Audit Ready shows, at any time, whether you could pass a UK CAA audit, and gives you every document the auditor is likely to ask for in one download. Find it under Reports > Audit Ready.
Our current understanding is that a CAA audit samples your last 3 jobs and asks for three kinds of evidence. Audit Ready checks all three and shows a status for each.
Area | What the auditor wants to see | What Audit Ready checks |
Job planning | Evidence of flight planning for each of the 3 jobs | 6 planning items on each job: initial survey, site plan, risk assessment, pre-flight checklist, post-flight checklist and flight logs |
Maintenance | Maintenance records for every drone flown on those jobs | A maintenance schedule is set and was not overdue on each job date |
Pilot currency | Proof each pilot was current | At least 2 hours of flying in the 3 months before each job, in the same aircraft class |
The drones and pilots are taken from the flight logs on each job, so flight logs are the foundation of everything else on the page.
Who can use it: account admins. Other team members see a message that the page is restricted.
Flight logs on every job: each job in the sample needs at least one flight log with a drone and a pilot recorded. Without them, Audit Ready can't tell which drones or pilots to check.
Maintenance schedules on drones: each drone needs a maintenance interval (days, flight minutes or number of flights).
Maintenance recorded as you go: use the Maintenance done button on the drone record. This writes a dated entry to the drone's log, which is what Audit Ready reads.
Historic flying: imported flight logs count towards pilot currency, so pilots with flying from before Dronedesk aren't disadvantaged.
Open Reports > Audit Ready. The page checks your last 3 completed jobs up to today.
Check the sample is right. If a job isn't representative (training, testing, cancelled), click Exclude and give a reason. The next job back takes its place, and the reason is kept for the audit record.
Change the date if you need to. Use Check as at in the top right to see how you'd stand on a past date, for example the date of a known audit or a period with complete records.
Fix anything red or amber. Hover an icon to see exactly what's missing, then click Fix:
Job: opens the job, for example to score open risks or complete a checklist.
Drone: opens the drone record ready to edit, for example to record maintenance on the date it was done.
Pilot: opens the team member record ready to edit.
Close the record when you're done. You're taken straight back to Audit Ready, on the same date, and the page re-checks everything.
Repeat until everything is green.
Download what you need. Use the buttons on each card for single documents, or Download audit pack (top right) for everything in one ZIP file.
Tip: run Audit Ready monthly, not just when an audit is announced. Gaps are much easier to fix while the job is fresh.
The banner at the top gives the overall verdict. Below it, three summary cards (job planning, maintenance, pilot currency) and one card per job, drone and pilot all use the same colours.
Colour | Means |
Green | Complete, in date or current |
Amber | Partly done, or passes but worth checking |
Red | Not started, overdue, short of hours, or can't be checked |
Red "no entry" icon | Not on the job, or no maintenance schedule set |
Hover any icon for the detail behind it, such as which survey fields are empty or how many flight minutes have been used since the last maintenance.
Amber pilot cards mean the pilot is only current because of a flight logged as longer than 4 hours. Check those entries are genuine: one incorrect log could be all that makes a pilot current.
Red "Flight on ..." cards under Maintenance are flight logs on a sampled job with no drone recorded, or a drone that no longer exists. Neither the drone's maintenance nor the pilot's currency can be shown for those flights until the log is fixed.
The last 3 jobs by end date, on or before the Check as at date.
Archived jobs count. Aborted and cancelled jobs don't.
Excluded jobs are skipped, and the next job back is used instead.
Item | Complete when |
Initial survey | All 11 survey fields are filled in (the notes field is optional) |
Site plan | A flight geography (polygon, corridor or circle) is drawn on the site plan |
Risk assessment | Every risk is scored, before and after mitigation. A PD-3 risk assessment counts as complete |
Pre-flight checklist | Every item is ticked |
Post-flight checklist | Every item is ticked |
Flight logs | At least one flight log is on the job |
Each drone flown on a sampled job must have a maintenance schedule, and it must not have been overdue on that job's date.
Schedules can be by days, flight minutes or number of flights.
Audit Ready uses the schedule that applied at the time, so changing a schedule later doesn't rewrite history.
Only entries made with the Maintenance done button (or by setting the last done date on the record) count as maintenance. A free-text note in the log doesn't.
At least 2 hours of flying in the 3 months before each job.
Counted per aircraft class: rotorcraft and fixed-wing are checked separately. VTOL and hybrid aircraft count as fixed-wing.
The job's own flights don't count towards it.
All flight log sources count, including historic imports. Supplemental (non-flying) time doesn't.
Job document (on each job card): choose Job pack, RAMS or Custom from the Job document list above the jobs, depending on how your account is set up.
Maintenance log (on each drone card): the drone's full history as a spreadsheet.
Flight log (on each pilot card): every flight in the currency period as a spreadsheet, in the same layout as the pilot flight log report.
Download audit pack (top right) builds everything into one ZIP file. It takes a moment while each job document is generated.
In the ZIP | What it is |
00_Audit_Summary.html | The verdict, the job sample, any exclusions and their reasons, what's outstanding, and any flagged flights. Open it in a browser |
01_Job_Packs | One PDF per sampled job, exactly as if exported from the job |
02_Maintenance_Logs | One spreadsheet per drone flown on those jobs |
03_Pilot_Flight_Logs | One spreadsheet per pilot, covering their currency period |
The maintenance log is a full record of the drone's life, which is more than the standard maintenance report gives you:
Every maintenance event, check out and in, service status change, schedule change and firmware update.
Every flight, in date order with the log entries, including the pilot and job.
Running totals of flights and flight minutes, plus flights and minutes since the last maintenance.
Any flight flown while maintenance was overdue, or while the drone was out of service, is flagged.
Problem | Why | What to do |
No drones or pilots shown | The sampled jobs have no flight logs | Add the flight logs to each job, or change the date to a period with complete records |
A drone shows red with no schedule | No maintenance interval is set on the drone | Click Fix and set the interval and the last done date |
A drone is overdue but the work was done | Maintenance wasn't recorded with the Maintenance done button, or was recorded on the wrong date | Click Fix, set the date it was actually done and click Maintenance done |
A job is in the sample that shouldn't be | It's a training, test or cancelled job | Click Exclude and give a reason |
A pilot is missing | Their only flight on the job has no drone recorded | Fix the red "Flight on ..." card under Maintenance |
A pilot is amber | They're only current because of a flight over 4 hours | Check the flagged flights shown on the pilot card |
Clicking a drone or pilot doesn't open the record | The record is archived and hidden from the list | Unarchive it, or open it from the archived list |
Does excluding a job hide it from the CAA? No. Exclusions and their reasons are listed in the audit summary, so the auditor can see what was left out and why.
Does it change any of my records? No. Audit Ready only reads your data. Changes happen only when you click Fix and edit a record yourself.
Can I check a past date? Yes. Use Check as at to see how you'd have stood on any earlier date.
