Definition
The official written record of an aircraft's maintenance history, including inspections, repairs, alterations, airworthiness directive compliance, and the status of life-limited parts. Required by the FAA to be kept by the aircraft owner or operator and made available for inspection.
Plain English
The aircraft's logbooks. They show what work has been done on the aircraft, when it was done, and who did it.
Context Anchor
In the Emergency Locator Transmitter section, a pilot sees this term when the handbook says the ELT battery expiration date must be marked on the transmitter and entered in the aircraft maintenance record.
Derivation
Maintenance comes from older words meaning to hold or keep something in condition. Record comes from a word meaning to remember or call back to mind. Together, the phrase points to a written way of keeping track of the aircraft’s condition over time.
Why Pilots Care
They establish legal airworthiness and provide critical history for safety decisions and regulatory compliance.
Intuition Check
Do not think of an aircraft maintenance record as casual notes kept by a mechanic. In aviation, it is the official record used to show required work, inspections, and equipment status.
Example Sentence 1
Before the checkride, the examiner asked the student to locate the most recent annual inspection entry in the aircraft maintenance record.
Example Sentence 2
Before departing on a cross-country flight, the pilot checked the aircraft maintenance record to verify the ELT battery replacement date.