Warbird Regulations

[Noha307]

I thought it would be useful to list as many of the regulations involving warbirds - both flying and static - in a single place for quick reference. My contribution will necessarily focus on the United States as that is what I am most familiar with. However, if anyone has any knowledge of the situation in other countries feel free to add it.

Act of Congress
Section 1083 of the 2005 National Defense Authorization Act granted ownership of the remains of Brewster F3A Corsair, BuNo 04634, to Lex Crawley.

Airworthiness Certification
A technical report from 2013 titled Civil Airworthiness Certification: Former Military High-Performance Aircraft and an advisory circular from 2015, AC 21-54 provide "information and guidance" on the subject.

Exemptions
A list of exemptions requested by aviation museums was made in another thread.

Formation and Safety Team (FAST)
The Formation and Safety Team, or FAST, is a training program that, when completed, certifies pilots to fly in formation. According to a letter from the FAA, as of January 2019 the signatory organizations are:

1. Airpower West
2. Army Aviation Heritage Foundation
3. Australian Warbirds Association, Ltd
4. Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association
5. Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
6. Classic Jet Aircraft Association
7. Commemorative Air Force/TRARON
8. EAA Warbirds of America
9. Fighter Group
10. Joint Liaison Formation Committee
11. New Zealand Warbird Association
12. North American Trainer Association
13. Red Star Pilots Association
14. Stearman Flight
15. Swift Formation Committee
16. T-34 Association
17. Valiant Air Command

(Source: Federal Aviation Administration)

Limited Type Certificates
Of all of the categories of type certificate, limited is particularly relevant to warbirds as it only includes former military aircraft. A history and analysis of the subject was made in a different thread.

Living History Flight Experience
The "big one" that allows private operators to sell rides in their aircraft to help offset the cost of operation. A 2021 article published in the wake of the crash of Nine-O-Nine offers an excellent historical background, policy background and noteworthy exemptions.

Military Loans
Although it doesn't have to do with flying aircraft, the National Naval Aviation Museum's loan program is a legal document from the government. A Loan Renewal posted by Columbia County, Florida includes the complete agreement and conditions.

Small N-Numbers
Not to be confused with short N-Numbers, Warbirds of America's small N-Numbers page summarizes the history and rules regarding application of 2-inch tall registrations on aircraft. The rules are:

1. Aircraft must be at least 30 years old,
2. Aircraft must be under 12,500 pounds certificated gross takeoff weight, and
3. Aircraft must be painted in authentic era military paint scheme for the particular aircraft.

Unlimited Type Certificate
The mythical unlimited type certificate, as covered in another thread, allows a pilot with three experimental letters of authorization to fly "all makes and models" of experimental aircraft.

Vintage and Experimental Aircraft Program
Although not limited to warbirds, the FAA has a program to standardize pilot certification.

In closing, I want to note I am not a lawyer and, as neither a pilot nor a mechanic, have a somewhat limited knowledge of the operational side of aviation. So if I have misinterpreted or left out something, please let me know.

[Matt Gunsch]

The FAST program is much older than that, it goes back to the early 90s

[FuryFB11]

For vintage aircraft operating on the British G- register:

https://www.caa.co.uk/general-aviation/ ... al-pilots/

[Noha307]

The FAST program is much older than that, it goes back to the early 90s

Good point. The date was taken from the referenced letter and simply meant to indicate that the organizations listed were members at that time, as I assumed that membership had changed over the years. However, I could see how that would be confusing.

Your comment prompted me to do a quick search of Newspapers.com and the earliest mention I could find was from 1999. A subsequent search of Google Books, turned up an article in Flying magazine from June 1997 that described how "a new umbrella organization, the Formation And Safety Team (FAST), has been formed." Also, because I was curious how it has grown, in an article about one year later the participating organizations are given as:

1. Airpower West
2. Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association
3. Confederate Air Force (now Commemorative Air Force)
4. EAA Warbirds of America
5. North American Trainer Association
6. T-34 Association
7. Valiant Air Command
8. YAK Pilot's Club (now Red Star Pilot's Association)

[JohnB]

About the "small" N numbers...
There is apparently a FAA inspector in town that has another issue with warbird markings.
Somewhere he/she got the idea that NO alphanumeric designation on an airframe can start with "N" .

So, there are multiple Stearman on the field where the standard Navy designation on the tail can't be "N2S-3" but something like "VN2S-3" ...or if one was feeling aggressive after watching Black Sheep Squadron one could put "FN2S-3".
Of course other aircraft on the field, perhaps more recent arrivals, and haven't been seen by the local office have the correct designation.

Has anyone else come across this?
Or it this unique to this office or inspector?

[Paul Stroud]

About the "small" N numbers...
There is apparently a FAA inspector in town that has another issue with warbird markings.
Somewhere he/she got the idea that NO alphanumeric designation on an airframe can start with "N" .

So, there are multiple Stearman on the field where the standard Navy designation on the tail can't be "N2S-3" but something like "VN2S-3" ...or if one was feeling aggressive after watching Black Sheep Squadron one could put "FN2S-3".
Of course other aircraft on the field, perhaps more recent arrivals, and haven't been seen by the local office have the correct designation.

Has anyone else come across this?
Or it this unique to this office or inspector?

I think Spitfire XIV NH749 had to fly as 'H749' when it was owned by David Price at Santa Monica for the same reason.
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/spitregi ... nh749.html

[JohnB]

I think Spitfire XIV NH749 had to fly as 'H749' when it was owned by David Price at Santa Monica for the same reason.
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/spitregi ... nh749.html

Despite the fact that neither NH749 or N3S-3 would be a legitimate registration number!
Gotta love federal bureaucracy.
Glad to see the FAA using its time and allegedly scarce resources wisely.

Not to mention that there are many (hundreds?) of aircraft which are allowed to display their proper military markings as stipulated by the law referenced above.

[Matt Gunsch]

The FAST program is much older than that, it goes back to the early 90s

Good point. The date was taken from the referenced letter and simply meant to indicate that the organizations listed were members at that time, as I assumed that membership had changed over the years. However, I could see how that would be confusing.

Your comment prompted me to do a quick search of Newspapers.com and the earliest mention I could find was from 1999. A subsequent search of Google Books, turned up an article in Flying magazine from June 1997 that described how "a new umbrella organization, the Formation And Safety Team (FAST), has been formed." Also, because I was curious how it has grown, in an article about one year later the participating organizations are given as:

1. Airpower West
2. Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association
3. Confederate Air Force (now Commemorative Air Force)
4. EAA Warbirds of America
5. North American Trainer Association
6. T-34 Association
7. Valiant Air Command
8. YAK Pilot's Club (now Red Star Pilot's Association)

The first manual that FAST used was the T-34 formation manual, The 4th edition had sections for P-51, T-6 and T-28. The Original groups were the EAA, CAF, North American Trainer Assoc, Canadian Harvard Assoc, Valiant Air Command, Canadian Warbird Heritage and FAST. (2 of the Photos in the T-6 section are mine.)