You’re willing to spend millions to acquire an aircraft…
Shouldn’t you spend a few thousand more to protect your investment?

You probably know that that the Federal Aviation Administration System was set up to establish an exclusive national recording system covering for title to and liens against aircraft.

But, did you know that:

--the FAA “system is not all-inclusive”?1

--“one cannot determine ownership or complete freedom from third party claims from”
reviewing the FAA records?2

--a certificate of registration of an aircraft is not the same thing as a certificate of title; and the Transportation Code states that a certificate of registration is “not evidence of ownership of an aircraft in a proceeding in which ownership is or may be in issue”? 3

--a bankruptcy judge recently ruled that “registration with the FAA is not evidence of ownership nor proof of foreclosure of any secured interest in aircraft…Thus, documents submitted to the FAA merely record a purported transfer of interest, but do not transfer the interest, nor create or validate the title to the aircraft.”4

--as between the persons to a contract, the FAA record is “irrelevant”?5

--the Transportation Code does “not contain elaborate priority provisions”6; and that you must refer to applicable state law to determine the priority among competing claims against the aircraft ?

--even if you are the first to file documents at the FAA, a state or federal court may award title to, or a lien against, your aircraft to a person who filed after you, or a person who never filed at the FAA?7

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1 Sigman, The Wild Blue Yonder: Interests in Aircrft Under our Federal System, 46 So. Cal. Law Rev. 316 (1973) 2 Id. 3 49 U.S.C. §44103 (c) 4 Hamilton v Moore Flying Club, 197 B.R. 305 (Bktrcy.E.D. Ark 1996) 5 See Sigman, supra, at 377 6 Id, at 377; and Philko Aviation, Inc. v Shacket, 103 S.Ct. 2476 (1983) 7 See Philko; and Shacket v. Philko Aviation, Inc., 841 F 2d 166 (7th Cir. 1988)