Pre-buy inspection for a business jet: what it covers and who should carry it out

The pre-buy inspection is the examination of a business jet by a qualified facility, during the transaction and before closing. It establishes the aircraft’s technical condition and airworthiness, identifies the maintenance costs you will inherit, and provides the basis for any renegotiation of the price or terms. For most jets, it takes two to three weeks.

It has sometimes been skipped. According to the specialist publication AvBuyer, writing in July 2024, many cash buyers did without it between 2020 and 2023, when few aircraft were available, and some later found an aircraft that did not match its listing. The market remains tight in 2026, as our guide to buying a pre-owned business jet shows, and the temptation returns.

Our acquisitions work covers the search and the introduction: we search for the business aircraft that meets your brief, then introduce you to its seller. The inspection is then carried out between you and the seller, with the facility and advisers you appoint.

What a pre-buy inspection checks on an aircraft

The inspection first checks that the aircraft and its equipment match the seller’s description. It looks for damage and repairs that affect value or airworthiness, checks that maintenance has followed the manufacturer’s approved programme, and verifies compliance with the rules of the country in which the aircraft will be registered and operated.

The records review runs alongside the physical examination: production, maintenance, inspections, modifications and repairs. It dwells on any period without flying, any period of heavy flying without matching maintenance, and any life-limited part whose traceability is missing. The report should set out the compliance history of every airworthiness directive, the mandatory rules issued to correct an unsafe condition.

The physical examination covers the airframe, the engines and the avionics. From the first levels, it usually includes a borescope inspection of the early engine stages and powered tests. A test flight is usually added, and it is negotiable, because some faults only appear in the air: one at the start of the inspection, another on return to service, before closing. Who flies, when, and who pays for the flight is settled in the purchase agreement.

According to AvBuyer, four factors weigh most on value: damage history, modifications, equipment discrepancies and corrosion.

A recent heavy check is no substitute

Scheduled inspections follow a fixed list and cover only part of the aircraft. A recent heavy check at a reputable facility can reduce the scope of the pre-buy inspection, but not remove it. Age is no exemption either: a recent aircraft is worth more, so each fault costs more, and some may still fall under the manufacturer’s warranty.

Inspection levels and how long they take

Names vary from one provider to the next; the gradation does not. AvBuyer described it in July 2024: a condition survey, combining a detailed records review with a visual inspection, suits an aircraft fresh from a heavy check; the next levels add borescope work and testing, then more thorough examinations when the last heavy check was several months ago. At those levels, each party often appoints a technical representative on site.

One major facility publishes its own schedule, updated in July 2026: 5 to 16 days of downtime for the physical inspection, depending on the level and the aircraft type, and up to 20 working days for its most complete records review. Allow two to three weeks between the aircraft’s arrival and the report, longer if the findings call for work.

The task list is built for the aircraft, from the facility’s own and, where one exists, the manufacturer’s; your technical representative adds any tasks they consider necessary. If the aircraft is to join the register of an EU member state, it should in principle also undergo an airworthiness review on import, as required under EASA rules: it would make sense to allow for this in the scope of the inspection, and the question is one for the facility.

Who carries it out: a facility independent of the seller

Buyer and seller agree on the facility, and that agreement is written into the letter of intent. It is in your interest to ask for a third-party facility rather than the seller’s usual maintenance provider: one with no history with the aircraft, no relationship with the seller, and experience of the model. A lender quoted by AvBuyer gives the reason: a fresh pair of eyes sees what the current owner and their mechanic have already seen, discussed and accepted.

There is one exception: if the aircraft is still under the manufacturer’s warranty, the parties may agree on a facility the manufacturer has approved, so that repairs fall within the warranty.

To follow the inspection and read the report, it is in your interest to be represented by a technical adviser who represents you alone. That adviser coordinates the seller, the seller’s broker if there is one, and the facility. If the purchase is financed, the lenders interviewed by AvBuyer in 2024 generally make the inspection a condition of the loan; it remains advisable for a cash purchase.

The cost of the inspection generally falls to you, including positioning the aircraft to the facility. As an order of magnitude, commercial pages from American facilities and operators, consulted in October 2026, refer to a few tens of thousands of dollars for a light or midsize jet, more for a heavy jet, excluding positioning and rectification.

The findings: what the seller corrects, what is negotiated

A pre-owned aircraft has faults, and the inspection will find them. The seller should expect airworthiness items; you should expect wear outside the scope of the contract that you will want dealt with all the same.

Unless otherwise agreed, airworthiness items, those that must be corrected for the aircraft to fly, fall to the seller. Discrepancies that do not affect airworthiness, such as exterior or interior cosmetics and normal wear, may remain yours. According to an American business aviation adviser, cabin systems are more than cosmetic: entertainment, window shades and galley form part of the aircraft’s certification, their parts sometimes become obsolete, and a fault found during the inspection is normally the seller’s responsibility. The contract prevails.

Everything depends on the contract. What counts as a fault to be corrected, and the seller’s commitment to correct it, are defined between the parties before the inspection: your protection is written at that point, not after the report. The findings are then settled in one of four ways:

• a price reduction matching the cost of repairs;
• repairs carried out by the seller before closing;
• a sum held in escrow for repairs after closing;
• withdrawal from the transaction, if the contract allows it.

AvBuyer reported in July 2024 the case of a delaminated windscreen, only just within limits, which cost in the region of US$300,000 to resolve.

Engine programmes: the question to settle before closing

An hourly engine maintenance programme charges the owner a rate per engine hour. Depending on the level of cover, it pays for overhauls, inspections and unscheduled repairs to the engine and its accessories. One American broker puts it this way: the market treats an aircraft whose engines are on a programme as having engines at mid-time, which removes engine uncertainty from the valuation.

As a rule, the cover passes to the new owner. One major engine manufacturer said so in 2019, adding that in 2018 it had recorded more transfers than new enrolments, 370 against 350. The transfer is never automatic, however: not every programme allows it, fees apply, and an engine that has left a programme can only rejoin it by paying a buy-in, made up of the unpaid hours, often at the current rate, and a commitment over a set term.

The deferred payment trap

Several providers allow part of that buy-in to be deferred until the next major maintenance event, a hot section inspection or an overhaul, and then paid at the rate in force at that time. According to the same broker, writing in April 2024, one engine manufacturer requires the deferred balance to be settled at the closing of the sale; with another provider, it stays with the aircraft, and the obligation passes to you. The broker cites a deferral taken out in 2020 that grew by more than 40 per cent in four years as rates rose. These terms may have changed since, and are checked with each provider.

The questions are put to the seller and checked by your advisers before closing:

• are the engines and the auxiliary power unit on a programme, which one, and at what level of cover?
• is the account up to date?
• is there a deferred payment, and does it stay with the aircraft or is it settled on sale?
• what are the transfer fees?
• has the cover ever lapsed?

The records review answers part of this: low utilisation, or a period on the ground without preservation to the manufacturer’s instructions, can affect the cover.

Conclusion

A pre-buy inspection is prepared before it takes place. The facility, the scope of the examination, the definition of a fault and the treatment of the findings are written into the letter of intent and the purchase agreement; the report then decides the price, the repairs or the withdrawal.

We present the aircraft with the records the seller provides, and the facility you appoint receives them before the inspection. The steps around it, from the letter of intent to delivery, are set out in our guide to buying a pre-owned business jet.