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I finally stopped trusting the old logbook entries after a close call in Phoenix.

We were doing a pre-flight on a Cessna 172 at the little field near Deer Valley, and the logbook said the last mag check was fine. My partner, a guy named Ray, decided to run it anyway and found a huge drop on the left side. The previous mechanic just wrote 'operational' without even pulling the plugs. Now I treat every log entry like a suggestion, not a fact. How do you guys handle it when the paperwork doesn't match the plane?
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3 Comments
lee18
lee1828d agoTop Commenter
Man, that's scary. You ever find something so wrong it makes your stomach drop? I had a similar thing with an annual inspection sign-off. The logbook was stamped, but I found a cracked weld on the engine mount that was clearly old. The guy before me just pencil-whipped it. Now I trust my own eyes and my own checks way more than any signature in a book. It's a shame, but you have to assume the last guy might have been lazy or in a hurry.
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gracethomas
Pencil-whipping an annual is just asking for trouble.
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wader71
wader7127d ago
It's the same with everything now, from quick oil changes to apartment inspections. People just check the box without looking, trusting a system that's full of holes. That cracked weld story is a perfect, scary example of how that attitude gets people hurt. We've built a whole culture around getting things done fast instead of getting them done right, and it's gonna bite us. Makes you wonder what else is getting signed off on that shouldn't be.
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