How to Manage Your Large Volumes of Aviation Maintenance Records Efficiently

Aviation maintenance is a high-stakes industry defined by rigorous demands for compliance, MRO oversight, and exacting security standards.

But while the FAA, DOT, and NARA have mandated the shift to digital recordkeeping, many organizations still face challenges in fully completing the transition. Some critical maintenance logs were digitized first, leaving less urgent records—historical maintenance logs, supplier invoices, and operational notes—unscanned in filing cabinets and storage rooms.

The question now is: How do you ensure full compliance and optimize your digital record management system?

This guide will walk you through the final steps of closing compliance gaps, eliminating residual paper records, and using AI-driven solutions to manage aviation maintenance data efficiently.

Understanding regulatory requirements for aviation records

FAA and DOT digital records compliance

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) set the framework for aviation records management with strict digital compliance mandates:

• FAA Order 1350.14B outlines the retention policies for maintenance logs, component inspections, and repair records.
• DOT Order 1351.28 ensures that agencies handling aviation records maintain proper accountability and governance.

These regulations required aviation businesses to transition to digital records fully—but did every organization truly complete this transition?

Key fact: The FAA mandates that critical aviation maintenance records be stored electronically for secure retention and accessibility (FAA Records Management).

This guide will walk you through the best practices for digitizing, organizing, and securing aviation records.

Did every organization complete the transition?

Few aviation professionals can state with unshakable confidence that they have made the 100% shift from paper to digital maintenance records.  

Delays, extensions, and even deliberate noncompliance are all common occurrences when the government enacts sweeping, tedious regulatory reform. 

For example, the FAA initially gave aviation operators a two-year window to comply with new cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and digital flight data recorder (DFDR) requirements. But after recognizing industry-wide challenges, the FAA extended the compliance deadline by up to four years for some aircraft (Federal Register).

Similarly, while digital records compliance was required by OMB/NARA M-19-21, some aviation companies were allowed extensions or limited-circumstance exceptions (National Archives: Federal Records Management). 

Partial or “nearly there” transitions 

Some organizations prioritized digitizing high-risk, audit-prone documents first, leaving lower-priority records in storage rooms and filing cabinets.

Many companies transitioned to basic digital archives but never implemented AI-powered indexing, metadata tagging, or compliance automation—leading to operational inefficiencies.

Are there still active compliance extensions today?

Extensions for “good cause” aren’t uncommon in aviation. If your organization was granted an extension or fell behind on the digital shift, now is the time to actively confirm your standing with FAA/NARA. 

How do I know if my company is in full document compliance today? 

There are several ways to make sure your company is handling things above board — offering hard proof beyond Bob assuring you, “Yeah, we finished that a while ago.” 

If your transition was completed “for the most part,” now is the time to finish transitioning to 100% digitization.

There’s no one magical database where you type in your company name and one firm, clear answer. Neither the FAA nor the NARA keep a naughty-or-nice list, but there are other ways to know if you have strayed. 

FAA compliance

You’re in good standing with the FAA if you:

• Haven’t been cited for maintenance record violations under 14 CFR Parts 43 or 91.
• Passed FAA audits or inspections without major findings.
• Using systems that align with FAA guidance (e.g., Advisory Circular 120-78A for electronic records), especially if you’ve received explicit acceptance or approval from the FAA for digital workflows.
• Have internal audits in place demonstrate alignment with FAA recordkeeping standards and flag issues before the FAA does.
• Received a Letter of Investigation, Notice of Violation, or a consent order from the DOT, you’re not in good standing.

While not all record violations are publicly searchable, DOT enforcement orders sometimes show major civil penalties. For most inquiries, you’ll need to submit a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to the FAA (FAA: Make a FOIA Request).

NARA compliance

NARA doesn’t “certify” vendors or issue passing marks for contractors.  Contractors are likely in good standing if a federal client agency hasn’t flagged them for failing to follow the approved retention schedule.

Most private companies working with federal agencies are reviewed through internal audits or inspections, not NARA directly, and although serious violations may be mentioned in NARA inspection reports, these rarely name contractors.

Internal audits in place validate that records are classified, retained, and retrievable per NARA standards—and help avoid accidental noncompliance.

Refresher: Understanding the regulatory requirements for aviation maintenance records

FAA and DOT requirements

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) establish the framework for aviation records management..

• FAA Order 1350.14B outlines the retention policies for maintenance logs, component inspections, and repair records.
• DOT Order 1351.28 ensures that agencies handling aviation records maintain proper accountability and governance.

Failing to comply with these regulations can result in FAA audits, fines, and legal risks. 

NARA and White House mandates on digital records transition

In addition to the FAA and DOT, aviation organizations must also comply with National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requirements for digital records.

• NARA Bulletin 2025-01 sets metadata requirements for classifying and storing digital aviation records.
• OMB/NARA Memo M-19-21 directs federal agencies to phase out paper records entirely and transition to electronic records.

What this means for aviation maintenance:

• Electronic storage is now mandatory.
• Metadata tagging and classification are now required for compliance.
• Secure, cloud-based storage solutions are essential for accessibility and retrieval.

Common pitfalls in aviation maintenance records management

Residual paper records still exist 

Many organizations scanned their most critical records but left behind lower-priority documents like older maintenance logs stored in boxes, parts supplier invoices, historical training records, and regulatory compliance communications.

If these documents still exist in paper form, organizations must now decide what to do: 

• Digitization: AI-powered scanning can automate metadata tagging and integration into secure cloud storage.
• Disposal: NARA and FAA guidelines outline record retention policies, and some documents may now be eligible for secure shredding (Government Archives). 

Inefficient search and retrieval slows operations

Time spent searching for records is time wasted. Aviation companies bleed money when maintenance teams waste time manually searching through poorly indexed digital archives. 

Slow retrieval delays maintenance and approvals, extends AOG events, and increases labor costs. Regulatory risks also factor in. Even if valid records exist, if they can’t be produced on demand (e.g., audits), companies can still be fined. 

Solution:

NARA Bulletin 2023-02 recommends a role-based electronic records retention approach for better accessibility and compliance. AI-driven search function can give instant access to maintenance logs and meet storage compliance guidelines for NARA and FAA mandates (National Archives). 

Poor metadata and classification practices

Even if your records are digital, poor metadata tagging and classification can render them useless. 

Without consistent naming conventions, version tracking, and keyword tagging, records become hard to locate, difficult to verify for compliance audits, and prone to duplication and version conflicts.

Solution:

Use NARA-compliant metadata structures for aviation records and follow FAA’s structured formatting for maintenance logs (National Archives, CDM, FAA).

Organizations can also implement automated tagging and indexing to improve accessibility.

Key fact: NARA Bulletin 2023-04 mandates metadata tagging for all aviation maintenance records (National Archives). 

Best practices for closing any digital records compliance gap 

Step 1: Audit your digital records system

Before implementing new tools, conduct an audit of your current system to identify residual paper records, metadata inconsistencies, gaps in searchability and accessibility, and records missing retention labels

Step 2: Implement AI-powered indexing

Manual record management is inefficient. AI-driven compliance solutions can automatically tag and classify maintenance logs for FAA/NARA compliance, detect missing records and flag retention violations, enable instant searchability for audits and fleet maintenance reviews, and send compliance alerts for upcoming retention deadlines

Key fact: AI-driven aviation records systems can improve operational efficiency by up to 50% (DOT Policy Records Management).

Step 3: Secure storage and controlled access

Aviation maintenance records contain sensitive data, including aircraft repair histories, safety inspections, and proprietary component details

Here are some best practices for secure aviation record storage:

• Use FAA-compliant cloud storage with encrypted access
• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Follow NARA’s role-based access controls
• Regularly audit access logs for unauthorized retrieval

The future of aviation maintenance records: AI-driven optimization for a lasting competitive edge 

How AI is transforming aviation records management

The future of aviation maintenance recordkeeping is shifting toward automation, predictive analytics, and AI-driven workflows. But here’s the problem: When everyone adopts AI, what was once an edge becomes just the new baseline. 

The competitive advantage doesn’t lie in merely having AI—it lies in how you think about it, where you apply it, and what others aren’t yet seeing.

AI-powered aviation records solutions are becoming basic table stakes now for the technology’s ability to automate manual human processes, integrate records, and forecast future events. These are all powerful skills, but that’s just an optimization playbook — quickly gaining wider adoption. 

Using AI for a real competitive advantage 

Let’s get frank: If every company is using AI, then no one is standing out. Optimization itself is not differentiation.

Early adoption, right now, is an edge. 

According to a January 2025 study, only 1% of companies using AI believe they have reached full AI maturity, and 92% of businesses intend to increase their AI investments over the next three years (McKinsey & Company).  

But after every business has made the upgrade – like getting a phone line or joining the world wide web – the technology edge becomes commodified. A truly “edgy” advantage lies in adaptable AI. It’s important to use an AI solution like ePlane that you design around your specific data challenges and needs. Building intelligence into your records system that allows you to surface what isn’t obvious yet, along with core business KPIs. It’s not just using AI to out-AI slower adopters but also finding blind spots now, identifying hidden opportunities, and implementing better ways to categorize, connect, and access your data. 

As artificial intelligence becomes a basic must, ePlaneAI can help you use AI in predictable ways for efficiency gains — and new ones that defy expectation. 

With 1% AI maturity rates, many professionals are still in the early stages of advocating for more (or any) AI-powered records management (McKinsey & Company). 

In these instances, strong selling points in adopting AI for records management include the technology’s ability to: 

• Reduce administrative overhead by up to 40% (McKinsey & Company) 
• Ensure near-instant retrieval of maintenance histories.
• Minimize downtime with automated compliance alerts.
• Gain a strategic advantage in fleet management and regulatory audits.

Perhaps most critical of all: 94% of all knowledge workers are already using AI for work — with or without company oversight (McKinsey & Company).  

Is your house really in order when it comes to aviation maintenance records?

You’ve read the mandates. You’ve scanned the high-priority logs. But if you haven’t gone all the way—if there are still boxes in storage or gaps in your system—you’re not done. Halfway measures serve no one, and now’s the time to build an impenetrable records system that delivers crisp, sharp insights on command at any time. 

ePlaneAI helps aviation companies finally say, with confidence, “We’re good.” No more guessing if you’re 88% compliant or 97% compliant. No more digging through digital chaos.

✅ Get the clutter out.
✅ Close the compliance gaps.
✅ Make sure your house is actually in order.

👉 Talk to ePlaneAI about finishing the job right.