VH- Registrations

[Bob C]

I know that a new registration system was implemented because the present three letter alphabetic system was supposedly nearing exhaustion and three characters were retained because it would have been hugely expensive for CASA to change their computer systems to four characters - ie VH-AAAZ.

However, I don't understand why there is a plethora of new styles - ie Numeric/alpha/alpha ; VH-8IC, Alpha/numeric/alpha ; VH-X4B, Numeric/numeric/alpa; VH-88T and Alpha/alpha/numeric ; VH-AC6.

And the old three letter alphabetic system is still being used ; VH-FOH.

Surely it would have been easier to just use one style. Am I missing something?

[David C]

Originally Posted by Bob C

I know that a new registration system was implemented because the present three letter alphabetic system was supposedly nearing exhaustion and three characters were retained because it would have been hugely expensive for CASA to change their computer systems to four characters - ie VH-AAAZ.

However, I don't understand why there is a plethora of new styles - ie Numeric/alpha/alpha ; VH-8IC, Alpha/numeric/alpha ; VH-X4B, Numeric/numeric/alpa; VH-88T and Alpha/alpha/numeric ; VH-AC6.

And the old three letter alphabetic system is still being used ; VH-FOH.

Surely it would have been easier to just use one style. Am I missing something?

The same scenario happened in Canada some years ago when they were running out of available registrations too . They changed from a CF-*** registration to a C- F*** and C- G*** , no numerical combinations were implemented . I was wondering why a V-H*** and V-J *** couldn’t have been adopted , this would have provided 26x the current registration combinations without numbers being used .. Am I missing the obvious too ..

[Greg Hyde]

AAA-ZZZ gives 17,576 combinations (based google search), there are 16,465 on the current register which includes alphanumeric regos.

The 17,576 combinations doesn't include the removal of in-appropriate regos and reserved rego blocks like VH-ZNx series for QF 787s.

When QQ started to register their E190's they had ask rego owners in the block they wanted to use to change regos. I expect this was at QQ's cost.

For those who are old enough to remember Y2K, this caused an enormous COST as each program had to scanned and checked for the occurrence of an YY instead of a YYYY year field. Once found, programs had to changed, tested and re-integrated.

To change VH-XXX to VH-XXXX is a MASSIVE undertaking in IT COST, similar to Y2K.

Also, there is a hardware storage cost (disk space) which needs to be considered.

I can't give you a $Aus value as I've I've been out of the IT industry for a while and haven't keep up with the current pricing.

To go to an alpha character, is a work-around to save costs.

CASA updates the available marks on a regular basis.

https://services.casa.gov.au/CSV/availablemarks.pdf

Will we go to VH-XXXX ? I don't know, but it will COST.

It is not as easy as it sounds.

[Greg Hyde]

In the last couple of days the VH-reg cracked 16.500.

16,500 includes; adds, deletes and change-regos (from one-to-another)

That's 35 from 2/2/24 above.

That leaves just under 2,000 regos available (not used, banned, or reserved)

See Available marks above

You can see how quickly they are used up.

[Lauren J]

Quite a shame to see the "available marks" include some regos that were with us not long ago; XFE and YQX for example.

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by David C

The same scenario happened in Canada some years ago when they were running out of available registrations too . They changed from a CF-*** registration to a C- F*** and C- G*** , no numerical combinations were implemented . I was wondering why a V-H*** and V-J *** couldn’t have been adopted , this would have provided 26x the current registration combinations without numbers being used .. Am I missing the obvious too ..

VH is the only assigned prefix for civil aircraft, VJ is for coastal radio. VL and VM prefixes were for Aust military aircraft post war.

[Adrian B]

Does this include keeping active registrations for donor aircraft when parting out? I wonder how many that would return to active availability?

[Greg Hyde]

Originally Posted by Adrian B

Does this include keeping active registrations for donor aircraft when parting out? I wonder how many that would return to active availability?

Yep, airworthy or not.

[Steve S... 2]

The new style of registrations are messy and confusing IMO. Should have bitten the bullet and done it properly in the first instance with V-H*** V-J*** etc.

[Greg Hyde]

Originally Posted by Steve S... 2

The new style of registrations are messy and confusing IMO. Should have bitten the bullet and done it properly in the first instance with V-H*** V-J*** etc.

Cost is the killer.

Your changing a 3 alpha field to 4, more disk space, reprogramming for queries,
renewing all paper forms, accessing old data....

If they had done it as part of Y2K (24 years ago) they would of been ready.

But like most humans, it hits the fan (running out of regos) and something has to be done quickly.

Nightmare and cost ....