# 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.

Source: https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance/ground-an-aircraft
Section: Maintenance and squawks. For: Owners, Admins, Technicians.

Open the aircraft and click the red **Ground** button, 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 clicks **Return to service**.

**Who can do this:** Owners, Admins, Technicians

## Ground it

1. **Open the aircraft, or find it in the list**

   `Aircraft → the tail` (web console) for the detail page, or stay on
   `Aircraft` (web console) and use the overflow menu on the row or card.

2. **Click Ground**

   On the detail page it is the red **Ground** button in the header. In the list it is
   **Ground aircraft** in the overflow menu. Both are visible to owners, admins and
   technicians.

3. **Type a reason**

   The placeholder suggests the shape of it: annual inspection, oil leak, prop strike. Up
   to 60 characters.

   ![Ground aircraft](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/ground-aircraft-modal.png)

4. **Click Ground aircraft**

   The tail immediately shows a Grounded badge everywhere it appears, and a red banner on
   its own page.

   ![Aircraft detail header, grounded](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/aircraft-grounded-banner.png)

## Write a reason people can act on

The reason is not a private note. It is shown to dispatchers, instructors and students
wherever the tail appears, including in the airworthiness notice on the booking form and in
the refusal message when somebody tries to drag a flight onto it.

"Oil leak, in the shop Thursday" saves your front desk five phone calls. Grounding with no
reason at all shows as "Grounded: No reason recorded."

> **Important:** The reason also decides whether AerScheduler may ever lift the grounding by itself. Only the
> exact automatic reason "Maintenance" is cleared automatically. Because you typed this one by
> hand, signing inspections off will not lift it, deliberately. You return the aircraft to
> service yourself when the work is done.

## What grounding stops

| Action on a grounded aircraft                    | Result                                   |
| ------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------- |
| Creating any booking except maintenance          | Refused with "Resource is grounded."     |
| Creating a maintenance booking                   | Allowed. This is the one exemption.      |
| Dragging a booking onto it on the dispatch board | Refused, naming the tail and the reason. |
| Ramping out an existing booking                  | Refused.                                 |

## Bookings already on the aircraft stay where they are

> **Careful:** Grounding does not cancel anything. The flights already on that tail stay on the dispatch
> board, looking normal, and none of the people on them are notified. They fail at ramp out,
> when the student is already standing at the desk. After you ground an aircraft, work the
> board yourself and move or cancel what is on it.

## Return it to service

1. **Click Return to service**

   On the aircraft's page, or from the overflow menu on the Aircraft list. Owners, admins
   and technicians.

2. **Confirm**

   The dialog asks to return the tail to service and warns that it will be schedulable
   again.

The grounded flag and the reason are both cleared, and a "Returned to service" line goes
into the audit log with your name on it.

## Why signing off an inspection did not lift your grounding

Because you typed the reason. AerScheduler clears a grounding on its own in exactly one
case: the reason is the single word "Maintenance", which only its own automatic grounding
ever writes, and the last inspection holding it has been signed off.

Anything a person typed is treated as a human decision and left alone. See
[When AerScheduler grounds an aircraft by itself](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance/when-aerscheduler-grounds-an-aircraft).

## Technicians ground and release aircraft too

A technician can ground an aircraft and return it to service, the same as an admin, so the
mechanic who signs the work off can also put the tail back on the line without finding an
admin. Dispatchers, instructors, students and renters cannot. See
[Who can do what in maintenance](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance/who-can-do-what-in-maintenance).