I'm pretty sure that you are required to keep detailed records and logbooks of the plane, not sure if you have to carry the entire plane's lifetime worth of logbooks, but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to have them. I've heard of planes getting turned around or swapped out at the last minute due to missing flight or maintenance logbooks, and this seems to happen more often when flying internationally. I heard a story from a friend who was an engineering intern at an airline that had a plane stopped by the French DGAC (their FAA) due to a missing maintenance logbook or release, which had to be flown on the next flight to CDG in order for the plane to be released.