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Aircraft registration

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AVan's Aircraft RV-7displaying registration G-KELS. The G prefix denotes a civil aircraft registered in theUnited Kingdom.
Geographic map of registration prefixes

Anaircraft registrationis a code unique to a single aircraft, required byinternational conventionto be marked on the exterior of every civil aircraft. The registration indicates the aircraft's country of registration, and functions much like an automobile license plate or a ship registration. This code must also appear in its Certificate of Registration, issued by the relevantcivil aviation authority(CAA). An aircraft can only have one registration, in one jurisdiction, though it is changeable over the life of the aircraft.

Legal provisions[edit]

In accordance with theConvention on International Civil Aviation(also known as the Chicago Convention), all civil aircraft must be registered with a civil aviation authority (CAA) using procedures set by each country. Every country, even those not party to the Chicago Convention, has an NAA[clarification needed]whose functions include the registration ofcivil aircraft.An aircraft can only be registered once, in one jurisdiction, at a time. The NAA allocates a uniqueAlpha numericstring to identify the aircraft, which also indicates the nationality (i.e., country of registration[1]) of the aircraft, and provides a legal document called aCertificate of Registration,one of the documents which must be carried when the aircraft is in operation.[2]

The registration identifier must be displayed prominently on the aircraft.[3]Most countries also require the registration identifier to be imprinted on a permanent fireproof plate mounted on thefuselagein case of a post-fire/post-crash aircraft accidentinvestigation.

Most nations'military aircrafttypically use tail codes and serial numbers.[4]Military aircraft most often are not assigned civil registration codes. However, government-owned non-military civil aircraft (for example, aircraft of the United States Department of Homeland Security) are assigned civil registrations.

Although each aircraft registration identifier is unique, some countries allow it to be re-used when the aircraft has been sold, destroyed or retired. For example, N3794N is assigned to aMooney M20F.[5]It had been previously assigned to aBeechcraft Bonanza(specifically, the aircraft in whichBuddy Hollywaskilled). An individual aircraft may be assigned different registrations during its existence. This can be because the aircraft changes ownership,jurisdictionof registration, or in some cases for vanity reasons.

Choice of aircraft registry[edit]

Most often, aircraft are registered in the jurisdiction in which the carrier is resident or based, and may enjoy preferential rights or privileges as aflag carrierfor international operations.

Carriers inemerging marketsmay be required to register aircraft in an offshore jurisdiction where they are leased or purchased but financed by banks in major onshore financial centres. The financing institution may be reluctant to allow the aircraft to be registered in the carrier's home country (either because it does not have sufficient regulation governingcivil aviation,or because it feels the courts in that country would not cooperate fully if it needed to enforce anysecurity interestover the aircraft), and the carrier is reluctant to have the aircraft registered in the financier's jurisdiction (often the United States or the United Kingdom) either because of personal or political reasons, or because they fear spurious lawsuits and potential arrest of the aircraft.

International standards[edit]

Registration JA8089 on aJapan AirlinesBoeing 747-400

The first use of aircraft registrations was based on the radio callsigns allocated at the London International Radiotelegraphic Conference in 1913. The format was a single letter prefix followed by four other letters (like A-BCDE).[6]The major nations operating aircraft at that time were allocated a single letter prefix. Smaller countries had to share a single letter prefix, but were allocated exclusive use of the first letter of the suffix.[6]This was modified by agreement by the International Bureau at Berne and published on April 23, 1913. Although initial allocations were not specifically for aircraft but for any radio user, the International Air Navigation Convention held in Paris in 1919 (Paris Convention of 1919) made allocations specifically for aircraft registrations, based on the 1913 callsign list. The agreement stipulated that the nationality marks were to be followed by a hyphen then a group of four letters that must include a vowel (and for the convention Y was considered to be a vowel). This system operated until the adoption of the revised system in 1928.

The International Radiotelegraph Convention at Washington in 1927 revised the list of markings. These were adopted from 1928 and are the basis of the currently used registrations. The markings have been amended and added to over the years, and the allocations and standards have since 1947 been managed by theInternational Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO).

Article 20 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention), signed in 1944, requires that all aircraft engaged in international air navigation bears its appropriate nationality and registration marks. Upon the completion of the necessary procedures, the aircraft receives its unique "registration", which must be displayed prominently on the aircraft.

Annex 7 to the Chicago Convention describes the definitions, location, and measurement of nationality and registration marks. The aircraft registration is made up of a prefix selected from the country'scallsign prefixallocated by theInternational Telecommunication Union (ITU)(making the registration a quick way of determining the country of origin) and the registration suffix. Depending on the country of registration, this suffix is a numeric or Alpha numeric code, and consists of one to five characters. A supplement to Annex 7 provides an updated list of approved nationality and common marks used by various countries.

Country-specific usage[edit]

See also:List of aircraft registration prefixes
Air FranceAirbus A318displaying registration F-GUGJ on thewingundersurface and the last two letters of the registration, GJ, on thenose wheeldoors

While the Chicago convention sets out the country-specific prefixes used in registration marks, and makes provision for the ways they are used in international civil aviation and displayed on aircraft, individual countries also make further provision for their formats and the use of registration marks for intranational flight.

When painted on the aircraft's fuselage, the prefix and suffix are usually separated by a dash (for example, YR-BMA). When entered in aflight plan,the dash is omitted (for example, YRBMA). In some countries that use a number suffix rather than letters, like the United States (N), South Korea (HL), and Japan (JA), the prefix and suffix are connected without a dash. Aircraft flying privately usually use their registration as their radiocallsign,but many aircraft flying in commercial operations (especially charter, cargo, and airlines) use theICAO airline designatoror a company callsign.

Some countries will permit an aircraft that will not be flown into the airspace of another country to display the registration with the country prefix omitted - for example,glidersregistered inAustraliacommonly display only the three-letter unique mark, without the "VH-" national prefix.

Some countries also operate a separate registry system, or use a separate group of unique marks, for gliders, ultralights, and/or other less-common types of aircraft. For example, Germany and Switzerland both use lettered suffixes (in the form D-xxxx and HB-xxx respectively) for most forms of flight-craft but numbers (D-nnnn and HB-nnn) for unpowered gliders. Many other nations register gliders in subgroups beginning with the letter G, such as Norway with LN-Gxx and New Zealand with ZK-Gxx.

United States[edit]

AnA321-231displayingAmerican Airlinesregistration N102NN on the rearfuselage

In theUnited States,the registration number is commonly referred to as an "N" number, because all aircraft registered there have a number starting with the letter N. An Alpha numeric system is used because of the large numbers of aircraft registered in the United States. AnN-numberbegins with a run of one or more numeric digits, may end with one or two Alpha betic letters, may only consist of one to five characters in total, and must start with a digit other than zero. In addition,N-numbersmay not contain the lettersIorO,due to their similarities with the numerals1and0.[7]

Each Alpha betic letter in the suffix can have one of 24 discrete values, while each numeric digit can be one of 10, except the first, which can take on only one of nine values. This yields a total of 915,399 possible registration numbers in thenamespace,though certain combinations are reserved either for government use or for other special purposes.[7]

The following are the combinations that could be used:

An older aircraft (registered before 31 December 1948) may have a second letter in its identifier, identifying the category of aircraft. This additional letter is not actually part of the aircraft identification (e.g. NC12345 is the same registration as N12345). Aircraft category letters have not been included on any registration numbers issued since 1 January 1949, but they still appear on antique aircraft for authenticity purposes. The categories were:

  • C = airline, commercial and private
  • G = glider
  • L = limited
  • R = restricted (such as cropdusters and racing aircraft)[8]
  • S = state
  • X = experimental

For example, N-X-211, the Ryan NYP aircraft flown byCharles Lindberghas theSpirit of St. Louiswas registered in the experimental category.

There is a unique overlap in the United States with aircraft having a single number followed by two letters andradio call signs issued by the Federal Communications Commission to Amateur Radio operatorsholding the Amateur Extra class license. For example, N4YZ is, on the one hand, a Cessna 206 registered to a private individual inMelba, Idaho,while, on the other hand, is also issued to an Amateur Radio operator in North Carolina.[9]Since an aircraft registration number is also used as its call sign, this means that two unrelated radio stations can have the same call sign.

Decolonisation and independence[edit]

The impact ofdecolonisationand independence on aircraft registration schemes has varied from place to place. Most countries, upon independence, have had a new allocation granted – in most cases this is from the new country's new ITU allocation, but neither is it uncommon for the new country to be allocated a subset of their former colonial power's allocation. For example, after partition in 1947,Indiaretained the VT designation it had received as part of the British Empire's Vx series allocation, whilePakistanadopted the AP designation from the newly allocated ITU callsigns APA-ASZ.

When this happens it is usually the case that aircraft will be re-registered into the new series retaining as much of the suffix as is possible. For example, when in 1929 the BritishDominionsat the time established their own aircraft registers, marks were reallocated as follows:

  • Canada: G-Cxxx to CF-xxx, then expanded to C-Fxxx, C-Gxxx, and then C-Ixxx in 1974.
  • Australia: G-AUxx to VH-Uxx, then immediately expanded to all VH-xxx marks. As of 2022, the last three (3) characters will include numerals, e.g. VH-8AA.
  • New Zealand: G-NZxx to ZK-Zxx, then immediately expanded to all ZK-xxx marks.
  • Newfoundland: G-Cxxx (with Canada) to VO-xxx, then re-merged with the Canadian register in 1949 to CF-xxx.
  • South Africa: G-UAxx to ZU-Axx, then expanded to all ZU-xxx marks, then again to current ZS-xxx, ZT-Rxx, and ZU-xxx allocations.
  • Hong Kong: VR-Hxx to B-HAA - B-HZZ/B-KAA - B-KZZ/B-LAA - B-LZZ after 1997.

Two oddities created by this reallocation process are the current formats used by theSpecial Administrative Regionsof thePeople's Republic of China,Hong KongandMacau,both of which were returned to PRC control from Britain in1997and Portugal in1999respectively. Hong Kong's prefix of VR-H and Macau's of CS-M, both subdivisions of their colonial powers' allocations, were replaced by China's B- prefix without the registration mark being extended, leaving aircraft from both SARs with registration marks of only four characters, as opposed to the norm of five.

Registration prefixes and patterns by countries[edit]

Main article:List of aircraft registration prefixes

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Article 17 of the Chicago Convention
  2. ^Article 29 of the Chicago Convention
  3. ^Article 20 of the Chicago Convention
  4. ^"US Air Force Tail Codes".Aerospaceweb.org.Retrieved4 December2015.
  5. ^"N3794N".Registry.faa.gov. Archived fromthe originalon 2019-11-29.Retrieved2019-11-29.
  6. ^ab"Complete Civil Registers:1 Belgium".Air-Britain Archive.1980(1): 11. 1980.ISSN0262-4923.
  7. ^abcd"Forming an N-Number".Faa.gov. 2015-03-19.Retrieved2016-09-14.
  8. ^Sean Elliott (March 2015). "What does restricted category have to do with experimental".Sport Aviation:11.
  9. ^"Aircraft Registration, Sales, and Accident history for N4YZ".Aircraft Lookup. 2022-10-31.Retrieved2022-10-31.

External links[edit]

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