We don’t usually keep any helicopters in inventory, but we can locate exactly what you need.  In addition, we can help you with every aspect of the purchase process.  We will help you with the process of evaluating which helicopter is best suited for your needs.  After you make that determination, we can locate all similar models and make a cursory evaluation of each one.  We can conduct inspections and test flights to ensure that the helicopter is as advertised prior to you making a commitment.  We can conduct the pre-buy inspection, title search, maintenance record inspection, and assist you with the actual purchase.  If needed, we can provide you with an appraisal.   

After the purchase is complete, we can ferry your new helicopter back home and train you or your pilot to fly it.

 Helicopter Selection

This is the first and most important factor to consider when deciding to purchase a helicopter.  We will help you locate the right helicopter for your needs, whether those needs are personal or business or a combination of both.  Although there aren’t that many helicopters to choose from, choosing the correct one can make your new purchase an asset which will provide you many years of useful service.  Making the wrong decision can make your helicopter a worthless money pit.

Just because one looks cooler than another should not be the deciding factor.  It should be mission specific.  We can help you formulate exactly what your needs are and help you keep your purchase within your budget.

In order to maintain our objectivity, we are not dealers for any one make of equipment, but we share affiliations with several of the manufacturers.

Cost Analysis

In any business, one of the biggest challenges is knowing exactly how much something actually costs.  The real cost with everything considered.  Over the years, Aerial Patrol has gathered from various sources, as well as personal operational experience, a vast collection of empirical data on which to base computing methods, formulae and constants, to produce very accurate operational costs.  In computing these costs, we consider both fixed and direct operating costs.  Each will be broken down into all the different variables and how each affects the costs.  Then we will provide that information in a simple easy-to-use format.  From the information we provide, you will be able to consider such things as

·         Calendar Costs

·         Cost Per Hour of Operation Based on Varying Yearly Usages

·         Cost Per Passenger Mile

·         Depreciation and Appreciation

·         Projected Escrow Balances for Maintenance Assumptions

With the entire cost package, you will get enough information to accurately project the costs into the future years.  You will have information your accountant will need for tax purposes.  You will be able to analyze the helicopter’s value as an investment.   

Helicopter Locating and Evaluation

Through our network of affiliates, we can get all the specifications and pricing on both new and used helicopters.  We maintain current listings on dozens of used helicopters and have direct access to hundreds of others.  We will evaluate and locate helicopters based on how closely they match our specifications, their price, and their location.     

Due to the incredible number of variables, evaluating a helicopter is a very difficult, complex, and time consuming.  Unlike an automobile or airplane where you only need to consider the year model, mileage or hours, and condition, the helicopter evaluation process considers dozens of factors, sometimes hundreds.  The only accurate and objective method we have ever found is to program these many variables into a computer and allow the computer to analytically compare our choices.  Once the initial programming is completed, plugging in the available machines is relatively simple and straightforward.   

When we’re done crunching the numbers, we will provide you with a spreadsheet listing all the advantages and disadvantages of each individual ship.  Then you can make your decision based on relatively clear and simple information. 

Once you have decided on a ship that best matches your requirements, we’re ready to go take a look at it.  If it’s used, don’t be surprised if we turn it down.  Many helicopters have been abused, or at least well used.  We will use our years of experience to help ensure that you don’t get a lemon, so it often requires looking at several before we find the exact right one for you. 

Pre-Purchase Inspections and Maintenance Record Review

Before you make a sizable investment such as purchasing a new or used helicopter, you need to know exactly what you are getting.  It is tempting to assume that everyone with whom you deal is a reputable operator, but unfortunately, all are not.  Even those that are reputable may not know the whole story on the product they are selling.  Many of the sellers of helicopters are actually brokers and do not actually own the aircraft and have no first-hand knowledge of what they are selling.  The only way to know a "good" helicopter from a "bad" helicopter is to dig deeply into the maintenance records and perform a very through "pre-buy" or "pre-purchase" inspection.  This inspection is different from the standard hourly and annual inspections.  It specifically looks for repaired damage that may or may not be reflected in the logs, for matching part and serial numbers, modifications, in addition to the standard inspection items.

In order to get the most objective report possible, these inspections should never be preformed by the seller, broker, or anyone associated with them.  Assuring that the inspector is unbiased and thorough can be a challenge—often requiring that the aircraft be taken to a different location or inspectors sent to the aircraft’s location.  In some instances, the cost can be several thousand dollars, but it will be the best money you will ever spend.

Title Searches

Prior to the purchase of any aircraft, a thorough title search should be made.  Unlike real estate and other property, aircraft can be bought and often are, without a clean title.  The new buyer assumes all the liability associated with the old encumbered title.  This encumbrance can be in the form of a financial lean, which is the most common, or a more obscure type such as a contract for service.  Title companies are used to dealing primarily with lending institutions and often miss the latter type unless specifically directed to look for them.  Our service will ensure that the best quality and thorough search possible can be made. 

Aircraft Appraisal

In order to obtain financing for your helicopter, most banks will require an appraisal of the aircraft, and this is the basis for most aircraft appraisals.  However, unlike real estate or other professions, there is no actual certification or licensing for aircraft appraisers.  If you claim you are one, you are.  Most people who give aircraft appraisals, simply look up the aircraft in the Aircraft Blue Book and whatever the book says, that is what the aircraft is worth. This method works pretty good for most light airplanes, where the only variables are year model, total time, engine time, and equipment.  However, for helicopters where there are dozens or even hundreds of variables you can’t just look the price up in a book.  Using that method, you can miss the price by as much as 60 to 70%.  

The only objective way that we have found to accurately appraise the value of a helicopter is to plug all pertinent information regarding the helicopter (and getting that is not always very easy) into a computer, and letting it perform its analysis.  This takes all the guesswork and subjectivity out of the process.

Aerial Patrol furnishes its appraisal customers with the worksheet on how the analysis was made in addition to the actual official appraisal.

Finance Assistance

Aerial Patrol is in the helicopter business and not the lending business, but we have worked with several lending institutions over the years.  So although we can’t guarantee you a loan, we can point you in the right direction. 

Insurance

Even if you aren’t required to have insurance, since the purchase of a helicopter is a significant investment, you’ll want insurance coverage.  Insuring helicopters is extremely complicated, and there are many variables.  It’s easy to think that purchasing your insurance through a broker will get you all the choices you could want, but that’s not always the case.  Different brokerage houses have different affiliations and relationships with underwriters, and the differences in quotes and coverage's can be astounding.  We will refer you to a good broker. 

Transaction Assistance

Like buying real estate, the purchase of this size is not always that easy unless you are paying in cash.  Most of us will not be doing that.  The offers, counter offers, earnest money, test flights, pre-purchase inspections, record authentication, contracts, agreements, insurance binding, ferrying, wire transfer of funds, all get complicated in the latter stages of the purchase.  We will help you wade through all that.  We will make the transaction much like buying a house.  All you do at closing is go in and sign some paperwork. 

Helicopter Ferry Service

Unlike an automobile, the chances of you finding a helicopter that suits your needs nearby are remote.  Often the one you buy will be a thousand miles away.  Someone has to get it home.  If you haven’t yet learned to fly or haven’t yet hired a pilot, you will need someone to fetch it home for you.  Aerial Patrol can handle that for you.  We have experience in ferrying aircraft in almost every state and Canada.  We can get it home promptly and in one piece.