SOMETHING ELSE I DIDN'T KNOW

The real owner of an airplane registered in America can be obfuscated by using a trusteeship. I can't figure out the point of this rule.

Plane spotted in Iran is registered to Utah bank
8:14 p.m. EDT April 18, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An airplane that mysteriously ended up in Iran is registered to a Utah bank under an arrangement for aviation ownership that has prompted two warnings from a government watchdog in the past year.

A government watchdog warned last June and again in January that non-U.S. citizens have registered 5,600 planes with the Federal Aviation Administration through trustees, concealing the owners' identities.

Under FAA regulations, this can be done by the owner creating an agreement to transfer the plane's title to a trustee that is a U.S. citizen. The trustee then registers the plane. The agreements provide little information on the identity of the owner or who uses the plane, according to a memorandum by the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General.