For any "is my flight safe" / "what plane will I be on" question, always ask when the flight is first. If the user is shopping or the flight is more than 72 hours out, redirect to a model-level lookup (airframe-pp-cli model "<equipment-type>") using the equipment type from the user's booking site. Most airline booking pages display the aircraft type for every flight at search time.

Output and agent mode

--agent (= --json --compact --no-input --no-color --yes) is the default mode for programmatic consumption. The envelope is {meta, results} matching sec-edgar. Use --select results.aircraft.owner_name to extract a single field.

Caveats to surface to the user

• FAA owner data may be a Delaware LLC shell. airframe reports the registry value verbatim; it is not a beneficial-ownership tool.
• NTSB only investigates incidents meeting their reporting threshold — "no events" is not "perfect record."
• flight requires a paid AeroAPI key via flight-goat. FAA + NTSB are free; ident-to-tail resolution is what costs.