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A Schempp-Hirth NIMBUS-3, the same model family as N253SK
A Schempp-Hirth NIMBUS-3 like this one, not N253SK itself. Photo: Mike Burdett from CROMER, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Pictures of N253SK itself may be on Planespotters · JetPhotos · Airliners.net. Operator or owner? Send your own picture.
Registered aircraft · FAA record as of October 23, 2026
N253SK

Schempp-Hirth NIMBUS 3

ValidFAA registration status code V: Valid registration. All codesElectric gliderTexas

N253SK is a Schempp-Hirth NIMBUS 3, a glider with no engine, built in 1982. It has 1 seat. It is registered to Hamilton Soaring Club INC, a corporation in Hamilton, Texas. The registration is valid: it was issued on November 6, 2024 and expires on November 30, 2031. It holds an experimental airworthiness certificate for racing; exhibition, dated July 8, 1982.

Schempp-Hirth: Ventus and Discus with electric self-launch

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

Aircraft

Maker
Schempp-Hirth (Germany)
Model
NIMBUS 3 · all NIMBUS 3s and related versions
Built of
composite
The airframe is composite: carbon fibre or glass fibre set in resin, moulded in large pieces with few joints, which gives smooth shapes but needs different inspection and repair methods from metal. A glass-fibre glider. This is how the Schempp-Hirth NIMBUS-3 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
22
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
1
Year built
1982
Transponder code
A2643D (octal 50462075)

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 6, 2024
Expires
November 30, 2031
Last FAA action
November 6, 2024
Airworthiness
ExperimentalFAA airworthiness class code 4 (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). Every aircraft with this code · All codes · Racing; ExhibitionFAA certificate purpose code 43 (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). All codes · July 8, 1982
FAA region
SouthwesternFAA region code 2 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
FAA record id
00650943

Owner as the FAA publishes it

Name
Hamilton Soaring Club INC (flying club: 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
PO Box 495
Hamilton, TX 76531-0495
Learn to fly in N253SK with Hamilton Soaring Club INC:

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 N253SK links to the rest of the register

Design
Owner
Place

The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N253SK.json.

Records check free · 0 to understand · 5 clear

The public federal record on N253SK, 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 Hamilton Soaring Club INC, a corporation, certificate issued November 6, 2024, expires November 30, 2031. No fractional interest recorded. [1]

CLEARAirworthiness certificate

Experimental certificate for racing; exhibition, dated July 8, 1982, consistent with the 1982 manufacture year. [1]

CLEARPrior registrations of this airframe

No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 22 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]

CLEARTail number reuse

No other airframe has carried N253SK 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 N253SK. 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 23, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  2. FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of October 23, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  3. FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of October 23, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  4. NTSB aviation accident database (CAROL), records through September 30, 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 23, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data