AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2016 - 87

P&E

SAVVY MAINTENANCE
Savvy Maintenance coverage sponsored by AIRCRAFT SPRUCE

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OPINION

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What does 'airworthy' mean?
The definition of this ubiquitous
term depends on the context
BY MIKE BUSCH

A BIT OVER TWO YEARS AGO, a fellow I'll call "Bob"
bought a 10-year-old Cirrus SR22 from another fellow I'll call "Sam." Prior to the purchase, Bob had a
very thorough prepurchase inspection performed by
an independent A&P/IA, who gave the airplane a clean
bill of health. This prebuy was so comprehensive that
it would have qualified as an annual inspection, but for
some reason the IA signed it off as a 100-hour inspection instead. As a result, Bob wound up having the
airplane annualed just a few months later when the
prior annual inspection expired.
The annual was performed at a large, well-known
Cirrus Authorized Service Center-the same service center that had performed the previous annual
inspection on the airplane. So Bob was floored when
the shop reported that all six cylinders had head cracks
in the vicinity of the top spark plug holes. The shop
assured Bob that Continental Motors would replace
the cracked cylinders at no cost, although Bob would
be on the hook for the several thousand dollars of labor
involved in doing the top overhaul.
Once the six cylinders were removed, the shop
had more bad news: It reported that the camshaft was
"worn and pitted," and informed Bob the engine would
need to be removed from the airplane and sent to an
engine shop for a teardown and cam replacement, at
an estimated cost of close to $20,000.
Bob was in shock, but approved the engine removal
and repair. Then things got worse: The engine shop
reported that during nondestructive testing, the crankshaft was found to have a small crack and would need
to be replaced. By now, Bob's faith in the engine was
seriously shaken, and although it was only at about 40
percent of TBO, Bob elected to have the engine shop
perform a full major overhaul to the tune of nearly
$50,000.

Reeling from these unexpected expenses, Bob
decided to sue Sam for selling him a lemon, hoping
to recover most or all of the unexpected expenses
incurred only a few months into Bob's tenure as an
aircraft owner. After lots of legal bills on both sides and
nearly two years in court, the two parties approached
me and asked if I would serve as an independent expert
and help resolve the matter.
Under normal circumstances, Bob would have no
recourse against Sam because used GA aircraft typically are offered for sale on an "as is, caveat emptor"
basis with the burden on the buyer to perform a prebuy
and determine whether the aircraft is airworthy and
acceptable. Indeed, Bob had commissioned a thorough
prebuy with the scope and detail of an annual inspection (although it wasn't logged as an annual) before
closing the deal with Sam.
But in this case, Sam made a big mistake: He
signed a written purchase/sale agreement with Bob
that, way down in the fine print at the bottom of
page two, stated: "The aircraft...is being sold in an
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2016
