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Have a friend that is looking at a 140 for sale, not a bad price I would say, I believe they were asking 18,000. Problem is some of the log books are missing.

They have the logs from 48 till the 70's but from the 70's to 80's they are missing. Since then the logs have been updated and last annual shows all AD's in compliance.

I have not looked at the plane yet, but am told it is nice and was restored about 10 years ago. My concern would be the lost logs and how much that affects the purchase price.

I told him to contact the FAA and get what they have on CD. Get a good inspection completed by a mechanic.

Anyone ever deal with aircraft with lost logs.

Mark

Mark,

The airplane has been restored since the period of the lost logbooks? Is there information of major engine maintenance since? If so, then I would not worry about the log books missing.

Bill
Grants Pass, Oregon

LuluBelle's logs are not complete (she's a '64). I only have from about 1976 on, (and the CD). The airplane was in good shape (or at least nothing wrong that the logs would have revealed). The price I paid was impacted by the missing logs a bit, but I wasn't too concerned about it. It is more an issue of resale value than anything else, and of course the last thing on my mind when I was buying her, was selling her.

Absolutely the price should be affected by missing logs. Perhaps slightly less so since it sounds like the past 15 - 20 years worth of logs are there (and I assume the airplane has proven itself airworthy and has been flying during this time?)

How much is a tough call. I'll leave that to other experts.