Hello,
Got a question for the collective wisdom here. First the backstory.

Last year I took the landing gear off my homebuilt aiplane in a landing incident. I couldn't repair it myself so the insurance company totalled it. Someone bought the aircraft as salvage and rebuilt it. He is now trying to trade my rebuilt airplane for someone else's airplane. But get this, the plane is still registered in my name! He has not re-registered it.

What is my recourse here? How can I protect myself from whoever this guy is and whatever work he did or did not do on my plane that was supposedly sold for salvage?

I'm going to contact my local FSDO tomorrow to see what they say.

Dang... Maybe contact your insurance company too.

Gump

If it's still registered in your name, tell the guy selling it to re-register it in his name or you will come get it and fly it home. If it's registered in your name you own it.

I'd call my insurance company.

First have them fix their screw up

Then change imsurance companies.


I'd expect more from a imsurance company which I pay good money to protect me

Dale Moul wrote:If it's still registered in your name, tell the guy selling it to re-register it in his name or you will come get it and fly it home. If it's registered in your name you own it.

I like what Dale said.

G44 wrote:

Dale Moul wrote:If it's still registered in your name, tell the guy selling it to re-register it in his name or you will come get it and fly it home. If it's registered in your name you own it.

I like what Dale said.

Me too, seriously. Call the sheriff and go get your airplane, the guy will have it re-registered in a heartbeat. That is, if he can.

Did the insurance company give him a bill of sale? Was the airworthiness certificate rescinded at some point? How can someone return an experimental aircraft to service if he isn't the builder? Does he possess a repairman certificate for that airframe or an A&P license?

As an outsider looking in, and perhaps we don't have all the information, this is a very fishy situation.

Simple deal.

On your registration you fill out the back and check aircraft destroyed.
Sign it and send it in to the aircraft registry.

If you received compensation for your plane you also should have signed a release for the aircraft. Just like a car. You shouldn't have a problem. I'm sure there is paperwork from insurance company to the new owner. If the new owner is flying it he is not compliant with the FAA and his insurance is no good until it is in his or her name.

Chris

Call the cops and tell them you want your airplane back. Just kidding

Ben a while since I have sold a plane but I believe you are responsible for mailing in some paperwork saying it has been sold. You might want to check on that before you start screaming too loud, you may be part of the reason nothing changed.
DENNY

Found this on AOPA
AIRCRAFT TRANSFER

At transfer of the aircraft from your (the sellers) exclusive possession, and before the seller hands over the keys and Bill of Sale:
Remove the original aircraft registration certificate, with owner’s name on it, from the aircraft. Complete the sale information on the back side of that certificate and mail it back to the FAA registry in Oklahoma City. Doing so protects you. (Important Note: this requirement is now law under FAR 47.41(b) effective March 31, 2008.)
Remove any FCC radio station license with your name on it (if there is one).
Provide all logbooks and records on the aircraft (as agreed upon) to the buyer.
If you know the buyer is a foreign national and the N number cannot be maintained, you are required by the FARs to remove the N number (FAR 45.33). You can paint it over or strip it off, as long as it is removed.

If he picked up the plane to fix and sell than he may not have put it in his name. As long as there is a paper trail with Bill of Sale from you-insurance- him-next owner. He would not have to register in his name, he would just be a pass through. At least that is how I read the stuff.
DENNY

DENNY has it right.

But in this case the airplane was totaled by the insurance company......who at that point became the owner of the airplane, and the previous owner may not have had access to it at that point.....

MTV

Insurance company dropped the ball on this one.


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Troy Hamon wrote: Insurance company dropped the ball on this one.

From what I've seen, tnat's not uncommon with totalled airplanes.
It's up to the owner of thw wrecked airplane to fill out the back of the registration card with the insurance co's name & mail it in. That way, he's off the hook-- any future problems are between the insurance co & the new owner(s).

hotrod180 wrote:

Troy Hamon wrote: Insurance company dropped the ball on this one.

From what I've seen, tnat's not uncommon with totalled airplanes.
It's up to the owner of thw wrecked airplane to fill out the back of the registration card with the insurance co's name & mail it in. That way, he's off the hook-- any future problems are between the insurance co & the new owner(s).

Indeed, but that's assuming the owner even has access to the registration by the time the insurance company totals and pays.

MTV

Call "your" lawyer... hi will know how best to protect your interest, if you don't have one with a long term relationship... what everyone else said!

If the owner did not or can not retrieve the Registration card from the plane, or the Insurance co, or the subsequent owner, of the plane, just send a letter to the FAA Registration quoting owners name and address as was shown, Make, Model, N number, when sold or turned to Insurance co and their name and address.
Sign your statement that you have transferred the plane to them and that you are de-registering the plane from your name.
No fee required. Make sure you use exactly the name and address that was on the card.
If a corporation enter signer's title.
If co-owned use both addresses, same if it was partnership.

When I purchased a salvage plane from an insurance company the insurance company acted as just a broker-dealer and never showed on the registration. They had the previous owner sign a blank bill of sale and that was given to me given for me to fill in my name and submit to the FAA. It seems like in this case the buyer might not have wanted to use that bill of sale to put it in his own name if he intended to just pass it on to someone else. He could be liable for sales and property tax by registering it to himself. It will be interesting to see what answer Scott gets from his insurance company that should tell us a lot.

If you belong to AOPA and utilize there legal services, it would just take a phone call and you would have all your answers!! From people who know! Have used them quite a few times!! Well worth the $'s