Logbooks lesson learned

leadsledfan

leadsledfan

New member
Many of you know that I was previously based in the Bay Area before moving to Massachusetts.
I was connected to a local A&P / IA who oversaw small maintenance and an annual.
After finishing a two-week-long annual that included an alternator conversion etc, the IA offered to file the 337 and finish the logbooks and then return them to me the next weekend. It all seemed innocuous enough.
That was late summer 2017. I just got my logbooks back two weeks ago.
The IA gave me excuse after excuse, dodged called, etc. It wasn't malicious, it was simply egregious incompetence.
Lesson learned: Never let your logbooks out of your sight.

Now I have to transfer over all of the oil changes and small maintenance I've been tracking since last summer and get a fresh annual.

Aviation has some of the best people I have ever met. Occasionally though, you find a rotten egg.

-Adam
 
im sure most ia's would consider that kind of sin merely venal, if that. be thankful you got them back. i have my ia type out his entries on stickers and i paste them in the logbook. same for bfr's and such.

also, if there is a mistake in the entry (times, work omitted) a new sticker can be pasted over the error. and the typed entry can at least be read without sending it to a handwriting expert.

bobg
 
We are all so different. As an IA, I don't trust anyone to do a logbook entry but me. I've been in this game long enough to see people falsifying logbook entries. I have also noticed that almost everyone does not put their name address and phone numbers in the front page of the log. Owners want the IA sign off but are reluctant to put their own damn name in the book. Lynn the crate
 
I wouldn't trust a logbook entry not completed and signed by the IA, but I would rather pay the IA to do it in my hangar than let an IA take my logbooks out of my sight.
I estimate that the logbooks for the Cruisemaster are worth about $10,000. That's too much money to risk leaving my hangar.
-Adam
 
I certainly understand the concern of letting logbooks out of sight. Several years ago I tried a side business of providing duplicate log books as bound photocopies. Several takers used the copies to send out to interested buyers of their airplane. With todays digital cameras and a simple copy stand anyone can make a complete duplicate set of logbooks in less than an hour and send those files, keeping the originals in plain sight. In the event that an original logbook goes lost, the FAA (so I have been told) will accept the digital copies if necessary for any reason.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top