Aircraft maintenance logs

My point in writing this short article about aircraft maintenance logs is to not to go into any kind of detail of on keeping the FAA required aircraft maintenance logs. Rather it is to write about something that I had never given much thought to -- aircraft maintenance logs -- until about one year ago.

At some point after I'd been writing about the world of aerial wildland firefighting for several months I had a vague awareness that detailed maintenance logs were kept for all (or most) aircraft. Then I went to ground school last winter and to learn various FAA regulations, including but not limited to the regulations for who can do what type of maintenance on an aircraft, who (airframe and power plant mechanics or airframe and power plant mechanics with inspection authorization) can do what type of inspection, and that maintenance and inspections are logged in the appropriate maintenance log(s).  Keeping maintenance logs for a given aircraft is not an option, it is required under FAA regulations. Furthermore, the logbook(s) are transferred when the airplane is sold.

It is not just one or two maintenance log books, but multiple logbooks. There is an airframe maintenance logbook. And there is one logbook each for each engine and propeller. So, the (single-engine) Cessna trainer that I go flying in has three logbooks. A tanker with four engines with four propellers (such as a P-3) will have four engine logbooks and four propeller logbooks.

FAA regulations specify certain preventive maintenance that can be performed by the pilot/owner. After the pilot completes the preventive maintenance item, s/he notes the repair in the appropriate logbook and then signs and dates the logbook. Likewise, maintenance completed by an airframe and power plant (A&P )mechanic  is logged in the appropriate log book and then signed and dated by the A&P mechanic. Inspections are also logged in the appropriate logbook by the A&P mechanic (with inspection authorization as appropriate) completing the inspections.

The FAA does not require that the maintenance logs be kept in the airplane. It is a legal document that must be available to the FAA, NTSB and other agencies within a specified time period when requested. It is not a good thing for the logbooks to be lost and/or destroyed. For these reasons the maintenance logbooks are usually kept in a safe place away from the airplane.

For those of you who never knew about maintenance logs until you read this article, perhaps the next time you see an aircraft, no matter how small (a Cessna trainer) or how large (a jet operated by an airline), you will know that there are multiple maintenance logs for that aircraft.