Steve, don't feel bad. I sold a glider late last year and the exact
same thing happened to me. I too did not realize I had a reporting
requirement to tell the FAA I sold the glider. However if I remember
correctly, the registration has language printed on the back that tells
you to do just that. I'll bet yours has similar language. In
addition, the letter you got from the FAA also probably gave you the
option of replying by saying you did not have the registration in your
posession.
Respectfully,

Steve Leonard wrote:
I got a bounce-back from the FAA when I tried to register my newest
sailplane acquisition. Seems I did not sign below my written name on
the Application for Registration. My bad. I printed my name and
sent
it back to them.

I got a call this evening from the gentleman I bought the plane from.
It seems he got a letter from the FAA saying they understood he had
sold the aircraft and as a matter of National Security, he is to send
in the old registratioin withing 20 days of receiving the letter.

I do not yet have the registration with my name on it, nor did the
FAA
issue me a letter to keep with the plane to be a temporary
authorization to continue operating the aircraft. We both suspect
the
old registration is in the plane (as it should be), as he did not
keep
it and I do not have it with any of the other papers for the plane.

So, have any of you sold an airplane in the last two or three months,
not sent the registration in saying you sold the plane, and gotten a
letter saying you must return the registration "To Preserve National
Security"? Or have I made their "special" list?

Steve Leonard