# 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.

Source: https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance/set-when-an-inspection-was-last-done
Section: Maintenance and squawks. For: Owners, Admins, Technicians.

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. Left blank,
the countdown starts today at the aircraft's current meter, and the first reminder arrives
late.

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

## Why this field decides everything

An inspection counts forward from a starting point. That starting point is whatever you put
in **When was it last done?** when the inspection is attached to the tail.

Blank means "start now". On an aircraft delivered yesterday that is correct. On an aircraft
that has been flying for eleven months since its annual, it means AerScheduler thinks the
annual was done today, and the first warning lands eleven months late.

Nothing on screen ever says the countdown started from the wrong point. The row looks
healthy, the progress bar looks healthy, and it stays wrong until somebody signs the
inspection off.

## Fill it in when you add the inspection

The box sits in the middle of `Maintenance → Add inspections` (web console), below
the interval fields and above **Applies to**. It is shown for the standard set and for
recurring inspections, and hidden for one-offs.

| Field         | What to enter                                                                                         |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Date          | The day the work was actually finished. Not the day you are typing.                                   |
| Meter reading | What the counting meter read that day. Tach for a tach-based inspection, Hobbs for a Hobbs-based one. |

![Add inspections, When was it last done?](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/add-inspections-last-done.png)

For a calendar inspection the date is all that matters. For an hour-based inspection the
meter reading is all that matters, and it is the number the whole interval is measured
from.

## What happens if you leave it blank

The countdown starts today, at the aircraft's current meter. The fields even say so:
"Starts today" and "Current reading".

That is the right default exactly once, on an aircraft that has just come out of the work
you are now tracking. Every other time it pushes the first reminder out by however far
through the interval the aircraft already was.

> **Careful:** An hour-based inspection whose starting meter reading is exactly 0.0 never fires. On a
> brand-new airframe delivered at 0.0 tach, or on a tail whose meters had not been entered
> yet, give it a starting reading above zero. The countdown on screen looks perfectly normal
> either way, which is what makes this one hard to spot.

## One meter reading, several aircraft

**Applies to** lets you attach the inspection to the whole fleet at once, but there is only
one **Meter reading** box, and whatever you type in it is applied to every tail you
selected. Their meters are not the same number.

The form shows an amber warning as soon as you type a reading with more than one aircraft
selected. Take the hint and add the aircraft one tail at a time.

Dates are safer. If every aircraft genuinely had its transponder check on the same day in
the same shop visit, one date across the fleet is fine.

## Set it on a tail you attach later

You do not have to get it right at the moment the rule is created. Open
`Maintenance → Inspection rules` (web console), open the rule's **…** menu, choose
**Choose aircraft**, and add the tail. A **When was it last done?** box appears
for each tail you just added, and it takes the same date or meter reading as the create
form. The same sheet is on the app, at
`Maintenance → Set up → the rule` (mobile app).

> **Careful:** The starting point can only be set **as a tail is attached**. A tail already being tracked
> shows what it is counting from, read only. To correct one, remove it and add it back with
> the right figure, which deletes its open inspection and starts a fresh one. Work already
> signed off is untouched.

## Or let the next sign-off correct it

On a repeating inspection there is a gentler fix. Sign it off with the real numbers: set
**Completed on** to the day the work was actually finished and correct the meter reading.
The next interval counts from exactly those values, so the following reminder lands in the
right place. See
[Sign off a completed inspection](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance/sign-off-an-inspection).

## The iOS app never asks for it

Neither the app's **Add inspection** sheet nor its standard-set picker has a **When was it
last done?** field. Anything created on the phone starts from today at the current meter,
every time.

> **Tip:** Set the fleet up from the console once, at the beginning, where the field exists. Use the
> app for the day-to-day work after that: signing off, filing squawks, checking what is due.