We’ve written before about valuations and pre-buy inspections — the parts of an aircraft deal where buyers and sellers do most of their worrying. But the step that actually transfers an airplane from one owner to another is the closing, and it’s the part most first-time buyers understand least. Here’s how closing day really works, and why nearly every deal we broker runs through an escrow agent in Oklahoma City.
Why Oklahoma City
The FAA’s Civil Aviation Registry — the master record of who owns every U.S.-registered aircraft and what liens sit against it — lives in Oklahoma City. Over the decades, a cluster of title and escrow companies grew up around it. When a deal closes, those agents are the neutral third party: they hold the deposit, run the searches, collect the signed documents, and release the money. Neither side has to trust the other. Both sides trust the escrow.
The title search: what you’re really buying
Before any money moves, the escrow agent searches the FAA registry for the aircraft’s chain of ownership and any recorded liens — an unpaid loan, a mechanic’s lien from an old engine shop, a tax claim. For most turbine aircraft there’s a second search at the International Registry in Dublin, created under the Cape Town Convention to record ownership and security interests in aircraft that cross borders. A clean deal needs both registries clear. A lien that surfaces at this stage isn’t a dealbreaker, but it has to be paid off and released before — or at — closing, and the escrow agent typically handles that payoff directly out of the purchase funds.
The paperwork that changes ownership
The core closing documents are short. The FAA bill of sale (form 8050-2) transfers title. The registration application (form 8050-1) puts the aircraft in the buyer’s name — and its copy serves as temporary authority to fly domestically while the permanent certificate is processed, which has typically taken several weeks. Deals touching the International Registry add an entry point filing (form 8050-135). If the buyer is an LLC, expect a supporting statement about the entity. None of it is complicated; all of it has to be exactly right, because the FAA rejects a meaningful share of the registration applications it receives each year over errors that a good closing team catches in advance.
Closing day itself
A well-prepared closing is boring — and that’s the goal. The sequence runs like this:
- Documents signed by both sides sit in escrow, reviewed and complete.
- The buyer’s funds are in the escrow account, with wire instructions confirmed.
- On the closing call, the parties confirm delivery condition and authorize release.
- The agent pays off any liens, wires the balance to the seller, and files the bill of sale and registration application with the FAA — treated as one simultaneous event.
- The buyer signs the delivery receipt, and the aircraft changes hands.
When the preparation is done right, the call itself often takes less than half an hour. When it isn’t, deals stall over a missing signature, an unconfirmed wire, or a lien nobody chased down in week one.
The registry has gone (mostly) digital
Two changes have made closings easier than they were a few years ago. Registrations issued since 2023 run seven years instead of three. And under rules the FAA finalized in early 2025, the registry accepts electronic documents and can issue electronic registration certificates — ending the era when every certificate was printed and mailed from Oklahoma City. The backlog that once stretched to roughly 190 days at its 2022 peak is a fraction of that now, but December remains the registry’s crunch month as tax-driven deals pile up. If you’re targeting a year-end close, your documents should be in escrow weeks ahead, not days.
Where we fit in
OnFly Air’s sales desk runs this process for buyers and sellers — coordinating the escrow agent, the title searches, the pre-buy findings, and the delivery flight, with people who fly these aircraft every day. If you’re buying or selling and want the closing to be the easy part, we’re available 24/7 at (858) 529-7860 or quotes@onflyair.com.