Originally Posted by
PEASACAKE
And potential customers wondered why after over 35 years I and numerous others stopped carrying out pre purchase or engineering surveys.............................the older (45 years plus) the ships got the harder it was to verify the identity of parts and components after having been on numerous foreign registers and had numerous owners. For example, what Rolls Royce (Allison) did by identifying high value engine modules with simple screw on identification plates is beyond me, I lost count of the amount of wrong ident plates on engine modules I found on surveys.
Even found the completely wrong engine fitted on a twin in the UK that was for sale, it would have been sold with the correct engine data plate (somebody changed it...), but not the correct engine or any engine documentation, the original engine was hidden in the back of the hangar with metal generation, it should be unbelievable but I had taken another Licensed Engineer with me to help inspect the records and he witnessed it for himself. Potential customers want surveys carried out while they are looking at the machine, on a high, having a coffee, thinks the inspection takes a couple of hours, only want to pay for a days work. But they will not hesitate to take you to court 6 months later after they buy the ship and find something wrong during heavy maintenance that they think you should have found wrong...........been there, an expensive experience.
Also my experience.
One 206 sold on by a UK company sat in our hangar and had what appeared to be an unusual rivetting pattern on the R/H side of the fuselage below the engine. A comparison with another aircraft showed a difference. Going in through the man hole in the baggage bay revealed an interesting sight. The aircraft had clearly had an air conditioning system fitted which had been removed. There was no record of this in the aircraft documentation. It and all the related doublers had been removed and the aircraft side had been reskinned without the missing structure being replaced. When contacted the seller claimed "it wasn't like that when it left here"!!!
I felt it was probably a ringer fuselage but couldn't prove it. Cost the owner a bit to have it repaired.