The How and Where of Discrepancy Maintenance Entries after an Annual Inspection

Many of you may be familiar with the requirements for documenting inspections that return an aircraft to service.  But what happens when the inspection is completed without returning the aircraft to service?  The latter situation raises questions about  how and where maintenance entries must be made following an annual inspection with resulting discrepancies that are not corrected.

For discussion purposes, let’s assume an aircraft owner brings his or her aircraft in to a mechanic holding an inspection authorization (the “IA“) for an annual inspection.  During the inspection the IA discovers several airworthiness discrepancies.

However, rather than have the IA correct the discrepancies and approve the aircraft for return to service, the aircraft owner instructs the IA to sign off on the annual inspection with discrepancies as permitted under 14 C.F.R. § 43.11(a)(5).  The aircraft owner then wants to obtain a special flight permit (often referred to as a “ferry permit”) from the FAA.

With the ferry permit, the owner will fly the unairworthy aircraft to another facility. There the the discrepancies will be corrected and the aircraft then returned to service in an airworthy condition.

In order to arrange for the ferry permit, the aircraft owner asks the IA to make the § 43.11(a)(5) entry on a self-adhesive sticker rather than in the aircraft maintenance logbook.  The entry must include words to the effect that

I certify that this aircraft has been inspected in accordance with an annual inspection and a list of discrepancies and unairworthy items dated ____ has been provided for the aircraft owner or operator.

The aircraft owner’s rationale is that he or she wants to avoid having to bring the aircraft maintenance logbook in the aircraft during the ferry flight to the other facility.  However, the IA tells the aircraft owner that his or her plan would be illegal because the maintenance record must be in the aircraft maintenance logbook.  So, who is right?

According to the FAA, the aircraft owner is right. Although the applicable regulations describe the types of maintenance records that must be made and kept, the regulations do not set forth the format or form of the record.  Section 43.11(a) requires that the maintenance entry be made in the “maintenance record of that equipment.”

But that regulation does not require that the maintenance record be a logbook, a collection of self-adhesive stickers, or anything else for that matter.  As a result, the aircraft owner may determine what is used for the maintenance record, even if the IA, and common sense, suggest that the record should be in some form of logbook rather than a sticky-note.

Next, the aircraft owner asks the IA to prepare the required § 43.11(b) list of discrepancies and airworthiness items as a separate document rather than placing the list in the aircraft’s maintenance logbook.  The IA will sign and date the document, and also keep a copy. The the aircraft owner must also sign, acknowledging his or her receipt of the list.

Why might the owner make this request? Well, under 14 C.F.R. § 91.417(b)(3) the aircraft owner must only retain the § 43.11(b) discrepancy list until the discrepancies have been corrected and the aircraft returned to service.

But if the discrepancy list is documented in the aircraft maintenance record along with the § 43.11(a)(5) entry, then that entry must be retained for at least one year or until the next annual inspection, whichever comes first per § 91.417(b)(1).  And, as a practical matter, once an entry is made in the aircraft’s maintenance record/logbook it usually stays in the record/logbook indefinitely.

Once again, the IA insists that the discrepancies and airworthiness items had to be documented in the aircraft maintenance logbook along with the § 43.11(a)(5) entry. However, the FAA again agrees with the aircraft owner.

According to the FAA the list of discrepancies which §§ 43.11(a)(5) and (b) require the IA to provide to the aircraft owner is not a maintenance record that must be entered in the aircraft’s maintenance record.Thus, the list may be prepared on a separate piece of paper, or some other medium, separate from the aircraft maintenance record/logbook.

The only other duty of the IA once he or she has provided the aircraft owner with the § 43.11(a)(5) certification and the § 43.11(b) list of discrepancies is to placard inoperative instruments and the cockpit controls of inoperative equipment.  The IA can then send the aircraft owner on his or her way.

So what’s an IA to do?  First, know what the regulations require.  Next, remember that it is the owner’s aircraft and the owner’s maintenance record for that aircraft. The IA may not agree with the aircraft owner’s decisions, but he or she is required to follow the regulations.

However, the IA may also want to take some of the burden of that decision back onto the aircraft owner by having the aircraft owner specifically acknowledge the discrepancies with the aircraft and the risk the aircraft owner is assuming by not permitting the IA to correct the discrepancies.  Thorough disclosures and sign-off by the aircraft owner could go a long way in defending the IA if something bad happens after the aircraft leaves his or her facility.