Aircraft Re-registration

Back in August of last year we brought you up to speed on the FAA's plan to require all aircraft to re-register or find their aircraft grounded. Up until late last year aircraft registration never expired. Over time the FAA's database of aircraft registrations become more and more out-of-date. Now it is anyone's guess which planes are still flying. Mixed into the database inaccuracy problem was a post-911 security knee-jerk. The end result is that the FAA decided to take the brute force approach to updating their database by causing all outstanding registrations to expire over a two year period of time.

Re-registrations have already begun. If your plane's registration is dated:

March of any year you should have applied by Jan 31 of this year (I guess I should have sent this email out in Jan :-). However, if you've missed the January deadline don't despair -- just make sure you re-register before the end of March. You current registration does not expire until the end of March but you may be grounded for awhile since the FAA can't guarentee you'll get your new registration before the current one expires.
April registrations opened for re-registration this month (Feb) and lasts until April 30th.

The table below has all of the registration timelines. Any aircraft registered after October 1, 2010 will have a registration with a 3 year expiration date, so from now on we will have to re-register our planes every three year.

Month Certificate Issued	Certificate Will Expire	Owner Must Apply Between
March (of any year)	3/31/2011	Nov 1, 2010 to Jan 31, 2011
April	6/30/2011	Feb 1, 2011 to Apr 30, 2011
May	9/30/2011	May 1, 2011 to Jul 31, 2011
June	12/31/2011	Aug 1, 2011 to Oct 31, 2011
July	3/31/2012	Nov 1, 2011 to Jan 31, 2012
August	6/30/2012	Feb 1, 2012 to Apr 30, 2012
September	9/30/2012	May 1, 2012 to July 31, 2012
October	12/31/2012	Aug 1, 2012 to Oct 31, 2012
November	3/31/2013	Nov 1, 2012 to Jan 31, 2013
December	6/30/2013	Feb 1, 2013 to Apr 30, 2013
January	9/30/2013	May 1, 2013 to July 31, 2013
February	12/31/2013	Aug 1, 2013 to Oct 31, 2013

The FAA has provided a website where you can get your questions answered and re-register online.

It is the FAA's intent to issue notices 180 days in advance of a registration's expiration. However, the notice will go to addresses the FAA has on file. If your address has changed you can go to the FAA website and fill out the Change of Address Form.