Narrative:

My coworker; who is also a flight instructor; and I were tasked with repositioning of a purchased aircraft from the seller's airport to our home base airport. After departure from our airport; we drove for 5 hours to the aircraft's location. Upon our arrival the aircraft was just coming out of an annual inspection maintenance; the logbook entries were being made as we entered the maintenance shop. At the maintenance hangar the mechanic and the seller briefed us on the aircraft status. They assured us that the aircraft was in airworthy condition. Aside from the cosmetic items; they mentioned one discrepancy (a gap between the flap bracket and the rib); though did not pronounce the discrepancy as an airworthiness issue. As the cowlings were being installed on the aircraft; my coworker and I proceeded to do a thorough preflight inspection; including the check of all required aircraft documents. We did not find any problems during the preflight. At that time the inspector who was completing the annual inspection logbook entries; came up; introduced himself; and I proceeded to review the aircraft logbooks and ad reports. All logbooks including airframe; engines and propellers had the inspector's sign-off certifying the aircraft as airworthy. Ad report was completed; including the disposition of various ads pertaining to the aircraft. After that we accepted the aircraft; and taxied across the airport to get fuel. At the fuel pump we noticed a significant oil leak on right engine. The mechanics returned and ended up working on the airplane for 3-4 hours to fix the leak. By the time they were done it was well after dark. My coworker and I then took off and flew uneventfully to our destination. Next day our company maintenance inspector inspected the airplane and announced it as unairworthy. He found multiple significant issues such as missed ads; hidden damage on the inside of the wing and some signs of previous damage on outside of the wing. This report troubled me and my coworker a great deal; because we were given a supposedly airworthy aircraft and ended up flying over inhospitable terrain at night in an airworthy aircraft. Some of the contributing factors were the external pressure on the mechanics to get the airplane out; and on us to accept it and fly it out because we would be stuck at that airport overnight without a car; fatigue from an early start that affected our decision making; and the delay due to the oil leak repair which sidetracked us and prevented us from inspecting the aircraft more closely. Lessons learned from this trip is to not give in to pressure to accept an aircraft and take more time for a more in-depth preflight inspection; also not to depart in an unfamiliar aircraft at night but to carry on to the next day.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PA-44 pilot reported unknowingly flying an unairworthy aircraft that had just been released from Maintenance as airworthy.

Narrative: My coworker; who is also a flight instructor; and I were tasked with repositioning of a purchased aircraft from the seller's airport to our home base airport. After departure from our airport; we drove for 5 hours to the aircraft's location. Upon our arrival the aircraft was just coming out of an annual inspection maintenance; the logbook entries were being made as we entered the maintenance shop. At the maintenance hangar the mechanic and the seller briefed us on the aircraft status. They assured us that the aircraft was in airworthy condition. Aside from the cosmetic items; they mentioned one discrepancy (a gap between the flap bracket and the rib); though did not pronounce the discrepancy as an airworthiness issue. As the cowlings were being installed on the aircraft; my coworker and I proceeded to do a thorough preflight inspection; including the check of all required aircraft documents. We did not find any problems during the preflight. At that time the Inspector who was completing the annual inspection logbook entries; came up; introduced himself; and I proceeded to review the aircraft logbooks and AD reports. All logbooks including airframe; engines and propellers had the Inspector's sign-off certifying the aircraft as airworthy. AD report was completed; including the disposition of various ADs pertaining to the aircraft. After that we accepted the aircraft; and taxied across the airport to get fuel. At the fuel pump we noticed a significant oil leak on right engine. The mechanics returned and ended up working on the airplane for 3-4 hours to fix the leak. By the time they were done it was well after dark. My coworker and I then took off and flew uneventfully to our destination. Next day our company Maintenance Inspector inspected the airplane and announced it as unairworthy. He found multiple significant issues such as missed ADs; hidden damage on the inside of the wing and some signs of previous damage on outside of the wing. This report troubled me and my coworker a great deal; because we were given a supposedly airworthy aircraft and ended up flying over inhospitable terrain at night in an airworthy aircraft. Some of the contributing factors were the external pressure on the mechanics to get the airplane out; and on us to accept it and fly it out because we would be stuck at that airport overnight without a car; fatigue from an early start that affected our decision making; and the delay due to the oil leak repair which sidetracked us and prevented us from inspecting the aircraft more closely. Lessons learned from this trip is to not give in to pressure to accept an aircraft and take more time for a more in-depth preflight inspection; also not to depart in an unfamiliar aircraft at night but to carry on to the next day.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.