When I started the 10 project it was just me and the wife. I had reserved 104LB which was "10 for Lene and Ben" (wife and I) but somehow one year it didn't get re-reserved and ended up on a LINDSTRAND BALLOONS hot air balloon.
Fast forward a few years and having two kids while building I was able to reserve a similar n number 104EE which made it on the plane. 104EE is "10 for Elyse and Eli" my kids' names. At the time I didn't realize it but it is quite funny to hear "RV 4 Echo Echo". Echo Echo is a bit of a mouth full at times though but the meaning and the echo joke makes it ok I guess.
Yes airplane builders can be pretty geeky!
OK so I am going to reserve 104E, that should be fun to be in the same pattern with you.
A clever n-number is n1x4yy where x is the RV type and yy are the initials of your name, like n184jb for an RV8. Spoken: one eight for joe blow. Sadly, other RVers know this and you may not be able to get the initials you desire.
Starting to think about reserving a number and wondering how others decided on thier tail numbers. Birthdays, anniversary, initials? What's your story?
Did you reserve direct from FAA or buy them from some one who had them reserved.I don’t yet have a plane. But while dreaming and lurking I saw on TailNum.com that 881PC, 882PC, 883PC, and 884PC were available. So I grabbed them (in case I ultimately end up with 4 aircrafts ).
Why 88? Because I’m Chinese, and 8 is our luckiest number (and the more the better).
Why PC? Because my name is Charlie and I’m a dad.
Now I just need to get some planes…
What did you pay.
No offense "grabbing up" N numbers creates a shortage and limits choices for others, and buying them encourages these N number speculators. Pick one and let the others expire.
I reserved an n number a month ago. The website says it is available, but the faa database said they have only caught up to may21 2021 processing these. Hopefully i am still the owner. They took my money so i assume it is mine.
...but if someone else requested it prior to you and the FAA is just getting to him, it will end up being unavailable to you...
I thought computers were supposed to make things better!...
*The issue you might find is availability of combinations you want. Not only do commercial manufacturers and individuals have many combinations already registered or reserved, there are companies or individuals that buy up many N-numbers in speculation to sell. Last I heard going rate is thousand's of dollars. It's not illegal but I think it should be stopped by the FAA. You're not building an airplane you shouldn't be able to reserve multiple in numbers. At minimum you can't reserve more than one number unless you can justify it.*
I know reserving is only $10. You can get as many N-numbers as you like. I don't care. It is not a money issue. However you must be rich to plan a fleet of planes. I'm not poor, but the care and feeding of one plane is a lot of $$$$. Good for you and your future fleet of planes.FAA charges $10 each per year.
My intention is to have more than 1 plane, which is why I got these.
Speculation is when you buy and hold in anticipation of appreciating value, which is not what I’m doing.
I’ll definitely let all of them expire if $10/year becomes a financial burden (since I wouldn’t be doing any flying at that point).
Not to add insult to injury but after seeing this thread I went back to TailNum and saw N1492 is available, so I grabbed that too.
I did the online N Number request probably 2 months ago on my number of choice which was shown as available by them and have yet to hear anything back. They did take my $10 and I can still go through the same steps and request it again. Any idea how long it takes to get the original request approved?