7 hours ago
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,
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,