Presidential candidate and businessman Donald Trump has a paperwork problem.
Trump has gained media attention after the discovery that the FAA registration on one of the aircraft in his fleet, a 1997 Cessna Citation X corporate jet, has expired.
Trump has been using the aircraft for travel in his campaign.
An aircraft must be re-registered with the FAA every three years. According to FAA records, Trump’s Citation X, which features the Trump family crest, was registered Jan. 17, 2013. Registration expired Jan. 31 of this year.
The aircraft’s owner is listed with the FAA as DJT Operations CX LLC. DJT are Trump’s initials and 725 is part of the address of New York’s Trump Tower. The business is listed on Trump’s Executive Branch Public Financial Disclosure Report filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Trump is listed as 100% owner of the limited liability company.
Until Oct. 1, 2010, an owner needed to register an aircraft only at time of purchase. The FAA changed its policy, saying that it had lost track of how many aircraft were still in operation and that many addresses and other information in its databases were incorrect. With the change, owners are required to register aircraft with the FAA every three years or its N-number would be canceled. The fee to renew is $5.
According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, virtually all violations have been technical, inadvertent and eventually rectified, except for cases of drug smuggling.
“For example, we have sometimes seen the operation of an aircraft with a registration certificate in the name of a former owner, sometimes for years,” it said. Eventually, the aircraft become properly registered without a problem.
Trump’s Boeing 757-200 and Sikorsky S-76B aircraft are actively registered. The Citation X is in the process of being actively re-registered, a Trump spokesman told the New York Times.
Original Article: Oops! Trump’s Citation X FAA Registry Expires
Credit (Article): Molly McMillin (Aviation Week)
Credit (Photo): Cessna Aviation
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