The FAA has issued its Final Rule regarding the Re-Registration and Renewal of Aircraft Registration (“Final Rule”) to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, July 20, 2010. You can download the Final Rule from our website at (see alert below for link).

The Final Rule will be effective on October 1, 2010. The new registration requirements are designed to enable the FAA to improve the accuracy of its aircraft registration database. The FAA estimates that approximately one-third of the 357,000 registered aircraft registrations are inaccurate and likely ineligible for United States registration. The FAA Registry aircraft database is used by a number of federal agencies and manufacturers for airworthiness directives, traditional safety-related uses, flight plan verification, homeland security programs and access to national airspace. The FAA has determined that the implementation of the Final Rule will result in the cancellation of most of the ineligible aircraft, will require owners to provide the FAA with updated information and will improve the accuracy of its records.

Prior to the implementation of the Final Rule, an aircraft registration has no expiration date and is effective until the aircraft is sold, deregistered, destroyed, etc. The Final Rule changes that long standing law in the United States and its primary components are summarized below. A more detailed analysis follows this brief summary.