Page 20 - Volume 15 Number 8

MAINTENANCE TIP
Buyer Due Diligence
by Dean Benedict
Due diligence, simply stated, is “examining things or people before buying or employing them.” (macmillanthesaurus.com)
a specific area of the aircraft, in addition to the common inspection items that occur every time. You need all four.
My favorite: “The hot sections were just done 150 (or 50 or 20) hours ago!” Remember, it only takes one bad start to ruin an engine. The term “fresh hots” on an aircraft writeup means nothing. A borescope inspection on each engine is essential in a pre-buy. Do it before the Phase 1-4.
A Broker’s Plea
Recently on an online forum, Chip McClure – a well-known aircraft broker in the King Air community – vented his frustration at buyers foregoing pre-buys. His subject line was “QUIT buying King Airs without a PRE-BUY!” Why would a broker
I’m talking about a prepurchase inspection, aka, the pre-buy. There is a lot of pushback against them, which makes no sense to me. In buying a King Air, you’re going to part with upward of a million dollars (or maybe a mere half-million!). Why risk inheriting an expensive- to-fix problem after spending all that money? Normally, a pre-buy gives the buyer a list of squawks and the seller takes care of the airworthy ones or the buyer passes on the deal. In the case of an “as-is, where-is” deal, you really need to know what you are getting yourself into.
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Rationalizations
Buyers who skip a pre-buy are looking at the price of the aircraft with tunnel vision. They balk at spending an additional $12-15K and rationalize their decision in various ways. I’ve probably heard every excuse there is for skimping or skipping a pre-buy. “It’s got a fresh Phase 1 and 2.” Or “It just came out of a Phase.” That’s nice, but you need all four Phase inspections to completely inspect a King Air. Each Phase includes a portion of the checklist that concentrates on
AUGUST 2021