Aviation repair stations
What a Part 145 work order should show while the repair is open
A repair station can have the parts, the hours, and the return to service in three places. The work order does not show whether the repair is received, in work, waiting on parts, in inspection, or ready to return. Hours land after the job is already late.
Component shops, avionics benches, and helicopter and general-aviation stations feel it the same way a custom shop feels an estimate that never meets the hours. The difference is that the missing line is also the record of the repair.
What the open repair should already say
- A real status. Waiting on parts is not the same as in work, and inspection is not the same as ready to return.
- Certified parts, serial and lot identity, and where each part was removed or installed. The trace stays with the repair, which is the station’s version of genealogy.
- Hours while the job is open, so a repair that has already passed the estimate is visible before it returns.
- The traveler, inspection status, and return-to-service notes with the repair. A missing record is visible before the unit is called ready.
That is in-process visibility on a work order. The customer calls. The person at the desk should not have to retype a lookup because the board and the file drifted apart.
MFGMAX Aviation keeps parts trace, technician hours, inspection status, and return-to-service notes on the work order. Accounting can stay in QuickBooks. This supports the repair station manual you already use. It does not replace your FAA certificate or an approval.
Questions plants ask
What statuses should a repair work order show?
Received, in work, waiting on parts, in inspection, or ready to return. A unit waiting on a part should not still look like ordinary work in process.
What part history belongs on the work order?
Certified parts, serial and lot identity, and where each part was removed or installed. A part that was installed should not have its serial only on a traveler in the bay.
Does work-order software replace an FAA certificate?
No. This supports the repair station manual you already use. It does not replace your FAA certificate or an approval.
| Split across the shop | On the work order | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | The board says in work | Waiting on parts is its own status |
| Parts | Serial on a traveler in the bay | Removed and installed parts named on the repair |
| Hours | Totaled when the invoice is drafted | On the work order while the job is open |