Airplane Registration Numbers

The International Civil Aviation Organization (www.icao.int) maintains aircraft registration standards for participating countries. Each aircraft (over a certain weight) must be registered with a national aviation registration mark and number. This registration is shown on the plane. Different countries have different registration schemes. For example, the U.S. uses an “N” followed by 1 to 5 additional characters as the aircraft registration number as follows:

·         N1 to N99 (reserved for only FAA internal use)

·         N100 to N99999

·         N1A to N9Z

·         N1AA to N9ZZ

·         N10A to N99Z

·         N10AA to N99ZZ

·         N100A to N999Z

·         N100AA to N999ZZ

·         N1000A to N9999Z

Each registration must start with a number other than zero, can not end in more than two letters, may not contain the letters I or O.

Private aircraft usually use their registration as their radio call-sign, but most commercial aircraft use the ICAO airline designator or a company call-sign.

Pre-1950s aircraft sometimes have a second letter in its identifier, but is not really part of the identification identifying the category of aircraft. For example, NC12345 is the same registration as N12345.

These categories may still appear on antique aircraft:

·         C = standard

·         L = limited

·         R = restricted

·         X = experimental

As mentioned, each country has its own unique registration mark scheme. For example, Canadian registrations start with C, Panama is HP, and Cyprus is 5B. For a list of country registration codes, go to www.icao.int/icao/en/anb/fls/alpha_State.pdf