Regulations and Government
Senator Urges Hearings on Aircraft Registration
In the aftermath of the FAA’s new rule requiring reregistration of aircraft every three years, news media reports that the FAA had “missing data” on as man

In the aftermath of the FAA’s new rule requiring reregistration of aircraft every three years, news media reports that the FAA had “missing data” on as many as 119,000 of the 357,000 U.S.-registered aircraft prompted a U.S. senator to call for congressional hearings.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), chairman of the Senate aviation subcommittee, said he would recommend holding hearings on aircraft registration discrepancies. In reports in 2007 and 2008, the FAA warned that the problem was causing loopholes that terrorists, drug traffickers and other criminals might exploit. It was concerned that a criminal might use an N-number to slip by systems designed to track suspicious flights.