Still shopping...recently asked an aircraft broker about a planes usage history as it pertained to Piper SB #886. The answer I got from the broker was how would anyone know how a prior owner used the plane? I asked the local maintenance shop about SB #886; never heard of it; but proceeded to tell be a local story of how a old Mooney with wooden wings resulted in 4 fatalities (2 guys and 2 girls in their late teens/early 20s) when the 21 year old PIC performed a low pass and encountered an in flight wing separation as he pulled up. NTSB reports lists one of the causes as (C) MAINTENANCE,MAJOR REPAIR - IMPROPER - OTHER PERSON and (F) MAINTENANCE,ANNUAL INSPECTION - INADEQUATE - OTHER MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL as a factor.
So is there a source that list every owner an airplane has ever had; would think the FAA has this information. But like the broker said; this wouldn't necessarily indicate how the plane was used, how many rough landings the plane has had or how many times its been subjected to extreme G loadings. A low time plane might indicate no flight training and no pipeline/powerline patrolling but its still an unknown in my book.
Seems like they need to come up with a hobbs type device that tracks cumulative airframe stress.
I also found where a wing repair where the maintenance crew failed to install a rear wing attachment bolts and caused a plane to break apart in flight when it encountered turbulence (flutter?).
So its seems like one of those damned if you do damned if you don't kind of things. Makes you want to be on-site during the wing install and go behind the maintenance guy checking every bolt and its torque measurement yourself.
My take on things is that if you buy an unknown aircraft; the wings need to come off for inspection. But in reality; I doubt if anyone ever has this inspection done and are playing the odds.
So is there a source that list every owner an airplane has ever had; would think the FAA has this information. But like the broker said; this wouldn't necessarily indicate how the plane was used, how many rough landings the plane has had or how many times its been subjected to extreme G loadings. A low time plane might indicate no flight training and no pipeline/powerline patrolling but its still an unknown in my book.
Seems like they need to come up with a hobbs type device that tracks cumulative airframe stress.
I also found where a wing repair where the maintenance crew failed to install a rear wing attachment bolts and caused a plane to break apart in flight when it encountered turbulence (flutter?).
So its seems like one of those damned if you do damned if you don't kind of things. Makes you want to be on-site during the wing install and go behind the maintenance guy checking every bolt and its torque measurement yourself.
My take on things is that if you buy an unknown aircraft; the wings need to come off for inspection. But in reality; I doubt if anyone ever has this inspection done and are playing the odds.
