Aviation Specialties Unlimited CHALLENGER III
N260HP is an Aviation Specialties Unlimited CHALLENGER III, a fixed-wing airplane with one motor with a four-stroke engine, built in 2010. It has 2 seats. It is registered to National Air And Space Museum Of The Smithsonian I, a government body in Washington, District of Columbia. The registration is valid: it was issued on July 19, 2021 and expires on July 31, 2028. It holds an experimental airworthiness certificate for amateur built, dated April 27, 2010.
Aircraft
- Maker
- Aviation Specialties Unlimited
- Model
- CHALLENGER III
- Serial number
- 0001
- Type
- Fixed-wing, single engine
- Power
- Four-cycle piston, 1 motor · Lycoming AEIO-540 SER · 260 hp
- Seats
- 2
- Year built
- 2010
- Transponder code
- A27FBA (octal 50477672)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registration
- Certificate issued
- July 19, 2021
- Expires
- July 31, 2028
- Last FAA action
- May 26, 2023
- Airworthiness
- Experimental · Amateur built · April 27, 2010
- FAA region
- Eastern
- FAA record id
- 01048119
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- National Air And Space Museum Of The Smithsonian I
- Type
- Government
- Address
- 6Th And Independence Ave SW
Washington, DC 20013-7012
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
Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear
The public federal record on N260HP, 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 National Air And Space Museum Of The Smithsonian I, a government body, certificate issued July 19, 2021, expires July 31, 2028. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Experimental certificate for amateur built, dated April 27, 2010, consistent with the 2010 manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 0001 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N260HP was previously assigned to 2 other aircraft: Aviation Specialities Unltd CHALLENGER II (serial 0001, cancelled October 22, 2007); Aerotek PITTS S2S (serial 1007, cancelled February 5, 1996). 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]
2 NTSB records under N260HP: Accident on April 4, 2006 at Coushatta, LA: no injuries, destroyed. Accident on September 25, 1995 at Clarksville, VA: 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 2
Aircraft on the NTSB record: Aviation Specialties Unlimited Challenger II · operated under 091
The loss of control due to premature failure of the elevator's push-pull tube rod-end bearing.
Search the NTSB's CAROL system for DFW06LA094 for the docket and final report. Open CAROL
Aircraft on the NTSB record: Aerotek PITTS - S2S · operated under 091
continued flight by the pilot into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), which resulted in spatial disorientation and his inability to control the airplane. The weather condition and the lack of instruments in the airplane were related factors.
Search the NTSB's CAROL system for MIA95LA237 for the docket and final report. Open CAROL
- 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