I recently looked at a C150K that was in very good condition. This plane had a make-over in '94 including, paint, engine, interior, etc. It was advertised at having no damage history. I believe the owner was genuine when he gave me this info. To protect the innocent I will not give names or numbers.
I was going to make an offer on it, but when I did a tail number search I noticed it had a minor fender bender in '70. Seems a student bumped a Bell 47. Not a big deal in my eyes, as I actually expected to find something on 35 year old plane.
The big problem was a second entry that made reference to inflight structural failure, main spar cap broken, buckled airlerons, and buckled wing skins. When I looked at the plane, before I even saw the NTSB report, I looked at the "lines" of the wing looking for damage, rivets replaced, etc., but I saw nothing.
After my initial viewing I told the owner about the NTSB reports. He looked at his records and gave me the name of the mechanic that did the work. I believe this mechanic was IA also. I found his number, called him up and he admitted that he swapped the wing on this plane with one from another plane. I said there was no reference to this in the log book. He stated that it was possible that he didn't consider this a big enough issue to make an entry...?
Correct me if I am wrong, but if you have to make an entry for an oil change, shouldn't a wing swap ring some bells?
Now, to me this seems to be a clear case of fraud. I have decided not to purchase this plane because of the obvious resale problems. What recourse does the owner have? What does everyone think about this?
I have just joined this site and the information that I have learned has MORE than save me the $25 membership!
Thanks,
Tim Hynes
