Congratulations on the find, Tim!
...The annual inspection requires the logbooks be signed off, so any downing discrepancies will need to be repaired first. Many owners don't realize that annual inspection and repair are two separate processes. You can have the aircraft inspected without having any repairs made. If no downing discrepancies are found, the aircraft should still be signed off, and remaining discrepancies reported to the owner for later repair.
[NOTE: The repairs required after an annual inspection can be done by another mechanic (who may have less expensive rates or more expertise in a particular area) or even by a non-mechanic under a mechanics direct supervision (such as owner assist). After completion of repairs to the original inspector's satisfaction, the annual is signed off in the logs by that mechanic/inspector ...]
Carl,
Good post but I disagree with one thing you said. If during the annual inspection the IA finds the aircraft unairworthy and the owner elects not to have the discrepancy(ies) immediately rectified, the IA writes in the appropriate logs that he completed an annual inspection, found the aircraft unairworthy, and furnished the owner with a written list of the discrepancies. The owner can have a mechanic (appropriately rated of course but does not need to have IA) of his choosing correct the discrepancies and sign the return to service for each. Once the list of grounding discrepancies have been fixed, the airplane is good to go without the original IA (or any IA) ever seeing the airplane again or writing another return to service entry in the log. It sounds rather weird, but that's the way it is (at least I'd be willing to bet you a beer it is). Most owners (at least me for one) would not want to have an "unairworthy" logbook entry or have to deal with a ferry permit if the airplane needed to be moved before the entry was cleared, so I would just have the IA fix it if possible. We just covered this in an A&P course I am taking.
