Do customer aircraft count toward what I pay?

No. A customer's aircraft is never counted on your plan. Only aircraft your organization operates itself are.

Why am I a technician and not an instructor?

Only people with the technician role can be put on a work order or a labor line. A shop signup gets it so you can assign your first job to yourself. Instructor is not given, because a shop teaches nobody.

Does the owner hear from AerScheduler when I add them?

Not when you add them. Once there is a job on their aircraft, they get a short email when it is booked in, when it arrives and when it is ready, plus the findings you send them to approve and the invoice. An owner who has not signed up gets these at the email you recorded.

Set up a maintenance shop

Choose I run a maintenance shop, name the shop, set your labor rate and markups, add the aircraft in your hangar with its owner, and open its first work order. You get owner, admin and technician.

For owners

All docs Getting started Scheduling Billing Maintenance Training Reports

On signup, choose I run a maintenance shop. Name the shop and pick its airport, set your labor rate and markups, add the aircraft in your hangar with its owner, and open its first work order. You land on that job with four steps to take it to an invoice.

Who can do thisOwners

Before you start#

Nothing. Same account as any other signup. The card you pick on the first screen is what sets you up as a shop rather than a flight school. Have the aircraft in front of you if you can: its Hobbs and tach as it arrived, and the owner's email.

Set up the shop#

Choose I run a maintenance shop

The other cards are for joining someone else's organization, owning one airplane, teaching independently, or running a school, club or FBO.

Name the shop and pick its airport

The name goes on your work orders and invoices. Search the airport by identifier or name: its time zone is the clock your jobs, promised-back dates and inspection reminders run on.

Set your shop rates

Your labor rate per hour, and your markup on parts and on outside work (both start at 15%). Every labor line starts at your rate, and parts at cost plus your markup. Skip it if you are not sure; it is under WebSettings → Shop rates later.

Add the aircraft in your hangar

Type the tail and pick it from the list to fill in the make, model and year from the FAA registry. Put in the Hobbs and tach as it arrived, and the owner's name, email and phone. The owner is who the work is billed to.

Open its first work order

Tap what the owner asked for (Annual inspection, Squawk and so on) or type it, and say whether the aircraft is in the hangar or still coming in. Click Open work order. Nothing is emailed to the owner yet: the job says so at the top, and Tell the owner sends them a short note that the aircraft has arrived (or is booked in) when you are ready.

Your first job, start to finish#

Setup ends on the work order you just opened, with four steps across the top. Each one is ticked from the job itself, so doing it from the job's own Add menu counts too:

Write up what you found, for example a worn brake pad.
Add your labor and a part. Labor fills in at your rate, and the total updates as you go.
Send it to the owner. Every owner is emailed to approve, decline or put off each finding; prices go only to the person billed.
Raise the invoice. Labor and parts go on one invoice with the work order number, the tail and the meters. This needs billing connected first, under WebSettings → Billing.

Close the steps with the × whenever you like. See Run a work order for everything a job can do.

What a shop gets that a school does not#

Technician, not instructor. You become owner, admin and technician. Only technicians can be put on a job or a labor line, so you can assign your first one to yourself.
A shop's checklist. The dashboard's setup list asks for customer aircraft, a first work order, shop rates, technicians and a job invoice, and leaves out the flight school's jobs (booking a flight, instruction rates, students, training).
Customer aircraft are never on your plan. They do not count toward what you pay.

What to do next#

Run a work order

Stages, findings, the owner's answer, labor, parts and the invoice.

Work on a customer's aircraft

Owners, meters and billing someone outside your organization.

Invite people

Invite your technicians.

Common questions

Do customer aircraft count toward what I pay?: No. A customer's aircraft is never counted on your plan. Only aircraft your organization operates itself are.
Why am I a technician and not an instructor?: Only people with the technician role can be put on a work order or a labor line. A shop signup gets it so you can assign your first job to yourself. Instructor is not given, because a shop teaches nobody.
Does the owner hear from AerScheduler when I add them?: Not when you add them. Once there is a job on their aircraft, they get a short email when it is booked in, when it arrives and when it is ready, plus the findings you send them to approve and the invoice. An owner who has not signed up gets these at the email you recorded.

Still stuck on this?

Email support@aerscheduler.com and tell us what you were trying to do. We answer.

Contact support

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