Welcome to the Civil Aviation Registry Web site! We've set up the site to help you use the services we offer.  

The Registry has a staff of approximately 235 people who interact in one way or another with over 1 million customers every year.  We issue an annual average of 70,000 aircraft registration certificates and 180,000 airmen certificates, answer over 140,000 telephone calls, reserve 17,000 special aircraft registration numbers (N-Numbers), update over 150,000 addresses, and provide many other services.  In addition, we use our systems to provide information to FAA Aviation Safety Inspectors, National Transportation Safety Board investigators, and law enforcement agencies to support their aviation safety activities.  

To better accomplish our mission, we are in the midst of a major undertaking to improve on our already efficient service.  We will cease using traditional media for the storage of our aircraft and airmen records that have been kept on microfiche, microfilm, and paper; and store those records on digital media.   We are also changing the way we process and track the work that is received here at the Civil Aviation Registry.  

We have completed the conversion of our historical records and now have approximately 100 million digital image files stored on CD-ROM-type optical storage platters.  Each document in our historical records has been scanned on both sides, to produce the 50 million documents in digital format.  Each platter holds about 47,000 images, each jukebox holds 258 platters, and we have 19 production jukeboxes in our system.  

In addition, we have developed an automated workflow system that will enable us to scan incoming documents and create digital image "work packets" that will be routed electronically through the appropriate work processes here at the Registry.  This will allow us to direct work to the appropriate members of our workforce and to instantaneously determine the status of any application/document package we have received.  

Currently, we project this new technology will be in place and operational sometime in 2005.  

We are also working to expand this Web site so that some of the services we provide can be conducted over the Internet.  Services already available include N number reservation and renewal, change of address for airmen, etc.   We have specific legal requirements for some of our services which don't yet lend themselves to electronic commerce, but we plan to make additional services available in the very near future.  

This is an exciting time of change for the Registry.  I hope you find this Web site informative and useful in any interactions you might have with the Registry.  

Sincerely,

MARK LASH
Manager
Civil Aviation Registry