Page 22 - October 23

The discrepancy and its disposition have no place in a logbook; this information belongs on the work order. The vendor’s Sales Order number is also unnecessary. If a warranty issue cropped up down the road, the shop would research the work order kept on file and take it from there.
All that’s needed is “Installed igniter box in new condition, R/H position, p/n 10-381550-4 s/n xxx; removed p/n 10-381550-1, s/n xxx” and nothing more. Keep clutter out of the logs.
I put detailed squawk and disposition write-ups in my client invoices. I want the customer to see what it took to sort out and resolve their squawk. It’s important to the customer but it has no place in the log entry.
Hobbs Is Not Enough
I see way too many airframe log entries with nothing but the Hobbs reading at the top. This doesn’t cut it. Hobbs meters fail and when replaced,
they start over at 0.0 hours. The only acceptable proof of compliance with any hour-based requirement is by linking it to Aircraft Total Time (ACTT).
Recently, on another job, I struggled to find compliance for the lube items, the instrument air filter replacement (800-hours) and the power lever pin inspection (1,200 hours). I was faced with a long string of Hobbs-only entries in the airframe records. Was this the original Hobbs meter? I had no way of knowing.
I rummaged through the records, looking for an entry that had Hobbs and ACTT. Finally, after going back quite a few years, I found an entry with both numbers. Eureka! I moved forward from there and calculated the ACTT for each entry based on elapsed Hobbs. In the end, I found proof of compliance for all those hour-based items.
That seller lucked out. In a pre- buy situation, if the compliance for those items could not be found, the
items would have to be done and the seller would have to pay for it. (In case you’re wondering, it was not the original Hobbs!)
Engine Logs Need Airframe Time
All too often I find engine log entries with engine times and cycles, but no ACTT. This is my biggest complaint in log entries. Even the FARs, which give precious few specifics for log entry content, require that every log entry contains the Aircraft Total Time (Ref. FAR 43.11).
If you’ve only owned airplanes with original engines – which means the Engine Total Time and ACTT are the same number – consider yourself lucky. Engines come off one airplane and go onto another all the time. I just did a maintenance assessment on a King Air with 17,000 hours. The accumulated logbooks could fill a full-size pickup! I was surprised that it was only on its third set of engines.
20 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
OCTOBER 2023