Every aircraft on the American record. Since 1927.

The United States has registered its aircraft since the Air Commerce Act. The FAA publishes the record one day at a time and replaces it the next morning. We keep every day.

How this line was built

• 1927 to 1994. Published government counts: Historical Statistics of the United States, the Statistical Abstract, and the FAA’s Census of U.S. Civil Aircraft.
• 2004 to 2024. The FAA registry master file, as counted each year for the FAA’s General Aviation Survey. The same file our daily count reads.
• Since March 19, 2026. Terminal’s own captures. Every FAA file, kept.
• The gaps. 1995 to 2003, and 2011. We found no published count, so the line breaks. We don’t guess.
• The jumps. The rules changed, not the sky. Annual verification began in 1970. Renewal every three years from 1978 let dead records pile up. The 2010 re-registration rule cleared them out. Since 2023, a registration lasts seven years.
• Active fleet. The FAA’s estimate of aircraft that actually flew that year, from its own survey. From 2015 it covers general aviation and Part 135 only.
• To a million. A projection, not a forecast. Drones start at the pace measured since March 19, and you choose how fast that pace slows. Everything else keeps growing at its own measured pace. The record counted here is the N-number registry. Small drones flown under Part 107 or for fun register in a separate FAA system and are not in it.
• Drones and eVTOL before March 19, 2026. A floor. Every one on the record that day, counted from its certificate date. One registered and cancelled earlier is in no file we hold.

Download the annual series with every source (CSV)