Honestly, I don’t know why you’re even considering buying an airplane with $500K in repairs. There are plenty other good deals on good used Cirrus aircraft.
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Adding to Sukumar comment.
If a buyer is new to Cirrus aircraft (doesn’t own or fly one), be careful buying. If a buyer is a first time aircraft buyer, be even more cautious. You just don’t know enough to make good decisions regarding damage and repairs.
Even after owning a plane for 22 years, and having done owner assisted maintenance for 16 years, I would still avoid buying a plane with that much repaired. Additional repairs, if needed, will be super expensive and likely time consuming. Avoid rolling the dice on the first plane.
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All great advice here. Many thanks to you all.
Initially when I was told about the damage I was not told how much damage there actually was. It was not until I investigated the crash and spoke with the repair shop that I realized the extent of the damage.
The broker was confident in the repairs and I was sort of “on the fence” until communicating with all of you, though now I don’t think its worth it…
FWIW the broker advised me that they usually see about a 10% discount for repaired planes.
No hard feelings here. The broker has a job to sell a crashed plane and I have a job to do my own due diligence.
Many thanks for the feedback
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That is a red flag for me. For perspective, a year ago I bought into a partnership on an SR22 that had an extensive rebuild after an off airport landing. After going over the logs, looking at the shops, and talking to the other partners I was very comfortable with the situation, but the biggest thing that gave me comfort may not be the case for the plane you are looking at.
In my case it was a 14 year old plane that had the incident 3 years before I bought into it. Therefore I got a share of a plane that had a complete refurbishment and new engine 3 years ago vs 14 years ago. Additionally I had the data from the 3 years of subsequent annuals and operations (running around 250 hours a year for those three years), and that was really important to me.
If I had looked at this airplane a year after its incident and not three years after the incident, I don’t think that I would have done it because there wouldn’t have been a track record showing whether the rebuilt plane was a) better than the average 14 year old plane because it was rebuilt just 3 years ago, or b) a lemon because it was never again going to be quite right after undergoing a huge amount of work. In this case there was enough evidence suggesting it was “a” and not “b” and so far that seems to be playing out (knock on carbon fiber).
However if the plane you are looking at has very recent damage history and there is no track record yet to indicate if it’s “a” or “b” then that’s a tougher call. Additionally it sounds like you’re buying a much newer aircraft that I was, so the fact that it was recently rebuilt isn’t really a positive in the same way that it would be on a 14 year old aircraft.
Hope this helps and best of luck!
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When my previous SR22T was damaged in a windstorm, the repairs came to $100,000. That included a new left elevator, the left horizontal stabilizer TKS panel, two new windows, and some composite repair and paint. Two independent appraisals agreed that a 10% hit on resale value was appropriate
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If it was a shop that Ross believes in and if he reviewed everything and said it was a solid plane, if they were offering it at a 10% discount, if it was a plane that had everything I wanted in a new one (including color and interior), if they would drop to a 12% discount I would buy it.
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If someone were considering an airplane without that much damage I’d think the diminished value would be significantly higher.
The lack of full disclosure by the broker and/or seller indicates to me that they know the diminished value is much higher.
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Pass on it… so many other choices out there.
Are you permitted to disclose the N number of this aircraft at the time of the incident? It may have been changed as part of the repair.
The plane is currently for sale publicly and the N number has not been changed. I don’t wish to hide any information but I also don’t know if it is appropriate for me to disclose the N number publicly. I just don’t know what’s right or wrong in that regard.
I do not see much down side in posting the number. What you have found should not be hidden. The only negative would be who the broker was that did not fully inform you of the damage and I don’t really see that as a down side.
Think by posting it you can get a lot more useful knowledge from the group and if you pass on the plane maybe you will help the next person if they find this tread.
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