Isle of Man Aircraft Register

[neutron]

The IOM gov proposes to start an aircraft register on the island by 2006, separate from the UK register. I gather that it will be in the form of M-XXXX. The hope is that it will be successful in attracting business to the IOM in the same way that their shipping register has. They now have more than 8,000,000 tonnes of registered shipping.

Talks have already started with the CAA who hold the M- reg in reserve.

The interesting bit will be that of licence & ratings recognition. Will they recognise only UK/JAA ratings or any ICAO compliant ratings? - If they do the latter, that opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities!

I presume that there will then exist a similar situation to that which exists with Bermudan reg aircraft. Does anybody know which ratings/licences they recognise?

[jabberwok]

I'd heard it was going to be 2D-XXX but let's wait and see.

Dunno how the registers work but I would have thought the prime digits would have been used up years ago. However, a quick look shows the only single digit prefixes issued are B- (China), C- (Canada), D- (Germany), F- (France), G- (UK), I- (Italy), N (US) and Z- (Zimbabwe). If the UK indeed have M- tucked away somewhere I wonder if the other single digit codes are squirreled away somewhere..

If the IoM can issue a Certificate of Registration who then issues the C of A (or even an AOC)? Technically the CAA can't as their remit is for the UK only - which the IoM isn't part of..

As you say, it could open up a lot of interesting possibilities..

[Cathar]

Paragraph 2.3 of Annex 7 to the Chicago Convention states that "The nationality mark shall be selected from the series of nationality symbols included in the radio call signs allocated to the State of Registry by the International Telecommunication Union. The nationality mark shall be notified to the International Civil Aviation Organization."

The entire series of 2D and M call signs are allocated to the UK by the ITU (see here (http://www.dxing.com/callsign.htm#1AA) for full list). It therefore appears that both are possibilities. If I were the Isle of Man Government I know which one I would want.

[Guern]

I see GCI would appear to be free, maybe we could join in too!