Is your airplane or the airplane you fly registered?  On July 20, 2010, the FAA issued it final ruling on aircraft re-registration.  The new law requires aircraft owners to re-register their aircraft if it was registered prior to October 1, 2010.  The schedule for re-registering you aircraft is based on the month in which you originally registered the aircraft.  The schedule is listed here in the following table: (Table courtesy of AOPA)

Issued                                 Certificate Expires                          Re-Renewal Period

March                                     March 31, 2011                                   Nov 1,2010 – Jan 31,2011

April                                       June 30, 2011                                     Feb 1,2011 – April 30,2011

May                                         Sept 30, 2011                                     May 1,2011 – July 31,2011

June                                         Dec 31, 2011                                      Aug 1,2011 – Oct 31,2011

July                                         March 31, 2012                                 Nov 1,2011 – Jan 31,2012

Aug                                          June 30, 2012                                    Feb 1,2012 – April 30,2012

Sept                                          Sept 30, 2012                                    May 1,2012 – July 31,2012

Oct                                            Dec 31, 2012                                      Aug 1,2012 – Oct 31,2012

Nov                                          March 31, 2013                                Nov 1,2012 – Jan 31,2013

Dec                                           June 30, 2013                                   Feb 1,2013 – April 30,2013

Jan                                           Sept 30, 2013                                   May 1,2013 – July 31,2013

Feb                                           Dec 31, 2013                                    Aug 1,2013 – Oct 31,2013

You should be watching the mailbox for your re-registration paperwork to arrive shortly.  If you fail to renew your registration, your tail number will be purged from the FAA Registry and the number will become available for someone else to purchase.  The renewal will is good for a three year term and then you will have to renew it again.  The renewal process is easy and can all be done online at www.registry.faa.gov.  The paperwork you recieve in the mail will have a code on it that you can enter and bring up your current registration.  If everything is the same and no changes are needed you can just select renew with no changes, pay the $5 registration fee and your new registration will arrive in 1-2 weeks.

If you are just a pilot and you are operating or renting an aircraft, you should review the registration to make sure you can legally fly the aircraft.  Review the table above to see what month the owner will need to re-register the aircraft and help ensure the renewal gets handled in a timely manner.  Remember, as PIC, you are responsible for the proper paperwork to be aboard the aircraft.  You can guarantee that with this new requirement the FAA inspectors will be doing more ramp inspections.