If an aircraft has an expired registration, what is the status of its airworthiness certificate?

• A. It remains valid
• B. It is ineffective until registration is renewed
• C. It becomes valid when flown at night
• D. It is valid for IFR only

Answer: (B)

The airworthiness certificate isn’t effective if the aircraft’s registration has expired. Both papers must be current for legal flight, and when registration lapses, the airworthiness status becomes ineffective until the renewal is completed. In other words, you can’t rely on the certificate to authorize flight until you renew the registration and the aircraft again meets all airworthiness requirements. The other ideas don’t fit because the certificate isn’t kept valid by expiration of registration, there’s no special nighttime or IFR-only condition, and it isn’t valid solely because of those factors.