N.C. Gen. Stat. § 63-22
The public safety requiring, and the advantages of uniform regulation making it desirable, in the interest of aeronautical progress, that aircraft to be operated within this State should conform, with respect to design, construction and airworthiness, to standards then prescribed by the United States government with respect to aerial navigation of aircraft subject to its jurisdiction, it shall be unlawful for any person to operate an aircraft within this State unless it is registered pursuant to the lawful rules and regulations of the United States government then in force, if the circumstances of such aerial navigation are of a character that such registration would be required in the case of interstate aerial navigation.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 63-22