The Annual Registration Summaries

It's the first of the year, time for me to download the FAA aircraft registration database and provide some insights.

First up: Total registrations

Year	All Aircraft	All A/C Net	All A/C New	EAB	EAB Net	EAB New
2009	374373	-1751	5267	31914	672	1136
2010	373896	-477	4945	32682	768	1077
2011	367857	-6039	5185	33038	356	1022
2012	352198	-15659	5326	32041	-997	954
2013	317993	-34205	5983	27946	-4095	918
2014	312586	-5407	7181	27909	-37	1047
2015	314404	1818	10058	28078	169	950
2016	320683	6279	10533	28830	752	977
2017	312344	-8339	6622	28451	-379	917
2018	294221	-18123	6857	26572	-1879	888

"All" is the total number of registrations
"Net" is the change in the number of registrations vs. the previous year
"New" is the total number of new aircraft registrations. This is based on the "Net" value, corrected by the number of aircraft that had been de-registered that year.

Obviously, there was a big jump in the number of aircraft de-registered last year. Where this usually causes problems is when some bright spark tries to join two unrelated statistics...namely, the FAA registration database, the FAA estimate of annual flight hours, and the NTSB accident statistics.

Despite a nearly 2,000-aircraft reduction in the number of registered homebuilt aircraft, the number of ACTIVE homebuilts didn't decrease by that much. But since the "official" number of homebuilts dropped by almost 7%, someone will claim that the total flight hours flown by homebuilts last year ALSO dropped by 7%. This is probably not the case.

Plus, if someone then tries to compute fatality/100,000 flight hours, the supposed reduction in flight hours will make it APPEAR that the accident rate increased.

Now, word is that the number of EAB accidents was at a low last year. That should help, but one should, again, keep in mind that there are some loosey-goosey (pardon my French) games being played with these numbers.

Next step will be to extract the numbers of specific homebuilt types from the registry, and post the fleet sizes.

Ron Wanttaja

OK, here's the number of registered EAB examples of a wide number of types. Note that the overall homebuilt fleet decreased by almost 2,000 airplanes last year, so most of these types took their share of the hit.

This data includes only aircraft listed in the FAA registry as Experimental Amateur-Built. It includes (of course) only US-registered aircraft, and does not include:
- Aircraft with homebuilt-like names that are registered in some other category or do not list a certification category in their listing
- Aircraft that have been removed from the FAA registry, either by not renewing their registration at the scheduled time or having been manually removed by the owner or insurance company.
- Kits that have been built and registered in other countries, or completed aircraft that have been exported to other countries.

Type	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Air Command	56	56	56	54	36	35	31	31	25	19
Aventura	78	81	79	77	71	68	63	65	57	50
Avid	477	477	474	453	359	359	343	352	342	296
Baby/Junior Ace	278	281	279	275	230	228	228	230	225	204
Bede BD-4	155	153	151	134	98	91	93	92	90	78
Bede BD-5	77	77	78	70	49	43	40	41	38	34
Benson Gyro	720	717	689	518	271	218	200	198	158	105
Bowers Fly Baby	269	272	270	244	183	168	167	167	160	160
Challenger	628	659	670	657	584	594	586	593	578	491
Christen Eagle	245	240	238	238	214	207	206	205	204	194
Glasair	647	651	650	651	601	606	596	603	599	571
GlaStar/Sportsman	333	346	355	358	374	386	396	407	424	410
Harmon Rocket	78	79	83	84	88	85	87	85	85	80
Hatz	104	106	106	109	105	107	110	111	110	112
Kitfox	994	1009	1024	1027	905	918	936	950	946	875
Kolb (Ex-AB)	298	304	301	296	248	241	236	235	227	205
Lancair (All Models)	785	814	830	850	835	847	855	875	866	824
Lancair IV	236	245	245	246	246	244	259	260	249	236
Midget Mustang	295	301	294	282	241	240	236	238	233	207
Murphy	183	186	187	182	173	171	171	176	174	156
Pietenpol	358	362	363	351	307	313	311	321	319	296
Pitts (EX-AB)	813	806	800	743	639	613	617	625	608	548
Pulsar/KIS	153	155	153	150	130	126	124	125	122	107
Quickie/Q2/Q200	305	303	297	277	168	148	140	143	130	109
Quicksilver EX-AB	345	348	335	296	170	163	156	162	154	134
RAF-2000 Gyro	123	123	126	124	113	114	110	111	90	69
Rand KR-2	349	350	346	314	194	175	167	167	154	132
RANS	625	656	682	684	627	638	659	677	673	636
Rotorway	489	502	500	495	404	392	374	380	350	296
Rutan Long-EZ	492	495	491	482	428	418	416	417	406	379
Rutan Varieze	476	473	467	423	323	297	286	286	272	243
SeaRey	213	219	229	237	231	242	242	249	255	241
Sonerai	309	309	307	287	215	199	194	194	184	156
Sonex	232	265	310	346	383	420	451	484	497	486
Steen Skybolt	305	301	292	284	250	246	247	248	235	215
Stolp	505	509	495	458	404	396	399	402	385	358
Stolp Starduster	441	446	435	404	357	349	351	352	337	310
Thorp T-18	313	311	305	290	261	259	259	262	257	239
Vans RV-3	183	183	179	172	155	154	158	160	152	149
Vans RV-4	965	976	982	987	952	956	955	965	958	921
Vans RV-6	1739	1767	1781	1786	1763	1783	1775	1795	1796	1731
Vans RV-7	700	788	874	946	1000	1066	1118	1170	1220	1244
Vans RV-8	840	913	959	1012	1038	1082	1123	1161	1198	1215
Vans RV-9	371	419	452	484	522	552	588	611	630	638
Vans RV-10	177	221	253	281	304	340	366	394	419	434
Vans RV-12 (EX-AB Only)	0	8	19	28	36	49	53	63	68	74
Velocity	234	236	237	245	232	237	235	240	236	222
Volksplane	222	222	220	176	104	95	85	86	76	48
Zenair EX-AB	649	726	789	841	862	920	965	1013	1028	992

Ron Wanttaja

Ron, The Volksplane number of 48 agrees with my count. I did it the hard way, pulling up all the Volksplane possibilities, and confirming the currently registered N numbers. I have the single seat SA100 Starduster total at 22, but no number for the Starduster Too. I have 138 registered KR-2 aircraft, but this number does not include the KR2S. These were confirmed in the same fashion as the Volksplane.

One more aircraft, this one not in your list: 36 registered Stits SA-3A Playboys.

Thanks for this information...us number types love it!

Steve H