After, so long, it occurs to me that 1 have never seen published, any rules of suggestions as to what registrations count and which some people, might consider a "fudge". Here goes with a few thoughts or ideas. They may be controversial - I am sure Don will publish any reasonable debate.

1. Re-registration

Increasingly, aircraft are re-registered many times. Although the purist would only record the airframe /constructors number, I find it impossible to keep track for every registration re-logged. There is an attempt not to duplicate by noting a 'previous identity' where know. Military to Civil re-registrations are easier and I would only note an airframe once under what it was first seen

2. Duplicate Registrations.

Using the same registration twice is frequent in some counties (Certainly Australia and Germany), 1 mould certainly treat these separately. In the UK, it is not common but 1 knew G-AREI was both an Auster and a Comet4; there are a few others.

3. Bits of aircraft

Personally fuselage with the registration is sufficient. Bits of wings and tails don't count! The fuselage rule didn't work for a pile of Vampire pods with serials, only dural tubes?

4. Composite aircraft

Quite a common occurrence 1 once saw a Tiger Moth G-AIDT m fuselage with wings of 'IDS and the tail fin of D-EJOM. Only IDT was logged

5. Replicas

If a replica flies with a pilot it's certainly an aircraft. I don't count plastic Hawks Euro-Fighters.

6. Non piloted.

Tend not to include missiles (e.g. Jindiviks, which had serials) and won't bother with UAV's. Had a problem on this rule with Firefly U8, and Meteor, U.15's taking off pilot less at Llanbedr.

7. Seen through a hangar crack

How much of an aircraft has to be seen? On a similar topic, one has learnt to be wary of the "hangar occupant lists" posted by friendly fitters… they sometime include some jokers

8. Hearsay sightings

A difficult area this one. If one sees an 11-76 landing at Eastleigh (it has happened) and Osprey reports one at the same time, that seems OK to me. More difficult is a Gulf IV and Osprey reports 3 that day.

9. Imaginative Spotters

You see a Gulf IV behind the trees the other side of the airfield. The helpful local spotter arrives to tell you that its, XA-ABC. Sometimes they make it up to impress visitors?

10. Airways /air-band tie-ups    Personally I never have the confidence that a vapour trailing Airbus could be guaranteed to be a certain registration based on air-band information.

Final Note - Eliminating duplicates: if you have a computer, there is no need to buy an aircraft database as construction of your own with Access or Approach is quite easy and can include as many fields and information as required (e.g. previous identities, photo taken etc). The difficult bit is typing in 50 years of registrations.

Don Eaves

1        I tend to collect registrations and tie a construction number with it, if an aircraft frame receives a new identity, I generally refer to it as  a     "scrape", but it still counts, otherwise some fairly exotic re-registrations will be wasted!

2        Air Britain shows most overseas duplicate registration with a number in brackets to distinguish separate airframes, seems to be the logical way to record it (i.e. G-AREI (1) Comet 4B n.t.u to G-ARGM. G-AREI (2) Auster III wears MT438,

3        There has to be a substantial part of the airframe to enable it to be counted, in the case of balloons, for me it has to he the basket plus a visual on the fabric of the canopy to count. On Home-built aircraft under construction I reckon at least 75% complete before considering counting it. With micro-lights of the weight shift variety, there has to be both wing and trike to count for me.

4        There are certainly problems here. I tend to go for the identity accepted by the registration authority, a bit tricky with museum, stuff though. Hawk Trainer, G-AKPF is a classic example, various rebuilds have included bits of G-AHYL, G-AIUA, G-AKPF, G-AKPF and G-ANLT, but it is still G-AKPF to me!

5        If it is legally registered, that is what I use, we have a BAPC register for other items of aeronautical interest.

6        Not being strong on Military I hive always been lukewarm about Targets etc. but have been known to log UK military drones for the record.

7        I need to see enough of a registration to count for a sighting, or at least enough of it to allow sleuthing to leave no shadow of doubt about the identity, I need proof before I accept lists posted on hangars, I treat them as reference not gospel.

8        Again I can only accept reports where there can be no shadow of doubt about the identity. I try to cross-refer from more than one source if possible. "Osprey" is only as accurate as its reporters, we seldom get reports correcting errors but 1 don't doubt typos and misreads must creep in. I prefer a visual report to computer readout.

9        Depends on the source and the circumstances, I usually make notes then try to cross check later.

10      Most tie-up information seems to be accurate thanks to technology, although it's some time since I counted a trail though, even if it was the only way to see a certain aircraft. I refuse to decry anybody that makes a hobby out of chasing and identify over-flights. It's just a separate area of our hobby and one that needs a lot of ingenuity. Each to their own.

PLUS: What is the best way to pursue our hobby, logging anything that flies? Military or Civil? Airline or Biz or Light? Perhaps Vintage or Preserved aircraft? Each to their own, be good at your own special interest and don't mock the rest.

Paul Godfrey

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