Buying a plane from Europe??

[redW&blue]

I am looking at getting a piston twin from Europe, the problem is there are no log books. This is a BIG red flag for me, but the seller says they dont have to have aircraft logbooks in europe, just a yearly stamp on a piece of paper to keet it airworthy. Some how I don't believe this, Is he correct in wht he is telling me??

 

[bocefus]

Partly correct, but highly suspect. "Logbooks" are simply the aircraft maintenance and status records, they may be contained in one or several "books", or myriad of other paperwork. What is the country of registry? Most EU and certainly all JAA countries are anal about the maintenance records and go into way more detail than what is common in the US. The export process from the country of registry to the US should take care of documenting and verifying the airworthiness and current maintenance status of the aircraft.

 

[deadstick]

Don't do it!

Foreign and no logs....no thanks!

1) You will never resell it.
2) You will never get it registered here without having all AD's complied with and documentation to back it up.
3) The piston twins in the US are good deals due to the increasing costs of insurance, maintenance, and fuel.
4) Deals that are too good to be true usually are for a reason.

I sell aircraft and have exported several. It's a pain and a hugh risk. Don't fixate on one aircraft. There are hundreds for sale. Don't buy a fixer-upper unless you are an A/P with a ton of free time and even more excess cash. Pay a little more for a better aircraft.

Just my $.02.

Best of luck.

 

[con-pilot]

It can be done. It is not easy and if you do not know what you are doing everything Deadstick said will come true.

Under JAA, I assume that the aircraft in question comes from a JAA country, have the same maintenance requirements as the FAA, mostly.

To import the aircraft in question into the US and to get a C of A you must prove that all SB and AD have been complied with. If the maintenance records are not in English someone will have to translate the records into English. Or you must have an FAA approved maintenance facility do all the the SBs and ADs. As one can see this will take time and money.

Currently in the US it is a buyer's market for piston twins. Therefore I would recommend that you look a little more here in the US.

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me at your convenience.

 

[bocefus]

SB's are not required to be complied with to receive an FAA airworthiness certificate, only AD's and conformance to the type certificate or any supplements. However, since SB compliance is mandatory in most JAA member countries, chances are good that they have been already complied with.

 

[Guitar rocker]

Dont take that plane without any logbooks. No documentation or tracibility is not a good thing. And as someone above mentioned, good luck trying to sell it again if you do buy it.

Seriously, you really wouldnt know if certain parts on that aircraft came off of some beat up chevy or audi in this case. You would have no idea what the history of either engine is. It's too risky.