27 Questions to Ask Before Buying a Used Aircraft

The pre-purchase inspection is only half of your due diligence. The paper records are the other half — and they reveal problems the airframe alone never will.

Airframe history

1. Is there a continuous maintenance record from new?

2. Have any logbooks been replaced or recreated?

3. Is there evidence of damage history?

4. Has the aircraft ever been de-registered?

5. How many owners has it had?

Compliance

6. Is every applicable AD documented with a compliance entry?

7. Are recurring ADs tracked to the next-due interval?

8. Is the ELT battery replacement current?

9. Are the transponder and pitot/static checks current?

10. Is the 100-hour (if commercial use) or annual current?

Engine and propeller

11. How many hours since the last major overhaul?

12. Who performed the overhaul — factory, field, or owner-rebuilt?

13. Is the overhaul logbook included?

14. Has the engine made TBO in its history?

15. What is the service bulletin compliance status?

Equipment

16. Is the equipment list current?

17. Are all installed avionics on the list?

18. Is there an approved weight & balance, dated within the last year?

19. Are 337s present for every major alteration?

Damage and corrosion

20. Any logged damage history?

21. Any evidence of undisclosed damage?

22. Has the aircraft been hangared?

23. Is there a corrosion inspection on file?

The sale itself

24. Is there a clear title?

25. Are there outstanding liens?

26. Is the bill of sale in the seller's legal name?

27. Has the FAA Registry been checked within the last week?

Let AI check the records for you

Upload the seller's records to myaircraft.us. In under an hour the platform produces a records audit — highlighting gaps, undocumented compliance, and inconsistencies — that takes a broker a full day to do by hand.