You’re Ready to Sell your Cirrus. Now What?
Hello Fellow Pilots and Owners,
One of the biggest parts of any aircraft sale, and one that can create some unexpected surprises for a seller, is the pre-purchase evaluation (PPE).
I’ve spent a lot of years on both sides of this process: maintaining Cirrus aircraft and helping owners buy and sell them. One thing I’ve learned is that many of the issues we uncover during a PPE could have been identified, and often corrected, before the airplane ever went under contract.
And it starts with the logbooks.
During a records review, there are several areas we pay particular attention to:
• Damage history and previous repairs
• Airworthiness Directives
• Mandatory Cirrus Service Bulletins
• Chapter 4 Airworthiness Limitations
• Chapter 5 Time Limits and Maintenance Checks
• Inspections and maintenance required by the FARs
• Proper documentation of major repairs, alterations, and component changes
These are some of the most common areas where we find discrepancies. Sometimes they’re minor. Sometimes they’re not. Either way, discovering them after you have a buyer and an airplane sitting in a shop can slow down a transaction in a hurry.
Let’s start with damage history.
This is probably one of the most misunderstood, and overused, terms in aircraft sales.
Is a prop strike automatically damage history? Not necessarily.
If the engine and propeller were properly inspected, repaired, overhauled, or replaced following the event, I want to know what else happened. Was the nose landing gear damaged or replaced? Was there firewall damage? Was there a structural repair documented on an FAA Form 337? Was a Cirrus Field Repair Authorization (FRA) required?
Those details tell the real story. If the engine and propeller were replaced with a rebuilt, new or overhauled component, there is no longer any damage that needs to be considered. Even if there was a propeller strike or sudden stoppage inspection completed by a certificated repaired station that specializes in those inspections, there would not be any damage present in the component.
The same goes for a tail strike. If the logbooks document a tail-strike inspection and no damage was found and no repairs were required, I generally wouldn’t characterize that airplane as having damage history.
And then there’s cosmetic damage.
A replaced fairing, repaired wheel pant, or some hangar rash doesn’t automatically make an airplane a “damage-history airplane.” You have to understand the circumstances.
I recently reviewed the logbooks of a Cirrus that had the elevators and ailerons replaced, along with some repainting of the fuselage. At first glance, you might think, “What happened to this airplane?”
So we dug into it.
It turned out that Cirrus had completed the work under warranty. There had apparently been an issue with the original paint preparation process and/or materials that allowed corrosion to develop early in the aircraft’s life. Cirrus stepped up, replaced the affected components, completed the necessary paint work, and documented everything using approved maintenance procedures.
Someone quickly scanning the logbooks might see replaced flight controls and paint work and assume damage history… it wasn’t. It was actually an example of great factory support, and that’s exactly why context matters.
You have to understand what happened, what was repaired, why it was repaired, how the work was accomplished and documented, and whether any of it has a meaningful impact on the aircraft’s value or marketability.
More importantly, I’d rather figure all of that out before we put the airplane in front of a buyer.
A clean PPE keeps a transaction moving. A surprise during a PPE can quickly become a negotiation point, or give a buyer a reason to walk away.
Next up: We’ll take a closer look at Airworthiness Directives, Cirrus Mandatory Service Bulletins, and some of the records issues we commonly uncover when preparing a Cirrus for sale.
Thinking about selling your Cirrus? Give me a call. I’m always happy to take a look at your airplane, review the records, talk about the current market, and help you put together a plan.
Blue skies,
Mac Little
Cirrus SR Specialist