I'd like to nominate the lede of this story as the single most obvious understatement of 2010.

QuoteNEW YORK – The Federal Aviation Administration is missing key information on who owns one-third of the 357,000 private and commercial aircraft in the U.S. — a gap the agency fears could be exploited by terrorists and drug traffickers.

The records are in such disarray that the FAA says it is worried that criminals could buy planes without the government's knowledge, or use the registration numbers of other aircraft to evade new computer systems designed to track suspicious flights. It has ordered all aircraft owners to re-register their planes in an effort to clean up its files.

About 119,000 of the aircraft on the U.S. registry have "questionable registration" because of missing forms, invalid addresses, unreported sales or other paperwork problems, according to the FAA. In many cases, the FAA cannot say who owns a plane or even whether it is still flying or has been junked.

Already there have been cases of drug traffickers using phony U.S. registration numbers, as well as instances of mistaken identity in which police raided the wrong plane because of faulty record-keeping.

Next year, the FAA will begin canceling the registration certificates of all 357,000 aircraft and require owners to register anew, a move that is causing grumbling among airlines, banks and leasing companies. Notices went out to the first batch of aircraft owners last month.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101210/ap_on_bi_ge/us_misplaced_planes

This includes obligatory excuses and sniveling by those affected in the MAJORITY of the problem-planes needing registration updates.

Hmmm... My understand for a pilot's license you need checked once a year.
Also all aircraft if they have been worked on are check. 

And o b thinks the government can run health care.   :o

Your dead and just don't know it.  >:D

Here's a redundant line:

QuoteThe amount of missing or invalid paperwork has been building for decades, the FAA says.

Gee, bureaucratic bungling and the FAA. I'm sure those two don't have anything in common.

I wonder how much of the FAA's authority could be contracted out? I remember hearing some time ago of privatizing the air traffic control function. Probably any credit card company could have the aircraft registry up to date in a month.

As both a Pilot and an Aircraft Owner, perhaps I can shed some light on the subject.

Pilots, depending on Type of Certificate, are required to have Flight Reviews at scheduled intervals.

The Pilot in the driver's seat of your last commercial flight gets a very thorough "review" every six months.

Yours truly, a Private Pilot with Instrument Privileges has a Flight Review every two years.

I am also required to have an FAA Physical every two years but since I have had an operation for Prostate Cancer, I must be seen by the Aviation Medical Examiner every year.

My aircraft is required by FAA Regulations to have an Annual Inspection. The Maintenance Log Books must be made available to the FAA on demand.

My aircraft is required to have an IFR, Instrument Flight Rules, Recertification every two years.

I am sure I am one of many Owners who has been notified that beginning very soon we will all have to "Re-register" our Aircraft with the FAA every 36 months.

I am required to have in the aircraft at all times the aircraft registration, air worthiness certificate, Pilot's Operating Handbook for my aircraft and weight and balance.

I am required to have on my person while operating the aircraft my Pilot's License and Medical Certificate. 

While I am surprised that the FAA has admitted malfeasance and incompetence on such a grandiose scale, the Imperial Mandarins are "blowing smoke up everyone's ass" when they say they can't find 300K+ aircraft.

Damn near every Pilot and every Aircraft Owner in Amerika belongs to one or both major Organizations: the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Organization (AOPA) or the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) or both.

These organiztions voluntarily collect information from their Members about their Certificates and Aircraft.

A couple of phone calls could clear up 90+% of their stupidity.

This is nothing more than an attempt by Petty Mandarins to enlarge their Organization and Power in the name of National Security.

Our tax dollars at work.   ;D :o

Hussein lost Air Force One early on after his inauguration....

Quote from: taxed on December 11, 2010, 02:56:29 PM
Hussein lost Air Force One early on after his inauguration....

Over NY City no less

They can't even keep track of Air force one and they want to keep tabs on 357,000 planes?


Billy