Aero-Tips!
A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard
this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer
statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of
"there are no old, bold pilots.")
Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner,
master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us
-- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators. Some of them, you
may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be
something we might never have considered before, or something that
didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized
it for the practical test.
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Aero-Tips 09.05.06
Buying an airplane? Take
a real close look.
Many airplanes are advertised as "NDH", for "no damage history".
Obviously, a record of damage will have some effect on the quality
and sale price of an airplane. Factors include the severity of the
damage, the quality of repairs and the amount of time that has
elapsed since repairs were made.
Undocumented damage
In the last couple of years I've attended a number of FAA
aircraft longevity investigation meetings, all aimed at the
so-called "aging aircraft problem" -- which is far more a matter of
use patterns, and the resulting fatigue exposure, than anything to
do with calendar age. But I digress…
One constant in these discussions is the difficulty of
determining the precise maintenance state of privately operated
airplanes. One big component of this uncertainty is that FAA rules
require mechanics to log all work performed on aircraft-but not the
reason for the work. For instance, it's very common to see logbook
entries for seemingly minor items such as "repaired and repainted
lower cowling" and "replaced transponder antenna" and the like.
What you won't see in the logbooks is "gear up landing -- repaired
and repainted lower cowling, replaced transponder antenna,
etc..."
Bringing us back around to today's discussion, it takes a very
thorough review of the airplane's logbook and an even more
stringent prepurchase inspection by a mechanic knowledgeable about
the airplane type to detect these entirely legal, in no way evasive
yet cryptic clues to the airplane's true history.
Sometimes the fraud (and that's what it is) is intentional. In
discussions with numerous people buying airplanes it's amazing how
many times airplanes that have gear-up landings or runway overruns
or hangar-collision or even up-to-the-window-frames flooding
revealed in their past-when the airplane was advertised and
purchased as having "no damage history".
Undocumented repairs
Even worse, in my
opinion, is an airplane that has improperly or completely
undocumented repairs. A mechanic opens it up for a prepurchase
inspection (or more commonly, the new owner's first annual) and
finds repairs that don't appear in the logbook, or using methods
and materials that aren't called out for by the manufacturer, and
Airworthiness Directives, or standard industry practice. Recovery
from undocumented or improper repairs may be extremely costly, and
the mechanic or inspector that finds has no legal or ethical choice
but to decline to sign off the airplane as airworthy until it is
re-repaired.
Damage history
All that in mind, and given the average age of airplanes today
(well over 30 years), I personally would feel more comfortable with
an airplane with known, documented damage, with properly performed
and approved repairs and a Return to Service statement in the
logbooks. The longer it has flown after repairs (the more time on
the repair itself), the better validation you have that the repair
was done correctly.
Aero-tip of the day: Look closely and
skeptically at aircraft and their logbooks when evaluating an
aircraft to buy. There are a lot of airplanes on the market right
now -- find yourself a good one!