Before you get the totally wrong impression I must admit to a life long admiration of the boys and girls that fly aircraft be they fixed or fling wing types. And yes it’s true I do not hold a pilots licence only those needed to maintain them. However I have over this same lifetime seen far too many instances where the selection of an aircraft has been left solely to the pilot fraternity with sometimes grave results.

To state the obvious there are several stages in this process:

• Determination of need/budget – regardless of whether this is for business or pleasure.

• Type/model selection – use a proven business tool.

• Individual aircraft selection – determine fair market value and always look at more than one aircraft IN DETAIL.

• Actual purchase – OK this one is more a legal/bank thing.

So why am I suggesting that this important task should have a high engineering focus? Well it must also have an extremely strong commercial aspect if it’s to be carried out correctly. Put plainly this is because I sincerely believe, when done correctly, the engineering/commercial aspects need to have the emotional bias taken out of them that all too often one sees pilots applying. 

If you are looking to purchase your first or another aircraft I would like to strongly suggest you consider the following.

If you have the time and enjoy the detail then by all means do these tasks yourself, but beware, without a strong aircraft maintenance background you may still miss some key and costly points.

Don’t just go to your local aircraft sales agency and get a biased opinion (Its normal surely – if I am selling product X then you wouldn’t expect me to tell you product Y is better), use the services of PlaneTorque Australia Pty Ltd. We will have no particular axe to grind and will work closely with you through each stage of this sometimes complex process.