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Charter and helicopter walkthrough

Charter and helicopter records, from the morning board to the line under it.

Seven films, one week at a charter and rescue helicopter operator in Australia: a missed daily inspection, a cracked lens on the walk-around, a deferral on its last day, an ELT out for a battery, a 100 hourly due before its hangar slot, a kinked hoist cable, and the day’s documents and fuel. The phone and the dashboard play side by side.

Film 2 of 7

The walk-around

Pilot Sam Nakamura finds a cracked landing light lens on the H145’s walk-around. Watch it reach the tech log and a sealed record.

01 / 05Before the first departure

06:08. Sam Nakamura has 22 minutes before the H145’s first departure, and the walk-around comes first.

Before the first departure
A cracked lens
Photo from the viewpoint
Tech log reference
Sealed
0:00 / 1:22
  1. Before the first departure. 06:08. Sam Nakamura has 22 minutes before the H145’s first departure, and the walk-around comes first. It is the catalogue’s H145 walk-around in the operator’s own words: 54 items, each naming where its photos are taken. On the phone the check is offered on the helicopter as today’s daily inspection. Sam starts it.
  2. A cracked lens. Item by item, in the operator’s words. The landing light lens is cracked. Sam fails it, raising a defect. No judgement made: it goes to engineering and the tech log. Each answer reaches the dashboard as it is given.
  3. Photo from the viewpoint. At the rotor head the camera says where to stand: 1 to 1.5 m away, 30 degrees above the hub. The dashed frame lines the shot up the same way every day. The photo is kept with its viewpoint, and lands in the check record beside the answer.
  4. Tech log reference. Submitted at 06:22. With no tech log reference, the helicopter is Not clear. Sam writes it up in the technical log and records the page, entry and date on the phone. Reference in, back to Clear with deferrals. The tech log holds the defect; Escudo, the reference.
  5. Sealed. About an hour after it arrives, the check is sealed: a SHA-256 hash chained to the last check. Verify chain works every hash out again. One changed answer would show as a break. A correction is a new version with its reason; the first stays on record.

Illustrated from the real crew app and dashboard, with aircraft records switched on. The aircraft use the Australian packs (Part 91 MOS chapter 28 and 26.52, CASR Part 42 and, for the PC-12, CAR 1988 Parts 4A and 4B); intervals, limits, templates and wording come from each operator’s MEL, maker’s data and procedures. The board shows the operator’s own records: Escudo Aviation never releases an aircraft to service, never makes an airworthiness decision, never defers or extends anything, never works out a due point, a weight or the standby, and never files a report or sends a notice. Coastline Air, Port Hadley, Mount Carrow, the people, registrations, references, serial numbers and hashes are invented.

Options and solutions

Everything on the aircraft record board, in one place.

Each aircraft chooses its rule packs, its required inspection and its first departure, whether it carries a life raft, the operator’s warning margins and its standby roles.

The four words

Records clearNo open deferral, missing record or expired item as entered.
Clear with deferralsOpen deferrals within their interval as entered, or an ELT out within its removal limit; the nearest expiry is shown.
Not clearA record is missing or past its date as entered, and the reason names the record: a finding with no tech log reference, a deferral past its interval or with no tech log date, no daily inspection by the first departure, equipment or a document past its date, a due line past its limit per the import.
Not setThe aircraft’s rule packs and required inspection are not chosen yet.

What the board counts

DeferralsEach open deferral with its clock: day 6 of 10, ending at the end of the discovery day plus the interval in the MEL’s time basis, per the entry. Category A as a typed limit in days, flight days, flights or hours.
Findings and tech logEvery open finding has a tech log reference (or, for a CAR 1988 aircraft, the maintenance release serial and endorsement) or a deferral. One with none makes the tail Not clear.
Required inspectionThe daily or pre-flight inspection the operator sets, counted against the first departure of the day or each flight.
Emergency equipment and ELTELTs, extinguishers, life jackets, rafts, first aid, oxygen, survival kits and NVIS on the equipment register, and an ELT removed for maintenance with its placard and its days.
Aircraft documentsThe certificate of registration, certificate of airworthiness, maintenance release, weight and balance report, insurance and radio licence, with their dates as entered.
Reports and noticesReports the operator records it must make, with the period from the rule pack, and the 10 day notice of an MEL extension where the pack asks for one.
Due list (import)The due list as imported from the operator’s tracker: lines inside the operator’s warning margins or past their limit per the import, the import’s age, and the utilisation recorded since.
Hoist and role recordsHoists with their limits in cycles, lifts, hours or a date as entered, and the latest hoist inspection, NVG check, NVIS lighting assessment, HUMS check and airframe wash.
Fuel uplifts (24 hours)Each uplift of the last 24 hours as on the docket, with that day’s fuel quality (FQ) check on the supplying unit or site where one is recorded. Notes only: none recorded is never a block.

Each reason names the record as entered, with the last sync time. Due lines and role records inside the warning margins show amber and never change the words. The operator’s declared standby readiness for HEMS, SAR or police shows beside the words, never instead of them. Under every board: “Shows the operator’s own records. Release to service and deferral decisions are made by authorised persons in the technical log.”

Rule packs

Each aircraft has one or more packs, chosen by its market. Outside Australia and Hong Kong the intervals come only from the operator’s MEL. Packs marked to confirm are confirmed with each customer before they are relied on.

  • Australia: Part 91 MOS chapter 28 (MEL) and 26.52 (ELT). Part 91 MOS Compilation 8: Category B 3 days, C 10, D 120, A as stated, counted from midnight after the day of discovery in local time or UTC as the MEL states. B and C extended once, by up to 3 and 10 days, with the 10 day notice to CASA where the CAMO approves it. An ELT removed for up to 90 days, with the placard, for an aircraft not required to carry a life raft.
  • Australia: CASR Part 42 (deferral, major defect report, records). Only a qualified individual defers; the entry keeps the licence or authorisation number and the date. A major defect report within 2 days of becoming aware.
  • Australia: CAR 1988 Part 4A (maintenance release, daily inspection). Defects endorsed on the maintenance release, the release serial and endorsement as the reference, and the daily inspection before the first flight of the day.
  • Australia: CAR 1988 Part 4B (defect reports). Defect reports to CASA with no time limit stated, and the kinds reported immediately.
  • New Zealand and Papua New Guinea: Part 91 and Part 43. Intervals from the operator’s approved MEL; the list of inoperative items, the placard Inoperative and the entry fields.
  • Hong Kong: CAD 549 (MEL) (to confirm). Category B 3 days, C 10, D 120, excluding the day of discovery; one extension and notice to the Director-General within 10 days.
  • Malaysia: CAD 6801 (continuing airworthiness) (to confirm). Intervals from the operator’s MEL; a condition endangering safety reported within 48 hours.
  • Singapore: ANR-91 and ANR-121 (MEL) (to confirm). Intervals from the operator’s MEL.
  • Fiji: CAAF SD-ICAT (MEL) (to confirm). Intervals from the operator’s MEL in the operations manual.
Aircraft record boardEach station’s tails with their record words and reasons as entered, the deferral clocks, due lines inside the warning margins, the operator’s declared standby beside the words, the eight lanes, open events to acknowledge and the last 30 days.
The aircraft’s recordsRecord settings (rule packs, the required inspection and first departure, life raft carried, warning margins and standby roles), deferrals with one extension and the notice, findings and tech log references, ELT removals and refits, reports, emergency equipment and documents.
Due list importEscudo’s CSV template, column mapping from the tracker’s own export, a preview, the export’s source, time and airframe totals, the full list option, and row by row results with refused rows kept.
VariationsThe New Zealand 10% planning latitude and the Part 42 MOS 2.10 one-off extension, with the logbook reference and who agreed it, where the aircraft’s packs allow them.
UtilisationEach flight’s airframe hours, cycles, landings, APU hours and hoist cycles and lifts, from the crew app, the dashboard or the tech log, with void and the reason.
Hoists and role recordsHoists with their cable and the maker’s or AD limits in their own units, a cable change as a removal and a new record, and hoist inspections, NVG checks, NVIS assessments, HUMS checks and washes.
Standby declarationsFor HEMS, SAR and police air wings: ready, ready with limits or not ready for a role and period, replaced by a new one or cancelled with the reason.
AuthoritiesThe people the operator records with an authority to defer or extend, by market, with the licence or authorisation number, scope and dates; a change is a new authority and the old one revoked with the reason.
Fuel upliftsGrade, litres, kilograms and density as on the docket, the supplier, docket number and photo, the supplying unit or site, that day’s FQ check linked by the database, and void with the reason. Filed with the fuel records, with no fuel anomaly rules on an aircraft.
Weight and balanceThe reference from the weighing report or approved document, its date, the empty weight and arms as entered and the document, superseded by a newer one and restored when that is voided. Never a calculation.
Alerts and eventsEvents on each board to acknowledge with what is being done and who was advised. A deferral past its interval or a missing inspection escalates to managers after 15 minutes and administrators after 60.

On the phone, with or without signal

  • Shows the record words with each reason as entered, saved on the phone with the time.
  • Lists the open deferrals with their clock per the entry and a reminder when no placard photo is recorded.
  • Offers Enter deferral to people recorded with an authority, and Transcribe a signed entry, with its photo, to everyone else.
  • Records a tech log reference, or a maintenance release serial and endorsement, on a finding.
  • Records an ELT removed for maintenance with the 26.52 tech log fields and the placard.
  • Records a flight’s utilisation and a role record, and shows due items near or past their limit per the import.
  • Shows the operator’s declared standby readiness beside the record words.
  • Records a hoist inspection, an NVG check with the goggle serial, an NVIS assessment, a HUMS check or download and an airframe wash.
  • Records a fuel uplift as on the docket, with the supplying unit scanned by its tag or picked, and shows the uplifts of the last 24 hours and the weight and balance reference.
  • Takes each item’s photo from the viewpoint the template names, with where to stand and the framing guide.

Aircraft records templates in the catalogue

  • Documents aboard (13 items). Before the first flight.
  • Emergency equipment (14 items). Monthly and when equipment changes.
  • Cabin before the first flight (9 items). Before the first flight of the day.
  • After last flight (10 items). After the last flight of the day.
  • Aircraft in storage (10 items). When the aircraft is stored.

Beside the walk-arounds by aircraft type. Each is copied in as a draft, changed to your own procedures and published.

What Escudo Aviation never does

Records only. Escudo Aviation keeps the records, works out the board and reminds people. Certifying staff, qualified individuals, the CAMO and the pilot in command keep every decision. More on aircraft records.

  • Release an aircraft to service or make an airworthiness decision: authorised persons do, in the technical log
  • Defer or extend anything: the entry in the technical log or maintenance release is the deferral, and Escudo records it
  • Offer Enter deferral to anyone the operator has not recorded with an authority
  • Work out a due point: the operator’s tracker holds the due list, and Escudo shows the import and the utilisation since
  • Set an interval or a limit: they come from the MEL, the maker’s data, the AD or the operator’s programme, as entered
  • Work out the standby readiness: the operator declares it, and it never changes the record words
  • File a report or send an extension notice: it reminds, and records the date and reference
  • Work out a weight, an arm, a moment or a loading, or convert litres and kilograms
  • Say released, airworthy, serviceable or go about an aircraft

Put one aircraft on the board

Send us your MEL categories, your tracker’s export and the people who hold an authority to defer. We will set up a tail and show you the board working.

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