The Pre-Buy Inspection: What Most Buyers Get Wrong

Why the Pre-Buy Is Your Most Important Decision

A pre-buy inspection is the independent evaluation of an aircraft's condition before a purchase transaction of an aircraft's condition before a purchase transaction closes. It typically includes a physical inspection of the airframe, engines, avionics, interior, and records review. For a midsize to heavy jet, a thorough pre-buy costs $25,000-$75,000 and takes 5-10 business days.

That cost is a fraction of what a missed discrepancy will cost you after closing. An engine hot section inspection can run $500,000-$1.2 million. A corrosion repair that was painted over can cost $200,000+ and ground the aircraft for months. A records gap that voids the aircraft's airworthiness status can take six figures and six months to resolve.

The pre-buy is not a formality. It is the mechanism that protects your capital. Treat it accordingly.

The 5 Most Common Mistakes

1. Letting the Seller Choose the Facility

The seller has a relationship with their preferred maintenance facility. That relationship may or may not serve your interests. A facility that depends on the seller for ongoing business has an incentive to minimize findings. As the buyer, you should select or approve the inspection facility independently.

2. Skipping the Borescope

A borescope inspection examines the internal components of the engine, including turbine blades, combustion liners, and compressor sections, using a fiber-optic camera. It is the most revealing inspection short of disassembling the engine. Some buyers skip it to save $3,000-$5,000 per engine. That is a catastrophically poor trade-off on an engine worth $1-3 million. If you are selling an aircraft, know that any buyer's inspector will check this.

3. Treating the Records Review as Clerical

Aircraft records are legal documents that establish the aircraft's airworthiness history. Gaps, missing entries, or unsigned work orders can indicate unreported damage, unauthorized repairs, or compliance issues. A records review should be conducted by someone who understands what they are reading. Our advisory team can recommend qualified reviewers who understands what they are reading, not a junior technician checking boxes.

4. Not Attending the Inspection

You or your management company representative

You or your representative should be present during the inspection, particularly during the borescope results review and the final findings meeting. Photographs and reports do not capture context. Being present allows you to ask questions, prioritize concerns, and make real-time decisions about deal-breakers.

5. Ignoring Cosmetic Items

A worn interior or faded paint are not safety issues, but they are negotiating points and capital expenses. An interior refurbishment on a heavy jet runs $500,000-$1.5 million. Exterior paint costs $75,000-$200,000. Factor these into your offer, not as afterthoughts.

What a Proper Pre-Buy Covers

A comprehensive pre-buy inspection includes:

• Airframe: External skin condition, control surfaces, landing gear, hydraulic systems, fuel system, pressurization system. Looking for corrosion, damage history, and wear.
• Engines: Borescope of hot and cold sections, oil analysis, trend monitoring data review, engine log review, time since overhaul or hot section.
• Avionics: Functional check of all navigation, communication, and display systems. Compliance with ADS-B, RVSM, FANS, and other mandate requirements.
• Interior: Condition of seats, carpet, sidewalls, galley, lavatory, entertainment systems. Assessment of remaining useful life.
• Records: Complete review of all logbooks, maintenance tracking, AD compliance, SB compliance, weight and balance, and registration documents.
• Operational test: Engine run, pressurization check, and in some cases a test flight to evaluate systems under operational conditions.

Choosing the Right Facility

The ideal pre-buy facility is:

• Type-experienced: They should regularly maintain the specific aircraft model. A Gulfstream service center is better equipped to inspect a G550 than a general aviation shop.
• Independent: The facility should not have a financial relationship with the seller that could influence their findings.
• Transparent: They should provide detailed, itemized findings with photographs, part numbers, and cost estimates for each discrepancy.
• OEM-authorized: For most business jets, an OEM-authorized service center (Gulfstream, Bombardier, Dassault, Textron) provides the highest level of type expertise and access to technical data.

Records Review: The Paper Trail

The records review is as important as the physical inspection. Key items to verify:

• Total time and cycles: Confirm the aircraft's total airframe hours and landing cycles against the engine and component logs. Discrepancies indicate problems.
• AD compliance: Every applicable Airworthiness Directive must be documented as complied with, including method of compliance and date.
• Damage history: Look for 337 forms (Major Repair and Alteration) that indicate prior damage repairs. Not all damage history is disqualifying, but undisclosed damage history is.
• Maintenance tracking: Modern aircraft use computerized tracking programs. Verify that the tracking is current and that upcoming scheduled maintenance events are accurately reflected.

When to Walk Away

Not every pre-buy finding is a deal-breaker. Normal wear items are negotiating points, not reasons to terminate. However, certain findings should end the transaction:

• Undisclosed damage history: If the seller represented a clean history and the inspection reveals prior damage repairs, trust is broken.
• Records gaps: Missing logbooks or maintenance entries that cannot be reconstructed create airworthiness uncertainty.
• Engine issues beyond normal wear: Hot section distress, bearing wear, or oil consumption outside limits indicate near-term capital expenditure.
• Corrosion beyond cosmetic: Structural corrosion, particularly in pressurized sections, can require repairs that exceed the aircraft's market value.
• Seller unwillingness to negotiate: If the seller refuses to address legitimate discrepancies or adjust the price accordingly, they are not negotiating in good faith.