Skip to main content

Registration

As with most other vehicles, an airplane must be registered with the government. Unlike most other vehicles, it has to be registered with the federal government in the form of the Federal Aviation Administration. I haven't checked what the requirements in other states are, but in Washington, you must also register it with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).

Starting with the state, the cost to register my airplane was $65. This is comparable to registering a car, at least if you don't live in the area of western Washington subject to the additional fees for building the light rail system. Fortunately, I live outside that area, but that's a topic for another blog. Basically, I went up to the WSDOT website and filled out the form saying I now own the plane. A few days later, I received an email that the plane had been added to my account. Finally, I went to the website again and paid the fee using my credit card. The previous owner said that the WSDOT employee that he had dealt with when he bought the plane had called him to confirm that he'd sold it to me. The aviation department of WSDOT is apparently pretty small so you get to know the people there.

When it comes to the FAA, the cost to register the plane was a whopping $5. The previous owner and I filled out a relatively simple bill of sale form that the FAA provides, and I then filled out the registration form. I sent both to the FAA along with a check. I'm hoping in the future that the registration can be paid online via credit card as I really don't like sending checks in the mail. Yesterday, while looking at my transaction list on my bank's website, I noticed that the check had posted. The online registry shows the plane is still registered to the previous owner but I'm assuming it will be updated eventually.

And that's pretty much it. It's a little more involved than registering a car, but pretty straightforward. And it's not terribly expensive either. Most of the income, at least at the state level, is derived from fuel taxes. Washington used to require that pilots register with the state and pay a fee, regardless of whether or not they owned an aircraft, but they don't anymore.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Approaching the annual

I know I haven't been posting much, but that's mainly because nothing much of note has been happening. I've been flying, but not really going anywhere in particular. The engine continues to run very well, and the plane is still solid. I was hoping to do more "destination" flying this year but, for whatever reason(s), it didn't really happen. Next year, hopefully.... On the horizon, though, is the annual inspection. It's already scheduled for mid-December, since the last annual is good to the end of that month. I've also arranged for it to be an owner-assisted annual. I'm told that every airplane owner should do this at least once and I can certainly understand why that is the case, even before I do it. I will be learning about my airplane in a way that nothing else will match and, incidentally, save some money at the same time. I'm looking forward to it. Leading up to the annual, I have been compiling a list of squawks that I want to take care ...

First Oil Change

It's been a while since my last post here. I've been flying, but the flights have been intended simply to put time on the plane and most have been pretty uneventful. However, the last two flight have been particularly nice because my wife came with me. I had enough hours on the engine that I felt I could trust it enough to take a passenger. I've now put over 25 hours on the engine since the overhaul and it's time for its first oil change. That was just completed, and the Aeroshell mineral oil used for break-in has been replaced with Phillips XC ashless-dispersant oil. The plan is to run it another 25 hours, at which point we'll change the oil again. At that time, we'll send a sample to Blackstone for analysis, and I will also resume adding Camguard. I also had the shop take care of a few other squawks while they had it in. The biggest of these is its tendency to pull to the left in the air and on the ground. I suspected that it was due to the nosewheel centering...

Precipitation

The weather was rather nice yesterday and I was able to get up in the air in the afternoon. The flight was pretty uneventful, essentially another jaunt up to the north and back. There were two things that were a bit different from the norm. First, on the way back to Harvey Field, I ran at full power. I've done full power runs before; it's a part of the break-in process for an overhauled engine. And I did another good long one yesterday. I was doing a bit better than 110 knots on the airspeed indicator, and that's with the built-in calibrator for true airspeed set for the temperature and altitude so it should be pretty close to what I was actually doing. Yep, still not a fast plane, but I still think the roomy cabin and large fuel capacity make up for that. Second, as I was flying back to Harvey, I decided not to straight back but rather to take a quick detour off to the east to prolong my full-power run. I turned east, then headed back north for a bit. I saw a couple of clo...