Bill of Sale

A bill of sale is the legal instrument that transfers ownership of an aircraft from seller to buyer, and is filed with the aviation authority to update the registry. It's executed at closing, typically through escrow, once title and inspection conditions are satisfied.

Why it matters: the bill of sale is the instrument that actually transfers ownership — the document a registry records and a future buyer's title search will find. An error in it, or a break in the chain of bills of sale over the aircraft's life, becomes a title defect that resurfaces at every subsequent sale.

At closing it is filed with the aircraft registry, and for financed or internationally traded aircraft, interests are typically registered on the International Registry under the Cape Town Convention as well. Title searches before purchase, and clean filings at closing, are what make the next sale uneventful — escrow agents and aviation counsel handle both routinely.