So a little background. Midlife crisis and now I am a low-time SEL pilot that completed training in late 2008. Almost done with SES, but this is for fun, not a specific mission.

I am looking to purchase a truck with wings for my mission. I have a potential victim identified. I have used AOPA’s website to develop an aircraft value.

The plane has had some damage history (nose wheel sheared off in taxi accident) repaired several years ago. What, if any, would one expect to see as a discount applied to a valuation for damage history?

(This should be interesting; Sellers on one side, Buyers on the other please.)

Use that as another lesson, don't get a plane with a nose wheel!

With wrecked cars, you can straighten the frame, but the result is a weaker frame than was originally in place. A buddy of mine bought a car that was a rebuilt wreck. He hit a small pothole with his front tire, and it collapsed the control arm, brought the tire back through the fender, and his windshield shattered.

With wrecked certified planes, you have to make them airworthy, and the astonishing shortcuts they make for a cosmetic repair in the automotive repair industry should never happen. (A possible exception could be experimentals.) A plane repaired by an A&P mechanic should be as good as it was before it was damaged.

Now, there is a chance that something will be overlooked, or something is a little out of kilter and will require further adjustments, etc. So, I think there is definitely a reduction in value on a freshly repaired plane. However, if it's been in service for years without any problems, then I say it's a proven repair and there is no reduction in value. That's just an opinion. The only thing I know about planes is that everything costs more than I can afford.

An old, salty mechanic once told me " airplanes are built by hand, rivet by rivet, bolt by bolt....they aren't built by robots. When an airplane is damaged...you drill out the rivets and remove the bolts, replace the bent peices, good as new " I know there's more to it than that, but it is true.

Damage on my 40 yr. old plane came from a botched landing in 1971. When I look inside the wings, the replacement parts, skins and ribs, look better than the surrounding originals!! I'm not sure it effects the value any??? There are millions of repairs out there that have never been documented either. Stuff happens.

You ever seen an entry for hail damage in a logbook?

As mentioned above, there should be checks and balances in aviation to prevent shoddy repairs which I think generally is the case.

Just my .02

loose rule-of-thumb on damage: The older the damage the less it matters.

A sheered-off-nosewheel that happened just a few hours ago would probably need a big discount, but if the airplane has 1000 hrs on it since the damage then maybe not so much...

anyone that believes aircraft logbooks has a serious gulibility problem. inspect inspect inspect before purchase

Largely depends on the airplane, age and inspection. Need more info to even be close.

It's called a pre-purchase inspection by a trusted IA complete with logbooks and list of 337's..the paper work, the logbooks, and the inspection must match! Saved my butt a couple of time when I was trying to buy my first plane.
HC

Double Diamond Bar,
Personally I agree with those that have stated not to worry about old damage history. I doubt there are many of these older planes that haven't been damaged at one time or another. LOTS of things don't get put in log books. I have looked at several planes in the last few years that have spotless NDH listed in there ads/log books but in actuallity I have known these planes or pervious owners and know that damage has occured. Some of it major damage that isn't anotated. One that I was looking at had the landing gear ripped off and a prop strike.....the guy is trying to say that it has NEVER had any damage. Everyone in the area knows of the damage and he is still presistent in trying to get top dollar and insists it is a NDH plane.
Where in MN are you? I have a decent 172 I am selling if interested.
WW

Cessna 182B always hangared. As If

I remember that I chalanged a guy on this forum cus he said his plane was alway hangared. I was called a bad name.

Tim

My old 172 had been "Destroyed" once when a guy had an engine out. He landed on a road, hit a fence post and then flipped it over in a ditch. I could never see anything wrong with it and the fuselage was straight as an arrow. Logs never mentioned how it became airworthy again. It flew beautifully and both me and the guy who owned it before me learned to fly in it. I have bounced that plane hard more than once and it never show any signs of weakness.

When I was looking at 175's, I went to California to see one that had "No Damage". That plane had wrinkles in the fuselage, patches in strange places and you could see that one of the landing gear had come back and bent the sheet metal behind the gear leg. That guy started getting pissed when I started asking how this damage happened. I think I could have called his wife ugly and got a better response.

Any way, I agree with what has been said before. Have it inspected and as one old guy told me, "are you buying a plane or logbooks?"

I just wanted to add, look everywhere and compare the plane to all the others like it for sale. You will know what it is worth and what it is worth to you. Use the damage as a bargaining tool but bottom line is, if it is the plane you want, and the price is right, buy it.

What everyone has said, I have found to be true. If your flying truck is a 182, they are known to have a weak nosewheel and you have to fly them accordingly. The one I had for seventeen years, had a crinkle, but was repaired with no problems (it did not show up in the logs). Good airplanes. Try to find a taildragger that has not had a loop or two, very difficult. When looking for 185's a few years ago, it was almost impossible to find one that had not had some damage, ground loops, sunk, you name it, but they were still good planes. To me, damage should not be a deal breaker, most are repaired properly and in my opinion (for the most part) should be as good as new. I would guess the mechanics on board here, will confirm that. Steve

Your right about the inspection. If properly repaired it will be invisible. If patched it will show. Especially if properly painted.
The company I am working for is trying to sell some aircraft and has run into trouble because they can not produce paperwork for visible repairs even if the repair is very old.

A proper inspection will require a borescope for looking inside horizontal stabilizers, vertical fins, gear boxs etc.

A proper inspection will eclipse an annual and be expensive and time consuming.

Oh what the heck, just buy it and take it home.

SixTwoLeemer wrote:.................
You ever seen an entry for hail damage in a logbook? .....

No, and for a good reason: damage doesn't require a logbook entry, repairing of damage does.

Removal of the nosewheel always increases the true value of a plane. However, it appears as though yours was replaced so unfortunately it is now worth a lot less;)

But seriously: I buy airplanes that have had some "damage history". These are pretty old airplanes. I have a 1969 Cessna and its the most modern out of 5 aircraft that I have owned and its 41 years since new. I have had tube and fabric airplanes with ground loops and wing tips ripped off. Be most careful of propstrikes. A little damage history that has well documented repairs and that was repaired correctly should not prevent you from buying a plane. Use it to your advantage when negotiating a price.

BTW, I didnt call you a prick QMDV. I jsut hoped I didn't turn into one too after buying a Cessna;) Unforunately, I have.