Looking to sell my Baron and get back to basics in a Cessna 170B, I visited your site today, and was very impressed. I've been in this business as a professional pilot for 33 years, and am still learnin'!!

About three and a half years ago, while shopping for a twin, I located a Travel-Air in Calif. that seemed to fit the bill. Owned by another professional pilot who cared about maintenance and who had taken care of the bird for many years, I was confident that I'd found my dream plane. Before spending too much time and money on travel (to avoid the ever frequent junk one finds at the end of the expensive trip), I'd begun to request faxes of the last annual, the last engine overhaul, and any logged damage. As the seller and I made final arrangements to get together to close the deal, we came to the question of logbooks.

It seems that all the logs weren't available, which for me, killed the deal. But, he explained, there was an irrefutable explanation. The airline pilot he had bought the plane from had once owned a flight school, and the hangar burned in 1971 at Podunk airport, and all the flight school records were burned up including the aircraft logs. But, he said, the accountant for the school had all the business records at home working on taxes, and the logs were completely re-constructed from invoices. Besides that, the school and it's owner had owned the bird since new, and the chief inspector of the school had been the one to perform all inspections and repairs since new, so, it was a simple matter to accurately and completely re-construct the logs. The seller stated that the first logbook entry he was in possession of, so stated all this, and he was sure I would find everything acceptable. I told him to fax that entry to me as well.

I've become a dubious sort, having been in this business for over 30 years, so I followed up on the story. I got very sneaky, and I called the public library in Podunk, and asked the librarian to research a 1971 hangar fire at the airport. The next day she called me to inform me she would fax me the newspaper article about the hangar fire in hangar #2 which burned up all the local flight schools records, but the planes were safely gotten out of danger. I couldn't believe it, but it seemed to be true. So, just as I was about to break my rules and buy a plane without all the logs, the librarian casually asked, "Why are you interested in that fire?" I explained, and miraculously, she said that her ex-husband was a mechanic who had worked at the flight school that burned. I couldn't believe the coincidence.

She went on to explain that he was now a professor of aviation maintenance technology at a leading tech school in St. Louis. I got his phone number from directory assistance, and called the man, simply to glean whatever other interesting memories he might have of what I was now certain was to become my new dream-plane. He and I had an interesting conversation in which he confirmed the fire, and the fact that the Travel airs had escaped damage. In fact, the school had two Travelairs, and they both had been fine aircraft. "Which one are you buying?", he asked. I told him the tail number. "Funny", he said, "Funny how time plays tricks on one's memory. I now realize I can't even remember the tail nos." I read him his log entry, which had seemed professional and correct.

"That doesn't sound like the way I make my sentences.", he said.

"Do you have a fax machine?", I asked. "Yes." "Then I'll fax this to you", I said.

Now, how many people would have gone this far, I ask you? And how many people would have had the good luck to actually talk to a librarian divorced from the man who made the log entry in question? Is there a God, or what?

In less than ten minutes, the man called me back and said, "That's not MY signature! That's a forgery!!"

When I called the seller back and delivered the bad news, his irate comment was that he was not ABOUT to lower his price! I informed him that I was not trying to induce him to lower his price. I was only informing him I was not interested in his airplane, and that perhaps he might wish to visit with the man from whom he had purchased it, Goodbye.

Caveat Emptor!!

Nearby, there is a small FBO operator who sells the occasional airplane as a sideline. A Delta Airlines captain, who also enjoys recreational flying, had rented from this operator for many years. Finally, he decided to purchase a high performance, single engine craft. Being a busy man, he left most of the details of the purchase up to this broker.

Shortly thereafter, the broker called to tell him he had located exactly the aircraft our pilot was seeking- low time, well equipped, always hangared. His exact words were: "It's a beautiful airplane- everything's in order".

It was not until the closing that our captain noticed that some of the logbooks were missing. He was reassured that they would be delivered later (for some reason or other), and, since he trusted the FBO, went ahead with the purchase. The logs never appeared.

He owned this aircraft for six or seven years, and always maintained it to impeccable standards. When he finally decided to sell, it took him almost two years to do so, in spite of the immaculate condition of the craft. He was finally forced to accept $23,500 for an aircraft worth close to $30,000 (with logs). He, of course, had paid full retail.

We were once offered the opportunity to purchase a lovely Skyhawk: low time airframe, nice radio package, and beautiful paint/interior. The asking price was very reasonable, and the plane appeared to be in good mechanical condition with a low-time engine.

Close examination of the logbooks revealed that the engine had come from another aircraft. Although it was indeed a 150 HP Lycoming engine, this particular Lycoming model had never been approved for installation in this year Skyhawk! We were very fortunate that our pre-purchase mechanic noticed the discrepancy- the aircraft had been through several annuals at a local "shade-tree" shop. Sadly, we called off the deal and informed the owner of the problem. He did not seem as suprised as he should have been, and flew off (in his illegal airplane).

A few weeks later, the same aircraft (with the same engine) showed up on the field in the hands of a new owner. He was a first time buyer, who'd had the pre-purchase done at the same "shade-tree" shop that maintained the aircraft!

He was convinced he'd found a bargain.

The saddest part of this story is that the buyer was a New England aircraft dealer with more than twenty years in the business. He runs a successful flight school, charter operation, and maintenance shop, and if anyone should have known better, it was, well, we'll call him "Mike".

But while Mike is known for his knowledge and experience, he's better known for being somewhat parsimonious. So when he discovered a Mooney Executive for sale at well below wholesale, he couldn't resist the temptation. The Mooney was well equipped, low time, great paint and interior, with all logs- but it was in California. The owner confessed to a two-year old repair to the leading edge wing skins, but it wasn't a major consideration at this price.

With photos in hand, and copies of a few logbook pages, Mike violated one of his own basic rules and bought the aircraft without his usual thorough prepurchase inspection. He sent a pilot to California to ferry the aircraft home, and was pleased with himself when it landed on his ramp. All appeared to be in order, and he had saved hundreds of dollars by skipping the pre-buy. He put the Exec on the market.

It didn't take long for a private buyer to come along- he was as pleased with the aircraft as Mike. But it was during his prepurchase inspection that the ax fell. He had taken the aircraft to a local maintenance shop run by an Airworthiness Inspector, and a man who also knew his Mooneys. There appeared to be only one flaw in the aircraft- the main spar had been bent, broken and repaired! (Considering that Mooneys have a one piece wing, this was totally illegal. In fact, the damage was so severe that the A&I contacted the FAA, who immediately revoked the aircraft's' Airworthiness Certificate!)