[Orv Neisingh]

Above is a photo of what I observed on a students 162F when I arrived to give it the condition inspection prior to beginning his flight training. This owner had recently purchased the helicopter without a pre-purchase inspection and there were so many things wrong with it mechanically that it took a week of working on it to get it airworthy. At $1200 per day for my time, it cost him $8400 plus my travel and lodging just to get the ship ready for flight training. If he had hired someone knowledgeable like Homer or myself to do the pre-purchase inspection, he would have known the condition of the helicopter and could have factored that into the purchase price. 

I have an idea of why the previous owner bent the rod end on the top of the collective control rod, but it was bent and un-airworthy. It was replaced with a new one along with other needed replacement parts that Robin sent to us overnight. From the photo it is obvious that the passenger side of the doghouse was positioned too close to the collective controls during the body alignment. The doghouse lip prevented the collective control rod and rod end to align with the collective fork lever so the builder simply bent the rod end shank to get a better angle as well as hacked away the fiberglass on the doghouse. 

Bending the rod den shank like that can introduce stress cracks leading to eventual break and separation. Imagine what the rotor system on that helicopter would have done had the helicopter been flown and that rod end broke allowing the main rotor blades to go to full pitch and stay there until they stalled. That would have been another lawn dart story for us to learn by.  

You can also see where the doghouse was cut, the raw edge of the fiberglass is rubbing on the soft aluminum control rod. IF that was the only issue, and it is not, the fiberglass would erode the aluminum tube at the contact point weakening it and that eventually could have caused another disaster in flight. 

The hack job on the dog house lip fiberglass is just one indication of the overall build quality of the entire helicopter. There are some really great builds out there and then there are horrible builds that can get someone killed if they try to fly them.

[Sam Oliver]

Scary Indeed!  Anybody considering buying anything other than a certified NEW aircraft should invest in a pre-purchase inspection by an outsider unless they themselves are a highly experienced owner/operator/maintainer of that type aircraft or a certified technician themselves. 

Too many critical systems to just give it a once over tire kick.  And just taking the sellers word on something is another big mistake!

Keep this stuff coming.

[Lyle Swallows]

Sam, you're spot on that even Certified aircraft (unless new from factory) need an experienced eye for a pre-purchase inspection, this should be treated as an inspection and cover everything there is on a 100 hour. sadly there is nothing mandating this and its up to prospective owners to do their due diligence.

a few years ago my company opted to try their hands at an R44. being that we're not a robinson company and have never had one, i was the only one with any Robinson experience. initially my Director of maintenance asked if i wanted to go help with a pre-purchase inspection, after a few months nothing happened, then i hear they've purchased one that he looked at, despite never working on them before... another few months and i'm tasked with ferrying it from George to Alaska in March. the machine is paid for and i'm on a time line now. i was able to give it a decent pre-flight but that doesnt mean removing cowlings, i hate the lack of visual access on R44's.
it was an uneventful flight with only one low fuel light because my accompanying pilot had to pee twice on that long leg, but we had extra fuel on board.

it wasnt until after that flight to alaska and i do the first 100 hour do i find evidence of the ELT having fallen into the driveshaft, banging up the firewall, denting the upper frame member in a hard to see location from preflight, and chunks of yellow plastic ELT case below the fuel tanks, all undisclosed to us.

this was a good deal of a helicopter until we had to replace the upper frame before every flying it for work...

just sharing my experience, sloppy work isnt only done by home builders on experimentals,