I’m looking to buy my first plane. The ad of one I am interested in includes this:

Original logbooks are missing from 1967 to 1978 but the same repair station maintained the aircraft during that period and the logs begin with a notarized document that this repair station regenerated all new logs from work orders over that same period.

Is this a legit/acceptable solution to missing log?

What kind of airplane? But if you have a notarized statement from a repair station and logs generated from work orders I'd say that's pretty good. Also if the plane was always based in the US you can pull the 337s to see if any major repair was done during that time.

If it is your FIRST aircraft, I probably wouldn't focus on one with missing log books - notarized statement or not.

In general, the notarized statement is better than nothing and it may mitigate some of the questions however there is still going to be some market impact to missing logs. The 337s would tell more of course - then again, maybe not.

I do not believe that shops are required to keep work orders more than 2 years although some apparently do. If, for example, a major repair occurred over two years ago (during the time in question) and that work order was not found or was destroyed, then what good is the notarized statement? For that matter, the hypothetical repair could have been completed by an FAA Repair Station who has no requirement to file a 337 so there would be no record in the aircraft's file - and this is part of the issue with using work orders and 337s to reconstruct log books. These records are NOT permanent or complete maintenance records. The log books serve that purpose.

Good luck

It is a Bonanza. I think I’ll keep looking. Thanks!

If the originals are missing they are missing. No “solution”

But even if totally absent it’s not a huge problem and the backup (notarized basically irrelevant) does mitigate the problem

FWIW, I hope there's another reason, a bigger reason, that you're going to pass. Like it doesn't have the equipment you want, or it needs too much work, or something. I would never pass on an otherwise good Bo that was what I wanted solely because there was a small gap in the logbook records going back 40 years. No way.

How is the answer to the original poster's question affected when the actual physical paper logs are gone (say the first 30 years of a 42 year old plane) but you have digital scans or photos of all the pages of those original log books?

i.e., are digital scans of original logbooks just as good as the actual books?

FWIW, I hope there's another reason, a bigger reason, that you're going to pass. Like it doesn't have the equipment you want, or it needs too much work, or something. I would never pass on an otherwise good Bo that was what I wanted solely because there was a small gap in the logbook records going back 40 years. No way.

I'm no expert but I think scans of the originals would have to be considered pretty darn good!

I'm no expert but I think scans of the originals would have to be considered pretty darn good!

I think it takes the catastrophic to a simple negative, I can see a time in the future where digital records are all that is desired and the old paper logbooks will be a thing of the past.

An understanding of what happened to the books helps.

The thinking is that the scans are perfect replications of the original pages and that the person scanning (or photographing) the logs has no ill intent. This is not necessarily going to be the case.

When working as a Buyer's Agent, I've had owners/brokers/dealers offer to send digital copies of the log books which is helpful but it does not negate my responsibility to physically look at the aircraft and all maintenance records. In some cases, pages cannot be easily read and in others it is not possible to determine if pages were missing. Still others have pages stapled together or tags covering entries that may be important. Most folks try to be straightforward and honest and others not so much. The average buyer usually doesn't know who they are dealing with or what the objectives might be of the person copying pages.

Good luck.

That repair station rule gives me the creeps. They can just put a log entry that says “see work order #” and the date etc, and gives no detail of the work done... then two years later they shred their records, and poof!

To the original question, I guess it’s a bit of a Rorschach test. If everyone’s on the up & up, then you just catch up the AD compliance and fly. But missing logs would be super convenient for someone who wants to hide undocumented repairs, corrosion, a prop strike & belly landing, a repaint where they didn’t remove and balance the flight control surfaces... my god, a malicious actor could hide all manner of defects just by “losing” the logs which reveal those defects.

Airplanes are not judged on their physical condition alone, they also are judged on pedigree.

My $0.02