Keeping your aircraft registered with the Federal Aviation Administration is vital if you want to be able to fly or use the plane in any manner. If your plane is not registered, then your aircraft is simply not legal, and you may face fines and other punishment from the FAA if you try to fly the plane while it is in this situation. Despite the importance of registration, it is easy for it to lapse, and in this situation, you will need to ask the FAA to reinstate the airplane by going through the registration process again. If you ignore this problem, it can only get more serious in the future.
How Registration Lapse Occurs
You have 3 years of registration to make sure that your documentation doesn’t lapse. The FAA will send you a reminder about six months before the expiration, and then a two-month notice. This will give you plenty of time to organize the renewal, but if you don’t do so in the time allowed, your registration will expire. You might not even realize it until you attempt to fly the plane, and then you will experience some difficulties. Your airplane will be without authority to operate, flying illegally. When this is noted, you will have to take steps to reinstate the plane as soon as possible, or you will be in serious trouble with the authorities, which could result in fines or even having the plane seized and impounded.
Reinstatement Or Renewal?
It is important to remember that if your documentation has expired, you will not be able to renew the registration. By the time of expiry, the opportunity to renew has passed, meaning you will have to apply again to the FAA. While reinstatement is a form of re-registration, and means that you will have to file a lot more paperwork, it is also not the same as your initial registration. You will still have to provide evidence of your ownership, documentation to establish the origins of the aircraft and its history, and evidence that it is in a well-maintained condition. The registry is unlikely to be kind to you and give you the paperwork that it already has on your plane, so you are likely to need to submit everything all over again. Hopefully, this will serve as a reminder not to forget to renew next time.
Get Help From Us
If you are looking for assistance with your application to reinstate an airplane, then you could benefit from talking to us. The team at the National Aviation Center hopes to give you the assistance that you need to successfully reinstate your plane in the registry. We can offer you information about the documentation you will need to submit with your forms and how to speak to the FAA about your registration. For more assistance with all areas of airplane registration in the US, talk to us now by filling in our online enquiry form or by calling the team at 1 (800) 357-0893 today.