WHAT IF THE AIRCRAFT JUST HAD AN ANNUAL INSPECTION?
Many prospective plane buyers think that an annual inspection is sufficient to serve as a pre-purchase inspection, but this simply isn’t the case.
Annuals and pre buy inspections are two completely different types of inspections. Annuals are limited scope inspections that are focused on finding safety issues, not issues that affect the value of an aircraft. Prebuy inspections are unlimited scope and are focused directly on finding things that will affect the cost of ownership.
A quality prebuy will look into many different aspect of an aircraft’s history – how frequently was it flown? How was the plane utilized and where was it stored? Has the plane ever had a gear up landing or has it ever been on fire?
Even an honest and straightforward seller might not be able to answer these questions and neither will an annual inspection.