🛫 Aviation · State Machine
Aircraft Maintenance Work Order Lifecycle
How a maintenance work order moves in an airline MRO: from a pilot's defect report to inspection, parts, repair and certificate of release to service.
Drawing diagram…
What this diagram shows
- Deferred defects follow the minimum equipment list (MEL)
- Waiting for parts is tracked as its own state
- Aircraft returns to service only after a certified sign-off
Prompt used
State machine for an aircraft maintenance work order: Defect Reported by the pilot in the tech log, Assessed by an engineer, either Deferred under the MEL with a time limit or Planned. Planned work goes to Awaiting Parts if parts are missing, then In Work, Inspected by a licensed engineer, Certified with a certificate of release to service, and Closed. A failed inspection returns to In Work.
Mermaid code
stateDiagram-v2 [*] --> DefectReported DefectReported --> Assessed: Engineer reviews tech log Assessed --> Deferred: Allowed under MEL Assessed --> Planned: Fix now Deferred --> Planned: Before MEL limit Planned --> AwaitingParts: Parts not in stock AwaitingParts --> InWork: Parts arrive Planned --> InWork: Parts available InWork --> Inspected Inspected --> InWork: Inspection failed Inspected --> Certified: Release to service signed Certified --> Closed Closed --> [*]
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