Aircraft Registration and Documents

Aircraft registration gives an aircraft a nationality. Once an aircraft is entered on the register of a State, that State becomes its State of Registry: it issues the certificates of registration and airworthiness, oversees its continuing airworthiness, and answers for it internationally. The marks painted on the aircraft identify that State and that aircraft, and the documents carried on board prove the aircraft's status and its crew's qualifications to any authority that asks.

The rules come from the Chicago Convention, whose Articles 17 and 18 deal with nationality and Article 29 with documents, and from ICAO Annex 7 (Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks), which sets the format, location and size of the marks and the content of the certificate of registration. EASA and FAA rules then add their own lists of documents to carry, and both are examined in PPL, CPL and ATPL air law papers.

Annex 7 Aircraft Categories

Annex 7 opens with a classification of aircraft, because the rules for marks depend on the kind of aircraft:

• An aeroplane is a power-driven heavier-than-air aircraft deriving its lift in flight chiefly from aerodynamic reactions on surfaces that remain fixed under given conditions of flight.
• A rotorcraft is supported in flight by the reactions of the air on one or more rotors; the helicopter is the familiar example.
• A powered-lift aircraft takes off, lands and flies at low speed on engine-driven lift devices or engine thrust, but relies on non-rotating aerofoils for lift in horizontal flight; tiltrotors belong here.
• An ornithopter is supported in flight chiefly by the reactions of the air on planes to which a flapping motion is imparted.
• An airship is a power-driven lighter-than-air aircraft; a balloon has no engine to propel it.

The same classes appear in the rules of the air. When aircraft of different kinds converge, power-driven heavier-than-air aircraft give way to airships, gliders and balloons, airships to gliders and balloons, and gliders to balloons (see rules of the air).

EASA's regulations add their own grouping. They speak of motor-powered aircraft (MPA), and divide them into complex motor-powered aircraft and other-than-complex ones; that distinction decides whether a non-commercial operator works under Part-NCC or Part-NCO (see EASA regulatory framework).

Nationality and Registration Marks

Under Article 17 an aircraft has the nationality of the State in which it is registered, and under Article 18 it cannot be validly registered in more than one State, although its registration can be transferred from one State to another. ICAO keeps no register of individual aircraft: each State keeps its own.

The marks consist of two parts:

• The nationality mark, selected by the State of Registry from the series of symbols in the radio call signs allocated to that State by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). G is the United Kingdom's; N is used by the United States.
• The registration mark, assigned by the State of Registry to the individual aircraft. It may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both.

The nationality mark comes first. When the registration mark begins with a letter, a hyphen must separate the two, as in G-TTIF; US marks such as N61967, whose registration mark begins with a number, have none. The State of the Operator plays no part in the marks, so an aircraft leased to a foreign airline keeps the marks of its State of Registry.

To avoid confusion with signals, Annex 7 excludes certain combinations: SOS, PAN, XXX and TTT, which are distress, urgency and safety signals, combinations beginning with Q that could be taken for Q codes such as QNH, and five-letter combinations used in the International Code of Signals.

On heavier-than-air aircraft the marks appear on the lower surface of the wing, and on the fuselage between the wings and the tail or on the upper half of the vertical tail surfaces. The marks on the wings must be at least 50 cm high, those on the fuselage and vertical tail at least 30 cm. They are painted on, or affixed with equal permanence, and kept clean and visible. The aircraft also carries an identification plate showing its nationality and registration marks, made of fireproof metal or other fireproof material and fixed in a prominent position near the main entrance.

Common Marks

Some operators are set up jointly by several States, and their aircraft are not registered on a national basis. For them Annex 7 provides the common mark, which replaces the nationality mark. ICAO assigns the common mark to the common mark registering authority from the series of symbols in the radio call signs that the ITU has allocated to ICAO itself. The registering authority then assigns registration marks in the usual way. The example given in exam texts is 4YB, allocated for the aircraft of Arab Air Cargo.

Certificate of Registration

The certificate of registration follows a standard form. It shows:

• the nationality or common mark and the registration mark;
• the manufacturer and the manufacturer's designation of the aircraft;
• the aircraft serial number;
• the name and address of the owner;
• a certification that the aircraft has been entered on the register;
• the dated signature of the registering officer.

It does not contain the certificate of airworthiness number or validity: that is a separate document, issued by the State of Registry when the aircraft meets the applicable airworthiness requirements. The certificate of registration is carried in the aircraft at all times, and under the EU commercial air transport rules (CAT.GEN.MPA.180) it must be the original, not a copy. When a State first enters an aircraft on its register and issues or validates its certificate of airworthiness, it informs the State of Design, so that continuing airworthiness information reaches the right people.

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Documents Carried on Board

Article 29 of the Chicago Convention lists the documents that every aircraft engaged in international navigation must carry:

• the certificate of registration;
• the certificate of airworthiness;
• the appropriate licences for each member of the crew;
• the journey log book;
• the aircraft radio station licence, if the aircraft is equipped with radio;
• a list of passengers' names with their places of embarkation and destination, if passengers are carried;
• a cargo manifest and detailed declarations of the cargo, if cargo is carried.

European rules go further. For commercial air transport, CAT.GEN.MPA.180 requires, among other items, the certificates of registration and airworthiness and the aircraft radio licence as originals, while the air operator certificate is carried as a certified true copy together with a copy of the relevant operations specifications. The flight-specific papers, such as the operational flight plan, the mass and balance documentation and the briefing material, must also be on board, together with the operator's own MEL and the parts of the operations manual relevant to the crew's duties. On flights taking off and landing at the same aerodrome, specified documents may be kept at the aerodrome instead.

For non-commercial flights in other-than-complex aircraft, NCO.GEN.135 lists the flight manual, the certificates of registration and airworthiness, the noise certificate, the radio licence, the third-party liability insurance certificate, the journey log, details of any filed ATS flight plan, current charts for the route and reasonable diversions, the procedures and visual signals for intercepting and intercepted aircraft, and the MEL where one exists.

The pilot's own documents are separate. Under FCL.045 a pilot carries the licence, a valid medical certificate and a personal identification document with a photograph on every flight, and produces them without undue delay when an authorised representative of a competent authority asks. The personal flying logbook is not on the list.

The Journey Log Book

The journey log book, or journey log, is the aircraft's record of its flights, and one of the Article 29 documents. It records for each flight details such as the date, the crew and their duties, the places and times of departure and arrival, the nature of the flight and any incidents or observations, and it is signed by the pilot-in-command. EASA rules accept the journey log or an equivalent record.

It should not be confused with two other logs. The technical log records defects and maintenance actions and the aircraft's release to service (see technical log and MEL), and the pilot logbook is the pilot's personal record of flight time, which stays on the ground.

Aircraft Radio Station Licence

An aircraft that transmits on aeronautical frequencies operates a radio station. Under Article 30 of the Chicago Convention, an aircraft may carry radio transmitting apparatus over other States only if the authorities of its State of Registry have issued a licence to install and operate it. The aircraft radio station licence is therefore one of the Article 29 documents whenever radio is fitted, and CAT.GEN.MPA.180 requires the original on board. In the United States the FCC station licence is required only for international flights. The licence covers the equipment, not the person using it; operator permits and language proficiency are separate matters (see aeronautical telecommunication services).

FAA ARROW Checklist

US pilots remember the aircraft documents with the mnemonic ARROW:

Maintenance records must be kept and made available but need not be carried. The pilot carries a pilot certificate, a government-issued photo identification and a medical certificate, or BasicMed documentation, under 14 CFR 61.3. Two differences from the European lists stand out: the FAA requires the airworthiness certificate to be displayed, and ARROW contains no journey log, whereas NCO.GEN.135 lists one; a US aircraft flying abroad still needs one under Article 29.

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.