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Registered aircraft · FAA record as of November 3, 2026Firefly Balloons Inc GALAXY 8B
N1520C is a Firefly Balloons Inc GALAXY 8B, a balloon with no engine, built in 2002. It has 1 seat. It is registered to an individual in Pickens, South Carolina. The registration is valid: it was issued on March 14, 2024 and expires on March 31, 2031. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated April 10, 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
- GALAXY 8B · all GALAXY 8Bs and related versions
- Built of
- fabric and wickerA 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 GALAXY 8 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
- GLX-1058B
- 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
- 2002
- Transponder code
- A0D3F8 (octal 50151770)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Certificate issued
- March 14, 2024
- Expires
- March 31, 2031
- Last FAA action
- March 14, 2024
- 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 · April 10, 2002
- FAA region
- SouthernFAA region code 7 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 00444097
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Oshields Derrick W
- 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
- 814 Country Club Rd
Pickens, SC 29671-9072
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 1
Connections how N1520C links to the rest of the register
- Firefly Balloons Inc GALAXY 8 5 registered
- Firefly Balloons Inc 175 aircraft on the register
- Built of fabric and wicker · as the model family is built; the register does not record it per aircraft
- Pickens, SC 10 aircraft registered in this town
- Pickens County · LQK
- South Carolina 3,112 aircraft registered
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N1520C.json.
Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear
The public federal record on N1520C, 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.
Valid registration to Oshields Derrick W, an individual, certificate issued March 14, 2024, expires March 31, 2031. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Standard certificate for balloon, dated April 10, 2002, consistent with the 2002 manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial GLX-1058B for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N1520C was previously assigned to 1 other aircraft: Cessna 180 (serial 30220, cancelled March 6, 1997). Histories keyed to the tail number alone can mix aircraft up; this check keys on the serial number. [2]
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]
1 NTSB record under N1520C: Accident on March 15, 1995 at Winslow, AZ: fatal, destroyed (2 fatal). Details below. [4]
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.
AD compliance against the logbooks and flight-activity reconciliation are researched layers of the full report.
NTSB records 1
Aircraft on the NTSB record: Cessna 180 · operated under 091
The pilot's poor judgement by intentionally deciding to buzz.
Full record in plain English · Docket and reports at the NTSB
- FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file, file of November 3, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of November 3, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of November 3, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- 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