2
$\begingroup$

I'm looking at some of the on-time performance data made public by the US Bureau of Tranport Statistics, e.g. through here. These have the tail numbers of the aircraft used in commercial intra-US flights over the years.

I'm seeing that, occasionally, tail numbers are missing. But in some cases they're actually garbled (e.g. N105@@) - or just perhaps uncommon. Specifically, I'm seeing, among others, tail numbers such as:

89869E 
91469E 
9149E  
A367NW 
EI-BWD 
HZO    
M67153

Can some of these be "legit"? That is, could the above (and similar) strings be actual tail numbers of aircraft which were used in commercial domestic US flights?

Note that we're talking about entries from years between 2001 and 2008.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
7
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Nearly all countries’ tail numbers start with an ITU prefix, and EI- is for Ireland. The others all appear to be garbage data. $\endgroup$
    – StephenS
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 23:05
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ This question seems closely related and might answer your question? At least about whether it’s possible for non-US aircraft to be used in domestic commercial operations. $\endgroup$
    – Pondlife
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 23:06
  • $\begingroup$ @Pondlife: It might explain one (or some?) of the tailnums, but not all of them I think. $\endgroup$
    – einpoklum
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 23:07
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ A367NW looks garbled. There's an N367NW which is a former Northwest Airlines A320. $\endgroup$
    – jwenting
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 20:47
  • $\begingroup$ To get better answers, you might like to clarify if you're asking a) if it's possible that non-US aircraft are being used for domestic commercial flights (already answered in the question I linked to); b) if the specific tail numbers you listed are, were or could be real; or c) something else? $\endgroup$
    – Pondlife
    Commented Oct 26, 2020 at 15:52

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2
$\begingroup$

Yes, these can be legit. For example, EI- means the aircraft is registered in Ireland. Others look corrupt, though. HZ-AAA is Saudi Arabia, but your HZ example looks too short. The examples starting with four numbers don't match any country's pattern.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_registration_prefixes

The examples here that start with a string of digits all resolve to actual aircraft, if you prepend an N to them. (Commenter Ralph J suggested this.)

Corrupt data wouldn't be too surprising. For 2005, for example, 15000 of the 594000 entries had no tail number at all.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
6
  • $\begingroup$ What would the digits+E numbers mean? $\endgroup$
    – einpoklum
    Commented Oct 23, 2020 at 23:06
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @einpoklum Could be military $\endgroup$
    – 60levelchange
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 7:19
  • $\begingroup$ @einpoklum or coordinates rather than aircraft registration codes or flight numbers $\endgroup$
    – jwenting
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 20:46
  • $\begingroup$ @jwenting: It's the "tail number" column of the on-time performance data; and there is no column with coordinates... $\endgroup$
    – einpoklum
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 22:13
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I'd presume that anything that's 5 characters without a leading N or other obvious explanation like the EI-xxx example is simply a case where the N was omitted. So when you have 1234X, I'd presume that this is meant to be N1234X, unless a better explanation is found. If you find the same aircraft showing up multiple times as both 1234X and N1234X then I'd say you have confirmation that it's just a missing N in the certain cases. Sounds like you have moderately low-quality data you're working with. $\endgroup$
    – Ralph J ♦
    Commented Oct 26, 2020 at 17:24

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .