Jim Weir wrote in message . ..
That's about the furthest thing from the truth I've ever seen in these
newsgroups. A prebuy is a DOZEN times harder than an annual inspection. All an
annual inspection tells you is that nothing on the airplane is worn past service
limits at the time of the inspection.

snipped for length, not content

Heh. Having done waaay mor than fair share of pre-buy's, the best
definition of a pre-buy was the one my old boss (FBO owner, ATP-rated,
designated flight examiner, line pilot, AP/IA, new/used broker) gave
to my wife.

I was in the next hangar "inspecting" with the seller, the seller's
broker, the prospective buyer, and the prospective buyer's broker.

"Where's my husband?"

"He's next door taking it in the ass."

Pre-buy's suck, there is no formal definition under the FAR, and to do
a proper one (as you indicate) takes an incredible amount of time,
depending on the age/condition of the plane & maintenance records
being inspected.

Another "selling" broker's comment-

"I've never had anyone take two days to do a pre-buy on a single"

My response-

"Don't come back"

Have had quite a few where the aircraft, by definition, was
unairworthy (9 times out of 10 due to paperwork issues). As a
technician/inspector, my only "legal" recourse is of course to inform
the pilot/operator, and walk away.

My all-time favorites are ships recently brought back into the States.
Plus the ones that have had recent blank-check periodic inspections
from so-called "premier" make/model specific maintenance facilities
and are absolute pieces of (insert excrement of choice). Bonanza's and
Mooney's tend to fall into that category, sorry to say.

Regards;

TC