The pre-purchase inspection is the stage at which a transaction is either confirmed, renegotiated or abandoned. Economising here produces costs many times its price. Below we cover how the scope is agreed, what it costs, what is found and who pays for what.
What is examined
A typical inspection scope covers the condition of the airframe, engines, systems and avionics, along with a careful review of the logbooks and all maintenance records. The service centre then issues a report listing discrepancies.
Documentation matters no less than the physical examination. Continuity of records from the factory to the present, consistency of hours and cycles across airframe and engines, compliance with airworthiness directives and the history of recent inspections are all verified. Gaps in the records are among the most serious findings.
Industry specialists identify four categories with the greatest impact on value: damage history, modifications and alterations, equipment discrepancies and corrosion. Each can either reduce the price or stop the deal.
Who chooses the service centre
The key requirement is independence. The inspection is performed by a centre unconnected to the seller: even an excellent shop that has maintained the aircraft for years is in a conflict of interest, since it would effectively be checking its own work.
The second criterion is specialisation in the type. A centre that works regularly with the model knows its characteristic weak points and finds what a general shop would miss. Choosing a facility purely for proximity to the aircraft is a false economy.
The third element is a three-party agreement between buyer, seller and service centre setting out responsibilities and communication lines for the duration of the inspection. Without it the process becomes more complicated than it needs to be.
What it costs and how long it takes
Cost depends on aircraft class and depth of inspection. Industry benchmarks: turboprops and light jets around $10,000–25,000, midsize and super-midsize $20,000–40,000, heavy and long-range $30,000–75,000 and above. Engine borescope, oil analysis and non-destructive testing are often quoted separately.
Timing: a light jet completes inspection in five to seven working days, a large-cabin aircraft can take up to three weeks. Allow margin: when a discrepancy is found the centre may need to investigate further, source parts or consult the manufacturer's technical support.
An important proportion: the inspection invoice is rarely the transaction's main financial issue. The larger sums arise in rectifying findings and in upcoming engine life events, which the inspection helps to forecast.
Scope as a negotiation
Interests collide here. The seller wants a minimal scope: the less is opened, the less is found. The buyer wants the maximum: the more is found, the stronger the grounds to reduce the price or require rectification.
So the scope is fixed in the agreement before work begins rather than discussed along the way. The buyer is entitled to define their own scope beyond the centre's recommendation. Removal and refitting of access panels, acceptance flights and the crew and fuel costs for them are agreed separately.
Another point often overlooked: when and in what form the inspection results are passed to the seller. The buyer pays for the work and usually controls disclosure of findings, but the arrangement must be agreed before the start, not after.
Who pays for what
The general rule: the buyer pays for the inspection, since it protects the buyer's decision. The seller must make the aircraft available and normally covers the ferry flight to the service centre.
Findings fall into two categories. Airworthiness-limiting items are rectified by the seller at their own cost, since they are obliged to deliver an airworthy aircraft. Non-airworthiness items — cabin and paint cosmetics, fair wear and tear — are a matter for agreement.
There is a distinct grey zone: tyres at the limit, a battery near end of life, hoses that are old but still serviceable. Formally the aircraft is airworthy; in practice the cost falls to the buyer soon after. These items are negotiated longest, and they are precisely why the agreement is drafted in advance.
If neither party accepts an item, it remains open. Once the agreed items are corrected the work order is closed, invoices are issued, and the transaction moves to completion.
What to do with the results
A sensible way to work through the report: first isolate everything affecting airworthiness, then divide the rest into material and cosmetic, then rank by rectification cost and aircraft downtime.
Three decisions then follow: accept the aircraft as is, renegotiate the price, or withdraw. If the agreement sets out in advance what happens on material findings, the third option does not cost the deposit.
Inspection and life events
A further value of the inspection is forecasting upcoming costs. The report shows how much remains before the next heavy maintenance checks and engine life events, and those are sums comparable to part of the aircraft's value.
A practical negotiating point: if little remains before an engine overhaul, the buyer is entitled to reflect that in the price even where the aircraft is fully airworthy. Formally there is no defect; economically the cost falls to the new owner within a foreseeable horizon.
The status of hourly engine and airframe programmes is checked here too: an aircraft with active transferable coverage is worth noticeably more than a comparable one without, since the buyer gets a predictable budget instead of an unknown sum.
The main red flag
A seller refusing to permit a reasonable inspection is the least ambiguous signal in the whole transaction. A bona fide seller of a well-maintained aircraft does not object to a professional inspection at the buyer's expense.
The second warning sign is compressed timing under artificial pressure: close before year-end, before quarter-end, 'or there is another buyer'. Compressing the process reduces the inspection scope, which is exactly what a bad-faith party seeks.
The third is incomplete logbooks. Gaps in records reduce value by tens of percent and make the aircraft difficult to finance, since a lender cannot verify its history.
Inspection from the seller's side
An inspection benefits the seller too, even though the buyer pays. An aircraft with a recent inspection and closed findings sells faster and at a smaller discount: the buyer sees confirmed condition rather than a promise.
Some sellers run their own preliminary check before listing, to clear obvious findings in advance. That removes some negotiating arguments and shortens the transaction.
The opposite approach — a seller who knows of material defects and hopes they will not be found — usually fails: findings surface, trust is lost, and the deal either collapses or proceeds at a heavy discount.
The acceptance flight
Beyond the ground inspection the scope often includes an acceptance flight: the aircraft is flown to check systems under operating conditions, since some faults appear only under load and cannot be assessed on the ramp. Engines across power settings, avionics, cabin pressurisation and controls are all checked.
The cost of that flight is a separate contract item: who pays for fuel, crew and preparing the aircraft. The same applies to ferrying the aircraft to the service centre and back. The phrase 'acceptance flight included' without specifying scope and who bears the cost regularly leads to disputes.
Technical acceptance
Contracts usually include a technical acceptance deadline — the point by which the buyer must confirm the aircraft's condition is satisfactory. It runs from receipt of the report and is worth agreeing with margin.
If the deadline passes without objection, the aircraft is deemed accepted in its current condition and findings can no longer be raised. This is one of those details that look uncritical at signing and become decisive on a disputed finding.
How to run the process
The order: fix the scope and cost allocation in the agreement, choose an independent centre specialising in the type, ensure both parties have representatives on site, and wait for the complete report before rectification begins. NBAA publishes material on aircraft transaction structure that helps place the inspection within the wider process.
JetHunter arranges the pre-purchase inspection as part of transaction support: selecting the facility, agreeing the scope in the contract and negotiating on the findings. This is the stage where a specialist's involvement repays its cost more often than any other.
«A seller who will not permit a proper inspection has already answered every question. It is the least ambiguous signal in the whole transaction, and it costs less than any finding.»
— Alexey Mordvintsev, CEO of JetHunter
Author: Alexey Mordvintsev, CEO of JetHunter, President of the Association of Professionals of Executive Aviation Industry (APIDA). Over 14 years in the industry.
