Balloon Works FIREFLY 8B-15
N2553F is a Balloon Works FIREFLY 8B-15, a balloon with no engine, built in 1993. It has 1 seat. It is registered to an individual in Highland, Michigan. The registration is valid: it was issued on June 25, 2004 and expires on July 31, 2027. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated June 4, 1993.
Aircraft
- Maker
- Balloon Works
- Model
- FIREFLY 8B-15 · all FIREFLY 8B-15s and related versions
- Serial number
- F8B-434
- Type
- Balloon
- Power
- None · None NONE
- Seats
- 1
- Year built
- 1993
- Transponder code
- A26CD8 (octal 50466330)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registration
- Certificate issued
- June 25, 2004
- Expires
- July 31, 2027
- Last FAA action
- March 4, 2023
- Airworthiness
- Standard · Balloon · June 4, 1993
- FAA region
- Great Lakes
- FAA record id
- 00514362
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Raya Shawn M
- Type
- Individual
- Address
- 659 Inverness
Highland, MI 48357-4774
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
Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear
The public federal record on N2553F, 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 Raya Shawn M, an individual, certificate issued June 25, 2004, expires July 31, 2027. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Standard certificate for balloon, dated June 4, 1993, consistent with the 1993 manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial F8B-434 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N2553F was previously assigned to 1 other aircraft: Champion 7ECA (serial 108, cancelled October 10, 1990). 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 N2553F: Accident on November 25, 1989 at Shawnee, OK: no injuries, substantial damage. 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: Champion 7ECA · operated under 091
FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE AIRSPEED DURING THE TURN AFTER TAKEOFF, WHICH RESULTED IN A STALL. THE OBSTRUCTIONS (TREES) WERE A FACTOR.
Full record in plain English · Docket and reports at the NTSB
- FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file, file of October 2, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of October 2, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of October 2, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- NTSB aviation accident database (CAROL), records through August 27, 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 2, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data