IF YOU DON’T work for an MRO, you probably look forward to pre-purchase inspections (PPI) with the same relish as you do annual medicals or dentist appointments.

We are (definitely) not promising that our guide to PPIs will make them any easier, but like dental treatments, things are improving. Engine monitoring improvements are reducing the need for borescopes for example – which is a big win.

Like all transactions, PPIs work best when both sides are prepared to work hard to empathise with each other (which is why there is no room for psychopaths in aviation). No seller wants to pay more when they are selling an aircraft, but no buyer wants to end up with a lemon.

One thing that perhaps could help would be an industry standard PPI specification. But this is probably too ambitious. There has been little appetite to adopt standardised documentation (unlike superyacht sales) and business aviation is all about unique transactions. (Which is why it is more interesting than the commercial aircraft market).

A better solution could be the industry using a different vocabulary. We already have adopted pre-owned rather than second hand. Perhaps we could do the same with corrosion. Stop using the C-word and instead borrow from the art and antique market.

When art dealers are pitching a thousand-year-old bronze antiquity, that is now green, they never talk about corrosion or, even worse, rust. Instead, they mention that it has a beautiful patina (from the Italian word patinato, which comes from plaster being painted to look like stone).

A lot of ultra-high-net-worth aircraft owners also buy art. This means that an aircraft buyer reading a pre-sale report which mentions some signs of ‘patina’ on the landing gear they will be much more relaxed than if it says “corrosion.” It is also worth remembering that most patina on an aircraft can easily be removed and painted over.

CJIQ is always about people, planes and passion. In other features we look at the different routes that Chris Leach at Air Charter Service and Lasse Rungholm at OPMAS have taken in the industry. We see what the people in the market are really thinking and why everyone should be more optimistic about eVTOLs. There is also the sad case of Bryan Sherbacow who shaped today’s sustainable aviation fuel industry.

Thanks so much to everyone who came to CJI Miami 2024 – it was an amazing three days. We are looking forward to travelling around the world with you in 2025 – in London, São Paulo, Dubai, Malta, Singapore, Miami and other places.

By the way, please feel free to take this as a reminder to book an appointment with your dentist or doctor. Check-ups are not fun but, like PPIs, they are important. You can also have dental corrosion. Sorry, that is dental patina.