Doing either of these helps assess the condition of an airplane. Doing both is needed to thoroughly assess the effects of aging on an airplane and provide a method of monitoring its condition as it continues to age.
Best Practice: Airplane Records Research
Records research is the first step in determining the condition of an aging airplane. The degree of inspection necessary, as well as the determination of what items may have already been inspected, will come from a thorough records research. This research will not only identify certain maintenance and usage characteristics of a particular airplane, it will also expose potential areas of attention pertinent to a model type or usage class.
Typically, inspection and overhaul recommendations contained in older GA airplane maintenance instructions do not provide adequate guidance regarding aging maintenance issues. Therefore, assessing the quality of maintenance during an airplane’s life is important to determine what parts were replaced, if corrosion was ever a problem, and other maintenance factors that could lead to an aging concern.
In order to establish the maintenance history of a particular airplane, the airplane owner and his or her mechanic must gather all available information. This helps establish a baseline to determine what maintenance, repairs, and alterations have been done and how well the airplane has been cared for.
Research from more general model type issues can be compared with individual airplane information to identify similarities and differences. In effect, this helps answer the question: “Does what I am seeing on this particular airplane match the history of the airplane and type per available records?”
Following is a list of those sources that you should use to determine both individual airplane and model type histories.
A. Logbook Entries: This is traditionally where most owners/mechanics begin their investigation. Having logbooks that are complete back to when the airplane came off the production line is a plus, but for various reasons (loss, theft, destroyed, etc.) this is not always possible. This is why the acquisition of the records for the airplane from the FAA (see below) is important. The logbooks should show a clear trend of what maintenance has been preformed throughout the life of the airplane as well as the usage history of the airplane. There should also be clear indications of airworthiness directive (AD) compliance as well as what modifications or major repairs have been done.
