If they have succeeded in obscuring the N number one can still track down records by the telephone prefix or location information in the ad. There is a search function at FAA by state and county that will avail in most cases. Anyway, the object is to track down the registry information to find out if the seller is indeed the owner and if the registration and CofA is in order. That's the easy part as it turns out.
I've been hard at it for a couple of months trying to buy a factory built Rans S-7LS that was for sale in SO-CAL. The N number search pulled up a warning that the aircraft was probably not suitable for flight. When you see that warning you will also find a phone number for the FAA Registration Branch listed underneath. If the airplane is interesting go ahead and program that number into your telephone. If there are problems with the registration you will be in frequent contact with those fine folks over the next little while. They are to a man and woman fine people and really do want to get things un-hosed. There will also be a "continue" link under the warning where you can find the current registration status.
I have become somewhat competent now in dealing with a hosed up registration, having arm wrestled two airplanes back to compliance through sheer force of will and dogged persistence. It's not hard, it's just, well, maddening.
The problem is always with the current owner/seller or whoever thy bought it from, or the one before or the one before that. Sometimes it can be with YOU. You didn't fill out the application for registration or bill of sale right. Those are called the 8050-1 and 8050-2 respectively. If any of the previous owners are dead you got a problem! You may have to re-open probates, find surviving heirs or get somebody to file a mechanics lien or declare it parts and re-build it. It had better be an exceptionally good deal to be worth all that. Be warned. An aircraft that has been deregistered with a dead owner in it's history between the last time the aircraft was registered correctly and the current date reduces the airplane, (in my opinion) to a pile of parts. The situation may resemble an infinite regress. For reasons that are not clear some people can't or won't follow directions because they are either stubborn and can't imagine how a federal agency could have anything important to say about ownership of private property or unimpressed with the gravity of trying to sell an airplane that has no clear title. So...
The problem with my S7 was that the owner decided to transfer the registration from individual ownership status to a family trust ownership. The owner was 87 y/o and in poor health so it made lots of sense to transfer all his property into trust. One avoids probate that way. He didn't fill out the paperwork correctly and the feds kicked it back. His family trust lawyer got involved and added another layer of "oh no" to the file. Now came the crazy part. They all just quit trying, the FAA flagged the registration, cancelled it and the CofA and made several attempts to contact the owner with suggestions on how to square things away. Then I came along.
I finally convinced the owner, after clearing the procedure through Registration Branch, to fill out two new bills of sale. The first one transferred N8877R from the owner to the owner's trust, the second one transferred it from the trust to me. The reg. branch is always about a month behind so this took some time. But today, I checked the status on the N-number search and behold. N8877R belongs to me. So, there you go. Don't give up. Now I'm just trying to get it home. That is becoming a pain in the ass.
