Aircraft Registration, Nationality, Airworthiness and Documents
This domain links the legal identity of an aircraft to the paperwork you must find on board.
Registration and nationality
Under Chicago Articles 17-20, an aircraft has the nationality of the State in which it is registered, and an aircraft cannot be validly registered in more than one State - registration in a new State requires cancellation of the old one. Registration marks follow Annex 7: a nationality mark (D-, G-, F-, N, etc.) followed by a hyphen and the registration mark, displayed on the fuselage and, for many aircraft, under the wings, in characters of the specified size and contrast.
The State of registry issues the Certificate of Registration and the Certificate of Airworthiness (C of A), and under Article 30 the radio station licence.
Documents to be carried (Art. 29 and Annex 6, EU ORO.GEN.135)
Certificate of Registration; Certificate of Airworthiness; noise certificate; crew licences and medical certificates; journey logbook; aircraft radio licence; passenger and cargo manifests where required; the Aircraft Flight Manual; the MEL/CDL; the technical log; the insurance certificate; the AOC or declaration copy as applicable.
Continuing airworthiness
Airworthiness is maintained under Part-21 (type certificates, changes, repairs, permits to fly) and Part-M/Part-ML (continuing airworthiness management, maintenance programmes, airworthiness directives, EASA Form 1). The Airworthiness Review Certificate (ARC) is valid one year and is issued or extended after an airworthiness review; a valid C of A without a valid ARC does not permit flight. A permit to fly is not a C of A and carries stated conditions.
Worked example
An operator buys an aircraft registered abroad. The C of A expires in three months, the ARC in one month. Re-registration requires deregistration from the former State first; the new State then issues its own C of A based on the type certificate, and an ARC must be established, so the one-month ARC does not carry over.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing C of A with ARC validity; thinking a radio licence is issued by the operator; forgetting that the C of R is nationality evidence, not airworthiness evidence.