If you purchase an aircraft in the USA, you will likely have a pink temporary registration certificate. This pink temporary registration certificate has the phrase "OPERATION OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES ARE PROHIBITED BY LAW" stenciled across the front. Therefore, you cannot take your new aircraft outside of the USA until your permanent Registration Certificate makes its way to you.

However, you can get a Temporary Certificate of Aircraft Registration (also known as a "Fly-Wire") from the FAA which is a temporary registration valid for a limited period of time (usually 30 days). Essentially, it is a one-page letter that is sent to you via FAX by the FAA in Oklahoma City granting you permission to fly your airplane outside of the USA. If you are using a title agency to assist you with the purchase of your new aircraft, they can easily get one for you in one day.


While some countries like the Bahamas and other in the Caribbean rarely ask to see your aircraft documents, CBP in south Florida typically DOES. If they ask for your registration certificate on your return into the USA and you present them with a pink temporary registration certificate, things will probably not go well from that point forward. If (in the less likely event) the authorities in the Bahamas or other Caribbean countries ask to see it, things will probably not go well there either.

Rick Gardner
Caribbean Sky Tours