Understanding the criticality of proper maintenance records in demonstrating Continuing Airworthiness ……

Southwest Airlines flew more than 150,000 flights on 88 aircraft it bought on the used-plane market which had unconfirmed maintenance histories, the Transportation Department’s inspector general said in a report regarding FAA oversight. That put more than 17 million passengers at risk, according to the report.

In 2017, FAA inspectors began finding “potentially serious gaps” in Southwest’s process for verifying the condition of the Boeing 737s, including major repairs that weren’t documented and maintenance records that didn’t meet FAA standards.

Meeting U.S. standards normally takes up to four weeks per plane, but people hired by Southwest approved 71 of the planes on the same day, the inspector general said.

Source: A US Transportation Department's inspector general report dated Feb. 11, 2020 into the FAA’s oversight of how Southwest handles risk after an engine explosion caused a passenger’s death in April 2018.