Before an aircraft is legal to fly, a short stack of paperwork has to be aboard, or in some cases displayed or kept at base. The list is not long, but it is exact, and the two big systems carry slightly different things, so it is worth learning the right list for the right flag.
This is general educational information, not operational, legal, or regulatory advice. Rules differ by authority and change over time. Always verify against current official sources and follow your operator's approved procedures.
Why the documents matter
The documents on board are the evidence that the aircraft is what it claims to be: registered to someone, certified as airworthy, operated within its approved limits, and, where required, insured and equipped. A ramp check is exactly that, an inspector asking to see the proof. At the international level the idea goes back to the Chicago Convention, whose Article 29 lists the documents an aircraft engaged in international air navigation must carry: its certificate of registration, its certificate of airworthiness, the appropriate crew licences, the journey logbook, the radio licence if it is so equipped, and the passenger or cargo manifests where carried. Each authority then writes its own carriage rule on top of that base.
The US list: ARROW
US pilots learn the required documents by the memory aid ARROW, drawn from 14 CFR 91.203 and 14 CFR 91.9:
- A, Airworthiness certificate. It must be aboard and, unusually, displayed at the cabin or cockpit entrance so it is visible, not just present.
- R, Registration certificate. The aircraft's certificate of registration must be aboard.
- R, Radio station licence. Required for international operations, but not for purely domestic US flights. This is the item people most often get wrong: it is conditional, not universal.
- O, Operating limitations. The approved flight manual or pilot's operating handbook, together with the placards, instrument markings and other documents that make up the aircraft's operating limitations under 91.9.
- W, Weight and balance. The current mass and balance data for the aircraft.
The airworthiness and registration certificates are the two that 91.203 squarely requires to be aboard; the operating limitations and weight and balance flow from 91.9 and the type certification, and the radio licence is the conditional extra.
The EASA list: NCO.GEN.135
For general-aviation flying under EASA, NCO.GEN.135 sets a longer list of documents, manuals and information to be carried on each flight, as originals or copies unless stated otherwise:
- the flight manual (AFM) or equivalent;
- the original certificate of registration;
- the original certificate of airworthiness;
- the noise certificate, if applicable;
- the list of specific approvals, if applicable;
- the aircraft radio licence, if applicable;
- the third party liability insurance certificate;
- the journey log, or equivalent;
- details of the filed ATS flight plan, if applicable;
- current and suitable aeronautical charts for the route and likely diversions;
- interception procedures and visual signals;
- the minimum equipment list (MEL) or configuration deviation list, if applicable.
Two items stand out against ARROW: EASA explicitly requires the insurance certificate and the journey log to be carried, neither of which appears in the US list, and it names current charts and the noise certificate. The flight crew's licences and medical certificates are required too, carried by the crew themselves under the licensing and rules-of-the-air requirements rather than as aircraft paperwork.
There is one relief worth knowing. NCO.GEN.135 lets several of these documents, the registration and airworthiness certificates, noise certificate, radio licence, insurance certificate and journey log, be retained at the aerodrome rather than carried, for flights that take off and land at the same place or stay within an area set by the authority. So a local circuit detail need not have the whole stack aboard.
The two systems side by side
Both demand the core proof of identity and airworthiness, the certificate of registration and the certificate of airworthiness, and both treat the radio licence as conditional. From there they diverge: the US ARROW list adds operating limitations and weight and balance and stops, while EASA's NCO.GEN.135 adds insurance, a journey log, the noise certificate, current charts and the MEL. The honest summary is that the EASA list is longer and the US list is tighter, and the safe habit is to carry the full list for the flag the aircraft flies under rather than the one you happened to learn first.
The crew's own documents
The aircraft paperwork is only half the story; the people flying carry documents too, and these are easy to overlook because they live in a wallet rather than the document pouch. The Chicago Convention lists the appropriate crew licences among the documents an aircraft on international operations carries, and both systems require a pilot to hold, and have available, a valid licence and a valid medical certificate for the flight being conducted. Most authorities also expect a means of personal identification. A radio-equipped flight implies the right to operate the radio, which on international operations ties back to the radio licensing regime. The simple rule is that turning up with the aircraft documents in order but an out-of-date medical leaves you just as grounded.
Current, not just carried, and the ramp check
Carriage is necessary but not sufficient: several of the documents have to be current, not merely present. The aeronautical charts must be current and suitable for the route and likely diversions, which ties the carriage requirement directly to the AIRAC cycle and to how aviation data goes stale. The mass and balance data must reflect the aircraft as it is now, not as it left the factory, and the insurance certificate must be in date. A folder full of expired documents satisfies the letter of carriage and none of its purpose.
This all comes to a head in a ramp check, where an inspector asks to see the documents on the spot. In Europe the SAFA and SACA inspection programmes do exactly that, and the pilot-in-command is required to make the carried documentation available within a reasonable time of being asked. It is the moment the abstract list becomes concrete: every item the rule names, current where it must be current, produced on request. Knowing the right list for your flag, and keeping it in date, is what turns a ramp check from an ordeal into a formality.
A worked example
A US-registered light single sets off on a domestic cross-country. Running ARROW: the airworthiness certificate is aboard and displayed at the cockpit entrance; the registration certificate is in the document pouch; the radio station licence is not required, because the flight stays within the United States; the operating limitations are present as the POH plus the cockpit placards; and the current weight and balance is in the binder. The aircraft is legal to go. If that same aircraft were crossing a border, the radio station licence would now be required.
Fly the equivalent trip on an EASA-registered aeroplane and the list grows: registration and airworthiness certificates, the AFM, the noise certificate, the insurance certificate, the journey log, the filed flight plan details, current charts, and the radio licence if the aircraft is radio-equipped. For a local flight returning to the same field, several of those may instead be kept at the aerodrome under the NCO.GEN.135 relief. The two flights are the same shape; the paperwork that has to ride along differs because the rule does.
Common pitfalls
- Carrying the radio licence on a domestic US flight as if it were required, or omitting it internationally. It is conditional on international operation.
- Leaving the airworthiness certificate out of sight in the US. It must be displayed, not merely present.
- Forgetting insurance and the journey log under EASA. Both are on the NCO.GEN.135 list and neither is in ARROW.
- Flying with stale charts or weight and balance. Current charts and current mass and balance data are part of the requirement, not optional extras.
- Assuming everything must always be aboard under EASA. Several documents may be left at base for same-aerodrome or local flights under NCO.GEN.135.
In Pilot EFB
Pilot EFB is a study and planning companion that keeps your charts and the AIRAC currency behind a briefing in one offline-first place, so the current information side of the list is easy to reach before you fly. It does not store, validate or file your aircraft's certificates, insurance or journey log, and it cannot confirm that the required documents are aboard. Pilot EFB is not a certified Electronic Flight Bag, so treat it as a study and planning aid and check the documents against the current rule for your aircraft and operation.