# Changelog of FAA Aircraft Registry Scraper (`normdata/faa-aircraft-registry-scraper`) Actor

- **URL**: https://apify.com/normdata/faa-aircraft-registry-scraper/changelog.md
- **Full Actor documentation**: https://apify.com/normdata/faa-aircraft-registry-scraper.md

## Changelog

### 2026-09-11 (2)

- Added three modes covering FAA datasets no other Apify Actor exposes: `dealers` (FAA-certificated
  aircraft dealers/manufacturers, with an expired-certificate filter), `reserved` (N-Numbers
  reserved but not yet assigned, decoded reservation type), and `documents` (recorded liens,
  bills of sale and other filed documents against aircraft/engines/propellers, decoded collateral
  type and correction type).
- Fixed a memory crash (exit 137, SIGKILL) on the platform: the ZIP was fully decompressed on
  every run regardless of which files were actually read. Now only the files each mode needs are
  decompressed.
- Fixed `number_of_engines` / `number_of_seats` reading the wrong reference-table column (a
  missing `builder_cert_code` field shifted every column after it by one).
- Fixed `airworthiness_class` occasionally showing a raw multi-character code instead of a
  decoded label; the source field combines a 1-character classification with extra operation
  sub-codes, only the first character decodes.
- Removed the deregistered-aircraft look-up fallback and the `includeDeregistered` option; the
  fallback path itself could exceed the platform's memory limit on a lookup miss. A deregistered
  N-Number now always comes back as a plain `error` row, as documented.
- `documents` mode: found and documented that the FAA's current file carries an undocumented
  10th column (document type) not in the FAA's own published field spec, now exposed as
  `document_type`; and that `party_name` currently ships empty for every document in the source
  file (not a parsing bug, verified against the full file).

### 2026-09-11

- Initial release: `search` and `lookup` modes over the FAA's own release of the US civil
  aircraft registration database (a single keyless ZIP file the FAA itself publishes, comma-
  delimited fixed-width text files, refreshed daily).
- One flat row per aircraft: N-Number, serial number, manufacturer/model (decoded via the FAA's
  own aircraft reference table), engine manufacturer/model (decoded via the FAA's engine
  reference table), airframe and engine type, registrant type and name, co-owners, address,
  registration status, airworthiness class, and key dates.
- `search` filters: N-Number, owner name, manufacturer, model, city, state, year range, aircraft
  type, registrant type, valid-registration-only.
- `lookup` accepts N-Numbers (with or without the leading N); an identifier not in the active
  registry comes back as an `error` row.
- Field layout and every decoded enum (registrant type, region, aircraft type, engine type,
  airworthiness class, status code) taken directly from the FAA's own published field-position
  specification, not reverse-engineered from sample data.
- Free-plan runs are locked to a fixed 10-row sample.