91.417...
(c) The owner or operator shall make
all maintenance records required to be
kept by this section available for inspection
by the Administrator or any
authorized representative of the National
Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB). In addition, the owner or operator
shall present Form 337 described
in paragraph (d) of this section for inspection
upon request of any law enforcement
officer.
Seems to me the FAA can ask to inspect all the records and they don't need to specify a specific reason.
I asked the question on the AOPA board and someone posted an NTSB ruling that privacy issues are not a valid reason to refuse a FAA request to inspect a pilot's logbook. Admittedly, the case cited concerned a pilot logbook and not a maintenance logbook, but the reasoning would still apply.
If a local FSDO backed down on request to see a maintenance record in its entirety, it may be that the FSDO employee just didn't feel up to pressing it. If he had, he probably could have forced the issue. The bottom line is the logbook is an official record and anything in it is subject to review. It's not a diary or privileged information. Don't put anything in it that you wouldn't want the FAA to see.
