Split Reg Marks across VS & Rudder?

Does anyone know if it is legal in Canada to split the Registration Marks across the vertical stabilizer and the rudder? I took a look in CARs and some of the regulations that deal with location of the marks but I could not find anything that shed light on my question.

Typically TC wants the marks on a fixed surface, but you will find many planes with them split.
I have been told by TC that as long as the marks are clear to see you won't be hassled. I was once in the local TC office to get some clarification on the application of the marks. I read it one way and the inspector another, he asked another inspector and he had a different story. After five inspectors and the law enforcement inspector with his interpretation he said as long as they are clearly seen no one should complain. He also said that if it ever went to court it would be thrown out because the rulings on the marks is not clearly written and open to too many interpretations.

The wording of the CAR on marks is difficult and convoluted, yes, but if you take the time to parse it and deconstruct it, it is clear. Marks must be on fixed surfaces, and if you don't have letters on your wings you have to put them on the side of the aircraft... Not the tail.

However, as Norm points out, what is being accepted as correct varies from region to region across the country. I don't know any RV's with lettering on the wings, and there are many locally with marks on the tail that span onto the rudder. As long as they are 6" tall and legible, you won't get any complaints.

Marks

Rob,

The first thing my MDRA guy dinged me for was the registration marks. I did not want large letters on the sides so he pointed out that i then needed to put them on the wing as well.

If you do not put 11.8 in. lettering between the wings and tail then you must put lettering on the wing. You can then use: "in the case of a glider, an amateur-built aircraft or an ultra-light aeroplane, the maximum height allowed by the dimensions of the structure of the aircraft or a height of 7.5 cm (3 inches), whichever is greater". The RV would be able to take the 11.8 in. lettering.

Also, CARs does say that you can put the marks on the tail with no mention of a rudder restriction.
"(i) on each side of the fuselage or an alternative structure in the area between the wing and the tail surface,

(ii) in the case of a single vertical tail on each side surface of the tail,"

Cheers,
(Someone you know with wing lettering)

Chris
P.S. talked briefly with your parents at the poker run on Saturday.

REG Mark

Unfortunately you will get many different answers when you ask different inspectors. I spoke with RAA president Gary Wolf and he was addiment that you could put 3 inch letters on the tail and do not need the wing letters. He stated he spoke to the office in Ottawa and went over the CARs letter by letter.

I do have 6 inch letter on my tail that split between the VS and rudder.

Gary's conversation with one person in Ottawa does not preclude reading the regs correctly. If Ottawa is accepting 3" letters *only* on the tail (ie. with nothing on the wings), then they need to change the regs, because that's not what the regs say. And they need to communicate the change clearly to the MD-RA inspectors, because it's not being uniformly controlled in the field.

regs are totally......mis-read?

I have the 6" on the tail, split across the rudder, with the 20" underwing also.

the regs start out by saying the lettering must be a Roman letter style,
in Roman capital type without ornamentation which means, with serifs, ( like Times Roman). What they MEAN is GOTHIC, but that's evidently beyond their pay grade to ascertain.

...so, not a single aircraft in Canada has the correct lettering. Ground 'em all?

hmm. Transport Canada. yup.

flyboy1963 said:

the regs start out by saying the lettering must be a Roman letter style, in Roman capital type without ornamentation which means, with serifs, ( like Times Roman).

Click to expand...

Not quite. You're confusing Roman with Times Roman and other similar font styles. The regs were written well before that, and refer to using Roman Lettering, ie. A, B, C, etc.