Technical log

Watch the video: Flight release and tech log

As in a real cockpit, the technical log is where crews write up faults on an aircraft. The next crew reads it before they fly, and engineering decides what to do. It works when your airline has Technical log on.

Writing up a fault

After a flight, open your PIREP. The Tech log card lets you write up a fault you noticed on that aircraft, for example "Right pack weak in the climb".

Only on your own flights of the last 7 days.
10 to 280 characters, plain text, no links.
At most 3 faults per flight and 5 a day.

Write up only real faults you noticed in the simulator. Staff decide whether to fix it, defer it or ground the aircraft. When they mark it fixed, you get a notification.

What the next crew sees

When you book an aircraft, the booking page and the EFB's Flight tab show its Tech log: every open and deferred fault, with its date and any note from staff. The Fleet page shows how many each aircraft has.

A Deferred fault means staff checked it and the aircraft can still fly with it, like a deferred item in a real airline. A fault never stops you booking. Only a grounded aircraft can't be booked.

For staff

Open Staff › Operations › Technical log. You need the Fleet permission. Staff with it get a notification when a pilot writes up a fault.

For each fault you can add a short note, then:

Fixed: it leaves the crews' list, and the pilot who wrote it up is told.
Defer: it stays on the crews' list as Deferred.
Ground aircraft: pilots can't book the aircraft until you press Return to service on the Fleet page (see Aircraft maintenance). A booked aircraft stays in service until its flight is over.
Remove: for a write-up that isn't a real fault.

The Fixed tab lists the faults fixed most recently. Every change goes into the activity log.

To switch it on, open Staff → Airline settings → Optional features and turn on Technical log. It's off until you switch it on.

Faults on flights

With Faults on flights on as well (Optional features), faults also turn up by themselves:

After a flight, the walkaround now and then finds a small cabin or outside fault, like chipped paint or a loose armrest. It goes into the tech log under your name, marked Found on the walkaround after the flight. Nothing changes in the simulator.
At the gate, pilots who tick Faults at the gate in ACARS's Settings can find a harmless fault, like a taxi light that doesn't work. ACARS tells you as the flight starts. In X-Plane the light really stops working until the flight ends, then it works again. In other simulators it's only shown. It goes into the tech log, marked Found at the gate. It never happens on VATSIM or IVAO, or once the aircraft has moved.
In flight, pilots who tick System faults in flight in ACARS's Settings can have a system fail in the cruise, like a generator, an engine bleed, the APU or the slats. ACARS shows the cockpit message (Boeing types get their own words, like ELEC GEN OFF R). Only systems your aircraft type has: single-engine and GA aircraft get none. In X-Plane most of them really fail until the flight ends; a hydraulic pump fault is only shown until it has been tested with each aircraft. In other simulators it's only shown. A slats or hydraulic fault means a faster or longer landing, so check your landing distance. With the slats failed, ACARS doesn't judge your approach speed. It goes into the tech log at once with its ATA chapter and cockpit message, marked Failed in flight. Never on VATSIM or IVAO.

When you write up a fault yourself, you can also pick its ATA chapter and copy the cockpit message as it showed, for example F/CTL SLATS FAULT.

Staff can defer a fault with a category, as in a real MEL: A is due in 1 day, B in 3, C in 10 and D in 120. The crews see the category and the due date, and an overdue one is marked. Defer again sets a new category and due date.

A gate fault goes into the tech log as soon as it's found, so staff and the next crews see it straight away, and it's linked to your PIREP when you file. If you connect to VATSIM or IVAO during the flight, ACARS turns the light back on at once (the fault stays in the tech log). After a crash or a restart, ACARS turns any light it left off back on before your next flight. When the walkaround finds something, ACARS tells you as your PIREP is filed.

Settings for staff

At the bottom of Operations › Technical log, staff choose how often the walkaround and the gate find a fault (never, 5, 10, 25 or 50% of flights; 10% and 25% to start with). There is also Ground an aircraft when a deferred fault is overdue: once a day, an aircraft with an overdue deferred fault is grounded (not while it's booked), and staff get a notification. It's off until you tick it. ACARS fails a system in flight sets how often that happens. It's Never until you pick a value.