Reservation and Assignment
of Special Registration Numbers

United States aircraft registration numbers may be changed by the owner of the aircraft to a number of the owner’s choice as long as that number is not currently assigned to another aircraft, is not reserved for someone else’s future use, or is not on export “hold” for the two years the Registry holds numbers in abeyance on exported aircraft!

True fact:  paint shops cannot change your registration number on your aircraft without evidence that the FAA has approved the change (Form 8050-64 to be exact).  For FAA to be able to issue the form, the owner of the aircraft must have a permanent certificate of aircraft registration in its name.

It is often the case that a registration number change is initiated when ownership is changing. Most people don’t take into account how long it

takes the Civil Aviation Registry to process ownership change documents (six to eight weeks normally but that varies depending on their backlog).   

You’ve paid millions of dollars for a new aircraft; you’ve researched the availability of, and reserved, a registration number that you want to paint on the aircraft; you spend thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars having your aircraft repainted and the interior refurbished,  and now you are waiting the three or four weeks it takes for FAA to finish processing your ownership change because some “i” wasn’t dotted or some “t” wasn’t crossed on your ownership transfer documents and the Registry has rejected the documents (thus doubling the processing time while you make the correction then resubmit the docs to FAA).   That is the most frustrating three or four weeks you will ever spend!

Since only the registered owner can change a number, and since the FAA rules governing the form and content of the documents used to change ownership are very exact, it’s an excellent idea to allow Aero Records’ special services administrators to handle your transaction:  we are experts on all the signature and title requirements (we’ll let you know if the documents you’ve filed with FAA to evidence your ownership and support your new registration appear to be satisfactory).  While your ownership documents are being processed, we’ll be putting the wheels in motion to make sure your number change request is handled as soon as possible after the FAA documents you as the new registered owner.

Timeframes are the biggest factor in registration number changes – we are intimately familiar with the processing routine at FAA and will really take the timeframe headaches out of these N# changes for you by preparing you.  Knowledge is power.  If you know going into a project about how long each step of the process will take, your job is so much easier.

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