Pilots helping families honor an aviator's legacy
We buy old, inherited, and long-grounded aircraft directly from owners and families nationwide. Flying or not. Fresh annual or not. Full logs or not. Fair cash, paperwork handled, dignity intact.
Family-run from Carpio, North Dakota · A real pilot picks up the phone
Years of hangar rent. Annual long expired. Maybe the last flight was the last flight. Brokers don't want it; mechanics quote more than it's worth. Meanwhile carrying costs quietly run $3,000–$7,000 for every year it sits.
The medical didn't renew, or pre-flight quietly stopped being fun. You'd rather be the one who picks where this airplane goes next — meet the new pilot, hand over the logbooks in person, know it'll be loved instead of scrapped.
No one in the family flies. No one knows what an annual is. The logbooks are in a Tupperware in the basement. The airport keeps sending invoices. You want to do right by him — you just need someone to show you how.
If any of this sounds familiar, you've found the right people. This is what we do.
The Process — 14 to 45 days
Call, text, or fill out the form. Make, model, where it lives, whether it's been flying. If you only know "it's a small white plane in Grandpa's barn," that's enough to start.
One of us drives or flies out, A&P/IA mechanic in tow if needed. We inspect the airframe, review the logbooks, take photos, and answer every question. No charge. No obligation.
If it's a fit, we make a written offer with the math shown. You decide. We close through escrow with FAA bill of sale, title transfer, and registration. You get cash; the airplane gets a future.
Broker or Legacy Certified?
A broker isn't wrong — they're just a different tool. Here's when each makes sense.
And honestly — if you already have a buyer and a price you've agreed on, just close the deal. If you're in no hurry and carrying costs don't bother you, you'll likely net more listing it yourself. Call us when speed, certainty, or a clean exit actually matter. Either way, we'll tell you straight which path fits.
The Legacy Certified Program
We didn't invent the certified pre-owned model — the car industry did. We're just the first to bring that standard of trust and transparency to the under-served end of general aviation.
When a buyer purchases a Legacy Certified airplane, they receive a complete, standardized report — the kind of documentation usually reserved for million-dollar jets. The selling family knows the airplane is going somewhere it's valued; the buyer knows they aren't inheriting someone else's deferred problems.
What We Buy
Cessna 120–210 · Piper Cub, Pacer, Cherokee, Comanche, Arrow, Saratoga · Beech Bonanza, Debonair, Musketeer · Mooney M20 · Grumman AA · Cardinal 177
Aeronca Champ & Chief · Luscombe Silvaire · Stinson 108 · Cessna 170, 180, 185 · Piper PA-12/14/18 · Citabria, Decathlon, Scout · Maule · Ercoupe
Piper Apache, Aztec, Twin Comanche, Seneca · Beech Travel Air, Baron, Duchess · Cessna 310, 337 Skymaster · Grumman Cougar
Project airplanes · Damaged-history aircraft with potential · Estate aircraft with incomplete documentation · Long-grounded hangar queens · Homebuilts & experimentals (case by case)
Don't see your airplane listed? Tell us about it anyway. We have a wide network and we love unusual airplanes.
Mid-time and fresh engines (Continental, Lycoming, Franklin) · Propellers (McCauley, Hartzell, Sensenich) · Avionics · Wings, fuselages, control surfaces · Sheet metal, landing gear, instruments · Whole hangar cleanouts.
We catalog it, quote it, and find homes for the good parts with restorers and rebuilders nationwide — so you don't end up scrapping anything that still has life. The hangar gets cleared in one transaction instead of years of gradual sales.
Who We Are
I'm Ted Farni. I founded Legacy Certified out of Carpio, North Dakota, and I run it with a trusted network of A&P/IA mechanics, ferry pilots, and aviation attorneys based at KMOT (Minot, ND), S25 (Watford City, ND), and the Denver metro area — and we travel nationwide to acquire aircraft. We're not a fund. We're not a broker chasing 6% commissions. I buy airplanes with my own money, restore them when they deserve it, part them out only when that's the right answer for the airframe, and resell them with documentation so a new owner can fly with confidence.
I own and fly a 1970 Cessna Cardinal out of KMOT, and I've spent my working life running real-world operations — meaning I understand families, estates, paperwork, and the way decisions actually get made in small towns. I bought my first Cardinal by writing letters to owners. When you call (701) 314-4245, I'm the one who picks up.
"I handle every airplane the way I'd want a stranger to handle my own dad's." Fair value, plain language, no pressure, dignity intact.
Common Questions
First, don't rush. Inherited aircraft come with paperwork — title transfer through probate, FAA bill of sale, registration update, and possibly a logbook audit. We walk families through this for free, whether you sell to us or not. The most common mistake is selling to the first broker who calls; the second is letting a hangar bill rack up while you figure things out.
Not a problem. We buy aircraft that haven't flown in 5, 10, even 20+ years. We have the mechanics, ferry pilots, and special FAA flight permits to move airplanes that aren't currently airworthy. Even a "derelict" airframe usually has valuable engine, propeller, avionics, and parts.
Missing logbooks reduce value but don't kill a deal. We can often reconstruct partial history from FAA records, A&P shop records, and prior owner documentation. We'll still make a fair offer; the price just reflects the documentation gap.
We pay fair wholesale, not retail. A retail buyer expects a fresh annual, complete logs, and zero surprises — and they'll demand inspection contingencies that take months to resolve. We pay less than a retail comp because we take on 100% of the risk: deferred maintenance, missing paperwork, transport, FAA filings, mechanical liability. You're trading peak-retail dollars for speed, certainty, no contingencies, and zero ongoing liability. We start from current market comps (VRef, Aircraft Bluebook), apply documented adjustments, and show you the exact math in writing.
Yes — anywhere in the United States. Our home base is Carpio, North Dakota, with maintenance and ferry partners at KMOT, S25 (Watford City, ND), and the Denver metro area. We routinely fly out, drive out, or arrange ferry service to acquire aircraft anywhere in the country.
From first call to cash in your hand, typical timeline is 14 to 45 days. Faster if the title is clean and the seller has the logbooks ready. We handle the FAA bill of sale, AC-form 8050-2, registration application, and escrow.
Just call (701) 314-4245. Most aging-owner conversations begin with "I think I'm done flying" and end with us walking through your options — sell now, sell after one final flight, or just talk through what your airplane is worth so you can plan around it. There is no pressure. We've helped owners hand the airplane over personally with the dignity of choosing the next pilot themselves.
Tell us about the airplane
Tell us what you know — even "a small white plane in Grandpa's barn" is enough. We'll explain your options in plain language and tell you straight which path fits, even if it isn't us.
Or email info@legacy-certified.com