Airlog Imaging

Think the odds of a disaster happening to your group is too high to consider? These flight operators did too!

Fire = Flood

A corporate flight operator had spent a week organizing its aircraft maintenance records and hangar while the aircraft was on an extended trip. While one organized the hangar, the other worked on the records. They sought to organize all like components together: parts with parts, GSE with GSE, tools with tools, etc.

With the records, every work card was to have any associated tags and documentation attached to it and filed in sequential order. Each and every piece of paper was taken out of its file and laid on a work bench that extended along the entire length of the hangar. At long last, every piece of paper was associated, but had yet to be stapled together and re-filed. The hangar organization had been completed. It was late so the guys decided to finish the job in the morning.

Late that evening, they got a call from the fire department. It seems the fire alarm in the hangar was set off by a chemical reaction. Two incompatible cans were placed too close to each other and began to smoke.

The good news is the sprinkler system had been set off before a fire ever started.

The bad news is the papers on the bench were ruined.

Gone With the Wind

Two aircraft owners were chatting about their airplanes one Sunday afternoon at the airport. Both, A&P's, had just finished working on their planes and were hanging out by their cars going over their logbooks. After about an hour or so, the gentlemen said their "goodbyes" and packed up to go home.

About a week later, the one man called the other and asked if he had, mistakening, left his aircraft logbooks with him. The other guy didn't think so, but would check his car and plane just in case. The next day he called his friend to say he had found some papers blown against the fence near their tie-down. Some of the tail numbers on the paperwork matched his aircraft.

"Did you happen to leave your logbooks on the hood of your car when you drove off?"

Did They Clean Out Everything?!

Everyone in this corporation flight department worked very well together. The corporation, itself, was experiencing a very tumultuous time. Several calls to the "higher ups" were made to get a better picture on the health of the company. Each answer indicated all was well and the flight department had nothing to worry about. With no prior warning both the chief pilot and DOM were asked to leave. These job titles were not replaced immediately, so the rest of the maintenance and flight crew made another call to the "higher ups". Once again the information was all was fine and their jobs were secure. About three weeks later and towards the end of the year, an official from the company along with security guard paid a visit to the hangar. All employees were to clean out their work area, accept their final paycheck, and leave immediately - the flight department was shutting down. This was shocking news as flight operations had been very active and the hangar was being totally re-organized. Not a single employee had been looking for another job and due to the location they would, most likely, have to move their families elsewhere.

The corporation found buyers for their 2 multi-million dollar jets and entered into a pre-purchase inspection. The inspections could not be completed. There were no aircraft records - at all -- for either aircraft. These aircraft were maintained to perfection and would be sold above market value. Due to the abrupt nature of the closure and dismissal of the maintenance and flight crews, they could not be accountable for the location of these records. The records were never found.

Load 'em up: Move 'em out

A corporate jet delivers its entire history of maintenance records to the FBO performing the inspection. After a few weeks, the boxes were loaded on the aircraft for its departure. Several destinations and passenger loads later, the DOM is anxious to catch the books up. But where are the logbooks? For that matter, where's the entire box that they were stored in along with other historical maintenance information?!

After several calls to the FBO, these questions still remain unanswered to this day:

Exactly, what were the entire contents of that box?
How does the DOM prove that THAT box was ever delivered to or received by the FBO?
How does the FBO prove that THAT box was loaded on the aircraft?
How does the DOM prove that THAT box was never loaded on the aircraft?
How does the DOM prove that THAT box was not transferred as passenger baggage?
It's obvious the flight operator is SOL - what do they do now?
(Call AirLog Imaging for the answer to this question: 859-388-9465).

Chop It Up After It's Fixed

A 727, converted as a freight hauler, had just completed a major inspection. The aircraft had been in maintenance for quite a while, making it difficult for the custodian to thoroughly clean the entire hangar. The last request from the crew was to have the aircraft interior cleaned out. Some young guys were found to do this last task so the aircraft could be pulled out. The aircraft records - all the aircraft's records -- had been kept in the DOM office up to the night of completion. That night the records were moved to a corner in the hanger to be loaded on the aircraft after the interior was cleaned. Hurriedly, the trash cleaned out from the aircraft was piled in a corner and the plane was pulled out for a morning departure.

That evening, the custodian was thrilled to see the huge plane gone and went about cleaning the hangar. The next morning, the time came to review the maintenance records. But where were they?

The mechanic walked to the corner where the 12 boxes of original 727 aircraft records had been kept, only to find a clean and shiny floor. A confused and frantic walk-around and office check revealed no boxes of anything anywhere. A call was made to everyone with access to the hangar. Upon reaching the custodian, they learned that all the trash pulled out of the plane was stacked on top of the boxes in the corner. The custodian associated the piles of paper in the boxes to be the same as the piles of trash pulled from the aircraft. It all looked the same to him! He had taken all the trash out, the night before, in time to meet the trash truck. Considering the storm they had experienced in the wee hours of the morning, he was confident that any paper would be ruined.

A crew rushed to the city dump and waded through garbage and goo for hours. What they found was a lot of trash and very little hope. After about 6 hours of wading and trash mound climbing, they aborted the mission upon finding tags and Boeing papers blown all over the heap.

The aircraft - did I mention, a 727 retrofitted as a freight hauler in like new mechanical condition?! - was taxied off the ramp and eventually chopped up.

I wonder how much a revenue-generating 727-freight hauler is worth? How much were those records worth!

Where, O Where, Did That Little Tag Go? O Where, O Where Could It Be

A Fortune 500 company was selling one of its jets. During a thorough inspection at pre-purchase, several tags were discovered to be missing. What's a few tags worth on a $4 million jet?!

What are they worth? $45,000 to be exact, as the generator and fuel valves had to be completely replaced with traceable parts before the sale of the aircraft was approved!