N Number Question

[HPNFlyGirl]

I have a question about N Numbers.

I was doing a search online for my old trainer N22055, C-172R, and when it came up I saw that there was another N22055 a C-150.

My question is...After an aircraft is in an accident to where it is unusable will the N number be assigned to another aircraft?

Needless to say I do not think I will be flying an aircraft with the N Number N22055. Personally I think this number should be retired.


C-172 Link

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20050616X00783&ntsbno=ATL05CA090&akey=1

C-150 Link

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001214X38870&key=1

 

[Tom-D]

When an insurance company or a salvage yard or for that matter anyone returns the airworthiness certificate and notifys the FAA that an aircraft has been removed from service, the FAA will issue the Number again.

 

[mikea]

Your guess is correct. The old number is made available for use. No number "gets assigned," it gets applied for.

The numbers are aircraft leaving the factory are usual taken in numeric sequence from from a block. The old number on my Piper was one in a long line of Cherokees from the late 1960s. It has 100s of Cherokee 235 cousins in the range, all ending in W.

The new N number on mine was on a Beech 92 that crashed in Loiusiana in the 1980s. Other than finding your number in the NTSB file, it's not a concern.

I didn't know the history of the number when I got it. I just knew I got it.