It happens more often than anyone admits. The airplane sat through a busy season, the annual date slipped past, and now the shop you trust is two hundred miles away. The airplane is grounded, but it does not have to be trucked.
Why can’t an airplane fly with an expired annual?
Under 14 CFR 91.409, most general aviation airplanes need an annual inspection within the preceding 12 calendar months to be operated. Once that date passes, the airplane no longer meets its airworthiness requirements, even if nothing about it has physically changed.
Is there a legal way to get it to the shop?
Yes: a special flight permit under 14 CFR 21.197. It allows an airplane that does not meet its airworthiness requirements, but is still capable of safe flight, to fly to a place where maintenance will be performed.
How do I get one?
The short version:
- Book the shop where the annual will be done.
- Have an A&P mechanic inspect the airplane where it sits and record that it is safe for the flight.
- Apply online through the FAA Airworthiness Certification tool, which is the preferred route now, or on paper using Form 8130-6. It goes to the Flight Standards District Office covering where the flight will originate, or to a designated airworthiness representative.
- Get the permit and its operating limitations, and put them aboard.
The full walkthrough is in the special flight permit guide.
Who can fly it?
Whoever flies it has to follow the permit’s limitations, which commonly restrict the flight to required crew and daytime visual conditions. The pilot also needs to be covered by your insurance for that flight, so check with your agent.
If you would rather not fly an out-of-annual airplane yourself, a maintenance ferry flight handles the trip to the shop and, once the annual is signed off, the trip home.
What should I do right now?
Call the shop first, then the mechanic, then the district office or a representative. Once you know the appointment date, send the details and mark the annual as expired on the form so the plan accounts for the permit.