Originally Posted by Eric_Peterson
So lesson learned - even a pre-buy inspection is no guarantee that you are buying a clean airplane.


In my opinion, a prebuy is not done at the same level of scrutiny/standards as an annual. I don't think a mechanic doing a prebuy will study the logbooks to make sure all ADs were complied with, measuring things to make sure they meet minimum requirements, etc. A prebuy mechanic will just give you his assessment of the plane. A mechanic doing an annual will have to put his mechanic certificate on the line when signing that the plane is airworthy, so he'll be much pickier.

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