I'm terribly sorry this happened.
You asked about my case, so, I'll 'xplain a bit. It's difficult to post on this board and perhaps have someone follow a path you took and not know all you did. But, I'm on here because of mutual interest and am not giving advise or explaining all I do in detail. I just 'xplain what I'm doing and perhaps how much fun it is, but I'm a very detailed fella. Don't know it that shows.
I looked into leasing a jet and getting the rating along with my ATP many moons ago. For almost a year, I perused offers, chatted with my mechanic and actually looked at purchasing a Citation II. Local fella I knew here had one in the past and we was nice enough to share information on it on many occasions and even helped me look at a few. I decided for a number of reasons to keep my KA and lease the jet if I could until I knew much more about it and whether if would meet my base mission better or if the KA would be better with the Citation being used on the trips that were longer with more folks. That's what I decided. With just me our one or two folks, as a personal plane, the Citation just didn't make economic sense. For the shorter flights, the KA is a wonderful machine. So, I looked into leasing.
When I went that direction, I found several folks advertising leasing programs, but they were a year long, had a long contract that said some things that could be interpreted differently and were long distance which is never fun if there is a dispute. It was their form of contract; drafted to protect them. As has been said, I would really have had to do a pre-buy to determine and document condition so the lessor didn't come back to me or give me a plane with a problem I couldn't fly. Then, I didn't know if they'd fix things if required, and I'd need a post lease inspection to document the condition I returned the plane in. Even with all that, a dispute could arise. I would have had to defend an action in another state and they seemed very aggressive. So, I shied away.
A friend referred me to a local owner that had a plane he wasn't using a lot, and that's the direction I eventually went. (Continued).

I found a local Citation V I could fly with an instructor on dry lease, but I only paid for hours used when I used the plane. I wasn't PIC since I wasn't rated, but could get some time in the plane. Went through a short course and got SIC rated so I could log time in the plane. Flew over 20 hours in it before getting my ATP and type ride. The school had a Citation II; that's what I took my check ride in.
While doing this, I explored leasing a local Citation II from a local fella that wasn't flying his much. Worked out a dry lease and only paid for hours flown when actually flown. Great fella. Very busy, engineer type, but only using his plane 50 hours a year or so. He was very receptive to working with me and off-setting some of his expenses. He had the form of dry lease which we slightly modified. Plane was RVSM and he had MEL. He know someone at the local FSDO office. We modified his existing agreements to fit my dry lease at no cost to me.
I never did a pre-buy inspection because I really didn't have any trailing obligation and he was anal about everything working. Anything I brought up that was a necessary piece of equipment, he fixed if broken. He really wanted me to become a partner in the plane and treated the relationship like that. Worked out very well for me and off-set some of his operating overhead. I may still work with him, but need to pull back a bit for awhile for business reasons.
Hope that gives more insight. Sometimes, I just can't explain all this. Hopefully, folks on the board know we're just chatting and not getting into all the due diligence and investigative details on here.
Back to fun stuff!

Thanks Dave. IMO that's the key....find a local guy u can work with and do it by the hour.

I have had a great experience second time around.

If you are going to do it in a more exclusive approach from a 3rd party you don't know and is located elsewhere....prebuy...references.. Etc etc.

I was the due diligence guy at a securities firm in a previous life. Learned how to really dig into some of these things and it keeps me out of a lot of trouble. I guess when I post on here, I need to bring that up so others realize how much I dig into things before proceeding. Sometimes I turn to professional advisers. Dropped several deals including Eclipse because of the one-sideness of their contract. I did mention that in posts: didn't seem to slow anyone down. Cautioned folks from using home equity loans before the last down-turn to purchase a plane. One fella flat came out and said: California homes don't go down in value. In another thread, folks not rated in a plane I fly, no time in it, ignore posts from the POH
Guess it just doesn't matter to some.
For others that listen, good deal.

http://www.uvaldeleadernews.com/node/4721

Apparently the Founder is out as part of this consolidation.

Curious if this incident played a role: viewtopic.php?f=41&t=124018&hilit=Pressurization+citation&view=unread#unread

The aircraft departed K02 which is the home airport of Sabreliner. It is alleged that executives of both companies were on the aircraft. The Founder of Sierra was allegedly the pilot. I would think a near death experience might have some impact on relationship dynamics. But then again it may simply be a coincidence.

Thanks for sharing. Sure put me off using them. I think what we see overall is a financial shakedown: these little guys are scrambling.

Maybe the Missouri folks are willing to work for even less than the good people of Uvalde. Which wasn't much to brag about.

Mark,

Whatever came of this?

It is sad how often things like this happen, I am currently working for a new client who found me too late... I'm trying to unscrew a bad contract and reclaim his six figure deposit. He has bought and sold multiple aircraft, but got a little complacent and just got into a bad deal.

Mark,

Whatever came of this?

It is sad how often things like this happen, I am currently working for a new client who found me too late... I'm trying to unscrew a bad contract and reclaim his six figure deposit. He has bought and sold multiple aircraft, but got a little complacent and just got into a bad deal.

Forgive and forget but never forget.

Forgive and forget but never forget.

They recently dropped the price of one of their modified Beechjets by a cool $1 mil

The BT collective wisdom was "you got screwed...learn from it and move on". I took the advice.

I don't have time to get into all details, but a dry lease from a third party is full of perils and much be looked into almost as thoroughly as a purchase and sale unless you know the lessor, are comfortable with maintenance and pay as you use the plane.

Just a short summary: the dry lease agreement itself usually specifies who does normal maintenance. So, what if a windscreen cracks while you have it? Who pays for that? What is 'normal' maintenance? Who covers unexpected maintenance? Who performs that maintenance? As Mark said, what if the plane is un-airworthy and you can't fly it? What is un-airworthy? When you get that plane, you almost have to do a pre-buy to determine original condition. When you return it, who determines if there was unusual wear and tear? What if you're being asked to fly when the engine(s) is past TBO or other parts are past specified limits?

In my case, I knew the lessor through a friend. I had no mandatory usage, but I did tell him I expected to fly 50 hours a year. I paid as I used the plane in ten hour increments. It worked well for each of us.

If you put up a large deposit and have to recoup it at the end, there are certainly folks that are going to be aggressive about keeping some or all of it unless you have other leverage. Suing is a last resort and may cost more than the deposit to get to the court house steps even if you're completely in the right.

Which is why I just don't do deposits on planes.