About a year and a half ago I bought a 1/5th share of a 172. I did the full
AOPA liens/records search and looked at the most recent annual and that was
it. My CFI had known the plane and several of the owners for close to ten
years, and they all struck me as very trustworthy characters. So taken
together I did not feel it was necessary. The fact that any repair bill was
going to be split 5 ways played a big role in that decision. Also the fact
that it was a 172- other than the engine there just aren't that many things
that will swallow your wallet. I would do a full pre-buy on anything in a
2-way partnership, and on any complex bird with fewer than 4 partners.

So far my experience has been fine. I doubt the pre-buy would have caught
any of the problems that have come up so far, and it probably wouldn't have
saved me any money anyway.

-cwk.

"Chris" wrote in message
...
Gang,

I am planning to buy into an existing partnership. Should I be less
vigilant during prebuy than when buing a plane by myself? - maybe no,
but I would like to listen to some arguments.

Thanks
Chris