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Thread: N-number Reservations

  1. #11

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    Airlines & aircraft manufacturers have been reserving blocks of N-numbers for 60 yrs. Where do you draw the line? I suppose eventually the FAA will run out of available numbers and have to do something.

    An individual grabbed Richard Collins' N40RC as soon as it became available. He apparently had at least one fan.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by martymayes View Post
    I suppose eventually the FAA will run out of available numbers and have to do something.
    Transport Canada Civil Aviation implemented new ident variations to avoid this potential problem years ago. Since the dawn of registration requirements it was always CF- followed by 3 letters. A while ago they introduced CG- followed by 3 letters. For display purposes only on aircraft, variants can be used such as C-F and 3 letters or C-G and 3 letters.

  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by rwanttaja View Post
    The most famous story along this line is from legendary aviation writer Peter Lert.

    In the '70s, he built a trailer for his glider. It looked a lot like a rocket, so he found a clever combination of characters that spelled out the name of a famous rocket of the time, and used that to register his glider.

    Years later, he was contacted by a company who wanted to buy his registration.

    The number?

    "N1KE"

    Peter won't say what the compensation was, but admits he's never had to buy shoes, since....

    Ron Wanttaja
    Also back in the seventies, I knew a USN MD that owned a refurbed J model Bonanza and based it with our military flying club in the DC area. It was sharp to say the least. He gave me a good amount of stick time in it. Cal was able to get a cool N number ending in his initials: November one Charlie Echo.

    Bob

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Floatsflyer View Post
    Transport Canada Civil Aviation implemented new ident variations to avoid this potential problem years ago. Since the dawn of registration requirements it was always CF- followed by 3 letters. A while ago they introduced CG- followed by 3 letters. For display purposes only on aircraft, variants can be used such as C-F and 3 letters or C-G and 3 letters.
    This is an example of how the US gov. plans ahead. I think the FAA infrastructure is limited to six digits including the "N" and it would be decades to get that changed.
    Attached Images Attached Images  

  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by martymayes View Post
    Airlines & aircraft manufacturers have been reserving blocks of N-numbers for 60 yrs. Where do you draw the line? I suppose eventually the FAA will run out of available numbers and have to do something.
    There are about 215K US registered aircraft, and with the NxxxAA numbering scheme, there are about 1.4M available "N" numbers. We're not going to run out of available #'s in the foreseeable future. While folks can certainly buy up some desirable #'s, it's kind of like domain names - you may or may not get the one you want for the lowest price, but there's always SOME # you can get for the lowest price.

    I kind of understand the objection in the OP, but it doesn't seem like a federal case to me, and my guess is that the solution would be worse than the disease, especially to free marketeers.

  6. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Marc Zeitlin View Post
    There are about 215K US registered aircraft, and with the NxxxAA numbering scheme, there are about 1.4M available "N" numbers. We're not going to run out of available #'s in the foreseeable future. While folks can certainly buy up some desirable #'s, it's kind of like domain names - you may or may not get the one you want for the lowest price, but there's always SOME # you can get for the lowest price.

    I kind of understand the objection in the OP, but it doesn't seem like a federal case to me, and my guess is that the solution would be worse than the disease, especially to free marketeers.
    You're probably right, but the practice still gripes me.

  7. #17
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    I discovered this scam over a year ago and complained to the FAA about it. They never responded. Think about it, though: Trump is gutting budgets and along comes someone offering the FAA some money up front. Why should they care? $10 is $10 and greed is greed: America is great again (aren’t you thrilled?)...hire a lawyer and sue ‘em like Sporty’s had to do to get the sportys.com web address.

  8. #18

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    I am glad you made me aware of this nonsense!

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