Maintenance and squawks

How maintenance tracking works

Read this first. It sets the vocabulary the rest of the section uses: an inspection is what an aircraft owes on a schedule, a squawk is a problem somebody found, and grounding is the only thing that actually stops a booking.

Work on a customer's aircraft

Add an aeroplane somebody else owns, record and correct its owner, and bill them for the work. It cannot be booked to fly, and it does not count toward what you pay.

See your aircraft and approve work

For aircraft owners: sign in to see the work on your aircraft, answer what the shop found, ask for work, keep your times current, and pay the bill.

An aircraft's history and invoices

Everything done to one aircraft in one list, newest first: inspections signed off, squawks resolved and jobs completed. And every invoice for it, for the bookings that flew it and the shop's work on it.

Run a work order

Open a job when an owner calls or taxis up, record who pays and what they asked for, add the labor and parts, and raise the invoice when the aircraft goes home.

Use the Go / No-Go board

See every grounded aircraft and member in one place, open the record behind each item, and manage the currency rules your school tracks.

Add the standard airworthiness inspections

Maintenance, then Add inspections, then leave the mode on Standard set. All seven AVIATES items are ticked to start. Untick what does not apply, say when each was last done, and pick the tails.

Add your own inspection or a one-off reminder

Maintenance, then Add inspections. Choose Recurring for anything that repeats on hours or days, or One-off for a single date. Name it, set the interval and the warning lead, then pick the tails.

Set when an inspection was last done

When you attach an inspection to an aircraft, fill in When was it last done? with the date and the meter reading from the last time the work was actually performed. Leave it blank only if the work was just done.

Turn on finding the ADs for your aircraft

One switch under Settings, off by default. On, AerScheduler lists every AD in the library that names each aircraft's airframe, engine or propeller for a person to decide, alerts you to new ones, and keeps the AD status report. What makes the list complete, and why we never decide whether an AD applies.

Track Airworthiness Directives and keep the compliance record

Set an inspection's source to Airworthiness Directive and give it the AD number and revision date. Signing it off then keeps a permanent record of what was done, the meter readings and who certified it. The Compliance log is the history and the Airworthiness compliance report prints it. Typing an AD number fills in its details from the Federal Register.

Review the ADs for an aircraft

With Find the ADs for our aircraft on, each aircraft's ADs tab lists the Airworthiness Directives that name its airframe, engine or propeller. Read each one and mark it Applies (and track it as an inspection) or Not applicable with a reason. Nothing is decided for you, and each decision keeps who made it and when.

See every aircraft's ADs, and search the AD library

Maintenance has two AD views. Fleet ADs lists every aircraft's Airworthiness Directives in one list, grouped by aircraft or by status, and you decide them right there. The AD library searches every AD it holds by number, maker, model or any word, and shows which of your aircraft each one names.

Track life-limited components

Record a magneto, a propeller or any part with a life limit on the aircraft's Maintenance tab: when it went on, its hours since new or overhaul, and its limit in hours, months or both. The card shows its time now and the life left, and each limit is tracked as an inspection that warns, reminds owners and grounds the aircraft.

Sign off a completed inspection

Click Sign off on the inspection row, set Completed on to the day the work actually finished, correct the meter reading, add notes, then Sign off. A repeating inspection immediately starts counting again from those numbers.

Change which aircraft an inspection covers, or stop tracking it

To add a tail from the console, open that aircraft and use Maintenance, then Add. To change the whole list or delete the rule, use Maintenance, then Set up. Deleting a rule stops tracking on every aircraft it covers.

Mark an inspection not applicable to one aircraft

Open the inspection and click Mark not applicable on the Applies to this aircraft card, with a reason. It is never reminded about, counted overdue or grounds that aircraft, and it stays marked after a sign-off. Also: what Scheduled and In progress mean on an inspection.

Ground an aircraft, and return it to service

Open the aircraft and click Ground, or use the overflow menu on the Aircraft list. Type a reason. The aircraft cannot be booked for anything except maintenance until an admin or a technician returns it to service.

Report a squawk

On the console: Maintenance, then Log a squawk, or open the aircraft and use Squawks, then Log. On the iOS app: any aircraft page, or the prompt that opens by itself after you enter Hobbs and tach at close-out. Give it a title, a description, and a tail. Photos and PDFs are optional.

Aircraft papers (certificates, POH and weight and balance)

Keep a copy of the airworthiness certificate and the registration, and the current POH and weight and balance, on the aircraft. Staff are told which certificate is missing. Members who book it can open the ones marked for bookers. Staff can replace a stale file.

Resolve a squawk

Maintenance, then Squawks, then Open. Click Resolve on the card, set Completed to the day the work finished, write what was done, then Resolve squawk. Verify is a separate second stamp, on both surfaces, and a squawk can be resolved without ever being verified.

Add a note to a squawk

Open the squawk and use the Notes card: on the console, type in the box and click Add note; in the iOS app, tap Add Note. You can attach photos or a PDF, including a note that is only files. It records progress without closing the squawk, and notes cannot be edited or deleted afterwards.

Book an aircraft in for maintenance

Start a booking, choose the Maintenance type, pick the aircraft and the window, and save. Nobody is assigned to it, it blocks the whole window on the dispatch board, and it is never invoiced.

When AerScheduler grounds an aircraft by itself

An inspection carrying the Grounds the aircraft flag grounds its tail the moment it comes due, with the reason Maintenance. Signing the last one off puts the aircraft back on the line on its own.

Who can do what in maintenance

Admins, owners and technicians do the work, work orders included; only admins price lines and raise the invoice. Dispatchers can read every board but cannot sign anything off, and do not see work orders. Instructors, students and renters cannot open the Maintenance board, but they can open a single squawk write-up and see open squawks on the aircraft page.

Who gets maintenance reminders and squawk alerts

On your own aircraft, only admins and technicians receive maintenance reminders and squawk alerts. On a customer's aircraft, technicians hear by their own setting and the aircraft's owners are reminded too. You can turn maintenance reminders off for yourself under Notifications. Squawk alerts cannot be turned off.

Why can't I book this aircraft?

If the booking is refused with "Resource is grounded", the aircraft has been taken off the line and only an admin or a technician can put it back. Open squawks are a warning and never block a booking.

Troubleshooting inspections and squawks

Most maintenance surprises come down to four things: hour-based reminders only fire when a meter reading is recorded, a countdown that started from the wrong point, a character limit the form does not show you, and a grounding reason that was typed by hand.