How to buy and sell aircraft and parts safely

Aircraft and parts often change hands between people who have never met, for large sums, by bank transfer. Most losses come from a handful of tricks: fake proof of payment, money sent to the wrong account, a seller who doesn't own what they're selling, or an aircraft that can't legally fly once it's yours. A few checks stop nearly all of them.

1. Check the seller is the owner

SACAA keeps the South African Civil Aircraft Register, which records the holder of each aircraft's certificate of registration, their contact details, the aircraft's type, model and serial number, and its registration marks.¹ Ask to see the certificate of registration and the seller's identity document, and check that the names, registration and serial number all match the aircraft in front of you.

Aircraft can be bought on finance, and the regulations set out how a financier can take back an aircraft and transfer it.² Ask whether there's any finance on it, and make sure it's settled as part of the sale.

2. See it, and have it inspected

• Go and see it. Don't pay for an aircraft or an expensive part you haven't seen, from someone you haven't met.
• Read the logbooks and maintenance records, and check the documents that let it fly are current: a certificate of airworthiness, or for a non-type-certified aircraft an authority to fly, which has an annual currency fee.⁴
• Get an independent pre-purchase inspection from an approved maintenance organisation rated for that kind of aircraft, not one chosen by the seller. Find one in the maintenance directory.
• For parts, ask for the part's paperwork and history, and ask your maintenance organisation whether they can fit it before you buy.

3. Transfer the ownership properly

When an aircraft is sold, the seller must notify SACAA within 30 days, and the buyer must apply to register it in their name within 30 days.² The seller's certificate of registration stops being valid from the 31st day after the transfer, and from then no one may use the aircraft until it's registered to the new owner.² Agree in writing who does the paperwork and by when, and don't plan the ferry flight until the new registration is through.

4. Pay safely

• Selling? Wait for cleared money. Criminals send convincing proof of payment, collect the goods and are gone before you notice the money never arrived. Check with your bank that a payment is real, and wait for it to clear, before you hand anything over. The same goes for an "accidental" overpayment followed by an urgent refund request.³
• Buying? Pay the owner, not a stranger. SABRIC warns of sellers who ask for the money to go into someone else's account "so it clears faster". That person can be charged with money laundering, and you've paid a criminal.³
• Too good to be true usually is. An unusually cheap aircraft or part, an urgent story and pressure to pay now are the classic signs.³
• Consider escrow for big amounts. In an escrow arrangement the buyer's money is held by a third party until the buyer has received and accepted what they bought, then released to the seller. TradeSafe, a South African escrow service, describes exactly this for an aeroplane sale.⁵ Sonowe Fly isn't connected to TradeSafe or any payment service, and takes no payments.
• Never pay a deposit to someone you haven't met.

5. Training is a target too

SACAA warns that students have paid fake "approved" flight and cabin crew training organisations, often lured by promises of airline jobs, and that it can't help people who've been scammed.⁶ Check any school on SACAA's portal first: see how to choose a flight school.

If it goes wrong

1. Call your bank's fraud line at once. SABRIC publishes every bank's number.⁷
2. Open a case at your nearest police station and keep the case number.⁷
3. Report the listing or the person on Sonowe Fly with the Report button, so we can remove it and warn others.

Selling? List it on the Marketplace. Can't find a part? Ask us to help.