James here again with a tremendously successful company from Central Texas.

This company was in desperate need of light jet with long-range capabilities those two requirements don't always line up together, but there are a few aircraft that can match those variables.

During our first conversation, the buyer made it clear that he wanted to buy a particular aircraft from a specific broker...as the buyer stated, he had done considerable research, and well he had concluded that he knew the exact aircraft he wanted

The next week we travelled out of state to visit the aircraft in question, The second we climbed into the aircraft, which was rather nice; it smelled so bad of cigarette smoke that mine and the buyers' throats immediately began to become irritated.

This would not be the aircraft, and after looking at several other aircraft in this particular broker's inventory that matched the buyer's requirement, he settled on one.

As the representative of the buyer, I set up an independent A & P IA mechanic to accompany me back to the location to review of the aircraft, its maintenance records, a test flight and to sign-off on the plane before moving forward with a comprehensive pre-buy inspection.

We arrived that morning; the logbooks were laid out and we began to review the records, and the maintenance was consistent for the first 25 years of the aircraft.

Then we arrived in the last three years were four specific inspections should have been performed. Well, the checks had been accomplished. However, there was not any indication of any items that were required to be replaced had been replaced from the scheduled inspection which was done; repairs were never done.

When we questioned this, the local maintenance representative had just noted the inspections were completed without ever replacing any parts. This left us with many red flags on the maintenance of this aircraft. We notified the buyer, and we decided to move on and not pursue this aircraft. This particular aircraft is still for sale to this day some four-plus years later.

Subsequently, we did find an aircraft that matched the buyer's mission requirements and was able to put him and his business partner in it, and it is still operating for them consistently.

Could we have completed the deal on the other aircraft? Absolutely, but it could have cost several hundred thousand dollars to get all the maintenance completed.

Due diligence, it pays off.