"BTIZ" writes:

best way I can think of would be to look at the aircraft maintenance logs,
granted repairs could be made and not entered.. and unscrupulous thing but
it happens.

Of course. But you can look up an N number on NTSB before you ever get
to meet the owner - saves time. Of course if an accident was never
reported, NTSB won't have it either.

also, a title search company may also get all of the accident reports or
form 337s filed on that aircraft. They should also be able to track N#
changes, as well as reporting a clean title.

AOPA offers this service to it's members.

I'm a member, and I've been thinking about using that service. I'm
not entirely sure what they do that a mortal can't. Do they have
access to some government databases that are not available to the
public?

Also, do you know how long it takes for them to do their search?

Ari.

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