AROW Update

New rules were implemented on October 1, 2010 that impact the Registration document as part of AROW. The registration now has an expiration date, yet another thing to check. The registration documents now will be good for 3 years. Existing registration documents will be assigned an expiration date between March 31, 2011 through December 31,2013 based on the month the current registration was issued. For existing registration documents one way to know if it is still valid, since the current registration documents don’t have an expiration date printed on them, is to check online by N number. You can do that on the FAA website at: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Inquiry.aspx.

A summary of these changes can be found: http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/aircraft_certification/aircraft_registry/reregistration/

A key summary point is:
If aircraft registration has expired and a re-registration certificate has not been issued, received, and placed in the aircraft, then the aircraft is without authority to operate.

This Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on July 20, 2010, Page 41968. And the gory details can be found: http://frwebgate2.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/TEXTgate.cgi?WAISdocID=dMCj4f/4/1/0&WAISaction=retrieve

I believe the key changes to the FAR are in 47.40 (a) (3) and 91.203 (a) (2) Sec.

47.40 Registration expiration and renewal.

(a) ***
(3) A Certificate of Aircraft Registration issued under this paragraph expires three years after the last day of the month in which it is issued.

Sec. 91.203 Civil aircraft: Certifications required.

(a) * * *
(2) An effective U.S. registration certificate issued to its owner
or, for operation within the United States, the second copy of the
Aircraft registration Application as provided for in Sec. 47.31(c), or
a registration certification issued under the laws of a foreign
country.