Bill of Sale (Lessons Learned)
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- Category: Quickheads BLOG
- Published: Friday, 15 September 2006 09:39
- Written by Dan Yager
- Hits: 3045
One of the most important things I've learned about buying someone else's airplane, is that the FAA requires an Aircraft Bill of Sale to prove ownership.
A chain of these documents must connect the current owner, all the way back to the aircraft's manufacturer. In the case of an experimantal aircraft like the Q-200, the chain should go back to the original builder. (Who, of course, is the manufacturer.)
As you can guess from the tone of the previous paragraph, I didn't even know what an Aircraft Bill of Sale was when I bought my "project," I just knew that I wanted to own one of these fine airplanes! I assume others have been in a similar situation, and have had to put in some leg work in order to connect themselves to the "chain of ownership" to get their projects registered.
I thought I would create a section of the website here called the "Aircraft Bill of Sale Log" so that others could see the efforts that it could take to get one of them after the purchase. I hope that some will use this section of the website as a cautionary tale. If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't have thought about buying someone else's plane unless I could verify that it came with this important document, and that the current owner could be linked all the way back to the manufacturer.
The Aircraft Bill of Sale also protects both parties in the transaction somewhat. In fact, it would probably have helped me to believe that the seller had at least some confidence in the plane. Then again, I tend to believe that people are generally good by nature. If you don't believe that, then you might want to remind the seller that the document holds them acountable on some level for what happens to you and the plane. 
(Although in reality, I know that's debateable!)
Stay tuned, as I track down more information about the history of my plane, I'l post the information here. If you know any of the people or parties that I mention, and have current contact information for them, please use the Contact Me button to let me know. I could really use some help in tracking it back to the source. Wish me luck. 