The pre-purchase intelligence report
for any U.S. tail number.
Four federal records for any U.S. tail number, each with the date of the file we read: who is on the registration, what the NTSB has recorded against the serial, which airworthiness directives name the make and model, and every change of registered owner.
We search every source on this list for your tail, and stamp each one with the date of the file we read. Federal sources are sometimes unreachable — when one is, your report names it and marks that section Not checked. We never report an unreachable source as clean.
Free lookup · Full reports $39 · Emailed to you, typically in a few minutes
Independent. We are not affiliated with any broker, dealer, or seller.
What's in the Report
Four federal records, dated. One report.
Hours of FAA, NTSB and Federal Register searching, done for you and written up in one brief — every claim cited to the record it came from, and every record stamped with the date of the file we read.
Who is on the registration
Registered owner of record, make, model, year, serial, registration status and expiry — from our copy of the FAA registration file, which carries FAA actions through 2026-09-08 across 316,491 aircraft.
NTSB accidents and incidents
Matched to the airframe by serial number, so a re-registered aircraft does not shed its history. Coverage begins 2008-01-01, and every clean result says so beside the number.
Which directives name this aircraft
The airworthiness directives whose applicability statement names this make and model, from the Federal Register, 1994 onward. Applicability only: whether one was complied with lives in the paper logbooks, by federal rule.
Changes of registered owner
The chain of registered owners the federal files show, with the date each change was recorded and the date the FAA's records for this airframe begin.
Questions for the seller and the mechanic
The four records read against each other, turned into the list of things to ask before you book the pre-buy — and the list your mechanic works from once you do.
PDF and web report
Download a PDF or share an interactive web report. White-label available for brokers.
What we checked, and what we did not
Every report carries this page. It is the same list for every tail, because the limits are limits of the federal record system, not of how much you paid.
What we searched
Aircraft Registry
Currently registered and recently deregistered U.S. civil aircraft. It is a snapshot of the register as it stands, not a history of it. Read from our copy of the FAA bulk registration file, refreshed on a schedule. The snapshot behind the current build carries FAA actions through 2026-09-08. When a tail is missing from the snapshot we fall back to a cached live lookup, then to a live lookup.
Accident & Incident Database
Our copy of the NTSB event data holds events from 2008-01-01 to 2026-01-28, matched to the airframe by serial number. Anything before 2008 is not in the records we search — on a 1978 airframe that is most of its life — and a report says so beside every clean result. Read from our copy of the NTSB bulk event data, refreshed on a schedule; the CAROL query service is a fallback when the bulk copy has no row for the tail.
Airworthiness Directives
Part 39 rules published in the Federal Register from 1994 onward, matched to this make and model. Directives issued before 1994 are not in what we search. Whether any directive was complied with on this airframe is not in what we search either, and cannot be: 14 CFR 91.417 keeps compliance status in the aircraft's paper maintenance records. Federal Register API results, cached per make/model/engine. Directives are re-fetched when the cache entry expires, not on every report.
Ownership History
Changes of registered owner shown in the federal files, reconstructed from the current registration plus the deregistered-aircraft file. Where the FAA's records for an airframe begin later than the year it was built, the report says so and names the date the records start — it does not call a one-owner chain a one-owner aircraft. Read from our copy of the FAA registration and deregistration files, refreshed on a schedule.
What we did not, and where to get it
Form 337 major repairs and alterations
We do not report major repair or alteration paperwork, and we do not print a count of it. No machine-readable federal source exists. The FAA bulk document distribution carries seven document types — bills of sale, security agreements, releases, and four registration forms — and Form 337 is not among them. Every route to a 337 ends at a human pulling paper.
The FAA Aircraft Registration Branch will send the complete record for a tail on CD for about $10. Aero-Space Reports will send the complete record including the repair and alteration paperwork for about $45, usually within a couple of days.
Whether an airworthiness directive was complied with
We tell you which directives name this make and model. We never tell you, or imply, that one of them was or was not done on this aircraft. 14 CFR 91.417 places compliance status in the aircraft's paper maintenance records, which stay with the aircraft and transfer at closing. There is no database of it anywhere, for anyone.
The logbooks, read by your A&P/IA at the pre-buy inspection. Take our applicability list with you — it is the checklist that reading is done against.
Service difficulty reports about this airframe
We do not carry a service difficulty section, and we will not print 'none on file' for one. The duty to file falls on certificate holders and repair stations, never on a private owner (14 CFR 91.1415, 121.703, 135.415, 145.221). Only 616 of 185,754 single-engine piston registrations have any SDR at all — 0.33%. 'None on file' therefore describes who operated the aircraft, not its condition, and printed beside an accident record it reads as a clean bill of health.
The FAA's own SDR system is public and free. Search it by make and model to read what has been reported against the type — which is a genuinely useful thing to know, and the only thing the data supports.
Flight activity and whether an aircraft has been sitting
We do not report flights, hours flown, home base, or dormancy. ADS-B reception is a volunteer receiver network with uneven and class-biased coverage, aircraft never certificated with an engine-driven electrical system are exempt from carrying ADS-B Out under 14 CFR 91.225(e), and 40% of valid fixed-wing singles appear zero times across 2.7 years of data. We cannot tell a parked aircraft from one flying out of an airport nobody listens to, so we say nothing.
Ask the seller for the tach and Hobbs readings and the date of the last annual, then check them against the logbooks. That is the record that actually settles it.
Liens, encumbrances and title
We make no statement that title is clear and no statement that an aircraft is free of liens. The FAA document index is a recordation index, never a title search (14 CFR 49.17). Federal tax liens, possessory mechanic's liens and sub-threshold engine liens are structurally invisible in it. When we checked 350 tails our own code had called clear, 305 were a loan filed the same day as a release — the ordinary pattern of a sale plus a new mortgage. We would have been printing 'clear' over a live loan.
A real title search from an FAA-records title agency in Oklahoma City runs about $85 and takes a day or two. Order one before closing, every time.
What the aircraft is worth
We publish no value, no value range, and no comparison to asking prices. This one is permanent. A number printed beside federal records is read as a finding derived from them. Ours would not be, and no dataset we can reach would make it one.
A certified appraiser, when a certified value is required. For a working figure, the published aircraft price digests and current asking prices for the type.
We receive no commission, referral fee or other consideration from the FAA, from any records agency, title agency or appraiser, or from anyone else named above. We point you at them because that is where the rest of the record actually is.
Want to know exactly where the data comes from and how fresh it is? See our data sources →
Built for Brokers
Walk into the pre-buy knowing what the record says.
TailCheck gives brokers a competitive edge with faster screening, AI-powered risk detection, and professional branded reports.
Screen Faster
Run any N-number and get the report back typically in a few minutes. Screen multiple aircraft back-to-back before your client even finishes reviewing the listing photos.
Protect Your Client
Which directives name the airframe, what the NTSB has recorded against the serial, and how often the registration has changed hands — in one view, with the questions those records raise for the seller.
White-Label Reports
Send your clients professional branded PDFs with your logo and colors. Available on Pro and Max plans.
Process
Three steps from search to decision.
Search
Enter any N-number. Get a free preview with registration data, owner of record, and safety snapshot.
Purchase
Upgrade to the Buyer Report for $39. Less than one hour of A&P shop time on an aircraft worth six or seven figures.
Decide
Receive your comprehensive report. Every finding source-cited. Risk profile scored and explained.
300,000+
Searchable Aircraft
4
Federal Data Sources
$39
Per Report
Reports are emailed as a PDF and a web link, typically a few minutes after purchase.
See It In Action
What a TailCheck report looks like.
Sample Report · Illustrative
N172XX — 1978 Cessna 172N
In every report
What we checked, and what we did not
One page listing the four records we searched and the date of each file, then the things no records search can answer for any tail — repair paperwork, whether a directive was actually complied with, liens and title, and what the aircraft is worth — with the price and the place to go and get each one.
We take nothing from those referrals.
Why TailCheck
Four records, read together, in a few minutes.
Free lookups give you one field at a time. TailCheck reads all four federal records against each other, dates every file it read, and hands you the questions the contradictions raise — plus the page saying what it did not check and where to buy it.
FAA registration, NTSB accidents, Federal Register directives and the federal record of owner changes — searched in parallel, each dated
Typically a few minutes, versus hours of manual research
Reads the four records against each other and writes the questions they raise, cited to the record behind each one
Pricing
Simple, transparent pricing.
Free Lookup
$0
per search
- Aircraft make, model, year
- Registration status & expiration
- Owner of record
- Accident & incident count
Buyer Report
$39
per aircraft
- Everything in Free, plus:
- NTSB accidents and incidents, matched by serial, from 2008 onward
- Every airworthiness directive that names this make and model
- Full chain of registered owners from the federal files
- Questions for the seller and the mechanic, cited to the records
- What we checked and what we did not, with where to buy the rest
- PDF + interactive web report
Broker or maintenance shop? See Pro plans →
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Four federal records for the tail you enter, each stamped with the date of the file we read: aircraft registry; accident & incident database; airworthiness directives; ownership history. On top of those, the list of questions to put to the seller and to your mechanic, assembled by reading the four records against each other. We search every source on this list for your tail, and stamp each one with the date of the file we read. Federal sources are sometimes unreachable — when one is, your report names it and marks that section Not checked. We never report an unreachable source as clean. See all data sources →
Every report carries a page listing it by name: Form 337 major repairs and alterations; Whether an airworthiness directive was complied with; Service difficulty reports about this airframe; Flight activity and whether an aircraft has been sitting; Liens, encumbrances and title; What the aircraft is worth. Against each one the report prints why no records search can answer it, who does sell it, and what that costs. Repair paperwork comes from the FAA or a records agency. A real title search comes from an FAA-records title agency. A value comes from a certified appraiser. We receive no commission or referral fee from any of them. See the full list →
No, and neither can anyone else remotely. Under 14 CFR 91.417 compliance status lives in the aircraft's paper maintenance records, which transfer to you at closing. What we give you is the complete list of directives whose applicability statement names this make and model, from the Federal Register, 1994 onward — in a form your mechanic can take to the logbooks and sign off line by line. That list is the useful half, and it is the half that can be produced from public records.
No. The FAA document index is a recordation index, not a title search — 14 CFR 49.17 says so plainly — and federal tax liens, possessory mechanic's liens and sub-threshold engine liens never appear in it at all. We will not print the word “clear” over a record we cannot see. Order a title search from an FAA-records title agency before closing; it takes a day or two.
No, and we do not plan to. We publish no valuation, no estimate and no price range for any aircraft. When you need a value you can rely on, commission a certified appraiser.
The report names it and marks that section Not checked. It never prints a zero, a date or a green tick for a source we could not read — “we found nothing” and “we could not look” are different answers and the report keeps them apart. The sources page states how often each one has answered.
No — it means the records we read held nothing for that tail, over the window each of those records covers. Our NTSB copy begins on 2008-01-01, so on a 1978 airframe most of its life is outside what we searched, and the report says so beside the result. Records also lag reality: an event, a directive or a recorded instrument can exist without having reached a federal index yet.
Most reports arrive by email in a few minutes. TailCheck queries the records in parallel, then uses AI to read them against each other and write the questions they raise, with a citation on each. Some federal sources are slow or rate-limited, so a report occasionally takes longer — you do not need to keep the page open, the report is emailed to you when it is ready.
No. TailCheck is an informational triage tool that helps you decide whether to proceed with a physical inspection, and where to point it. It does not replace an examination by a licensed A&P/IA mechanic. Think of it as due diligence before you invest in an on-site inspection.
An N-number is the unique registration identifier assigned to every U.S.-registered aircraft by the FAA. It always begins with the letter N followed by up to five alphanumeric characters (for example N172XX).
If a report is missing data due to a system error on our end, we will either regenerate the report at no cost or issue a full refund. If a federal record we said we would search could not be read when your report ran, the report says so by name and you get a re-run at no charge once that source is answering again. What we cannot do is promise that a federal agency holds a record for your aircraft.
Yes. Our Pro plans offer discounted per-report pricing, white-label PDF branding, and API access for integration into your existing workflow. See the pricing page for details.
The logbook doesn't tell you everything.
Every used aircraft transaction deserves a few minutes of independent due diligence.