We break down the two major components that face scrutiny during every pre-purchase inspection
When purchasing an aircraft, a thorough pre-purchase inspection (PPI) is a critical step to ensure the investment is sound and the craft is airworthy.
No two PPIs look exactly the same, since we tailor the process to each unique airframe. But there are two essential aspects that are carried to varying degrees on every PPI: an aircraft logbook review and engine inspection.
Together, these two steps provide a detailed look at the aircraft’s history and current condition. They help anticipate upcoming maintenance and give your investment plan a more realistic idea of future costs.
Here’s what these processes involve and how to navigate them efficiently. Contact our maintenance experts to learn more about pre-purchase inspections.
Logbook Review
Reviewing an aircraft’s logbooks is like reading its autobiography. It gives mechanics the whole picture of its maintenance history and can help identify any red flags that might affect the craft’s airworthiness or value.
This review covers the airframe’s inspection status, life-limited components status, compliance with airworthiness directives and service bulletins, as well as a review of any damage history and major repairs and alterations.
We ensure that any alterations made to the craft — from avionics repairs to engine overhauls — have been documented and properly certified.
First-time customers may not know that they are responsible for arriving at the PPI with the logbooks. (In the past, we’ve had a few instances where a customer just arrives with the airframe.)
One major piece of advice we give buyers about logbook reviews is that digitized documentation makes the process go much faster. We can begin working on the logbook review even before the aircraft arrives at our facility.
If these records are not digitized, you need to physically cart them in or we can send someone to the location of the aircraft records. (No one ever wants to pay to post this many documents.)
Digital records, especially when they are well organized, can shave days off a standard PPI review.
Engine Inspection
The engine is the most essential and most expensive component of your aircraft. Naturally, it should face the most detailed scrutiny during your PPI.
The health of your engine is critical to the success of your investment. It’s the last component you’d want to require unexpected repairs because that cost might put your asset financially underwater.
This is why we think a borescope review is crucial to every jet inspection. To begin the inspection, we insert a small camera into the engine to take stock of its hard-to-reach components. We check the turbine blades, combustion chambers, and cylinder walls for evidence of damage, corrosion, or wear that could indicate future repairs.
We can also complete a power assurance run, which is a test that verifies the engine is producing the required amount of power. This typically involves taking an aircraft out, running the engine at a high-power setting, monitoring critical parameters and checking them against established standards. These measures include internal turbine temperature, compressor rotor speed, and exhaust gas temperature.
It’s crucial to engage a certified expert like Global MX for this work. You don’t want to have any lingering questions about the quality of your engine inspection. Our personnel are Gulfstream factory-trained and taxi run qualified. We complete all our engine work to the manufacturer’s certified standards.
As part of the logbook review, we’ll also take a detailed look at the engine’s maintenance history. We verify the time since overhaul and the status of other life-limited components nearing their overhaul or replacement intervals. Our goal is to ensure you won’t be surprised about any maintenance requirements when you take ownership.
Learn more about PPIs: Our process — The Basics — Examples of Different PPIs — Customizing Your PPI