Buy a damaged airplane

I agree with you about known damage. I also agree with you that the broker
may be a little incompetent. I kind of picked that up even before this all
came down.

The logs do show the damage. I had the broker FAX me the pages from the
dates after the accident. All it says is that they replaced the flap.

From the NTSB report, the helicopter's rotor hit the flap of the airplane.
This happened in 1996. Do you think that 8 years is enough time for any
latent problems to be found?


"Dude" wrote in message
...
Many people will not even consider a plane unless its NDH.

This means it will take longer to sell, and bring a lower price.

If the logs do not show the damage, then don't buy that plane. What else
is
not in the logs?

If the logs do show the damage, then your broker is suspect for
incompetence
at best. Its his job as broker to pour over the logs and figure out what
every 337 means. Otherwise, he isn't really adding any value to you at
all.

The best kind of damage history is something that happened several hundred
hours ago and can easily be checked to see if the repair is still good. A
wheels up that happened long ago is a non issue to me, but not every
buyer.

I would likely walk from this one, but I wouldn't be a NDH or nothing
buyer.
I might change my mind if I knew more of the facts about the particular
plane.



" wrote in message
ink.net...
Almost bought an airplane. Talked to the guy over the phone. He's
brokering it for someone else. Asked him about damage history. No
damage
history, he said.

Now, one thing I always do before I go to see an airplane is I check the
NTSB database. Actually, I do this before I call the owner so I can
tell
if
he's lying to me or not. The NTSB database showed no records for the
plane.

So, I flew out (it is in Utah, I'm in Virginia) looked okay. Your
normal
spam can. Not overly sweet, but better than average, I thought.

I'm kind of tired of looking so I thought, "what the heck, I'll buy it."
Made the broker an offer less than the asking price. The owner cam back
with a counter, and I agreed.

The broker sends me the contract, and it specifically stated that there
are
no liens on the plane. But, always wanting to be safe rather than
sorry,
I
call AOPA to get a title report. Well, I decide to splurge and got the
whole shootnmatch, title search, NTSB report, AD listing, and SD report.

Bam! First salvo hits. The plane has a $40,000 lien on it. "Well," I
thought, "maybe they meant that they were going to pay it off with the
proceeds from the sale."

Whoa! Incoming! NTSB report comes back with that it had a mid-air
collision with a helicopter in 1996. Substantial damage. "Warning!
Warning, Will Robinson!"

Okay, now I'm ****ed. I'm ****ed that they told me there was no damage
history when a midair collision with substantial damage would definitely
qualify as a damage history to me. I'm ****ed that the on-line NTSB
database didn't show me this. I'm ****ed that I spent over $600 to go
see
the plane. And I'm ****ed that I don't know who's lying to me, the
broker
or the owner.

I called the broker. Told him about the lien and the accident. He was
very
sympathetic. Claims he didn't know. Seems to be ****ed at the owner.
Claims that he looked through the logs and didn't see and major repairs.
(Interestingly enough, the AOPA search didn't turn up any 337's either.)
Before I could tell him that I want out, he offers to let me out.

So, now you know my story. Here's what my inquiring mind wants to know:

Up until the past decade or so, the common wisdom was that you shouldn't
consider an airplane that ever had an accident. Why bother? There are
so
many non-damaged airplanes to be had. Recently, however, as the fleet
ages,
the wisdom has since changed to, "well, if the damage isn't recent, it
should be ok." So what do you all think? Never consider a plane with
damage history? Consider it if the damage isn't recent? If so, what is
considered "recent?" How much would you deduct for an airplane with
major
damage?