49 U.S.C. § 44102
Section 44102 · Registration requirements
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case IAL Aircraft Holding, Inc. v. Federal Aviation Administration (2000)
Most recently applied in Tyler Brennan v. Stephen Dickson (July 2022)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Eligibility.—An aircraft may be registered under section 44103 of this title only when the aircraft is—
(1) not registered under the laws of a foreign country and is owned by—
(A) a citizen of the United States;
(B) an individual citizen of a foreign country lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States; or
(C) a corporation not a citizen of the United States when the corporation is organized and doing business under the laws of the United States or a State, and the aircraft is based and primarily used in the United States; or
(2) an aircraft of—
(A) the United States Government; or
(B) a State, the District of Columbia, a territory or possession of the United States, or a political subdivision of a State, territory, or possession.
(b) Duty To Define Certain Term.—In carrying out subsection (a)(1)(C) of this section, the Secretary of Transportation shall define “based and primarily used in the United States”.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
In subsection (a), before clause (1), the words “may be registered” are substituted for “shall be eligible for registration”, and the words “under section 44103 of this title” are added, for clarity. The words “only when” are substituted for “if, but only if” for consistency. In subclause (C), the words “not a citizen of the United States” are substituted for “(other than a corporation which is a citizen of the United States)” to eliminate unnecessary words. The word “lawfully” is omitted as surplus.
In subsection (b), the words “In carrying out subsection (a)(1)(C) of this section” are added because of the restatement. The words “by regulation” are omitted as unnecessary because of 49:322(a).