March-April 2023 - 30

F O R T H E R EC O R D
Electronic Aircraft
Records Make Good Sense
One missing
document
may mean the
work needs to
be performed
again, wasting
both money and
the time the
aircraft would
otherwise be
available to fly.
Many aircraft owners find out too late the importance of logbooks; losing hundreds
of thousands of dollars on the sale of their aircraft, or duplicating expensive
maintenance tasks because records are missing; spending tens of thousands
of dollars recreating these fragile, yet extremely important documents.
The entire aircraft maintenance record is a collection
of documents that back up and support the airworthiness
of an aircraft beginning in production. We
often refer to these records as the aircraft's " logbooks. "
Logbooks typically contain the age of the aircraft,
its maintenance history, the total time on the aircraft
when work was accomplished, major modifications
accomplished since new, damage history to
the aircraft, and any other information relative and
important to understanding the aircraft's history
and Airworthiness.
Currently, almost all of these documents exist only
in paper form. This, of course, can lead to quite a few
problems. One missing document may mean the work
needs to be performed again, wasting both money
and the time the aircraft would otherwise be available
to fly. Not to mention the time and cost incurred
sending personnel all over the world because, in
an industry that is worldwide in its operation, the
records exist only in one place at a time (and are
usually somewhat isolated at that).
Top aircraft appraisers and financial institutions
would like to see well-organized, easily retrievable
records that provide evidence of the legal
Airworthiness of the aircraft. Good records usually
reflect a well-cared-for aircraft.
Unfortunately, in our world of business aviation
this is rarely what we find.
Paper records cost our business aviation industry
By Larry Hinebaugh
Larry Hinebaugh
is the executive
director of the nonprofit
company
The Foundation for
Business Aircraft
Records Excellence. He
is a 40-year veteran of
the Business Aviation
Industry.
30 MARCH/APRIL 2023
over $150M every year. This is quickly becoming not
only unacceptable, but intolerable by almost everyone.
With the aircraft we operate now flying faster, traveling
farther, and operating more efficiently than ever
before; why are we permitting the critically important
records of these high-tech aircraft to continue
to be treated so poorly? Adding to this conundrum
are the coping methods we all employ to deal with
paper records. These copying mechanisms are not
only dysfunctional, but add cost and complexity to
almost all areas of an aircraft's operation.
We didn't wait for the FAA to make a ruling
allowing us to build pressurized aircraft, nor did we
wait for weather radar or electronic flight instruments
to become a rule before incorporating these
technologies. Why do we continue to wait for congress
to pass legislation giving us permission to use
electronic recordkeeping and digital signatures?
Here are a few things we could, and should, as
an industry, do to bring the 21st century system of
electronic recordkeeping into our daily operations:
* Scan your existing paper records into electronic
images in order to have both a backup of the paper
record, and to begin the important process of
converting the world of business aircraft recordkeeping
from paper to electronic.
* Begin an electronic recordkeeping system
containing the same information that you are
currently keeping in your paper system. Since
a paper system is still the accepted " norm, " run
both systems in parallel (the time and manpower
it takes to do this will be more than made up by
the efficiencies that the electronic recordkeeping
system adds to our operation).
* Start using a digital signature program to sign
documents. Digital signature programs are readily
available from several different sources you
can find on the internet. And have been used by
both the international banking community and
real estate companies for over a decade.
* Write your congressman and insist that Congress
pass laws now that will allow regulators to add
language to the Title 14 CFRs that includes electronic
recordkeeping and digital signatures. After
all, it is the certainty of the future.
These first steps are always the hardest ... and the
most critical. As an operator of the most sophisticated
business aircraft in the world, we need to take
this first step. Both the aircraft we operate, and the
people operating these aircraft will benefit. Most of
business aviation is already employing 21st century
practices. It's imperative we act now to bring all of
business aviation into the 21st century.
AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY
March-April 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March-April 2023
