How we keep the registry.
The FAA publishes its aircraft registry five days a week. Each file replaces the last. Terminal captures every one, checks it, and keeps it.
Capture
- OvernightFAA posts
- 5:55Capture
- 6:30Retry
- 7:05Watchdog
- VerifiedKept
- The FAA posts a new file Tuesday to Saturday. No file is dated a Sunday or a Monday.
- A cloud job pulls it at 5:55 AM Mountain and tries again at 6:30. A separate check at 7:05 fails loudly if the day’s capture is missing.
- Each capture keeps all seven FAA files, with a SHA-256 checksum for each and a manifest.
- A capture is dated by the FAA file’s own date, never by our clock.
- Nothing stored is ever overwritten.
Point-in-time snapshots
- Every row carries the date of its snapshot and the checksum of its file.
- Every change carries two dates: the FAA’s date, and the day Terminal first saw it.
- The first-seen date is never backfilled and never overwritten.
- Any captured date can be rebuilt exactly as it was.
- History starts March 20, 2026. Anything earlier is reconstructed, and labeled as reconstructed.
Integrity gates
A file must pass every gate. A failure stops the load.
- Complete. The FAA zip passes its integrity test. All seven files are present. None is empty.
- Full size. At capture, the main file must hold at least 90% of the previous capture’s rows. At load, at least 90% of the median of the prior seven snapshots. No date is hard-coded.
- Checksum. A file whose hash differs from its manifest is refused.
- Field count. A line with the wrong number of fields is set aside, not loaded. 46 lines so far.
- Fill rate. Non-empty values per column must match between the source file and the table. 8,296 checks, 0 mismatches.
- Layout. A header that differs from the known layout is refused.
- Reconciliation. Across 97 periods between snapshots, registrations minus deregistrations must equal the net change in aircraft. 8,339 minus 2,934 is 5,405. It matches exactly.
“Verified” on the last capture line means the capture passed the first two gates before anything was stored.
Cloud and manual parity
- Two independent pulls run: the cloud job, and a manual pull on a separate machine.
- All seven files are compared by SHA-256.
- The cloud capture counts as ready only after seven consecutive FAA publications with every file identical.
- The manual pull stays until then.
When the FAA ships a broken file
It has happened three times. Each file was refused. A broken file is never repaired and never filled in. A day with no good capture stays missing, and the gaps are published.
84 of 141 FAA publications are held. Since August 28, 2026, none has been missed and one file was refused. See the capture ledger
Limits
- Registration is not flight. Terminal shows who holds an aircraft, not whether it flies.
- Most drones under 55 pounds register in a separate FAA system that is not public.
- Tying a registrant to a company is an inference. Every match carries its method, its confidence and its evidence.