Fleet and maintenanceFor staff
Reporting a defect
How to raise a defect against an aircraft, what happens to the schedule, and how deferral works.
Last reviewed
Raise a defect from the aircraft's record. If it grounds the aircraft, it stops being bookable straight away, so nobody is scheduled onto an aircraft that cannot fly.
Reporting it
- Open the aircraft under Fleet.
- Choose Report defect.
- Describe the snag, set its severity, and add a photo if it helps.
The defect is now on the aircraft's record and visible to engineering and operations from the same place.
What happens next
- Triage. Someone decides what the defect means for airworthiness. A defect that makes the aircraft unserviceable makes it unbookable at once.
- Deferral. Where it is permitted, a defect can be deferred against your minimum equipment list. A deferral is recorded with who authorised it and any restriction it carries, and the aircraft may fly within that restriction.
- Rectification. The defect is cleared through a work order, with the return-to-service evidence kept against the aircraft.
Why it is worth doing on the spot
Because the defect record and the schedule read the same data, raising a snag immediately is what stops a booking being made against an aircraft that is out of action. See How maintenance due dates affect the schedule for how planned work does the same thing ahead of time.