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Darinh

Well Known Member
I have a gentleman that is interested in purchasing my airplane but he is not located in the US (located in Mexico City). If we come to an agreement, he would fly here, purchase the airplane and fly it home. My question is this: Will this be just like a US sale as far as the FAA paperwork goes on my part? He says he has purchased a couple planes in the US and does the customs, etc. stuff at the border but that the sale paperwork is the same for me whether it is a US sale or intenational. Anyone have any experience on his topic?

Darin
 
Yes, my last Rocket went out of the country.

Money issues aside, for the seller, you just complete the FAA Bill of Sale like you would for a sale inside the US. It's up to the buyer to get the right paperwork together to get it eventually licensed in his/her home country.

I would strongly suggest two things: 1) Have the buyer wire transfer the money into your account and have your bank verify the transfer before letting go of the airplane, and 2) use a sales contract. See the EAA site for some examples of valuable contract clauses.
 
I am not aware of any requirements that your buyer be a US citizen, here legally, or anything else.

I believe you could sell your plane to a mass murderer from Mexico here to collect guns.

What anyone does with your plane after it leaves your hands is not dealt with as far as the FAA is concerned with you. Your not abligated to be concerned with what the buyer does with it.

Of course there are any number of civil issues that could arise. But that is not the FAA.

Best,
 
If, then....

If you are selling an experimental (your post doesn't specify), then you only need a bill of sale, and a request for de-registration. You must mail your original FAA-issued registration to Oklahoma City with the afore mentioned documents. You should also remove the N# from your airplane.

If you are selling a certified airplane (Cessna, etc), you will still do the same, but your buyer must have an annual inspection done within 30 days of export and he must have an Export CofA issued by a DAR.

If the buyer is going to leave the airplane registered in the US (because he's a US citizen or a US corporation, for example), then none of the above applies. It doesn't sound like it, though, from your post.

Feel free to call me if you have any questions or concerns about exporting your airplane.
 
Thanks for the replies...a lot of good info. I did make sure he understood that I wanted a wire transfer and that I would not begin the paperwork process until the funds had cleared my bank. And as for the contract, I copied the sample they have on the EAA site and emailed it to him to review as this is the contract I want to use.

I did not know I needed to remove the N-number though...He plans on flying it from Utah to Mexico with stops on the way obviously. Wouldn't an airplane without an N-number cause problems?

Darin
 
I just spoke with our DAR. He said the only proper way to handle this would be to remove the N# and retain the FAA registration. The buyer would have to pre-register the plane in Mexico and put their assigned # on the side of the airplane before he flew it off your field.

The only other option we could think of would be to leave it N-registered until he got it down to Mexico, and trust him to return your registration to you and remove the N#s. This does impose some liability on you as the registered owner, as long as it's in your name. You might want to call AOPA's legal department and ask their input on the liability issue. I can't advise you on that.
 
Craig,

That is a good idea to call AOPA on this one. I understood from my last airplane sale that you always retained the registration and the the bill of sale becomes the temporary registration for the new owner...at least that was how it was done for a US sale. Obviously, internation sales are a bit different. I will call AOPA legal on this one just to cover my but and be safe because there is no way I am letting my registration go to Mexico and just hoping it will return.
 
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