The U.S. aircraft register, updated daily
A Schweizer SGS 2 gliders (2-33 and 2-32), the same model family as N17971
A Schweizer SGS 2 gliders (2-33 and 2-32) like this one, not N17971 itself. Photo: Ahunt at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Pictures of N17971 itself may be on Planespotters · JetPhotos · Airliners.net. Operator or owner? Send your own picture.
Registered aircraft · FAA record as of October 30, 2026
N17971

Schweizer SGS 2-33A

ValidFAA registration status code V: Valid registration. All codesMichigan

N17971 is a Schweizer SGS 2-33A, a glider with no engine, built in 1973. It has 2 seats. It is registered to West Michigan Aviation Academy, a corporation in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The registration is valid: it was issued on November 30, 2024 and expires on November 30, 2031. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for glider, dated April 4, 1973.

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

Aircraft

Maker
Schweizer
Model
SGS 2-33A · all SGS 2-33As and related versions
Built of
steel tube and aluminium
A welded steel-tube frame carries the loads, with aluminium (and some fibreglass) skins over it. The 2-33 trainer: steel-tube fuselage under fabric, aluminium wings. This is how the Schweizer SGS 2 gliders (2-33 and 2-32) 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
271
Type
GliderFAA type of aircraft code 1 (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
2
Year built
1973
Cruising speed
73 mph
Transponder code
A13E03 (octal 50237003)

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 30, 2024
Expires
November 30, 2031
Last FAA action
November 30, 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 · GliderFAA certificate purpose code G (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). All codes · April 4, 1973
FAA region
Great LakesFAA region code C (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
FAA record id
00212510

Owner as the FAA publishes it

Name
West Michigan Aviation Academy (flight school: its whole fleet and safety record)
Type
CorporationFAA type of owner code 3 (who holds the registration: a person, a company, a trust or a government body). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Address
5363 44Th St SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512-4093

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.

Connections how N17971 links to the rest of the register

Design
Owner
Place

The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N17971.json.

Records check free · 0 to understand · 5 clear

The public federal record on N17971, 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 West Michigan Aviation Academy, a corporation, certificate issued November 30, 2024, expires November 30, 2031. No fractional interest recorded. [1]

CLEARAirworthiness certificate

Standard certificate for glider, dated April 4, 1973, consistent with the 1973 manufacture year. [1]

CLEARPrior registrations of this airframe

No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 271 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]

CLEARTail number reuse

No other airframe has carried N17971 according to the deregistered file. [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 N17971. 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 October 30, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  2. FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of October 30, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  3. FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of October 30, 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, October 30, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data