The U.S. aircraft register, updated daily

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Registered aircraft · FAA record as of November 3, 2026
N1518F

Firefly Balloons Inc FIREFLY 7-15

ValidFAA registration status code V: Valid registration. All codesNorth Carolina

N1518F is a Firefly Balloons Inc FIREFLY 7-15, a balloon with no engine. It has 1 seat. It is registered to an individual in Raleigh, North Carolina. The registration is valid: it was issued on November 20, 2021 and expires on November 30, 2028. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated March 11, 2002.

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Flight history: where it flew in the last seven days · follow it on the live map

Aircraft

Maker
Firefly Balloons Inc
Model
FIREFLY 7-15 · all FIREFLY 7-15s and related versions
Built of
fabric and wicker
A hot-air balloon: a coated nylon envelope, stainless-steel cables, and a wicker or aluminium basket under a propane burner. This is how the Firefly Balloons Inc FIREFLY 7 family is built; the FAA does not record construction for each aircraft, and the type certificate data sheet is the authority for this one.
Serial number
F7-2011
Type
BalloonFAA type of aircraft code 2 (the FAA's broad category for the airframe). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Power
NoneFAA type of engine code 0 (what powers it, as the FAA classes engines). Every aircraft with this code · All codes · None NONE
Seats
1
Year built
Not given
Transponder code
A0D15C (octal 50150534)

Registration

Status
Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Certificate issued
November 20, 2021
Expires
November 30, 2028
Last FAA action
June 23, 2023
Airworthiness
StandardFAA airworthiness class code 1 (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). Every aircraft with this code · All codes · BalloonFAA certificate purpose code B (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). All codes · March 11, 2002
FAA region
EasternFAA region code 1 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
FAA record id
00994047

Owner as the FAA publishes it

Name
Hollenbach Darby T
Type
IndividualFAA type of owner code 1 (who holds the registration: a person, a company, a trust or a government body). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Address
7004 Mine Creek Ln
Raleigh, NC 27615-6311

Owners can ask the FAA to withhold their name and address from public files. When they do, those fields are blank here as well. How that works.

Documents on file 0

No bills of sale, loans or other documents are indexed against this tail number.

Earlier use of this number 2

1995-03-03Balloon Works FIREFLY 7-B · Valid registration
1965-03-18Cessna 185D · exported to Ecuador · Valid registration

Connections how N1518F links to the rest of the register

Design
Place

The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N1518F.json.

Records check free · 1 to understand · 3 clear

The public federal record on N1518F, read the way a buyer, lender or insurer reads it: FAA registration, prior tail numbers keyed on the serial number, reuse of the tail number, recent registry filings, and the NTSB accident record under this and every earlier registration.

CLEARRegistration and identity

Valid registration to Hollenbach Darby T, an individual, certificate issued November 20, 2021, expires November 30, 2028. No fractional interest recorded. [1]

NOTEAirworthiness certificate

Standard certificate for balloon; the FAA file gives no certificate date and no manufacture year. [1]

CLEARPrior registrations of this airframe

No earlier tail number is recorded against serial F7-2011 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]

ATTENTIONTail number reuse

N1518F was previously assigned to 2 other aircraft: Balloon Works FIREFLY 7-B (serial 10335, cancelled March 3, 1995); Cessna 185D (serial 185-0858, cancelled March 18, 1965). Histories keyed to the tail number alone can mix aircraft up; this check keys on the serial number. [2]

NOTERecent registry documents

No bills of sale, loans or releases have reached the registry in recent weeks. The index covers only recent filings; older liens are in the records file. [3]

CLEARAccident and incident record

No NTSB investigation records located under N1518F. CLEAR means the query ran and returned nothing, not that nothing ever happened. [4]

PENDINGTitle chain, liens and 337 forms

These live in the FAA aircraft records file (every document ever filed against the aircraft) and, for larger aircraft, the International Registry. Part of the full report.

PENDINGAirworthiness directives and utilization

AD compliance against the logbooks and flight-activity reconciliation are researched layers of the full report.

CLEAR the source was checked and shows no adverse findingATTENTION a fact a buyer or lender should understand, often routineNOTE context onlyPENDING covered by the full report
  1. FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file, file of November 3, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  2. FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of November 3, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  3. FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of November 3, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  4. NTSB aviation accident database (CAROL), records through October 28, 2026. data.ntsb.gov/carol-main-public/basic-search

This automated check reads the public federal record. Nothing here is a legal opinion, an appraisal or a statement about the aircraft's condition; a CLEAR line is a statement about the searched record, not the aircraft.

Source: FAA Civil Aviation Registry, Releasable Aircraft Database, November 3, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data