Hi folks, the following is a sad tale with regards to some of the more unscrupulous people in aviation out there.
Long story short, I've bought 4 plus aircraft (and assorted props, instruments etc) from alot of different people. I used to get inspections, and paper work before sending money and I was never burned. I have developped a faith in the aviation community over the years and I've stopped getting inspections and paper etc. first... well I've finally been burned.
What I'm looking for is some advise so that 1. these people cannot do this to others and 2. maybe I can get some money back.. who knows.
Long story short, nice C150 on barnstormers, fresh annual, fresh paint, blah blah, comps all over 70's. all logs are up to date and paperwork is in order. 17,900.00. So, we exchange lots of pictures, we are assured everything works and is on the up an up. We settle on a final price of 16,500, (includes a 2 hours ferry flight). We arrange to meet in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan where we look at the paperwork, lots of 337's etc missing, but we're assured they've been forgotten and will be forwarded. We give the balance of the money (fella insisted we wire 9000.00 as a deposit b4 he would fly anywhere) and fly away home (Ottawa, Ontario).
The fun is about to begin, it takes over a month to get all the records from the FAA (they were updating stuff cause the old owner had sent in some new records at the last minute). We find out, that this aircraft has been damaged not once but twice (we were told there was no damage history), a wing and the firewall has been replaced. The aircraft logs have all kinds of entries for equipment and cylinders, annuals etc... since 2000... not one stc, 337 or field approval at the FAA. The are numerous examples of out and out misrepresentation. The compressions are not all over 70, they are 78, 68, 54 and 38. this is after having flown the aircraft roughly 10 hours since the last annual, and most of that was us flying it home. We've replaced the engine.
Is this not fraud? How can an IA get away with records like this? At the best, really poor record keeping, at its worst, falsfying aviation documents.
Can I send the logs to the FAA and have this guys license suspended? How about the FBI for mail fraud (he required that we wire him money)
Bottom line, I should have had a pre-buy, I know, I know.. see my preamble.. It will never happen again. But How do I prevent this kind of thing from happening to someone else?
thanks for letting me vent
Mike
Long story short, I've bought 4 plus aircraft (and assorted props, instruments etc) from alot of different people. I used to get inspections, and paper work before sending money and I was never burned. I have developped a faith in the aviation community over the years and I've stopped getting inspections and paper etc. first... well I've finally been burned.
What I'm looking for is some advise so that 1. these people cannot do this to others and 2. maybe I can get some money back.. who knows.
Long story short, nice C150 on barnstormers, fresh annual, fresh paint, blah blah, comps all over 70's. all logs are up to date and paperwork is in order. 17,900.00. So, we exchange lots of pictures, we are assured everything works and is on the up an up. We settle on a final price of 16,500, (includes a 2 hours ferry flight). We arrange to meet in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan where we look at the paperwork, lots of 337's etc missing, but we're assured they've been forgotten and will be forwarded. We give the balance of the money (fella insisted we wire 9000.00 as a deposit b4 he would fly anywhere) and fly away home (Ottawa, Ontario).
The fun is about to begin, it takes over a month to get all the records from the FAA (they were updating stuff cause the old owner had sent in some new records at the last minute). We find out, that this aircraft has been damaged not once but twice (we were told there was no damage history), a wing and the firewall has been replaced. The aircraft logs have all kinds of entries for equipment and cylinders, annuals etc... since 2000... not one stc, 337 or field approval at the FAA. The are numerous examples of out and out misrepresentation. The compressions are not all over 70, they are 78, 68, 54 and 38. this is after having flown the aircraft roughly 10 hours since the last annual, and most of that was us flying it home. We've replaced the engine.
Is this not fraud? How can an IA get away with records like this? At the best, really poor record keeping, at its worst, falsfying aviation documents.
Can I send the logs to the FAA and have this guys license suspended? How about the FBI for mail fraud (he required that we wire him money)
Bottom line, I should have had a pre-buy, I know, I know.. see my preamble.. It will never happen again. But How do I prevent this kind of thing from happening to someone else?
thanks for letting me vent
Mike
