Enough checked, unlocked ground equipment for the turns ahead
Belt loaders, tugs, stairs, ground power and the rest, checked on the phone before use and counted against the day’s flights, stand by stand and hour by hour. A critical fail red-tags the unit, and the board says which turns it affects.
Each station, each equipment group, each hour
- Flights become demand
- Your station’s turn profiles say what each aircraft type and turn kind needs, how many, when in the turn (stairs only where there is no bridge, an air start unit only if the APU is unserviceable) and the minimum time a unit needs between turns. Flights are typed or imported from a CSV file.
- Hour by hour
- For each equipment group and hour ahead, 6 by default and up to 24: covered, tight (enough unlocked units, but not all with a pre-use check in force by then) or short, with how many are needed and the turns affected.
- Worked out from your records
- Each station is Covered (from records), Tight or Short (forecast), from checks, defects, statutory items, permits, airport notices, contacts and the flight list, on every change and every 15 minutes.
- Events and escalation
- A shortfall forecast, a lockout, a contact, a use without a check or an item coming due is an open event. A supervisor acknowledges it with what is being done; if nobody does, it goes to managers and then administrators.
The board shows what your records say. Your operators and supervisors decide whether a unit is used. Two turn profile examples, a narrowbody and a widebody jet, are there to start from, marked example, station to set. Watch the GSE walkthrough.
Lockouts from records
The database works out each unit’s lockouts: red tags, aircraft protection, contacts, statutory items, fuel and water quality, quarantine, permits and airport notices.
Timed pre-use checks
From the START tag to the PROOF tag, with the time taken on the record and a flag when a check is faster than your minimum.
Photographed
The red tag on the unit, the unit and the aircraft after a contact, and a notice close-out from the same viewpoint as the airport’s photo.
The station pack
Every record an airline auditor asks to see for one station and period, with the SHA-256 of the data download.
On the apron, with or without signal
- Can I use it?
- After the unit’s tag is scanned, the records’ answer in plain words, saved on the phone with the time it was asked so it still shows airside with no signal. The pre-use check is offered first when none is in force.
- START and PROOF tags
- The pre-use check starts at the START tag on the unit and signs off at the PROOF tag at the far end. The time taken is on the record, and a check faster than the template’s minimum is flagged for a supervisor, never refused.
- Red tag
- A critical fail takes the unit out of service, raises a defect and asks for a photo of the red tag on the unit, which goes with the defect.
- The turn set at the stand
- Pick the flight, tap each unit brought to the stand, record them as uses, and run the turn set check: the Equipment Restraint Area brake check, the no-touch item, the GPU lead lanyard, chocks, cones and FOD.
- Aircraft contact
- A contact or near miss with the aircraft registration, stand and what happened, and paired photos of the unit and the aircraft. The unit is locked out until a supervisor records the inspection.
- Offline first
- Checks, uses, contacts and close-outs go through the outbox with ids made on the phone, so a re-send never duplicates.
Defaults only where a regulator states one
- Periodic inspection (A)
- Fallback, maker first: the maker’s interval, else a competent person’s, else 12 months (model WHS Regulations r 213).
- Elevating work platforms
- Fallback, maker first: routine inspection at least every 3 months, periodic every 12 months, major at 10 years of service then every 5 (Safe Work Australia EWP guide). A per-unit switch for catering trucks, ambulifts and stairs, off by default: your competent person decides.
- Load test, test and tag, sanitation, six-monthly service
- No default. The operator sets the interval before the unit goes into service; until then the unit is locked out.
- Cylinder tests and calibration
- From the cylinder stamp and the calibration certificate.
- Item registration
- A dated item registration, 5 years from grant (model WHS Regulations r 272; WA registrations do not expire), whose expiry locks the unit out. A design registration number is stored with no due date.
Each item is due from its basis: the maker’s interval, a competent person’s, the operator’s or a fallback, labelled fallback, maker first. Certificates carry the Safe Work Australia report fields for periodic, routine and major inspections. From the day after an item falls due the unit is locked out (LO-STAT). Escudo records the dates and certificates; the person with management or control of the plant, its maker and its competent person decide.
The contact register
Aircraft contacts and near misses with ground equipment, each with the unit, the aircraft, the stand, the operator and the paired photos. The unit stays locked out (LO-CONTACT) until a supervisor records what the inspection found, who was told and any insurer notification. Escudo notifies nobody: those are what you record you did, and whether the aircraft may be used is for the airline’s engineer to decide.
The airport’s side of each unit
- What the airport asks for
- Per station: whether self-propelled units, or self-propelled and towed units, need an airside vehicle permit, what a unit is without one (out of service or restricted), and whether an airside driving authority is required for each area. Each unit records the areas it works in: airside roads, apron, manoeuvring area.
- Airside vehicle permits
- The permit number, the airport that issued it, the areas, issue and expiry dates, the insurance certificate expiry, the indemnity and a photo of the label. A renewal is a new record; a withdrawal keeps its reason. Expiring permits are alerted at 30, 14 and 7 days, and from the day after expiry the unit is locked out (LO-PERMIT).
- Airside driving authorities
- Each person’s authority by area, from the card: number, areas and dates, with a photo of the card. A driver with no current authority for an area a unit works in is told so in plain words; their pre-use check does not count and a use is recorded as an exception. No supervisor override covers it.
- Airport defect notices
- The airport’s notice on a unit: what it says, the deadline, restricted or out of service until cleared (LO-NOTICE), and the notice photo. A supervisor closes it out with a photo from the same viewpoint, taken with the notice photo beside the camera, and what was done.
The airport issues permits, authorities and notices; you record them. A permit or authority counts only between the dates and for the areas recorded, and the airport decides whether it is satisfied with a close-out. Watch the permits film.
Lockout codes
- LO-STD Red tag: a critical item failed on the pre-use check
- LO-ACFT Aircraft protection failed: bumpers, proximity sensors, stabilisers
- LO-CONTACT Aircraft contact or near miss, until a supervisor records the inspection
- LO-STAT A statutory item overdue, failed or with no interval set
- LO-FUELQ Fuel quality: fuel quarantined until the check is repeated and passed
- LO-WATERQ Water hygiene: no water service until cleared
- LO-QUAR Quarantined: a loose item segregated until replaced or repaired
- LO-PERMIT Airside vehicle permit missing, withdrawn, expired or not covering an area
- LO-NOTICE Airport defect notice, restricted or out of service until cleared
- LO-CRED The operator holds no in-date credential or airside driving authority: the check does not count
- LO-NOCHECK No pre-use check in force, or used without one
83 GSE templates in the catalogue
Pre-use and daily checks by equipment type (74)
- Aircraft movement (6)
- Baggage and cargo (14)
- Passenger (9)
- Aircraft servicing (14)
- Fuelling (4)
- Maintenance support (11)
- Airside support (13)
- Emergency equipment (3)
Across the station
- Anti-collision and proximity system check
- Traction battery check
- Turn set at the stand
- GSE station daily check
Helicopter ground handling
- Helicopter ground handling wheels check
- Helicopter dolly or moving platform check
- Helicopter tug check
- Helideck or pad tie-downs and chocks check
- Helicopter external load equipment check
Each template is a starting point written by Escudo Ready, not copied from any maker’s manual or IATA text; IATA’s ground operations and airport handling manuals are cited by chapter only. Your station checks each against the maker’s manual for each make and model and its own ground operations manual, changes it to its own wording and publishes it. Helicopter wheels, dollies, tugs, tie-downs and external load equipment carry no limits: they are the maker’s, marked maker to confirm.
The station pack
One station over a period of up to a year, printed from the board, for airline and ground handling audits.
- Units, statutory items, certificates, permits, driving authorities, airport notices, pre-use checks by day, contacts, lockouts and events, and uses without a check
- The data download with its SHA-256 printed on the pack, so anyone can check the file is exactly as made
- The operator’s own records: Escudo makes no finding, never approves a lifting device and never declares a unit fit for aircraft work
Start with one station
Send us your unit list, a pre-use check and a day’s flights. We set up the station and the turn profile, you publish the templates in your own words, and the board starts with the next shift.