# 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.

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

An inspection carrying the **Grounds the aircraft** flag grounds its tail the moment it
comes due, with the reason "Maintenance". Signing off the last such inspection puts the
aircraft back on the line by itself. Nothing else in AerScheduler grounds an aircraft on
its own.

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

## One switch, one behavior

Every recurring and one-off inspection carries a **Grounds the aircraft** switch. With it
on, the day that inspection comes due:

- The aircraft is grounded with the reason **Maintenance**.
- Every booking type except maintenance is refused on it with "Resource is grounded."
- The tail moves to the **Grounded** group at the top of `Maintenance → Inspections` (web console).
- The overdue inspection itself carries an amber **Grounds** tag.

With it off, the inspection still comes due, still shows as overdue, and still sends its
reminders. The aircraft simply stays bookable.

## Turn it on for an inspection

The switch is on the Recurring and One-off forms in
`Maintenance → Add inspections` (web console). Afterwards it shows as an amber
**Grounds** tag on the rule's row under
`Maintenance → Inspection rules` (web console).

![Add inspections, Recurring](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/add-inspections-recurring.png)

## Which of the standard inspections ground

Of the seven AVIATES presets, exactly two: the **Annual inspection** and the **100-hour
inspection**.

VOR check, Airworthiness Directive review, transponder check, ELT, static system and
altimeter, oil change and ELT battery replacement all come due without grounding anything.

![Maintenance, Inspection rules](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance-set-up.png)

## What an automatic grounding looks like

The same as any other grounding, with one tell: the reason reads exactly "Maintenance"
rather than something a person typed.

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

> **Careful:** Grounding does not cancel the bookings already on that aircraft. They stay on the dispatch
> board looking perfectly normal, and nobody on them is notified. They refuse at ramp out,
> which is a bad moment to find out. When a tail grounds itself, check the board for the rest
> of the day and move those flights.

## An hour-based grounding waits for a meter reading

Calendar inspections come due on their own, around the clock. Hour-based ones do not: they
are checked when a new Hobbs or tach reading reaches the aircraft, and the grounding happens at
that moment. That is a flight closed out on it, **Record a reading** on its Overview, a work
order's Hobbs and tach in or out, or, on a customer's aircraft, the owner's **Update times**.
**Record a reading** and a job's meters ask you to confirm a reading that would ground the
aircraft before they save it.

So a 100-hour that is already past due on screen will not have grounded the aircraft yet if no
reading has been recorded since. Correcting the tach by hand under
`Aircraft → the tail → Edit` (web console) does not trigger it; **Record a reading**
does. More on this in
[Troubleshooting inspections and squawks](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance/troubleshooting-inspections-and-squawks).

## Coming back off the ground

Sign the inspection off and the aircraft returns to service by itself, as long as nothing
else is still holding it. Every overdue inspection on the tail counts, not only the ones
that ground, so an overdue oil change will keep it on the ground until that is signed off
too.

Deleting the rule, or detaching that tail from it, clears the grounding the same way.

> **Important:** This only works when the grounding reason is exactly "Maintenance", which only the automatic
> grounding writes. If somebody grounded the aircraft by hand and typed a reason, no amount of
> signing off will lift it. An admin or a technician has to click **Return to service**.

## Reminders created during setup all ground

The maintenance step offered while you are setting the school up creates every reminder as
a grounding one, including the oil change.

If you set your fleet up that way, open
`Maintenance → Inspection rules` (web console) afterwards and look at which rows carry the
**Grounds** tag. An oil change taking a trainer off the line mid-morning is the
support email this causes.

## The switch defaults differently on web and on the phone

| Where you create it                            | **Grounds the aircraft** starts |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------- |
| Console, Add inspections, Recurring or One-off | Off                             |
| iOS app, Add inspection                        | On                              |
| The maintenance step during setup              | On                              |

Check it before you save, wherever you are.