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Old Aug 18, 2013 | 4:21 pm
  #1  
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This is a new one for me. I'm sitting on a Horizon plane at PDX waiting for departure. Pilot comes on to announce there is a delay because this plane does not have an American flag on it's tail and it 's required. He's waiting for some kind of official word that we're okay to fly. Is this a new rule? How did the plane get to PDX? No answer from the stewardess. I'm not buying it.

Interesting. A family of 4 just boarded,30 minutes after scheduled departure. The wife said they were scheduled for a very tight connection that " is known to be a problem".

Last edited by JY1024; Aug 19, 2013 at 2:03 am Reason: Merged consecutive posts
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Old Aug 18, 2013 | 9:38 pm
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Very interesting. Would like to see the outcome of this.
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Old Aug 18, 2013 | 11:28 pm
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Originally Posted by sgosline
No answer from the stewardess.
maybe because the flight attendant didn't realize you were addressing her, but thought you we stuck in a 40 year old time warp when that term was last used.
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Old Aug 18, 2013 | 11:40 pm
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All US flag planes should have the US flag on them. I have never seen a plane without the flag of its home country. I wonder how it got past the painters without one.
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Old Aug 19, 2013 | 1:27 am
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Originally Posted by gj83
All US flag planes should have the US flag on them. I have never seen a plane without the flag of its home country. I wonder how it got past the painters without one.
That is not the case. The FAA regulation on Identification and Registration Marking (FAR 45) does not require a flag, only the registration (N-registration). That said, many US registered aircraft do have a flag near the registration.

To me it sounds like a lame excuse to cover the real reason for the delay.
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Old Aug 19, 2013 | 1:55 am
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And how did they attach the new flag? Is it a sticker or did they use duct tape? I always thought it is painted on the plane.
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Old Aug 19, 2013 | 4:33 am
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Originally Posted by gj83
All US flag planes should have the US flag on them. I have never seen a plane without the flag of its home country. I wonder how it got past the painters without one.
Really? I don't recall seeing the home country's flag on Air New Zealand, Qantas, Thai Airways, or Singapore Air. Either I'm unobservant or you are mistaken.
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Old Aug 19, 2013 | 4:45 am
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Originally Posted by celle
Really? I don't recall seeing the home country's flag on Air New Zealand, Qantas, Thai Airways, or Singapore Air. Either I'm unobservant or you are mistaken.
CX planes have the Swire group flag painted on them instead of the HK or Chinese flag.
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Old Aug 19, 2013 | 4:47 am
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I work at Hanscom AFB and there are plenty of planes flying around without flags on them, though they are a minority.
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Old Aug 19, 2013 | 5:08 am
  #10  
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My former employer used to operate an (ACMI) N-reg aircraft with the Ghanaian flag painted on. Also a TF- (Iceland) reg aircraft and a G- (UK) reg aircraft. The flag is just for show.
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Old Aug 19, 2013 | 6:43 am
  #11  
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We finally took off about 1 hour late. The pilot said he had to get 4 different officials to sign off that we could fly without the flag. Still don't know if that was the real reason for the delay.
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Old Aug 19, 2013 | 7:24 am
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Perhaps a pilot with a beef against management so he follows the FARs to the letter of the law?
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Old Aug 19, 2013 | 9:19 am
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Originally Posted by celle
Really? I don't recall seeing the home country's flag on Air New Zealand, Qantas, Thai Airways, or Singapore Air. Either I'm unobservant or you are mistaken.
ANZ - Flag is behind the rear door.
Qantas - Flag is above the windows between the rear and second rear doors.
SIA - Flag is after the Singapore Airlines titles
Thai - On the top of the tail
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Old Aug 19, 2013 | 9:27 am
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Originally Posted by marbe166
That is not the case. The FAA regulation on Identification and Registration Marking (FAR 45) does not require a flag, only the registration (N-registration). That said, many US registered aircraft do have a flag near the registration.

To me it sounds like a lame excuse to cover the real reason for the delay.
US flag only required for civil a/c entering Los Angeles airspace while John Belushi flying night CAP over city in early model P-40.
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Old Aug 19, 2013 | 9:36 am
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Originally Posted by Nugget_Oz
ANZ - Flag is behind the rear door.
Qantas - Flag is above the windows between the rear and second rear doors.
SIA - Flag is after the Singapore Airlines titles
Thai - On the top of the tail

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