N number lookup

FlyBoyAndy

FlyBoyAndy

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Apr 20, 2011
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Syracuse, NY
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FlyBoyAndy
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I’m in the process of registering a plane that we purchased. When going to the n number lookup site at https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/search/nnumberinquiry I get a message that the plane that I am looking up may not be suitable for operation. I can click continue to look at the information. Has anyone seen this message before?

If you want to see the message, use 3058V for the n number.

Thank
 
On aviationdb it's listed as a Socata. The number was previously registered to a Bo which was destroyed in 1951.
I agree....call the number ASAP and if the confusion is due to the sale or something else.
 
It could have been that date. They originally rejected original application because they didn’t accept digital signatures and the seller completed the bill of sale incorrectly. We resubmitted with ink signatures and the seller completed the form correctly.
 
FlyBoyAndy said:
It could have been that date. They originally rejected original application because they didn’t accept digital signatures and the seller completed the bill of sale incorrectly. We resubmitted with ink signatures and the seller completed the form correctly.
Click to expand...
Once an application is received and the process starts to re-register the aircraft the database usually updates to reflect that change. However, the database is not a real time indicator of that application status. For example, during covid the database was 6+months behind the actual application process. And to note, everything down to the letter must be correct when submitting Forms 8050-1 and -2 or they get rejected and you lose your place in line.
 
FlyBoyAndy said:
I’m in the process of registering a plane that we purchased. When going to the n number lookup site at https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/search/nnumberinquiry I get a message that the plane that I am looking up may not be suitable for operation. I can click continue to look at the information. Has anyone seen this message before?
Click to expand...
Yes, it's not uncommon at all. Generally it means that the owner did not return the "triennial" (now septennial?) registration form that got mailed out by the FAA and the registration is technically no longer valid, meaning that the aircraft isn't legal to fly.

It does appear that "CAHOON FAMILY LLC" wasn't particularly great about getting that form back on time... And I'm also a bit confused about what action was taken in July 2023 as that doesn't fit the cycle of the rest of the updates.

If you're the new owner in Oswego, I wouldn't worry about it, especially with the mistakes made on the first registration form. If you've got a registration form in your name and the plane is new to you, you should be fine and I would expect that alert to disappear from the registry site in a few months when it's processed and no longer shows "REGISTRATION PENDING" as the owner.
 
FlyBoyAndy said:
I’m in the process of registering a plane that we purchased. When going to the n number lookup site at https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/search/nnumberinquiry I get a message that the plane that I am looking up may not be suitable for operation. I can click continue to look at the information. Has anyone seen this message before?
Click to expand...
The aircraft registry often has blanks in some column. Some don't matter, but others initiate the "Not Suitable for Operation" warning.

The one I normally encounter this is the certification category. A bit less than a tenth of the aircraft on the US registry don't record how the aircraft is licensed... Standard Category, Experimental Amateur-Built, etc.

This isn't an issue with Socata N3058V (it's listed as Standard category), but it has no certification issue date. There are about 5,500 aircraft that have a blank in this column.

Just verifying that the aircraft physically has the required paperwork should be sufficient.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Spaces in fields (especially year of manufacture) are not uncommon as well. I get the raw data to be loaded into the software we use at Oshkosh to verify you're old enough to park in Vintage. I've had to deal with a few "irregularities" in the raw data.
 
Got the same message when I was registering my plane. A few days later it was in my name. This probably the temporary expiring and the FAA taking too long to list the new owner.
 
flyingron said:
Spaces in fields (especially year of manufacture) are not uncommon as well. I get the raw data to be loaded into the software we use at Oshkosh to verify you're old enough to park in Vintage. I've had to deal with a few "irregularities" in the raw data.
Click to expand...
Almost twenty percent don't list the year of manufacture, and about a tenth don't list an engine type. Most (but not all) of the ones with blanks in the engine column are antique/classics. A number though, are drones. I don't think the FAA assigns a code to drone engine types.

We don't know which blank fields generate the "problems" message. Obviously the year of certification. I thought the type of certification would, too, until I found a plane with a blank in that field and didn't get the warning message.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Well, some of them might as well be blank. N5327K still is listed as having the GOpher engine and that's not been in the airframe for over twenty years now.
 
FlyBoyAndy said:
I’m in the process of registering a plane that we purchased. When going to the n number lookup site at https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/search/nnumberinquiry I get a message that the plane that I am looking up may not be suitable for operation. I can click continue to look at the information. Has anyone seen this message before?

If you want to see the message, use 3058V for the n number.

Thank
Click to expand...
Are you talking about a Bonanza? That was listed as destroyed back 1951...

1766094911663.png
 
I guess it was subsequently issued to a 1993 Socata TB-20 Trinidad. Regsiration pending in another database dated 12/09/2025.
 
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