Engines

Given our aging general aviation fleet —average age now over 30 years — there are bound to be some problems regarding thecondition of an airplane at the time of sale. That’s because some owners are notwilling to put the necessary money into the proper maintenance of the aircraft, whileothers don’t fly enough to ensure that […]

There are many waysto do a prepurchase inspection on used aircraft, and whether the method you choose isright for you depends on the outcome. There are those who say that nothing short of afull-blown annual inspection is the way to go, while others do little more than a cursoryexam. Cursory exam or full-blown annual? Which […]

After you’ve decided on type, size, seating capacity, engine,airframe, mission, performance, and so forth, ad infinitum, you eventually get tothe two final considerations: How much will it cost to buy and how much will it cost tooperate? The first part of this question is beyond the scope of this article, but here’s a goodway to […]

I‘ve had several people call oremail me lately with a “fresh” approach to buying a used aircraft. Because thegood ones are getting harder to find why not take an old dog and refurbish it into ayoung-looking, pristine aircraft? To those who have this “idea” it is just that.They have yet to look into the actual […]

Airplane appraisals are a dimea dozen, right? There are all kinds of methods of evaluating airplanes from appraisalsoftware you can purchase, to “blue books” that supposedly give you the latestprices, to the old throw-the-dart routine. Some of those systems are useful inestablishing a range of value when a buyer is trying to decide if an […]

Over the years, I have beenasked many questions by prospective aircraft buyers about various aspects of the purchaseprocess. Many of these questions reveal the questioner’s lack of knowledge about buyingaircraft, and demonstrate the need for a prospective buyer to learn as much as possibleabout the process before plunging ahead. This article is a collection of […]

I had been flying Beechcraft Barons for about eight years in connection with my business in New Jersey, but when I sold the company and took a job as CEO of a larger company in Florida, the Baron no longer made sense. The places I had to go were too far away and I had […]

The real measure of value of anyconsumer product is the price it sells for. Aircraft are no different. The buyer andseller must agree on a price before a sale can take place, and often the seller has hissights set on the high side while the buyer is looking at the low side. If no agreementcan […]

In the past week I have had twopeople approach me and explain that they wanted to buy twin-engine airplanes that theycould fly for their own business and pleasure then offer them for charter when theyweren’t using them. On the surface it sounds like a great idea, getting some revenue outof the airplane to help offset […]

The typical owner-flown airplaneflies less than 100 hours a year. Since many of the costs of ownership-annual inspections,insurance, hangar, and so forth-are fixed costs that don’t vary with flight time, it’soften difficult to justify the cost of owning an airplane that flies so little. Some pilots want the benefit of owning their own airplane, even […]