The forked tail number, and bypassing annual fee.
My initials are AT. I went blind one night on the FAA database search engine trying to find any number with Alpha Tango in it. Unfortunately, these two initials are the most frequently used by aviation type companies. All the AT's were taken by companies called things like,
"Aircraft Technology", Air Transport, Airborne Technology....on and on. Undeterred, I found the only number no one wanted for biblical reasons: 666.
When I called Oak City, OK to reserve Triple-6 Alpha Tango, the woman on the other end got suddenly silent. After a short pause she whispered,
"Don't you know? That's the mark of The Beast! You sure you want that one? Look at the records-them that gets this number gives it back, one way or another." (implying crash or other misfortune).
Undeterred, I went for it.
**BTW, to all of you that have reserved your number.** You can bypass that annual reservation fee of $10 by just filling out the paperwork now. Call van's, get the official bill of sale, then fill out the FAA's registration form and put your reserved number down. Pay the reservation fee, and Bang, you're done. Nothing to remember 11 months from now, no annual fee, the N number is yours for the rest of your aircraft's useful life. I'm no where near flying, but I have a gen-u-wine registration certificate in my RV Project files.
Art Treff
Asheville, NC
N666AT