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Permalink Reply by Gary Welch on July 28, 2018 at 8:56pm

I think the real issue is if you ever try to sell the plane. Not having any documented history will force a buyer to assume certain things - like the engine is run out, regardless of how many hours on it. That can make a significant difference in the aircraft value, obviously.

You may want to at least try and recreate the history from whatever records, or memory, available. Buy new books and fill them out as honestly and as best you can. As a minimum record as much as you can remember about your last condition inspection so you at least having a document proving the aircraft is airworthy.

I have to thank you for posting this because just today I finished my condition inspection and your post made me realize I have no record copies of my engine/airframe/prop logs. Thanks to your post I will photograph all the pages in them tomorrow. 

I have photo backups of my flying log book but it never crossed my mind to photo the aircraft logs. 

Sorry for your misfortune, Gil!

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Permalink Reply by Gil DeVault on July 29, 2018 at 8:16am

Gary I have copies of all the Conditional inspections, including the one I had last fall. Is that all I will need? I switch to a smaller flight bag before I left for up north and some house cleaning was done. Afraid my log books are gone forever, but like I said I have all the original conditional reports. I wasn't sure of the legal requirements.

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Permalink Reply by Carl Orton on July 29, 2018 at 4:42pm

I'll probably think of something else later, but my biggest concern right now would be the loss of the required language saying you completed Phase 1 testing and the weight at which you tested it, along with the date, stall speeds, etc.  Without that assertion, I'm assuming you're limited to your Phase 1 flight test area.  Yes, you have condition inspections which reflect dates & hours, but I don't know how picky the FAA or a judge would be not having that required language.  Seriously, I just don't know. It may be less of an issue than I think.

Give 'em a few days to decompress and call the EAA.  Alternatively, if you have AOPA legal services, I'd call them.

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Permalink Reply by Gary Welch on July 30, 2018 at 3:02pm

This link has some useful info:

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2000/january/02/lost-l...

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Permalink Reply by Gil DeVault on July 30, 2018 at 3:52pm

thanks for the information Gary. I panicked  to soon. All my log books have been found, and now will be kept in a safe secure spot. I will also take photos of each page and store. It was really a kick to the gut when I could no longer find them , and such a relief when I did. 

Gil

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Permalink Reply by Carl Orton on July 31, 2018 at 8:22am

Glad it worked out in the end, Gil;  Amazing the power of some sheets of paper, eh?

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Permalink Reply by Gil DeVault on July 31, 2018 at 8:52am

 Carl, Sure got my attention. I have my pilots log books going back to the mid sixties, but my plane log books were kept in a different place. Now I will centrally locate them keeping only my flight log with me. 

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