How does an aircraft title differ from my car title?

Legal ownership of any aircraft is determined by the aircraft "Title". We use quotes here, because there is no one piece of official looking paper that can be called a "Title" as we're used to thinking of them. Unlike your car or boat title, an aircraft "Title" is actually a complete folder kept in the vaults of the FAA Aircraft Registry building in Oklahoma City. Each time a Bill of Sale, a lien, or a 337 is submitted to the FAA it is reviewed for completeness and accuracy, then added to the folder.

In an ideal world, all of this public information would be instantly available to all of us on the internet. Not only is this NOT the case, but the FAA has made it clear that for "security reasons" this will never happen. (In fact, they don't even allow the public into the "public records" building!) When you request a title search, the title researcher must physically go to the building, request the file folder for a particular N number, wait a minimum of two hours while the FAA duplicates the file for their examination. They then must carefully review all of the file contents to prepare your title search report. It is a very tedious task, and in many cases can take several hours.

Regardless of other circumstances-- even if you're buying out your partner- it is all too possible that ANY aircraft may have a lien against it of which the present owner is totally unaware. The aircraft industry is full of horror stories about people who have ignored this advice, spent a small fortune restoring or painting or equipping their pride and joy, only to have a lien holder from years back show up one day and legally reclaim his possession!

Don't put yourself in this precarious position, even if the seller is your best friend. The FAA does not notify an aircraft owner when a lien is filed against his aircraft, and the only way to be sure, even for the seller, is to run a current title search.

Sometimes a title search will reveal that the present owner never filed his Bill of Sale, or even registered the airplane- this is not all that unusual. You can still buy and register the aircraft, but the FAA is going to want to see a proper paperwork chain: from owner "A" to owner "B", and then from owner "B" to you (called a "chain of title").

Why order a Title Search when I can now get the aircraft records on CD ROM from the FAA?

There are several very good reasons not to rely on this approach. First, the CD that the FAA will provide you is often NOT COMPLETE. Many times a registration form, 337 or lien assignment has recently arrived at the FAA registry, and has NOT yet been placed on the CD ROM. These items are known in the industry as "loose docs", and will NOT show up on the CD you receive from the feds. The only way to be sure that you're looking at ALL the documents relevant to any aircraft is have the entire file professionally examined by a title expert.

Second, it takes about 10 days for the FAA CD to reach you. Through our web site, you'll receive it in about half that time.

Also, unless you're a title examiner, tracking ownership from the raw documents (which is all you get on the CD) can be very confusing and intimidating. (When we ordered a CD for a 1963 Apache, the Registration file alone was 24 Megabytes in size!) Wading through it to determine Lien status would take hours and hours!) If you know how to determine that a lien was properly released, how to track bank name changes through the FDIC bank absorbtions of the late 80's, and how to determine true chain of title, by all means order the CD from the FAA. If not, we recommend a professional, certified title search performed by title experts.

How long does it take to get the results?

Normally any search requests we receive are processed within 2-3 working days. Sometimes, however, the FAA has moved the file to a different location while they update it with recently received information. If the aircraft you're researching is undergoing a records update, our researchers must put in a special request for these records, to which the feds can sometimes take up to one month to respond. While this delay does not happen often, it's always a good idea to request your title search well before you actually purchase your plane.

• Click here to ORDER A TITLE SEARCH NOW.