Aircraft registration Numbers

The registration number of an aircraft registered in the United States is a string of alphanumeric characters beginning with the letter N. For all intents and purposes, the “N Number” is the license plate of the aircraft and, like license plates, are subject to various requirements and limitations. Unlike license plates, however, these requirements and limitations are not state mandated, rather, they are federally regulated and therefore standardized across the United States.

Some basic rules are as follows: No registration numbers exceed five characters, hence the total number of characters in an aircraft registration number including the mandatory beginning letter N is six.
• There may be a combination of one to five numbers following the initial N
• There may be one to four numbers followed by one letter following the initial N
• There may be one to three numbers followed by two letters following the initial N

One cannot use the letters “I” or “O” as these particular letters can be confused with the numbers one and zero.

The first number after the initial N cannot be a zero. It must be a number from 1 through 9. And, the numbers N1 through N99 are already taken, whether they are currently in use or not, as they are reserved for the Federal Aviation Agency.

Numbers beginning with NC, NX, NR or NL are no longer being used, but may still in use on some older aircraft, as long as they are in accordance with Federal Aviation Regulation Part 45.22.

Like a vanity plate for your car, you can request a special number for your plane. If it is not in use or “owned” by someone, you may have it. It will cost an additional $10.00 over and above any standard registration fees.