On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 16:23:51 GMT, No Spam wrote:

I guess technically it would
be possible to "buy" any existing the N- number.

Some time ago, I read that Nike bought "N1KE" from its then-current owner.

Yep...and the then-owner was famed aviation author Peter Lert. IIRC, he
had a glider and the trailer for it looked a lot like a Nike rocket. So he
requested and got the N1KE registration.

Years later, the sport-shoe people wanted to register their company
aircraft and found Peter's name. He won't say how much they paid him for
it, but he DOES say he hasn't had to buy a pair of shoes since...

Ron Wanttaja