Jeremy Parkin's great news site
Helihub recently relayed a story from Canada (see article
here) which involved a buyer (in this case a businessman who bought a Hughes 500 .. err .. okay .. an MD500) via a broker from the US City of Colombus Police Department.
The aircraft evidently had a number of technical faults and the owner, shortly after buying the craft, suffered an engine failure.
Long story short; he took the City of Columbus to court and has recently won damages of $380,000 against his claimed $200,000 of post-purchase expenses. He was lucky.
But, in the article one reads the following:
"Suter said Baker did not have his own experts examine the helicopter before he purchased it because he was assured by the City’s broker, Mark White of Oklahoma, and in sale documents, that it was mechanically sound and had passed an FAA annual inspection."
I can only reiterate what I have said previously on PPRuNe ..
please .. if you are buying an aircraft (even a small one) commission a Pre-Purchase Inspection.
I cannot tell you how much heartache and frustration you will save yourself by investing the relatively small amount required to carry out an effective Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI) or 'Pre-Buy' as our cousins like to call them.
There are so many arguments in favour of a Pre-Buy that they are too numerous to mention in detail here but suffice it to say that this procedure can work to the buyer's advantage in everything from negotiating the final purchase price through to 'reduced-hasstle-after-sale-operations' - if you are guided by a professional.
If you have contacts within the industry you should be able to find someone who will recommend the relevant people capable of setting-up a Pre-Buy for you.
It is a field in which I practice (albeit principally with planks). I am not cheap .. due to the fact that in most cases (for a small to mid-size jet) I will normally recruit 3 mechanics (airframe, avionics and engines) plus a driver with a minimum of 500hrs (in practice they usually have more) on type - plus myself to evaluate, double-check and summarise the entire inspection process. I also engage in the laborious task of trawling though the craft's paperwork (and which no one enjoys).
"Here's one I prepared earlier."
I had a client from the Middle East interested in a GIII. The craft he was looking at was proffered as 'clean' specimen in 'exceptional' condition - despite its maturity of years.
When I came to the flight logs I was astonished to see that this bird was flagging-up tech faults (5 or 6) on every flight with only about half of them repeats. The only other time I had seen this frequency of issues was with an old 'dog of a bird' in the US but which from the outset was suspected of being what it was. This craft had been offered as 'exceptional'.
Here are some of the pics:
Savoia with client during the Pre-Buy of a GIII
Unusually, the client wanted to accompany me on the Pre-Buy .. but this was fine because it helps customers understand what they are paying for.
De-bonding (milking) and crazing on corners of cockpit forward-facing windows
Loose panels. Insignificant really but .. sometimes an indication of the general standard to which a craft has been cared for
More loose panels (remember the seller was presenting this craft for inspection)
Rubber seals de-bonding (not good)
Corrosion on the underside of the lower tail section. In this case the corrosion had been left unattended for so long that it had penetrated the outer skin of the fuselage
One of the wheel wells highlighting multiple corrosion sites
Savoia returning with client after the inspection
By the time we returned from the inspection I was able to inform the client that this aircraft could not be recommended for puchase. He was disappointed but .. because he had been with me during the final overview .. he had seen for himself the concerns I had. Yes disappointing when you've set your heart on something but .. this bird would have quickly become the proverbial Albatross around my client's neck had he proceeded without an inspection.
So, if you buying an aircraft - please do yourself a favour and commission a professional Pre-Buy.