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Each aircraft is differentiated by one registration the different record, But how is it defined or what is the logic behind this identification??
Perhaps, Have you ever seen an aeronautical news item where it said that an aircraft with registration HX-BVC had suffered a accident, but you still have concerns about that license plate, where does it come from or what does it mean?
As well, there is no standard answer to this question, but we will be able to learn something new about aircraft registrations.
Aircraft registrations
First let's learn something interesting, each country has its own prefix when establishing an aircraft with a registration that flies under the flag of a country. Let's review some examples:
- Australia – VH
- Argentina – LV or LQ
- Belgium – OO
- Bolivia – CP
- Chile – CC
- Peru – OB
- Ecuador – HC
- Spain – EC
- Panama – HP
- United Kingdom – G
- Mexico – XA o XB
- USA – N
- Netherlands – PH
- Canada – C
- France – F
- Japan – AND
- China – B
As we can see, it is a great variety of prefix that change from country to country, but is regulated by ICAO standards established in 1919, so all aircraft must have a visible license plate on the tail and wings, more additional information of the register inside the aircraft.
It should be noted that some countries assign different license plates for private or military aircraft.. Examples:
- FAE-630 – Ecuadorian Air Force for its Boeing 737-200
What goes after the prefix of each country?
As we could see, each country has one or more letters that differentiate it from the others, but internally each aircraft will be differentiated by additional letters or numbers. Based on local regulation, the prefix can be followed by:
- Numbers and letters
- Numbers
- Letters
These three variants will change according to what the authorities defined, for example some countries use the prefix with numbers and letters like USA:
- N657NK
- The N is the country code
- 657 airline serial number
- NK Spirit airline IATA code
The countries that only have numbers:
- CP-2551
- CP is the prefix of Bolivia
- 2551 is the national aircraft registry
Finally, other countries use only letters:
- HC-CPG
- HC is the prefix of Ecuador
- CPG is the National Aircraft Registry
As we can see, there is a great variety of ways in which countries define their license plates, in some cases it is based on the production serial number of the aircraft, airline reservation or the number you touch in order of arrival at check-in.
This last point is the most used., a series of numbers or sequential letters that are assigned according to who registers first.
Can you finish the letters and numbers?
Yes, these can happen and have happened. In these cases, what countries do is start recycling license plates used by aircraft many years ago and that have already been discharged or a new variant is created..
Explaining this we can take as an example the case of Chile, where we can see planes with registration CC-AAA what we would think is a DC-3 plane or similar, but currently it corresponds to a Bell 505 of only 5 years since production.
did you know this information?
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good morning Nicholas.
but who assigns the first letters or number as the case may be??
example: in Venezuela YV
Who decides?
Hi Luis, this is defined with ICAO.
interesting
Thank you very much for your comment. I invite you to share the content.
Very interesting article because it gives us more learning in our favorite hobby. There is a detail to review in your writing. Suffix is what goes at the end of the word or nomenclature, as is the subject of this article. prefix goes before. Means, that the letters assigned to each country, CP, HK, etc, are prefixes and what follows after the hyphen is the suffix. Greetings
Genial, you're right. Thanks.