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Registered aircraft · FAA record as of November 3, 2026Firefly Balloons Inc FIREFLY 7
N21953 is a Firefly Balloons Inc FIREFLY 7, a balloon with no engine, built in 2003. It has 1 seat. It is registered to an individual in Mechanicsville, Virginia. The registration is valid: it was issued on March 22, 2021 and expires on March 31, 2028. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated August 18, 2004.
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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 · all FIREFLY 7s 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 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
- F7-2024
- 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
- 2003
- Transponder code
- A1DE14 (octal 50357024)
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 22, 2021
- Expires
- March 31, 2028
- Last FAA action
- April 28, 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 · August 18, 2004
- FAA region
- EasternFAA region code 1 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 00127659
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Snead David 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
- 9370 Ruffin Ridge Rd
Mechanicsville, VA 23116-6641
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
Connections how N21953 links to the rest of the register
- Firefly Balloons Inc FIREFLY 7 64 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
- Mechanicsville, VA 39 aircraft registered in this town
- Virginia 5,975 aircraft registered
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N21953.json.
Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear
The public federal record on N21953, 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 Snead David W, an individual, certificate issued March 22, 2021, expires March 31, 2028. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Standard certificate for balloon, dated August 18, 2004, consistent with the 2003 manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial F7-2024 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N21953 was previously assigned to 2 other aircraft: Cessna 150L (serial 15074564, cancelled May 8, 1998); Porterfield CP-50 (serial 550, cancelled October 19, 1955). 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 N21953: Accident on July 25, 1996 at Philippi, WV: fatal, destroyed (1 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 150L · operated under 091
the pilot's impairment of judgment and performance due to alcohol, his resultant improper planning/decision, and his failure to maintain sufficient altitude/clearance from trees, while maneuvering at low altitude. Intentional maneuvering at low altitude was a related factor.
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