An important component of your aircraft ownership will be your aircraft registration, which is the official government document that grants you both your own claims and the permission to operate the aircraft. This is why you need to stay on top of changing aircraft registration when the information pertaining to it needs to be updated.
Changing Aircraft Registration
There are going to be two distinct cases in which you will have to change your aircraft’s registration. You will have to go through this process if any information related to the aircraft changes at one point, or if you intend to make changes to the ownership of the aircraft.
Changing the Address
Remember that your aviation registration should always have accurate and up-to-date information. This means that should something related to it change, even if it’s something as basic as your own home address, you will need to update it. Now, this isn’t difficult. It’s actually pretty straightforward. There is a specific form for this called the change of address form, which you can find here on our website. You’ll only need to provide some information about yourself (or the owner, if you’re acting on their behalf) and the aircraft in question, including its current registration number, and to provide the new address. It’s that easy. You don’t want to miss out on any information that’s mailed to your old address, so always stay on top of that.
Transferring Ownership
Another important form of updates that you might need to incur will be those to the specific ownership of your aircraft. This will be relevant in a variety of different scenarios, so let’s break down the most important ones:
- Full Transfers of Ownership – When you’re selling your aircraft, you will have to go through a process for transfer of ownership. This way, the new owner won’t have to register the aircraft from scratch, like you most likely did, but they will instead be past the current registration.
- Adding an Owner – Sometimes, for example, you will be adding an owner to the existing registration. Say, you got married or entered a business partnership. In such cases, you might want to change the registration to reflect the new ownership arrangements to make them official.
- Removing an Owner – At the same time, and in the opposite situations, you will want to remove an owner instead. This will also entail updating the registration by way of the ownership transfer form. Just remember to submit these as partial changes and not as full transfers of ownership.
Submitting the Corresponding Forms
Submitting forms to government agencies like the FAA always ends up being more complicated than it should be. Between all the requirements and the complicated forms, it’s surprising anyone ever gets any form processed promptly at all. Because of this, it’s important to find easy and convenient ways to fill out and submit forms that don’t involve dealing directly with the government. That is why we at the National Aviation Center make it easier for you to find and submit all your forms, including those to update your registration. Should you need any help, you can use our website chat, fill out our contact form, or give us a call at 1-800-357-0893 and we’ll answer your questions in no time.