Buying An Aircraft? Don’t Forget To Consider The Avionics
You’ve found your perfect aircraft, right price, right condition, now what’s your next step? Our suggestion – take the time to really look closely at the avionics. Obviously what’s installed in your potential new aircrafts panel can play a big part in the price being asked, and for that reason it really is worth making sure your pre-purchase inspection also includes a trip to an avionics shop.
Presumably you’ve already tried all the avionics yourself and as far as you can tell all appears to be working correctly, but it’s advisable to look a little closer and get the advice of an expert just to be sure. Why you might ask? Well, firstly an avionics professional has the proper equipment to be able to test your equipment, and this can tell you if your instrumentation is a few degrees off, is out of tolerances or requires updating. They can also tell you if your equipment is the subject of manufacturer AD, service bulletin or software update. All of this attention before you purchase the aircraft could save you a large repair bill in the near future.
An avionics shop can also advise if the installed equipment is obsolete and/or how easy repairs will be to facilitate based on availability of replacement parts.
Most aircraft avionic inspections should take about 2 – 3 hours and will include a written report on each unit and the aircraft avionic systems as a whole. Costs are usually a few hundred dollars, but that’s money well spent as it could end up saving you thousands.
Questions To Ask Yourself
- Is this equipment working correctly?
- Is this equipment appropriate for the type of flying I intend to do e.g if you want to become IFR trained does the aircraft have 2 radio’s and 2 navigators? What about a Marker Beacon receiver?
- Does this aircraft, with this avionics suite, meet both my requirements as a pilot and the aircrafts capabilities?
For more information on our avionics pre-purchase inspections please contact us at our main office number (541) 488-1964.
