Define the review boundary first

Complete these fields before scoring:

``text Aircraft make/model/series: Registration and manufacturer serial number: Engines/APU/propellers and serial numbers: Review purpose: acquisition / sale / audit / financing / transition / other Date range reviewed: Record repositories reviewed: Physical records included: Current utilization cutoff: Operating rules and program references: Reviewer(s) and qualifications: Materiality threshold: Known exclusions: Scorecard issue date and revision: ``

A score without a boundary is not interpretable. Even with a boundary, do not compare aircraft unless the scope, evidence standard, configuration, effective date, and reviewers are equivalent.

How the browser score works

The interactive checklist has 16 evidence groups:

Ten groups carry two points and six carry one, for 26 possible points. The displayed percentage is the selected fixed weights divided by 26. The browser separately counts open critical groups and lists priority open groups.

The checkbox is binary. It does not distinguish verified, corroborated, partial, or unsupported evidence; inspect documents; test dates; validate signatures; or save an exception register. Keep evidence quality and individual findings in a separate source-linked review file.

Domain 1: identity and custody

Review:

• Aircraft manufacturer serial number and registration history.
• Engine, APU, propeller, rotor, and major-component identities.
• Installation and removal continuity.
• Records-custody inventory.
• Repository, binder, and logbook boundaries.
• Files or pages belonging to another aircraft or component.
• Duplicate copies with different annotations or signatures.

An identity failure can invalidate otherwise accurate extraction. Keep a custody exception for any missing physical volume or unexplained transfer.

Domain 2: chronology and utilization

Review:

• Dated aircraft time and cycle observations.
• Engine/APU/component time and cycle histories.
• Meter changes and calculation methods.
• Continuity across operators, registrations, and maintenance providers.
• Impossible decreases, unexplained jumps, or long flat periods.
• Current utilization source and effective date.

Label each important value as source-stated, calculated, corroborated, estimated, or unknown. Never average conflicting time observations into a clean figure without resolving the cause.

Domain 3: maintenance and inspection status

Mark the group reviewed only if the declared scope supports:

• Applicable inspection or maintenance program and revision.
• Last accomplishment for every controlled task.
• Next due by calendar, hours, cycles, landings, or event.
• Signed return-to-service or inspection entries where required.
• Complete work-package support for material events.
• Open defects and authorized deferral controls applicable to the operation.
• Current forecast reconciled to latest utilization.

The tracker is an index. The work record and signed entry support the accomplishment.

Domain 4: ADs and mandatory controls

For Airworthiness Directives, review:

• Current applicability list.
• Product, model, serial, and configuration rationale.
• Method of compliance.
• Accomplishment evidence.
• Recurring or terminating treatment.
• Next due.
• Alternative method of compliance reference where applicable.
• Date the list was checked against the FAA’s current source.

Use the FAA Dynamic Regulatory System during current-source review. A high overall score cannot offset a material unsupported AD conclusion.

Domain 5: life-limited parts and controlled components

For each relevant article:

• Part number and serial number.
• Controlling limit and unit.
• Birth or earliest required history.
• Installation and removal records.
• Accumulated life.
• Host utilization during each installation.
• Remaining-life calculation.
• Release, trace, repair, and modification records.

Treat the group as open when a material link in the chain remains unresolved, regardless of how neat the summary appears. Where complete trace is a market or program expectation beyond the minimum regulatory retention question, identify that evaluation basis separately.

Domain 6: repairs, alterations, and configuration

Review:

• Major repair and alteration records.
• FAA Form 337 documents where applicable.
• Approved data and engineering support.
• Supplemental Type Certificates.
• Instructions for continued airworthiness.
• Equipment list and installed configuration.
• Weight and balance.
• Flight-manual supplements.
• Software and database configuration where controlled.
• Physical-to-record reconciliation.

A modification package is incomplete for planning purposes if its continuing tasks never reached the status report.

Domain 7: damage, corrosion, and findings

Do not reduce damage review to a yes/no field. Review:

• Event or discovery description.
• Affected structure or system.
• Inspection findings.
• Repair scheme and approval basis.
• Work accomplishment and return-to-service evidence.
• Follow-up inspections.
• Weight, balance, configuration, and maintenance-program effects.
• Consistency between records and physical inspection.

Absence of a damage entry is not proof that damage never occurred. State the databases, records, physical areas, and time periods actually reviewed.

Domain 8: programs, commercial records, and retrieval

Where relevant, evaluate:

• Engine/APU/component program agreement and covered serials.
• Enrollment, utilization reporting, and account status.
• Transfer or assignment requirements.
• Shop-visit invoices, coverage decisions, and credits.
• Warranty and claim records.
• Digital image legibility and page order.
• Search, export, audit history, backup, and recovery.
• Access rights and stable source links.

A searchable scan can still be incomplete; a complete physical binder can still be operationally unusable if no one can retrieve the required record promptly.

Critical exceptions override the number

Maintain a separate red-flag register for conditions such as:

• Unsupported life-limited-part history.
• Unresolved potentially applicable AD.
• Missing current inspection evidence.
• Aircraft or component identity conflict.
• Repair or alteration without located support.
• Unexplained utilization discontinuity affecting status.
• Material configuration mismatch.
• Ownership or security-interest question requiring qualified title review.

The browser only knows whether a whole evidence group is checked. It cannot see a critical exception hidden inside a checked group. Leave the group open when a material question remains, and maintain a separate exception register with an owner and qualified decision path.

Interpret the displayed posture

The browser uses fixed thresholds:

• 90% or higher with no critical groups open: “Ready for decision-specific validation.”
• 65% through 89%, or a higher score with critical work still open: “Focused evidence work remains.”
• Below 65%: “Build the records baseline first.”

These are workflow prompts, not aviation acceptance thresholds. A 100% selection means only that the user marked all 16 groups reviewed. It does not mean every record is complete, current, genuine, sufficient, or acceptable for a regulator, buyer, lessor, lender, appraiser, insurer, or maintenance decision.

Exception register template

Possible dispositions include source located, calculation corrected, identity reconciled, inspection performed, qualified technical acceptance, transaction adjustment, or unresolved. “Not found” is a search result, not a resolution.

Improvement plan

Prioritize work in this order:

1. Protect operation and required status decisions.
2. Resolve identity and life-limit uncertainty.
3. Reconcile current inspections and recurring requirements.
4. Recover material repair, alteration, and configuration support.
5. Close utilization and component-history gaps.
6. Improve indexing, image quality, and retrieval.
7. Document residual uncertainty and accountable acceptance.

Repeat the score only after evidence or scope changes. A new percentage without new evidence is presentation, not improvement.

Review checklist

• [ ] Scope and exclusions declared.
• [ ] Aircraft and component identities verified.
• [ ] Every marked group links to evidence, and every material gap links to an exception.
• [ ] Current utilization has an effective date.
• [ ] AD review uses a current authoritative source.
• [ ] Critical gaps have a separate exception and the corresponding browser group remains open.
• [ ] Reconstructed facts remain labeled.
• [ ] Physical and digital repositories both inventoried.
• [ ] Reviewer qualifications match the decision.
• [ ] Prior score and change history preserved.
• [ ] No score is described as compliance, airworthiness, title, or value.

Sources and further reading

• 14 CFR 91.417, Maintenance records
• FAA AC 43-9D, Maintenance Records and FAA Form 8130-3 Return to Service
• FAA AC 120-78B, Electronic Signatures, Electronic Recordkeeping, and Electronic Manuals
• FAA Aircraft Registry: About Aircraft Records
• FAA Dynamic Regulatory System