Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By wingspan
#813155
Peter Pan wrote:
Morley wrote:Thats their official line. In fact most aircraft flying over here were on another number and theres no confusion there. It can be done with car registrations and if I got ALT147B on my Audi TT it would take a moron to mistake it for a Vauxhall Victor.

Perhaps the CAA think of themselves as that, I couldnt possibly comment.


Would rather have the Victor. Or an MX5 :wink:



Audi TT? Hairdressers car? Morley? Anything for the weekend sir?
By Frank Leopald
#813204
But they do re-issue a registration to a new type. I suppose as it's a small register and the man in charge is top class it can be controlled.

Food for thought for a strapped for cash CAA - Andrew take note!

Frank Leopald
#813206
Since this thread is about aircraft and vehicle registrations, why don't the DVLA sell reg's without the requisite combination of letters & numbers?

Allowing "REG" on a car (like the Yanks) would stop complete idiotic stupid pumped-up prats having "R3G" on their car pretending it says something it doesn't. Despite my hate for "vanity" plates, at least the American way allows owners to make literal sense. DVLA could make money, too.

I've never understood the UK penchant for having G-Oxyz on an aircraft. My version of the OED doesn't have a hyphen in the middle of "GO".
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By Chipmunk Carol
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#813237
I have a vanity number plate because I am vain.
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By eharding
#813239
Janie wrote:I have a vanity number plate because I am vain.


..and I'll bet you think this thread is about you. Don't you? Don't you?
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#813258
Dave Phillips wrote:One of the aircraft I fly is G-KAIR, it is painted on a PA28 :(


In the US there are quite a few Cessnas with the reg N737xx.

Including one at Crystal River IIRC.
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By TezTheFez
#813271
Best one I've seen - I think in the mags was - G-ESUS
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By G-BLEW
Boss Man  Boss Man
#813275
In the UK a debt (maintenance, fuel, landing fees etc.) remains with the aircraft rather than the operator or pilot. If you buy an aeroplane that 'owes' money for something you can find yourself having to pay off a debt that someone else incurred in order to get your aeroplane back.

I wonder if that legislation has something to do with not re-issuing registrations?

Ian
User avatar
By Talkdownman
#813282
Janie wrote:I have a vanity number plate because I am vain.

I do not have a vanity number plate because I am vain.
(Maybe it is misguided 'inverted' snobbery.....!)
User avatar
By Katamarino
#813524
peterh337 wrote:The USA doesn't have a problem and they have 1 or 2 orders of magnitude more aeroplanes on their reg than the UK CAA.

My TB20 used to be an Osprey, whatever that is. Must be really easy to get the two confused ;)


We flew round the US in a C182 that used to be a DC-9 :)
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By vintage ATCO
#813937
G-BLEW wrote:In the UK a debt (maintenance, fuel, landing fees etc.) remains with the aircraft rather than the operator or pilot. If you buy an aeroplane that 'owes' money for something you can find yourself having to pay off a debt that someone else incurred in order to get your aeroplane back.

I wonder if that legislation has something to do with not re-issuing registrations?


Probably not because it makes no difference if the aircraft is sold and registered in another country.

One advantage of having spotters in ATC is their encyclopedic knowledge. A Spanish MD83 landed at Luton once and the resident spotter was able to tell me it's previous registration and that it owed the airport several thousand ££££ (we kept a list in ATC). I nailed the lien to the cockpit door and then let a rather bewildered captain phone his boss in Madrid from my office. We took the money from the Boss' gold credit card. Unfortunately for the spotter he didn't get a percentage of the take. :D
By peterh337
.
#813940
I wonder exactly why this MD83 owned the airport that money.

Was it because it departed without paying, or was it because the airport failed to invoice it and the error was discovered a year or two later in an audit, and then they were not able to collect the money because the aeroplane changed hands, etc?

Given how utterly disorganised airports are, nothing would suprise me. At many of them, a fax machine represents the pinnacle of technology. I often fly to a certain airport (a big 24H one) and at least 75% of their invoices are for the wrong amount (say 50% out). But at least I now get them, having explained to the lady in Accounts (who is based at a different airport, and my billing details were left but never reached her) how to use google.com (put in the tail number) and g-info; she was most grateful for this because I must have transformed her debt collection task :) That debt collection task was at least 90% self inflicted though.

IMHO nobody short of a total conman would depart knowingly without paying because everybody in aviation knows they are going to get traced, and basically you won't be able to fly to that airport again. Renters sometimes do it, especially at foreign airports, but there aren't many MD83s for self fly hire :)

Airports are the most appalling examples of incompetent business management I see - dwarfing anything one comes across in industry.