Tail number database

Guest Discussion
1

I saw an SR20 at an airport I was visiting this weekend. Looked up the tail number, and the database said “Cirrus Design Corporation.” I noticed a lot of tail numbers said that.

So what’s the story? I understand that Cirrus has registered a bunch of N999CD numbers to use when the owner doesn’t provide his own number, so that’s why their name is in the database, but the information available to us is obviously not up to date.

My guess is that the FAA does not update the tail number database once the airplane is registered to the owner. Does anybody know the whole story?

2

My guess is that the FAA does not update the tail number database once the airplane is registered to the owner. Does anybody know the whole story?

They do eventually update the database; mine was originally registered that way but shows the address now. A number of online databases are woefully out of date. I’ve had the best luck with www.landings.com.