Track pricing validity separately from credit approval and aircraft acceptance. A quoted rate, an approved borrower and a scheduled delivery date can each have different conditions and timelines.
Ask what is actually committed
Request the rate-lock document, if any, and identify principal, aircraft, borrower, period, fees and conditions. An illustrative website rate or preliminary discussion is not necessarily a binding commitment. Ask who can confirm pricing and what event is required to establish it rather than relying on informal language.
Record each expiration
Maintain separate dates for credit approval, documents needing refresh, rate lock, aircraft valuation, purchase contingencies and expected delivery. Avoid assuming the longest date governs everything. AOPA's new-aircraft discussion illustrates that approval and factory schedules can differ; actual durations and refresh processes must come from the proposed lender.
Model the delivery change
If delivery moves, ask promptly about extension, repricing, refreshed financial evidence, credit review and changed costs. Include continued charter, crew or existing-aircraft expense in a delay budget. A revised manufacturer schedule can affect liquidity even when the aircraft price and intended down payment remain unchanged.
Keep the closing calendar synchronized
Notify the purchase, finance, insurance, title and tax teams when material dates change. Reconfirm payoff, insurance effect, acceptance, wiring instructions and any tax-planning assumptions. Do not let one extension create the impression every other dated condition has automatically been extended with it.
Illustrative decision worksheet
Illustrative only: credit approval runs beyond the expected closing, but a rate lock expires two weeks earlier. The longer approval does not itself preserve the price. Ask for written extension or revised pricing and rerun the payment and acquisition budget before relying on the original rate in final purchase decisions.
Your next-step checklist
- Written commitment scope
- Separate expirations
- Extension and repricing terms
- Synchronized closing calendar
Sources & further reading
Primary sources support the relevant facts. Our planning questions and illustrative exercises are editorial analysis; they do not replace transaction-specific advice.
- AOPA original delivery and commitment timing discussion · accessed 2026-10-28