Before you buy that airplane, have the logbooks read by a real mechanic.
A used aircraft is only as good as its records. I'm Michael Beckett — an FAA Airframe & Powerplant mechanic with Inspection Authorization — and I'll review the maintenance logbooks for damage history, AD compliance, missing entries, and the airworthiness red flags that cost buyers tens of thousands of dollars. Remote, nationwide, and done before your money is on the line.
The airplane can look perfect and still be a money pit.
Paint and interior are easy to see. What hurts buyers is in the paperwork — and by the time you find it, the check has cleared. A records review finds it while you can still walk away or renegotiate.
Hidden damage history
A patched-over prop strike, a gear-up landing, or major structural repair buried in old entries — history that follows the aircraft forever and guts resale value.
Unresolved ADs
Airworthiness Directives that were never complied with, or aren't being tracked. That's a grounded airplane and a bill waiting for the next owner — you.
Missing records
Gaps in the logbooks or no record of a major overhaul. Missing history means missing value — and questions insurers and lenders will ask too.
A mechanic's eyes on every page of the history.
I read the records the way I'd read them if I were signing off the airplane myself — because that's the standard I hold every logbook to. A typical review covers:
Aircraft history & total times
The full story the records tell — airframe, engine, and prop times, and whether the history is complete and consistent from the day it left the factory.
Damage history
Prop strikes, gear-ups, hard landings, and structural or corrosion repair — the events that follow an aircraft forever and gut its value, even when nobody spelled them out.
Repair types that tell a history
Certain repairs are a window into an aircraft's past. I know which entries matter and what they quietly say about what this airplane has actually been through.
Hours flown per year & has it been sitting
Low total time sounds great — until it's low hours spread over a decade of sitting. I look at how the airplane was actually used, because an engine that sat is a very different buy.
Quality of past maintenance
Was this airplane cared for or just kept legal? The records reveal the difference between meticulous ownership and the bare minimum — and that tells you what you're really buying.
The gotchas experience catches
The things that don't show up on a checklist. After years of hands-on A&P/IA work and owning my own airplane, I see the patterns and red flags a first-time buyer — and plenty of sellers — would walk right past.
Simple, remote, and fast.
No shipping logbooks, no travel. Most reviews are done from scanned records so it works no matter where the airplane sits.
You reach out
Tell me the aircraft — make, model, and where you are in the buying process. Seller or broker provides scans or photos of the logbooks.
I review the records
I go through the airframe, engine, and prop logs page by page, checking history, AD compliance, continuity, and status.
You get the report
A written plain-English summary of findings, red flags, questions for the seller, and how it may affect value — within 2 business days, faster if you need it.
We talk it through
A call to walk the findings and your questions, so you can buy, walk away, or renegotiate with real information.
Aircraft Logbook Review
Independent maintenance-records review by an FAA A&P/IA — before you commit to buying.
- Full review of the aircraft's history and total times
- Damage history & the repair types that reveal it
- Usage & sitting analysis — hours flown per year
- My read on the quality of past maintenance
- Written plain-English findings report + follow-up call
Frequently asked
What's the difference between a logbook review and a pre-buy inspection?
A logbook review examines the paperwork — the documented history and compliance of the aircraft. A pre-purchase inspection is a hands-on physical examination of the airframe and engine. The records review is usually done first: it's remote, fast, and affordable, and it can catch a deal-killer before you spend money traveling for a physical pre-buy. Many buyers do the logbook review, then a physical pre-buy on the airplanes that pass.
Do I have to ship you the actual logbooks?
No. In almost all cases the seller or broker provides scanned copies or clear photos of the maintenance records, and I review them remotely. That's why this works nationwide, wherever the aircraft is located.
What aircraft do you review?
Primarily piston singles and twins — the general-aviation aircraft most buyers are shopping. If you've got something outside that, ask and I'll tell you honestly whether it's in my wheelhouse.
Are you the one selling the airplane?
No — and that's the point. This is an independent review. My job is to tell you what the records actually say, not to close a sale. (I do separately work as an aircraft broker agent, but a logbook-review client's interest is the only interest I represent on that review.)
Will you tell me whether to buy it?
I'll tell you what the records show, what the red flags are, and what questions to put to the seller — so you can make the call with real information. Many buyers use the findings to renegotiate price or ask for issues to be resolved before closing.
Let me run your whole aircraft search.
If you haven't settled on an airplane yet, my acquisition service runs the entire mission — defining what to buy, finding candidates, and reviewing the logbooks on every one (unlimited), all the way to closing. From $5,000.
See the acquisition service →Don't buy an airplane on faith.
Get the logbooks read by an A&P/IA first. It's the cheapest insurance you'll buy in the whole transaction.