FAA headquarters in Washington, D.C. [Credit: Shutterstock]
Key Takeaways:
The FAA has grounded approximately 800 aircraft registered through U.K.-based Southern Aircraft Consultancy Inc. (SACI) due to invalid registrations, citing violations of U.S. citizenship requirements for trust agreements.
SACI disputes the FAA's decision and plans to challenge it, while also announcing that U.S.-based Valiair will acquire SACI to restore compliance and get aircraft back in the air.
Affected aircraft owners must re-register their aircraft with the FAA or another country's registry to operate legally, a process which involves submitting a new application and evidence of ownership.
The owners of aircraft registered through U.K.-based Southern Aircraft Consultancy Inc. (SACI) have been notified their aircraft were grounded after the FAA determined the registrations were invalid because the company was in violation of U.S. citizenship requirements when it submitted the applications.
The agency demanded the return of the certificates within 21 days.
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
