Photo Courtesy Nlets

Aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies an aircraft in the same way a license plate identifies an automobile. All aircraft must be registered with a national authority. Although aircraft are required to carry proof of registration, most also display their registration numbers on or near the tail (referred to as a “tail number”).

The Aircraft Registration Query provides officers the capability of using Nlets to obtain registration information about commercial and private aircraft registered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Nlets formatted a transaction that goes to the FAA Internet Web site, “screen scrapes” the data, formats it and returns the data to the terminal from which the query was made.

The Nlets Transaction
The “GQ” (query) enables users to obtain aircraft registration information. A “GR” (response) will be returned with notification that a registration record does or does not exist, in the form of a negative, positive or multiple record responses.

The GQ requires the following data elements:

• A valid, nine-character sending ORI (originating routing indicator);
• Up to any combination of five, two-character destination ORI;
• Registration number;
• Serial number;
• Name;
• Sighted; and
• Date of sighting.

If the aircraft is the subject of a Treasury Enforcement and Communication System (TECS) record, a hit notification message will be sent to officers on TECS who are interested in the suspect aircraft. (TECS is a communications system used extensively by the law enforcement to identify individuals and businesses suspected of or involved in violation of federal law.)

The GR can include any or all of the following data elements:

• Aircraft registration number;
• Serial number;
• Year;
• Make;
• Model;
• Type;
• Manufacturer;
• Class;
• Engine type;
• Name of registrant;
• Address of registrant;
• Not on file; and
• Temporarily unavailable.

Nlets supports this transaction in legacy text, as well as in XML. Although 42 states can send a query, on the whole, active participation in this transaction is relatively low.

Resources
Requests from local agencies interested in using the Aircraft Registration message key must be reviewed by the Nlets state representative. Please direct all requests and questions to [email protected].

Chelsea S. Keefer is a document specialist with Nlets, based in Phoenix.

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“Series Introduction”
“International Fuel Tax Association (IFTA) Transaction”
“Coast Guard Vessel Transaction”
“Wildlife Violation Transaction”
“Concealed Weapon Permit Transaction”
“State Warrant Query”
“Sex Offender Transactions”
“Parole, Probation & Corrections Transactions”