Recycled Aircraft Registrations

[DrMack]

We just learned that our registration number, N704PA, was previously assigned to a Pan Am B707, the very airplane that brought the Beatles to America in 1964, which was scrapped in 1977.

So I was wondering if anyone else has a recycled registration that might also have an interesting cultural significance.

There is of course no meaningful purpose for this "investigation".

 

[Pilawt]

No real cultural significance here, but it was a weird coincidence:

In 2000 I was going to have my Grumman Cheetah painted. I decided at the same time to change the reg (it ended with the initials of the prior owner) to something more meaningful for me.

I wanted N121PS (for PSalm 121). The FAA database said that number was now in a block of numbers reserved by Aviat, the manufacturer of the Pitts Special biplane. So I went with another choice for the Cheetah (N365PS, which had once been on a PSA BAe-146 airliner), which it still wears for its new owner.

In 2007 I bought a new Sport Cub. When I ordered it, the factory asked if I wanted a special reg number. I checked the database again, and lo and behold, Pitts Special N121PS had been de-registered and exported to Canada in 2004. So the number was available and I grabbed it.

Fast forward about a year. I attended a gathering at the CubCrafters factory at Yakima. I was wearing my name tag with airplane reg number on it, when a CubCrafters customer from Montreal came up to me and said, "Hey, that number used to be on my Pitts Special!"