Questions to Ask When Buying a Plane
For pilots buying a used light aircraft, a first one especially, whether it is a two-seat trainer or a family four-seater. The questions follow the purchase in order: the first call, the logbooks, the engine and propeller, the avionics, the pre-buy inspection and title, and the cost of keeping it. Most are for the seller or broker, some are for the mechanic you hire, and a few are for an insurance broker and your home airport.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
First call
How long have you owned the plane, and why is it for sale now?
Why ask it
A long ownership with a plain reason, such as moving up to a faster type or giving up flying, is easy to check against the logbooks. Someone selling after a year or less should have a story that holds together, so ask what they learned about the plane once it was theirs.
How many hours has it flown in each of the last three years?
Why ask it
Steady flying is kinder to an airplane than sitting. A piston engine left idle for months can corrode inside where nobody sees it, so a year with almost no hours deserves a follow-up about how the engine was preserved. Check the figures against the dated entries in the logs.
Where has it been based, and was it kept in a hangar or tied down outside?
Why ask it
Years outdoors show in the paint, the windows, the seals and the radios, and salt air near a coast makes corrosion the first thing your mechanic hunts for. Ask about every base the plane has had, since the wear belongs to the airframe and stays when the owner moves.
What is the total time on the airframe, and which meter do the logbooks follow?
Why ask it
Some logbooks follow the tachometer and some a separate hour meter, and the two drift apart over the years. A replaced meter should have an entry carrying the old reading forward. A total that cannot be traced from one entry to the next is worth less than the same figure with an unbroken trail, and the price should say so.
What kind of flying has it done: private trips, a flight school, rental, towing or something else?
Why ask it
Training and rental time means many more landings for each hour flown, which is hard on landing gear, brakes and engine mounts. That does not rule a plane out, and school aircraft are often inspected more frequently than private ones. It tells the mechanic where to look first.
Is it a certified factory-built aircraft, or an experimental, kit-built or light sport one?
Why ask it
The category on the airworthiness certificate decides who may maintain and modify the plane, what it may be used for, and how insurers and lenders look at it, and each country draws those lines differently. For a kit-built plane, ask who built it, how many hours that builder flew it, and whether the build records come with the sale.
Who has maintained it, and may I call them?
Why ask it
One shop over many years means one person who knows where this particular airframe is weak. Ask that mechanic what they have been recommending that the owner put off. A seller who would prefer you did not call has told you something.
What on the plane is not working, or has been deferred, right now?
Why ask it
Request the open squawk list in writing before you travel. A placarded radio, a fuel gauge that reads wrong or a weeping strut is normal on an older aircraft; the point is to learn of it from the seller and not from the inspection. Each item becomes a line in the price discussion.
Are you the owner or a broker, and have you seen the plane and its logbooks in person?
Why ask it
A broker may be working from the owner's description and a set of photos. Find out who they represent, who pays them, and whether what they tell you comes from the logs or from someone's memory. Anything the decision rests on should reach you in writing from the owner.
What is the asking price based on: recent sales, a valuation guide or an appraisal?
Why ask it
Prices for one model spread widely with engine time, avionics and damage history, so a seller who can show how they reached the number is easier to deal with than one who picked it. Bring two or three comparable listings of your own. Leave the haggling until the inspection report is in; this call is only to learn how firm the figure is.
What is included in the price: covers, tow bar, spare parts, manuals and headsets?
Why ask it
Loose equipment has a way of leaving before the handover, so have the list written into the agreement. Check too that the flight manual, the equipment list and the weight and balance record are with the plane, and ask which documents have to be carried on board where it is registered.
Logbooks
Are the airframe, engine and propeller logbooks original and complete from new, and can you send scans before I travel?
Why ask it
Reading the logs at home costs nothing and can save an airfare. Missing books lower what a plane is worth and make every later claim harder to prove, so pin down which years are gone and how the record was rebuilt. Forward the scans to the mechanic who will inspect it.
Has it ever been damaged: a gear-up or hard landing, a ground loop, a collision on the ramp, hail or flooding?
Why ask it
Name each kind, because 'no damage history' in an advertisement only means none the seller knows of. Old damage that was repaired properly, with paperwork, matters far less than a recent repair nobody wrote down. Follow up with who did the work and where the entry is.
Is every major repair and modification backed by approved paperwork in the logs?
Why ask it
Engine swaps, extra fuel tanks, speed kits and new instruments each need an approval behind them, and the way that is recorded differs by country. An alteration with no paperwork can keep a plane on the ground until someone sorts it out, at your cost once you own it. What the record has to look like depends on the registration, so have it explained for this one before you accept 'it was all approved' from a seller.
Is there an up-to-date list of airworthiness directives showing how and when each one was complied with?
Why ask it
A tidy list with dates, hours and the method used is the mark of a careful shop. Your own mechanic should still research the directives for the airframe, engine, propeller and installed equipment independently and compare the two. A single one missed can leave the plane unairworthy on paper.
Which recurring directives or mandatory inspections fall due in the next year?
Why ask it
Some directives are done once and closed. Others repeat every so many hours or months for as long as the plane flies, so get the labor cost of each repeat and ask whether an approved fix exists that ends it. That figure belongs in your yearly budget.
When was the last annual inspection or airworthiness review, who signed it, and what did it find?
Why ask it
You want the list of discrepancies that came with the sign-off, and what was done about each one. A run of inspections that found nothing on a decades-old airplane deserves a skeptical look. An inspection done by the seller's shop just before the plane was listed does not replace your own.
Where has corrosion been found or treated on this airframe?
Why ask it
Asking where, not whether, gets a better answer on any plane more than a few years old. Each type has its known spots, such as the spar attach points, the tail, the battery box or under the floor, and the type club can say which ones to have opened up. Treated and recorded is fine; painted over is not.
Has it ever been registered in another country, or sat out of service for a long stretch?
Why ask it
An import brings logbooks in another language, different maintenance rules and sometimes modifications that were accepted there and are not where you live. A long gap in the entries raises the matter of what was done to return it to flying. Either way the logbook research takes longer, so allow for extra hours on the pre-buy bill.
When were the hoses, fuel bladders, seat belts and emergency beacon battery last replaced?
Why ask it
Rubber and fabric age by the calendar whether the plane flies or not, and several of these parts carry replacement dates. Old fuel and oil hoses are a cheap fix with an expensive way of failing. Have the dates pointed out to you in the logs.
What is the useful load on the current weight and balance record?
Why ask it
Decades of added radios, soundproofing and paint leave many airplanes heavier than the brochure figure. Ask whether the plane was actually weighed or the number was worked out on paper from each change, then calculate what you can carry with full fuel and the people you really fly with.
Engine and prop
How many hours has the engine run since its last major overhaul, and in what year was that done?
Why ask it
You need both numbers. Manufacturers publish a recommended time between overhauls in hours and usually in years as well, and an engine with few hours spread over a great many years can be in worse condition than a busy one. Price the plane on the life that is realistically left.
Who overhauled the engine, and was it to new limits or service limits?
Why ask it
A factory rebuild, a field overhaul to new limits and one to service limits are different amounts of work behind the same word in an advertisement. Get the work order listing the parts that were replaced, and ask around about the shop named on it: engine shops have reputations, good and bad.
Has any cylinder been pulled or replaced since the overhaul, and what was the reason?
Why ask it
One cylinder changed for a worn exhaust valve is ordinary. Several changed at different times, or a full set early in the engine's life, points to how it has been run or to trouble deeper in the engine. The entries should say why each one came off.
What were the compression readings at the last three inspections?
Why ask it
A single set of numbers says little; the direction across the years says more. One cylinder falling while the rest hold steady is the pattern to raise. Have your mechanic look inside each cylinder with a borescope as well, since readings alone can mislead.
Do you send oil samples for analysis, and what has turned up in the filter?
Why ask it
A run of lab reports is a health record for the engine, and a sudden rise in one metal is the thing to look for. Plenty of well-kept planes have no reports at all, so have a sample taken and the filter cut open during the pre-buy. Put it to the seller directly whether metal has ever been found.
How many hours does it go on a quart of oil, and how often is the oil changed?
Why ask it
An owner who tracks this answers at once. Consumption that has crept up over the past year or two deserves more attention than the figure itself, which varies by engine type. For a plane flown little, check that the oil was changed by the calendar too.
Has the propeller ever struck anything or the engine stopped suddenly, and what inspection was done afterward?
Why ask it
Engine makers publish what has to be inspected after a strike, and it is often a teardown. Look for the entry that describes it and the shop that did it. A new propeller in the logs with no engine inspection entered around the same date is a gap to raise before anything else.
When was the propeller last overhauled, and is it due by the calendar?
Why ask it
Many propellers have an overhaul interval in years as well as hours, and a lightly flown plane reaches the years first. On a constant-speed propeller the governor has its own history to check. Whether the interval binds a private owner depends on where the plane is registered, so find out before you count on it.
How old are the magnetos, alternator, starter, vacuum pump and exhaust system?
Why ask it
Accessories are not always renewed with the engine, and each has its own life. A vacuum pump tends to fail without warning and takes the gyro instruments with it, and a cracked exhaust can let carbon monoxide into the cabin. Get a date and an hour figure for each.
Will you leave the engine cold until I arrive, so I can watch it start?
Why ask it
Put a hand on the cowling before anyone climbs in, to be sure. A cold start shows you the battery, the starter, the priming and how smoothly the engine settles. If the plane is already warm when you get there, come back another morning.
Avionics
What is installed in the panel, and does every unit work in flight today?
Why ask it
Get the model number of each radio, navigator, transponder and display, then look up what each sells for used. Sellers tend to value avionics at what they paid, and the market pays much less for older units. On the demonstration flight, switch on and use every one.
Is it equipped and current for instrument flight, and when were the altimeter, static system and transponder last tested?
Why ask it
These checks expire on a schedule set by the country of registration, so learn what applies and find the dates in the logs. An overdue test is a modest bill. A static system that fails one can turn into a longer hunt for leaks.
Does it have the transponder, position reporting and radios required where I plan to fly?
Why ask it
Requirements differ from one country to the next and sometimes by the airspace around a single airport. Check the rules for where you will fly, and get an installed quote for anything missing before you make an offer. A retrofit is a cost the asking price should already reflect.
Does the autopilot fly every mode it has, and when was it last repaired?
Why ask it
Autopilots are among the costlier things in a light aircraft panel to put right, and parts for older ones can be scarce. Try heading hold, altitude hold and a coupled approach on the test flight, one at a time. 'It worked the last time I used it' means it needs testing.
Which of these avionics does the manufacturer still repair?
Why ask it
When support ends, a failed unit cannot be fixed and has to be replaced, often along with the wiring and the indicator it drives. Call an avionics shop with the model numbers; a few minutes on the phone will tell you which ones are near the end.
Are the navigation databases current, and who holds the subscription?
Why ask it
Subscriptions usually belong to the owner and not to the airplane, so find out what transfers and what you would pay each year to keep the navigator usable for instrument flying. Some older units also need a card reader that is hard to find, which is worth knowing before the first update is due.
Is there an engine monitor, and can I download what it has recorded?
Why ask it
Stored data shows how the engine has really been run: cylinder temperatures in the climb, how it is leaned, any cylinder that behaves differently from the rest. A mechanic or an analysis service can read the file. If there is no monitor, fitting one is a likely early purchase.
Pre-buy and title
Will you agree to a pre-buy inspection by a mechanic I choose, and where can it be done?
Why ask it
The inspector should have no connection to the seller or to the shop that has been maintaining the plane. Settle who flies it there, who pays for the trip and whose insurance covers it. A flat refusal ends most purchases, and should.
If the inspection finds problems, what happens to the price and to my deposit?
Why ask it
Put it in a written purchase agreement before the inspection starts: who pays for airworthiness items, whether you may walk away, and how fast the deposit comes back. Buyers who leave this to a handshake end up arguing over the inspection report.
Can we fly it together, with you as pilot in command?
Why ask it
Insurance usually decides who sits in the left seat, so settle it before the day. In the air, compare climb and cruise against the handbook, let go of the controls to see whether it flies straight, cycle the gear and flaps, and try each radio. Write down the engine temperatures and pressures.
How many of this model have you worked on, and where do they usually go wrong?
Why ask it
This one is for the mechanic you are thinking of hiring. Somebody who knows the type names its weak spots without looking them up and knows which panels to open first. If they have never worked on one, the type club can usually give you a name, even if it means moving the plane.
What exactly will the pre-buy cover, and at what point would it make sense to turn it into a full annual?
Why ask it
A pre-buy has no fixed definition, so get the scope in writing: logbook and directive research, compressions, borescope, corrosion checks, landing gear and flight controls. Some buyers have it continued into a full inspection if nothing serious appears early. Agree beforehand who pays if that happens.
Which findings must be fixed before it flies, which can wait, and which are cosmetic?
Why ask it
Have the mechanic sort the report into those three piles with a rough cost on each. The first pile is what you take back to the seller. The second is your budget for year one.
Knowing what you found, would you buy this plane at this price?
Why ask it
Save it for the end of the mechanic's debrief. Someone who has spent a day inside the airframe has an opinion, and most will give it when asked plainly. If they hesitate, find out what would have to be fixed, or come off the price, for the answer to be yes.
Is the title clear, and will you close through an escrow or title company?
Why ask it
A lien on an aircraft can sit in the record for decades after the loan was paid, and clearing an old one takes time. How ownership and liens are recorded depends on the country of registration, so have a title company or the registry explain what a search there covers. Money held by a third party protects both sides.
Does the name on the registration match whoever will sign the bill of sale?
Why ask it
Planes are often held by a company, a partnership or an estate, and then the right people all have to sign. See the registration early. A mismatch discovered on closing day can hold everything up for weeks.
Are there unpaid bills tied to the plane, such as hangar rent, maintenance or fuel?
Why ask it
In some places a shop or an airport can make a claim against an aircraft for work or rent that was never paid, and it may not show in a quick search. Have the seller state in the agreement that nothing is owed. A title company or a lawyer can explain how such claims work locally.
Cost to own
What have you spent on maintenance in each of the last three years, annual inspection included?
Why ask it
Invoices beat recollection here. The inspection itself is a fairly steady fee for a given type, and the repairs around it are what swing the bill from one year to the next. Three years gives you a range to budget from, and a year far above the others shows what an unlucky one looks like on this plane.
What does it burn per hour at the power setting you actually cruise at, and what speed does that give?
Why ask it
Handbook figures come from a new airplane flown by a test pilot. The owner's own numbers are closer to what you will see, and you can confirm them on the demonstration flight. Multiply by your local fuel price and the hours you expect to fly.
Is there a hangar or tie-down free at the airport where I would keep it, and how long is the waiting list?
Why ask it
Call your own airport before you make an offer. At a busy field the wait for a hangar can be long, and the seller's space rarely comes with the plane. The monthly rent is one of your largest fixed costs, so get the real figure and not a guess.
What would insurance cost for this model with my flying hours, and what training would the insurer want first?
Why ask it
This goes to an aviation insurance broker, and before any offer, because the quote can change which plane you buy. Retractable gear, a tailwheel, more seats or little time in the type can raise the premium sharply or bring a requirement for dual instruction. Find out how the price moves once you have more hours in the plane.
What ratings, endorsements or differences training do I need to fly this model?
Why ask it
The answer depends on your license and the country you fly in, so check it with an instructor or the aviation authority and not the seller. Add the cost and the time of that training to the purchase. Some sellers will include a few hours of familiarization if you raise it during the negotiation.
How much should I set aside per flight hour for the engine and propeller?
Why ask it
Get a current overhaul quote for this engine from an engine shop, then divide it by the hours you can reasonably expect before the work is needed. Put that amount away every hour you fly. With an engine already near its recommended time, the reserve starts on the day you buy, as a lump sum.
What large expenses do you see coming in the next five years?
Why ask it
Paint, interior, fuel tanks, an engine, a panel upgrade: the seller usually knows which is next and may be selling because of it. Put the same question to the pre-buy mechanic and compare the two answers.
How easy are parts for this model to find, and who near my airport will work on it?
Why ask it
Types that are out of production, or built with fabric, wood or an uncommon engine, can wait a long time for a part and for a mechanic willing to take them on. See whether the shop at your home field already looks after one. Owners of the same model are the quickest way to learn which parts are scarce.
What taxes and registration fees will this sale trigger where I live?
Why ask it
Sales or use tax, value added tax, import duty and registration fees vary widely by place and can add up to a large share of the price. Take it to the tax authority or an adviser who handles aircraft before you sign, since where the handover takes place can matter.
How to work through a used aircraft purchase
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you go to see it
Write down what the plane is for
List the trips you will really make: how many seats filled, how far, from what length of runway, in what weather. A plane that suits that list costs less to own than one bought for the single long trip you might take someday, and the list tells you which answers about useful load and speed matter.
Read the logs at your own table
Get scans of every logbook and the directive list before you book travel. Read the last five years closely and skim the rest for gaps, repairs and long idle periods. Many planes that are wrong for you can be ruled out without leaving home.
Call the type club
Most common models have an owners' group with a buyer's guide and members who know the weak points, and many can suggest a mechanic near the seller. An hour with them changes which questions from Logbooks and Engine and prop you lead with.
Settle insurance and parking first
Have an insurance quote for the model and a firm answer on a hangar or tie-down in hand before you offer anything. Either one can undo a purchase after you have already paid for an inspection.
Setting up the pre-buy inspection
Hire someone with no stake in the sale
The seller's mechanic may be excellent, but they are being asked to find fault with their own work and their own customer. Pay an outside shop that knows the type, and send them the scanned logs a few days ahead so the research is done before the plane arrives.
Put the scope and the fee on paper
Say which checks you want, what the fee covers, and what happens if the mechanic finds something that grounds the plane while it is in their hangar. That last point surprises sellers, so all three of you should hear the answer before the cowling comes off.
Be in the hangar if you can
With the inspection panels open you see the inside of your future airplane once, cheaply. A finding shown to you on the airframe is easier to weigh than one described over the phone, and you learn where things are for the day you own it.
Sign the agreement before the inspection
A short purchase agreement names the price, the deposit and who holds it, how airworthiness findings are handled, and your right to withdraw. What such a contract has to contain differs by place, so have someone who handles aircraft sales read it.
Reading what you hear
Low hours are not always good news
An engine with few hours since overhaul and a great many years on the calendar has spent most of its life sitting still. Set hours beside dates every time, for the engine, the propeller and the airframe, and be wary of a plane that flew almost nothing in the years just before it was listed.
'Fresh annual' and 'no damage history'
Both phrases are true as far as they go. The first says an inspector signed the plane off, not how hard they looked; the second covers only what the present owner was told. Treat each as the start of a question in Logbooks, never as the answer to one.
Not knowing versus not showing
A seller who inherited the plane or bought it recently may honestly not know its past, and the logs can speak instead. Refusing scans, a call to the shop or an outside inspection is a different matter, and reason enough to look at the next listing.
A price well under the others
Compare several listings of the same model with similar years and engine time. One priced far below them usually has an engine near the end of its life, missing logs, old damage or a dated panel, and the seller knows which. Say that you noticed and let them tell you what the discount is for.
Adding up a year of ownership
Split the fixed from the hourly
Hangar, insurance, the yearly inspection, database subscriptions and any loan payment come due whether you fly or not. Fuel, oil and the engine reserve rise with each hour. Divide the fixed total by the hours you expect to fly and add the hourly part: that is the figure to compare with anything else.
Hold money back for the first year
The first inspection under a new owner often runs high, because a different shop looks with fresh eyes and you inherit whatever the last owner put off. Keep part of your budget out of the purchase price to meet it.
Set it beside renting or sharing
Put your yearly figure next to what the same hours would cost in a rented plane, or as one of several partners in a shared one. Owning alone seldom wins on money at low hours. What it buys is the plane being there when you want it, and that is a fair thing to pay for with the numbers in front of you.
One page per airplane
Carry the answers from Cost to own onto a single sheet: fixed costs, hourly costs, the engine reserve, and the deferred items with estimates. Do the same for each plane you are weighing. The lower asking price is frequently the more expensive airplane.