Fly Citizen Air
A Citizen Air team member reaching up to check the underside of a wing during a walkaround on the ramp

Aircraft advicefrom an operator.

Help buying or selling a piston, turboprop or jet, choosing how to own and run it, and keeping its maintenance on track. The advice comes from the team that runs our own Part 135 charter operation and Part 91K fractional program.

  • Piston, turboprop and jet
  • Buyer or seller, one side per deal
  • Pre-purchase inspections

Where you are starting

Four owners, four first steps.

You are thinking about owning for the first time.

You fly often enough on charter or in a rental that owning makes sense, and you want a straight answer first.

Ownership Structuring →Acquisition and Brokerage →

Where we start

  • Whether to own at all, compared with a fractional share, co-ownership or charter.
  • Which type fits your trips, passengers and runways, at a cost we have seen in real operation.
  • The search, the pre-purchase inspection and the closing, if buying is the answer.
  • How it will be run and maintained from delivery.

What you have at the end A written comparison of the options that fit you. If you buy, an aircraft inspected, accepted and set up to fly.

What we do

Three services, one team.

Each one can be taken on its own. Most engagements start with one and draw on another, because the aircraft you buy, how you own it and how it is maintained are one decision in three parts. What we produce for you stays with you, whether or not you use us for anything else.

A Citizen Air team member turning the pages of a binder of handwritten aircraft records at the operations desk
Buy or sell

Aircraft Acquisition and Brokerage

For buyers and sellers of piston, turboprop and jet aircraft, including types we do not fly ourselves. We act for the buyer or for the seller, never for both sides of the same transaction.

When you are buying

  • The mission, the budget, your needs and your wants: trips, passengers, distances, runways and timeline.
  • A selection guide built from those: the types that fit, with operating costs taken from real operation rather than the brochure.
  • Our proprietary market research and side-by-side comparisons, then the make and model decision, the top candidates and a deep dive on the best one.
  • A pre-purchase inspection, in our hangar or at a shop we arrange, with our team there.
  • Negotiation of price and terms on your behalf, with your attorney and aviation counsel writing and reviewing the purchase agreement.
  • Closing coordination with the escrow and title company, then delivery, acceptance and return to service.

When you are selling

  • An asking price based on comparable sales and the aircraft's records.
  • Records organized and gaps closed before the aircraft is shown.
  • Marketing, buyer screening and showings.
  • The buyer's inspection managed and its findings negotiated.
  • Closing and delivery.

Step by step: buying and selling.

Our own aircraft for sale, including shares in our Phenom 100, are listed on Aircraft for Sale.

Ask about buying or selling
A couple talking with a Citizen Air team member across the desk in the terminal
Own and run

Ownership Structuring

For anyone deciding how to own and run an aircraft: buying the first one, bringing in a partner, or rethinking an arrangement that no longer fits.

The options we compare

  • Whole aircraft, flown and managed by you.
  • Part 91 management, by us or by another manager.
  • Part 135 placement, on our certificate or another operator's.
  • A fractional share, in our Cirrus SR22 and Phenom 100 program or another.
  • Co-ownership, with two or more owners on one aircraft.
  • Leaseback, leasing an aircraft you own to an operator.

What we look at

  • Hours a year, who flies, and where the aircraft is based.
  • How often you need it on short notice, and whether charter revenue matters to you.
  • Who holds operational control under each option, and what that makes you responsible for.

You get a written comparison of the options, with costs, who is responsible for what, and the questions to take to your attorney and tax adviser. We do not give legal or tax advice.

Ask about ownership options
A Citizen Air technician kneeling at the nose gear of a Cirrus SR22 on the ramp while the pilot stands by and watches
Keep it flying

Maintenance Advisory

For owners and flight departments who want to know what the aircraft needs, what is optional and what is urgent, before the invoice arrives.

What it covers

  • A review of the maintenance program and tracking against the manufacturer's program and the rules that apply to how you fly.
  • Records review: logbooks, ADs, service bulletins, component times and damage history.
  • Major work planned and overseen: heavy inspections, engines, propellers, paint, interiors and avionics.
  • Shop and vendor evaluation, with quotes compared on the same scope of work.
  • Inspection oversight at other facilities by our A&P technicians and Inspection Authorization holders.

For the maintenance itself, see Maintenance.

Ask about maintenance advisory

Pre-purchase inspections

In our hangar, or overseen in someone else's.

A pre-purchase inspection decides most purchases. Our team has done hundreds of them.

On types our technicians are trained on, the inspection can be done in our own hangar. On other types, we arrange a qualified shop and our team oversees the inspection there, wherever the aircraft is.

We do it for whichever side engaged us, the buyer or the seller. The findings come back in writing, sorted into what has to be fixed before closing, what can be negotiated and what can wait.

  • Records and logbooks reviewed before the aircraft is opened up.

How a purchase or a sale works

From the first conversation to delivery.

Six steps either way, and you decide at each one. You review everything before it goes out, and nothing is committed in your name that you have not signed.

  1. Conversation and scope
    We listen to the mission, the budget, what you need and what you would like to have, and that first conversation costs nothing. Then a short engagement letter: what we will do, what you will have at each stage, that we act for you as the buyer, and what it costs.
  2. Selection guide and market research
    Your mission written down as requirements: range, passengers, runways, speed, cabin, equipment and budget. Then our proprietary market research on the types that meet them, the aircraft for sale and recently sold with their history, time and price, compared side by side on purchase price, operating cost from real operation, maintenance programs and resale.
  3. Make and model decision
    We recommend a type and show you the reasons. The choice is yours.
  4. Candidates, offer and inspection
    We narrow the market to the best few aircraft and go deep on the top one: logbooks, damage and ownership history, equipment, a look at the aircraft and a demonstration flight. A written offer and negotiation of price and terms follow, then the pre-purchase inspection, in our hangar or at a qualified shop, with our team overseeing it and every finding in writing with a cost.
  5. Contracts and closing
    The purchase agreement, worked through with your attorney and your aviation counsel: we bring the aircraft facts, they write and review the legal terms. Escrow, title search, funds, FAA registration and insurance, coordinated with the escrow and title company.
  6. Delivery
    The aircraft accepted against the purchase terms, the records and the closing file handed over, and the aircraft ready to fly the way you chose to run it.

Ownership structuring and maintenance advisory start with the same first step, a conversation and a written scope, and then follow their own path.

Who does the work

The team that runs our own operation.

The advice on this page comes from the people who keep our own fleet flying: a Part 135 air carrier certificate, a Part 91K fractional program, our own maintenance department and our own FBO. They are the people you deal with.

Over our team's careers

100+aircraft bought and sold by our team
Hundredsof pre-purchase inspections
200+factory-new aircraft deliveries overseen
100+ yrscombined experience in our maintenance department

Transactions

More than thirty years of aircraft acquisitions, sales and deliveries, from piston singles to large-cabin jets, for individuals, companies and corporate flight departments.

Maintenance

A&P technicians and Inspection Authorization holders, factory trained on Cirrus, the Phenom 100 and Tecnam, with experience as Directors of Maintenance for Part 135 operators, Part 91K programs and corporate flight departments.

Operations

The Part 135 certificate and Part 91K program we run ourselves: dispatch, crew training and checking, conformity, insurance and FAA correspondence, every working day.

Three members of the Citizen Air maintenance team in the hangar in front of a Cessna 206, a Cessna 172 with its engine open behind them

We also manage aircraft, sell fractional shares and list aircraft for sale. When one fits, we say so and show you the alternatives next to it. About Citizen Air →

Questions

What owners and buyers ask first.

Conversation and scope
We listen to the mission, the budget, what you need and what you would like to have, and that first conversation costs nothing. Then a short engagement letter: what we will do, what you will have at each stage, that we act for you as the buyer, and what it costs.
Selection guide and market research
Your mission written down as requirements: range, passengers, runways, speed, cabin, equipment and budget. Then our proprietary market research on the types that meet them, the aircraft for sale and recently sold with their history, time and price, compared side by side on purchase price, operating cost from real operation, maintenance programs and resale.
Make and model decision
We recommend a type and show you the reasons. The choice is yours.
Candidates, offer and inspection
We narrow the market to the best few aircraft and go deep on the top one: logbooks, damage and ownership history, equipment, a look at the aircraft and a demonstration flight. A written offer and negotiation of price and terms follow, then the pre-purchase inspection, in our hangar or at a qualified shop, with our team overseeing it and every finding in writing with a cost.
Contracts and closing
The purchase agreement, worked through with your attorney and your aviation counsel: we bring the aircraft facts, they write and review the legal terms. Escrow, title search, funds, FAA registration and insurance, coordinated with the escrow and title company.
Delivery
The aircraft accepted against the purchase terms, the records and the closing file handed over, and the aircraft ready to fly the way you chose to run it.
Conversation and scope
We listen: why you are selling, your timeline, what you need from the sale, and whether a replacement aircraft is part of the plan. Then a short engagement letter: what we will do, that we act for you as the seller, and what it costs.
Valuation and preparation
Our proprietary market research on your aircraft against those for sale and recently sold, and an asking price recommendation from it. Records organized and gaps closed, open items priced or fixed, the aircraft photographed and a specification sheet written.
Marketing
Listed on our Aircraft for Sale page and where buyers of the type look, and put in front of the dealers, brokers and owners we know. We arrange showings and demonstration flights and keep you informed on every inquiry.
Offers and inspection
Buyers qualified before they get the full records, every offer brought to you with our advice, and price and terms negotiated on your behalf. Then the buyer's pre-purchase inspection, which our team attends, with each finding negotiated to a resolution.
Contracts and closing
The purchase agreement, worked through with your attorney and your aviation counsel. The deposit with the escrow and title company, the title and registration documents, and the closing itself.
Delivery
The aircraft delivered and accepted against the purchase terms, the records handed over and the funds released to you. If you are buying the next one, we time the two deals together.
Do you only work with aircraft you fly?
No. We help buyers and sellers of piston, turboprop and jet aircraft, including types not in our fleet. On those, we arrange a qualified shop for the inspection and our team oversees it.
Do you act for the buyer or the seller?
Either one, and never both sides of the same transaction. If you are selling one aircraft and buying another, we can act for you in both deals, because you are our client in each.
Will you steer me toward your own management or fractional program?
When one of our services fits, we say so and show you the alternatives next to it, including other managers, operators and fractional programs. We recommend the fit, and sometimes the answer is not us.
Do you give tax or legal advice?
No. We work alongside your attorney and tax adviser and give them the operating facts they need: how the aircraft will be used, who holds operational control and what it will cost to run.
Do you do appraisals?
No. The asking price we suggest is a market view from comparable sales and the records, not an appraisal. If a lender or a tax filing needs one, use an accredited appraiser; we can give them the records and the inspection findings.
Do you work outside the Pacific Northwest?
Yes. We work wherever the aircraft or the deal is, and we travel to inspections and deliveries.
How do you charge?
The scope and the fee are agreed in writing before any work starts. They depend on the service and the aircraft. The first conversation costs nothing.
Is aircraft brokerage the same as charter brokerage?
No. Aircraft brokerage here means acting for the buyer or the seller of an aircraft. Arranging a charter flight on another carrier is a separate service under 14 CFR Part 295, described at the foot of this page.

Consulting and Advisory

Start with a conversation.

Tell us what you need an aircraft to do, your budget and your timeline. We reply within two hours during the day, and the first conversation is with the people who would do the work.

Start a conversation

+1 (360) 452-6226

+1 (800) 430-7483

info@flycitizenair.com
flycitizenair.com

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1402 Fairchild Airport Rd, Port Angeles, WA 98363