has one of the best safety records in vertical aviation. Nonetheless, this accident once again highlights that aircraft are designed, built, flown, and maintained by humans, and no machine is perfect. Even new aircraft off the same assembly line can exhibit discrepancies in performance within a few hours of operation. If an aircraft is flown and maintained within
design specifications, you can’t draw a correlation between that aircraft’s operational readiness rate and its run time. I’ve had the honor of flying both new and old airframes. If they’re maintained prop- erly, it’s difficult to tell the difference between the two once the new-leather smell has dissipated and the glossy factory paint has dulled.
Trusting Your Teammates One way age can matter lies in how the aircraft has been operated and maintained. A new owner of an old aircraft can only hope the machine they just purchased has been flown and maintained to the guidelines of the pilot’s operating handbook or rotorcraft flight manual. I say “hope” because the aircraft’s safety and reliability depend on two factors. The first is the pilot’s integrity in accurately
logging the aircraft’s flight data and any per- ceived issues. For many years, our industry had no onboard electronics to catalog events such as over-temps, over-torques, and times outside of prescribed limits. Rather, we relied on the pilot to self-report those events, as well as any issues with the aircraft’s equipage, systems, or perfor- mance. To obtain accurate data, it is essential that pilots treat this responsibility as one of their most important. Of course, integrity isn’t important only for
pilots, which brings us to the second factor. When a mechanic or engineer signs the logbook confirming that a task has been done, every- one downstream of that action is trusting that it was performed per the maintenance manual, Instructions for Continued Airworthiness, or a means acceptable to the applicable aviation regulator. Recently, I learned of an aircraft purchase
where the new owner bought the machine from someone in a nearby state. The aircraft had been
recently serviced but needed further mainte- nance and an inspection. During the sale, the seller told the new owner
the aircraft had had a fresh oil change performed, along with other maintenance. Upon inspecting the aircraft, the new owner’s mechanic discovered that the engine-oil filter hadn’t been changed in 10 years! Some other maintenance, it turned out, was poorly documented and incomplete.
In aviation, our integrity is regularly tested.
Do the Right Thing—Always In aviation, our integrity is regularly tested. Each preflight, logbook entry, or maintenance signoff— in fact, everything we do—prompts a question: should we do the right thing, even when no one else is watching? The accident reports tell us that the only acceptable answer is yes, always. Safety and people’s lives depend on it. Do the right thing, and be complete with your
logbook entries. If you’re maintaining or inspect- ing the aircraft, be sure to enter into the main- tenance record of the machine or component(s) the information required in 14 CFR 43.9 and 43.11, respectively. And of course, as 14 CFR 43.12 warns, never intentionally falsify a maintenance record. There isn’t enough time or money to rebuild
every aircraft at each inspection. We count on the pilots who flew it and the mechanics who worked on it before us to have done their jobs correctly. Fugae tutum!
Zac Noble is VAI’s director of flight operations and maintenance.
JUN 2025 POWER UP 69
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