German aircraft registration
For reasons of traffic safety and for identification purposes, German aircraft are subject to compulsory registration:
- Compulsory admission (Zulassungszwang)
- Compulsory registration (Eintragungszwang)
- Compulsory marking (Kennzeichnungszwang)
German aircraft must be marked with:
- the federal flag
- the letter "D" and
- four additional letters (registration marking) e.g. "D-ABIY"
The registration mark is unique and unambiguous for each registered aircraft and must be clearly visible, on aircraft registered in Germany it might, for example, be displayed on the side of the fuselage or vertical tail and on the underside of the left wing.
The registration marking is preceded by the country code of the place of registration (e.g. D for Germany, OE for Austria, HB for Switzerland). This is followed by a combination of letters and numbers, both parts of the registration marking can be separated by a hyphen.
In Germany, 4 numbers are only used for gliders, all other aircraft are assigned a combination of letters, with the first letter corresponding to the type or category of aircraft (number of engines, maximum take-off weight) and providing information about it.
Below is an overview of the most common types.
| D – Axxx | Aircraft |
MTOM more than 20,000 kg |
| D – Bxxx | Aircraft | MTOM between 14,000 kg and 20,000 kg |
| D – Cxxx | Aircraft | MTOM between 5,700 kg and 14,000 kg |
| D – Exxx | Aircraft | Single-engine, MTOM 2.000 kg or less |
| D – Fxxx | Aircraft | Single-engine, MTOM between 2,000 kg and 5,700 kg |
| D – Gxxx | Aircraft | Multi-engine, MTOM less than 2,000 kg |
| D – Hxxx | Rotorcraft | Helicopter |
| D – Ixxx | Aircraft | Multi-engine, MTOM between 2.000 kg and 5.700 kg |
| D – Kxxx | Motor glider | |
| D – Lxxx | Airships | |
| D – Mxxx | Air sports equipment |
Ultralight |
| D – Oxxx | Manned balloons | |
| D – 1234 | Gliders |
On VATSIM, a realistic registration marking should be used as a callsign if possible, as this provides other traffic participants with information about the type of aircraft. For example, the callsign for a Cessna 172 registered in Germany would be DEABC, for a Beechcraft Baron DIABC (the hyphen is omitted when logging on to Vatsim).