The transition to digital aircraft records is slow

While the digitization of maintenance records has received a lot of attention in the business aviation industry and has led to the establishment of companies specializing in this field, many flight services, Part 135 operators and Individual owners / operators always keep their records, including aircraft logs. on paper.

According to the Foundation for Business Aircraft Records Excellence, too many aircraft and air service owners have also suffered financial and operational losses due to poor record keeping practices. In most cases, these situations were preventable, he added.

“It’s time we took the same care with the aircraft records as we do with the aircraft itself,” said foundation executive director Larry Hinebaugh. “Until we change the way things are done in the aviation industry, the state of aircraft records is unlikely to improve. Inertia is on the side of the status quo.

Education and awareness of the technology, according to Hinebaugh, will improve the state of aircraft record keeping, starting with “the infiltration of aviation training and education programs into universities, colleges and universities. technical schools ”.

An aircraft’s logbook is a record an owner doesn’t want incomplete or lost because it can ‘seriously’ affect the value of the aircraft, says Jared Hasty, director of sales and key accounts for the brokerage of Ogarajets aircraft. “We could give extreme examples where you say 10, 20, 30, 50% of the value of your plane is tied to flight logs,” Hasty said during a recent ATP webinar (Booth 1133). “I think if we reminded people more often, they would probably take better care of them, tidy them better, keep them more organized.”

When the time comes to sell a business jet, its logbook and associated records must be complete, otherwise the transaction may be in jeopardy. “You want to make sure everything is up to date and traceable,” said Philip Rushton, chairman of the international jet sales consultancy Aviatrade.

During the due diligence phase of a business jet acquisition, an inspection of its records “becomes a forensic exercise …[that] is the best term for that, ”said Rushton. “You’re not looking for what’s there. You are looking for what is not there.

The founders of Bluetail (booth 3026), a business aircraft records scanning platform launched almost two years ago, said apathy to aircraft record keeping is likely one of the biggest hurdles in the business. Nonetheless, the company now backs business jets valued at over $ 1 billion and has raised more than $ 2.1 million in a Series A investment round that closed this past. summer.

“I think maybe it’s not knowing that your logbooks, unlike your plane, are not insured,” said Stuart Illian, who, along with CEO Roberto Guerrieri, founded Bluetail. “The people who keep their diaries on a shelf… are probably our biggest challenge in educating the market on why you really need them. “

Generally, Bluetail recommends that customers scan aircraft logs, supplemental type certificates, airworthiness directives and service bulletins, as well as delivery, maintenance, customs, legal and financial documents, and “all matters relating to the safety, compliance or operation of this aircraft. , Illian said. He even suggested scanning the weight and balance records and the “old 8130s” —the FAA’s authorized release certificate / airworthiness approval labels.

“It doesn’t cost you much to digitize, and [digital] storage is so cheap, ”Illian said. “And with the tools we’re developing around search and automatic organization, why don’t you have everything in one place? Because you never know when you’ll need that little piece of information from 12 years ago. And rather than having to rummage through filing cabinets or filing cabinets, why not put everything in there, especially if it’s easy to find? “

At Bluetail, the process of digitizing files begins with a subscription. Plans start at $ 69 per month per aircraft for owners / operators and $ 99 per month per aircraft for flight services. Bluetail estimates the number of documents to be scanned (a banker’s box, for example, can hold between 1,700 and 2,500 “images”), then lets customers decide how to send the documents to one of 120 scan centers. Americans with whom Bluetail has contracts. All these centers comply with SOC 2, a customer data management criterion based on security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and confidentiality.

The company can provide a bonded courier service for transporting the documents, or the customer can bring them directly to the nearest scanning center. “We tried to choose locations around major cities or business aviation hot spots,” Illian said. He estimates that 80 percent of Bluetail customers choose the messaging option.

The others demand that their files be digitized in their company by a “mobile team” made up of technicians from the airframe and the powertrain of Bluetail. “Some people, under no circumstances, will let these recordings leave the hangar,” Illian explained. “Obviously, it will cost a little more [to do the scanning there for the client]. “

It typically takes Bluetail around four weeks to scan a few bank boxes, he said. Illian added that while Bluetail provides customers with an estimate of how long it will take to scan and process their aircraft records, it consistently tries to beat that estimate.

Guerrieri noted that, like in other industries, the shift to digital record keeping in business aviation will take time. “Although I am not in the field of aviation, but I have come a long way in two years, I have worked with several companies in the [software as a service] world and have in fact been part of great digital transformations, ”he said.

“I see digital transformations happening in the space of aircraft recordings, and a tipping point is coming,” he added. “I don’t know where or when, but we’re starting to see a wave of interest. The transformation is happening… so that’s what inspires us every day.