# 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.

Source: https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance/report-a-squawk
Section: Maintenance and squawks. For: Owners, Admins, Dispatchers, Technicians, Instructors, Students, Renters.

On the console: `Maintenance → Log a squawk` (web console) if you are staff, or
open the aircraft then `Squawks → Log` (web console) if you are not. On the iOS
app: any aircraft's page, or the prompt that opens by itself after you enter Hobbs and tach
at close-out. A squawk needs a title, a description, and a tail. Photos and PDFs are
optional. They stay with the squawk and cannot be deleted afterwards.

**Who can do this:** Owners, Admins, Dispatchers, Technicians, Instructors, Students, Renters

## Report one from the console

1. **Click Log a squawk**

   From `Maintenance` (web console), top right. Or use **Log** on the Open squawks
   card at `Aircraft → the tail → Maintenance` (web console) (staff) or
   `Aircraft → the tail → Squawks` (web console) (everyone else), which fills the
   aircraft in for you.

2. **Write a title**

   What a technician needs to see in a list: "Left brake soft", "Nav light intermittent".
   Keep it under 50 characters.

3. **Write a description**

   What you noticed and when. This is required, even though the form does not mark it.

4. **Attach photos or a PDF (optional)**

   Up to five files. jpg, png, or pdf, 25 MB each. On the phone, use **Take photo**,
   **Choose from Photos**, or **Browse Files**. The photo shows on the squawk and on each
   note once it is saved. Tap it to zoom. Chrome on a Mac may not read a raw HEIC;
   export JPEG from Photos instead. They stay on this squawk and cannot be deleted
   afterwards.

5. **Pick the aircraft**

   Skipped if you opened the dialog from a tail.

   ![Log a squawk](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/log-squawk-modal.png)

6. **Click Log squawk**

   It appears under `Maintenance → Squawks → Open` (web console), on the
   aircraft's page, and as an open-squawk note on the booking form for that tail.

![Maintenance, Squawks, Open](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance-squawks-open.png)

## Report one from the iOS app

Anybody can file a squawk from the app, including instructors, students and renters. Open
the aircraft, then **Report Squawk** from the gear menu. Use **Take photo**, **Choose from
Photos**, or **Browse Files** on that sheet if you want a picture on the record.

## Report one from a booking

Open the booking on the schedule, then **Open the full booking** at the foot of the panel.
**Report a squawk** sits in the close-out on that page, under whatever the booking is
waiting on, with the tail already filled in.

This is also the route for an instructor, a student or a renter working from a booking they
just flew. The Maintenance page is staff-only; the aircraft **Squawks** tab is not. Close-out
still offers **Report a squawk** on any booking with an aircraft, from the moment it is on
the board until it is billed.

Ground lessons and simulator bookings do not offer it, because there is no airframe to squawk.

## The app asks after every flight

Close a flight out on the phone and, right after you enter the Hobbs and tach readings, the
**Report Squawk** sheet opens on its own with the aircraft already filled in. Fill it in and
save, or tap **Skip**. Either way the close-out carries on to the completion sheet.

The console does not interrupt you the same way. It keeps **Report a squawk** on the
booking's own page instead, which is there for as long as the booking is open.

## Title and description are both required

The **Log squawk** button stays greyed out until both are filled in. It used to grey out on
a missing title alone, so a squawk with no description could be submitted and came back with
a red "Description is required." on a form that had looked complete.

## Keep the title under 50 characters

The console form has no character counter and no length warning. A title over 50 characters,
or a description over 500, fails with a message that names nothing: "Unable to create
squawk." If you get that and everything looks filled in, shorten the title first, then the
description. The app caps both fields correctly as you type.

## Grounding the aircraft from the squawk form

The console's Log a squawk dialog carries a **Grounds the aircraft** switch. Left off, which
is the default, filing a squawk changes nothing about whether the aircraft can be booked. It
is a note for the shop, not a no-go.

Switch it on and the tail is grounded as the squawk is filed, and the squawk itself carries
a Grounding badge.

> **Careful:** Resolving a grounding squawk later does not put the aircraft back on the line. An admin or a
> technician has to click **Return to service** on the aircraft when the work is done. See
> [Ground an aircraft, and return it to service](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance/ground-an-aircraft).

If you did not use the switch and the aircraft needs to come off the line, ground it
separately from its own page. Only an admin or owner can do that.

## Who gets told

Every admin and technician in the school, except the person who filed it, gets an email and
a push notification titled "Squawk reported on" the tail.

Dispatchers are not notified, even though they can read the squawk boards. Nobody can turn
squawk alerts off. See
[Who gets maintenance reminders and squawk alerts](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance/who-gets-maintenance-reminders-and-squawk-alerts).

A "Squawk filed" line is also written to the audit log.

## Common questions

**Can I attach a photo to a squawk?**

Yes. When you report a squawk, attach up to five photos or PDFs. On the phone, use Take photo, Choose from Photos, or Browse Files. The photo shows on the squawk. The files stay on that squawk and cannot be deleted afterwards.

**What file types can I attach to a squawk?**

jpg, jpeg, png, and pdf, up to 25 MB each, and up to five files per report or per note. On the iPhone, Camera and Photos store as JPEG so the console can open them. Chrome on a Mac may not read a raw HEIC; export JPEG from Photos instead.

**Can I delete a photo after I attach it?**

No. Photos and PDFs follow the same append-only rule as notes. If a photo was the wrong one, add another note saying so.
