Registering and Titling an Aircraft
There is no state title for an aircraft. Ownership, liens and every transfer are recorded in one federal registry, and a buyer who does not check it before closing is buying whatever the registry says — not whatever the seller said.
What this report covers
- One federal registry records ownership and liens for every civil aircraft, and no state issues an aircraft title.
- Registration is available only to US citizens, resident aliens and qualifying corporations, with a trust route for others.
- A conveyance is not effective against third parties until it is recorded, which makes recording order decisive.
- Aircraft registration must be renewed, and a lapsed registration grounds the aircraft until it is restored.
- State sales and use tax is a separate exposure that follows the aircraft's base, not its registration.
Buying an aircraft feels like buying a vehicle and is legally closer to buying a small ship. There is no state title, no county record and no local clerk. One federal registry holds the ownership record for every civil aircraft in the country, and everything that matters at a closing turns on what that registry says on the day the documents arrive.
What registration is, and who may hold it
Registration establishes the aircraft's nationality and assigns the identification mark carried on the fuselage. It is not proof of ownership in the way a deed is proof of title to land, but it is the entry that the rest of the system indexes against.
Eligibility is restricted. An aircraft may be registered by a US citizen, by a resident alien, or by a corporation organized under US law that meets tests about who owns and controls it. Where an owner does not qualify, the established structure is a non-citizen trust with a US trustee holding legal title — accepted practice, provided the trust is genuine and documented.
The application requires evidence of ownership, which for a new aircraft is a bill of sale from the manufacturer and for a used one is a chain of bills of sale reaching the current seller. Gaps in that chain are the single most common reason a registration application stalls, and they are discovered at the worst moment: after the money has moved.
The certificate says who applied and was accepted, not who owns the aircraft free of claims. Ownership questions are answered by the recorded conveyances, which is why a search of the record — not a look at the registration certificate — is the step that protects a buyer.
Recording, and why order decides everything
Conveyances and security instruments are recorded against the aircraft in the same federal registry. Recording is what makes an interest effective against third parties: an unrecorded transfer or lien is valid between the parties who signed it and largely invisible to everyone else.
That produces the rule that governs closings. A lender who records first has priority over one who signs first, and a buyer who records promptly is protected against a conveyance signed earlier but filed later. In practice the documents are lodged at the registry through a title company or escrow agent who files the moment funds are released, precisely so the gap between payment and recording is measured in minutes.
The mechanics of a lien — how it is created, perfected and released — follow the same recording logic, and an international registry adds a second layer for aircraft that fall within its scope. For a light aircraft in domestic ownership the federal registry is usually the whole picture.
The sequence at a purchase
- Search the record for the airframe and for each engine and propeller with its own records. Liens attach to components as well as airframes.
- Read what the search returns. Open liens, unreleased security agreements, unrecorded gaps in the chain, and any registration irregularity.
- Require releases to be executed and lodged simultaneously with the sale, not promised afterwards.
- Close through escrow so that funds and documents move together.
- Record immediately, and confirm the recording rather than assuming it.
- Apply for registration in the new owner's name, and carry the temporary authority in the aircraft until the certificate arrives.
The aircraft's maintenance records travel alongside all of this and are worth as much as the title work. An aircraft with a clean registry entry and missing logbooks is a problem the registry cannot show you.
Keeping the registration alive
Registration must be renewed, and the certificate must be aboard the aircraft when it operates. Two ordinary events break this more often than anything else:
- An address change that was never reported. The duty to report is on the owner, renewal notices go to the address of record, and an aircraft can sit un-renewed because the mail went to a former hangar.
- A change in the owning entity. A company that is dissolved, merged or re-formed no longer matches the registered owner, and the registration follows the entity rather than the aircraft.
Operating with a lapsed registration is not a paperwork technicality. The aircraft is ineligible to fly, insurance may respond badly to a claim arising from an ineligible flight, and the enforcement route for operating an unregistered aircraft is the ordinary certificate action process.
The state exposure the federal registry does not cover
Because registration is federal, buyers frequently assume tax is too. It is not. Sales and use tax on an aircraft is a state matter, and it typically follows where the aircraft is delivered, based and used rather than where it is registered.
The recurring surprise is use tax: an aircraft purchased in a state with no sales tax and then based elsewhere generally attracts use tax in the state where it lives, at that state's rate, on the purchase price. States with significant general aviation populations audit this actively, using hangar records and flight tracking data. Structuring the purchase to address it is a decision to make before closing, not after the assessment arrives.
None of this touches the pilot's own certification, which runs on a separate medical and certification track with no connection to who owns the aircraft.
Sources
- eCFR — 14 CFR Part 47, Aircraft Registration
Eligibility, application, renewal and the duty to report changes.
- eCFR — 14 CFR Part 49, Recording of Aircraft Titles and Security Documents
How conveyances and security instruments are recorded and what recording achieves.
- Cornell Legal Information Institute — 49 U.S.C. 44107, Recordation of Conveyances
The statutory basis for the federal recording system and its priority effect.
- Cornell Legal Information Institute — 49 U.S.C. 44103, Registration of Aircraft
Who may register an aircraft and what the certificate establishes.
- FAA — Aircraft Registration
The registry's own guidance on forms, fees and processing.
- eCFR — 14 CFR 91.203, Civil Aircraft Certifications Required
The requirement to carry registration aboard the aircraft in operation.
Questions readers ask
Can a non-citizen own a US-registered aircraft?
Not directly. Registration requires a US citizen, a resident alien, or a corporation organized under US law that meets ownership and control tests. The established route for others is a non-citizen trust, where a US trustee holds legal title and the beneficial owner has defined rights. These structures are common and accepted, but they must be documented properly and the trustee's role has to be real rather than nominal.
How long does a title search take?
A search of the registry records for a single aircraft is typically returned within a day or two by a title company working at the registry, and often the same day. That is fast enough that there is no defensible reason to close without one. The search should cover the airframe and each engine and propeller carrying its own records, because liens can attach to components separately.
What happens if registration lapses?
The aircraft may not be operated. Registration must be renewed on the schedule the rule sets, and an expired certificate makes the aircraft ineligible to fly until a new one issues. The common cause is an address change that was never reported, so renewal notices went to a former address. Reporting an address change is a separate duty and a cheap one.
