NEW 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 reregister 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.
Next year, the FAA will begin canceling the registration certificates of all 357,000 aircraft and require owners to register anew. Notices went out to the first batch of aircraft owners last month.
The FAA says security isn’t the only reason it needs an up-to-date registry. Regulators use it to contact owners about safety problems, states rely on it to charge sales tax, and some airports employ it to bill for landing fees. Also, rescuers use the database to track down planes that are missing.
