Airworthiness
FAR 91.7 says the pilot determines the airworthiness of an aircraft. The AROW papers must be aboard and displayed in the aircraft. If used for instruction the 100-hour inspections must be made. Annual inspections must be made. Inoperative equipment cannot be required by aircraft type certificate or Airworthiness Directive. Equipment not working must not be required for the type of flight to be made and must be placarded as inoperative by a certified mechanic. Proof of airworthiness requires proper documentation of required inspections and compliance with all applicable airworthiness directives. Combine all of the above with a conscientious preflight and you have an airworthy aircraft in which to sit. Technical compliance does not mean safe compliance. Don't start the engine until you have all available information related to the movement or flight. Read FAR 91.213. This is an emotional area for pilots because so little is known about it.

On manufacture, a plane is given an airworthiness certificate that says the plane was made according to approved type design that met safety requirements. This is attained when the required and proper components are installed and they are consistent with the drawings, specifications, and other data that are part of the type certificate. An airworthiness certificate is valid only if required maintenance has been performed according to FARs 21, 43, and 91.

When inspected in accordance with FAR 43.11(a)(4) says that the AI doing the inspection must certify that a given type of inspection was made and that the aircraft was determined to be airworthy. Section (a)(5) of this FAR gives all the reasons for which an aircraft may not pass the inspection.

The largest single expense in a year will be the 'annual inspection. In this inspection any previous discrepancies are apt to be discovered. The inspection standards are found in FAR Part 43 and the manufactures service manuals. Anticipate that the annual inspection will include a significant number of unexpected expensive repairs. Only be anticipating the worst can you be pleasantly surprised by the cost of an annual inspection.

Airworthiness and Maintenance
Regardless of the type and extent of any damage, the determination of airworthiness requires that an A & P render a judgment. Whether what has happened is a major or minor defect depends on the effect on airworthiness. A major problem affects weight, balance, strength, performance, operation, or flight characteristics. Major repairs means strengthening, reinforcing, splicing, and re-making primary structure. Replacement occurs by fabrication using riveting or welding. Major repairs must be logged as approved by a Certificated Repair Station or an A & P with an inspection authorization. Any other repair is minor and may be signed off by an A & P.

Any fault with the aircraft paperwork is an indirect the responsibility of the mechanic. The total responsibility rests with the owner/operator to see that not only is the work done but that the mechanic provides the required paperwork. You are required to explain all existing or non-existing maintenance entries. All entries have date, type of work done, hours on airframe and engine and a signature followed by license number. Major repairs must have a 337 Form signed by an AI.

An aircraft with missing paperwork is not airworthy. Lost books can be reconstructed by billing records. The only way to know if a maintenance problem has been properly repaired is the check the maintenance log books. A maintenance entry is like a brief picture of work done. A mechanics signature is valid for the moment of time when it was written. A day later the signature may no longer be valid. The paperwork shows the last annual inspection, and 100-hour if required.

An Airworthiness Directive is an FAA warning that certain maintenance work is required on a specific aircraft production or part series. Some ADs are only one time, some are recurring at certain hourly flight times. IF an AD is not complied with the annual is no longer valid. The maintenance logs are the only place you can know of AD compliance. The pilot is, according to FAR 91.7 responsible to determine the airworthiness of the aircraft. It is relatively unusual for a pilot who flies a rental or club aircraft to have access to the logbooks. Much flying is done on faith.

Who's to Blame?
–Vicarious liability: You can be held liable to the victim of another person's action.
–Employers are liable for the negligent acts of employees.
--Responsibility, accountability and liability involve what was done, what was not done by other than the pilot.
--You can be sued for liability even though you are not directly involved.
--Being a Good Samaritan with advice can make you liable

The FAA has set up a complex division of responsibility that allows no one and everyone to be accountable. Primary responsibility is said to rest on the owner operator. (91.403 and 405) The owner operator must ensure the compliance of all required inspections and airworthiness directives.

The one that does the maintenance is responsible for the airworthiness (43.13) this means that at the moment the work is completed, the aircraft is signed off by the mechanic with his certificate as being in NEW condition. The mechanic is responsible only for the work done or scheduled work not done.

The pilot in command of the aircraft is required to perform the preflight and determine the airworthiness of the aircraft prior to flight. In addition, he must ensure that all airworthiness directives have been completed and required maintenance has been completed and signed into the maintenance logbooks.

Anyone who reads the FAA double-speak of these requirements sees clearly that the FAA 'shared' responsibility is not so much shared as placed totally upon each leg of the triad. The FAA has shown a penchant for not very considered selection of one leg or another. There is no provision in the regulations for any sharing. Interestingly, when the courts get involved a fourth leg is created and often found responsible...the FAA.

Supplemental Type
Many aircraft are modified by a STC (Supplemental Type Certificate) which may require different than standard parts. Both the pilot and mechanics must be made aware of any STC and its requirements. Larger engines with higher fuel consumption are often installed with no change in fuel capacity and no entry into the Pilot Operating Handbook (POH). The right to use auto gas is another STC. The installation of a belly drain in a C-150/2 requires an STC.

The FAA does not require that the POH be modified to show changes in fuel required by a larger engine. Accidents cause FARs. Have an accident and create an FAR to cover the problem. If the aircraft can meet the original POH performance figures no changes in those figures are required even though they may be considerably different than actual performance.

Unauthorized changes can affect the safe operation of an aircraft. A fire extinguisher mounted under a seat in the aircraft can affect collapse design parameters. Simple modifications to electrical systems can cause system failure. Wheel fairing can affect performance and flight performance. The balance envelope usually has a small window that can be drastically affected by movement of a small weight for a long distance.

A major change affects strength, weight, balance, performance, structure, operation, flight characteristics, or airworthiness. These effects are most likely to occur when changes are made by other than standard practices. The safest procedure for changes is to contact the FAA Flight Standards District Office before starting.

Airworthiness Responsibility
Airworthiness is a shared responsibility between the owner, mechanic, pilot, and the maintenance and fueling organizations known as FBOs. The pilot is responsible for airworthiness from immediately before the aircraft is entered for flight until it is tied down. The pilot should make a comprehensive review of all the aircraft's paper work in addition to a thorough preflight. The mechanic's responsibility depends of whether an inspection or maintenance was done. For inspections, the mechanic's responsibility ends on completion of the logbook entries. The aircraft is airworthy at that moment. However, the same mechanic is responsible for any repair or work done on the aircraft back to the original airworthiness certificate until the next year's annual inspection. As owner/operator you are primarily responsible for airworthiness including the accuracy and completeness of all logbook entries.

The "Equipment List". That's a list that starts from the manufacturer and simply lists equipment installed on the airplane when it was manufactured. It is supposed to be updated each time someone adds or removes equipment and usually includes weight and balance info. Sometimes it will list "required equipment" which simply is an extension of equipment required by FAR 23 for certification and FAR 91 for operation. This list has NOTHING to do with an MEL!

A Minimum Equipment List is issued by the FAA to the OPERATOR of the airplane. In order to use an MEL you also need a letter from the FAA authorizing the use of the MEL for that make, model, serial airplane. The MEL and the letter form a Supplemental Type Certificate for the airplane, allowing the airplane to operate with certain pieces of equipment inoperative.

If you don't have an approved MEL for the airplane you are operating, you can only operate with inop pieces of equipment in accordance with FAR 91.213 (d).

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