I was just curious on what everyone’s opinion is on buying a plane that has had a prop strike? Thanks in advance!
Will
Will,
What exactly happened? What power was the engine developing at the time of the strike? Was there an engine teardown/inspection? Who accomplished it? Was the engine replaced? How long ago did it happen?
All those questions and more would need to be answered prior to answering your question.
Will,
The engine has to be torn down, and I am sure that the prop was replaced…However, I would talk to the shop that tore down the engine to see what they found. If there is nothing out of the ordinary and the logs look OK otherwise, I would move forward…just my opinion…
I had the pleasure to have a prop-strike repaired on a previous airplane. The engine had only 200 hours and I was concerned about the reliability of the plane after the crankshaft inspection. I got interesting feedback from my local rental FBO. They said they often had problems with new Continental engines, but never had a problem with an engine rebuilt by our local service center (Air West, SQL). I had previously noted that our other fine regional service center Top Gun Aviation contacted Air West when they had a particularly sticky engine issue. So I was very confident in the teardown-inspection by Air West, and the engine ran as good as new afterwards.
Bottom line is I think the quality of the engine after the inspection depends on the quality of the shop doing the work, so that’s the point I’d investigate.
Personally, I would require a strong financial concession from the seller if I were to purchase an aircraft with a prop strike. Additionally - you could conduct a search on the subject - including the archives, where the subject was discussed in depth about 4 months ago.
The following posts have a lot of good advice. I had bought a plane that had suffered a prop strike, and if the teardown/inspection/rebuild is done well, there should be no difference in the plane, but here are a few points to consider:
Many will consider a prop strike Damage History. As far as I know there is no universal definition of Damage History, so a buyer will certainly be tougher than the seller. I think Scot Prinz posted a suggestion of a price concession, and I think that is probably warranted - especially due to your increased level of due diligence on the pre-buy.
A plane that I previously owned had a prop strike. before buying it, I ran the logbooks by Lycoming, the engine manufacturer. Their comments were that the work was thorough and it was too bad that another $1,000 wasn’t spent for it would have been an overhaul. HOWEVER, the plane had hidden and unlogged damage. To the best of my forensic abilities, it is now my belief that when the prop strike happened, the wing also struck the ground and had some internal damage that was not visible, even through the inspection panels. My best guess is that the plane was run off the runway into a ditch. The unreported damage was discovered during a repair for a bird strike. The point here is to fully understand all the damage that may have occurred and have the plane very thoroughly inspected. In the case for a Cirrus, if the pilot had a prop strike, probably from PIOs on landing, I would also have the A&P look for evidence of a tail strike. BTW, that engine had over 2600 hours on it when I sold it. It was running great and had compressions of 70 on all four cylinders! Although I was very happy with the plane and it served me well for about 12 years, I do feel that I overpaid for the plane. When I sold it, I told the whole story and took my price lumps.
This is clearly a case of caveat emptor. You can get a good deal and a prop strike by itself does not mean you should pass on the plane. Good luck.