The U.S. aircraft register, updated daily

No free picture of N2681L or its model is known to the site yet; spotters' pictures may be on Planespotters · JetPhotos · Airliners.net. Operator or owner? Send your own picture.

Registered aircraft · FAA record as of November 4, 2026
N2681L

Thunder Balloons Limited AX8-90

ValidFAA registration status code V: Valid registration. All codesNew Mexico

N2681L is a Thunder Balloons Limited AX8-90, a balloon with no engine. It is registered to an individual in Corrales, New Mexico. The registration is valid: it was issued on December 5, 2023 and expires on December 31, 2030. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated March 10, 1982.

Where is it now checking the live feed…

Checking the volunteer receiver network for a recent position…

Aircraft broadcast their own position; volunteer receivers pool what they hear. Owners who have asked the FAA not to be displayed are not shown.

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

Aircraft

Maker
Thunder Balloons Limited
Model
AX8-90
Serial number
386
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
0
Year built
Not given
Transponder code
A29F3B (octal 50517473)

Registration

Status
Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Certificate issued
December 5, 2023
Expires
December 31, 2030
Last FAA action
December 5, 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 · March 10, 1982
FAA region
SouthwesternFAA region code 2 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
FAA record id
00303472

Owner as the FAA publishes it

Name
Otero Charlie M
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
PO Box 1055
Corrales, NM 87048-1055

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

1980-02-15Cessna 404 · exported to Germany · Valid registration
1974-05-21Cessna 172H · exported to Canada · Valid registration

Connections how N2681L links to the rest of the register

Design
Place
  • Corrales, NM 36 aircraft registered in this town
  • New Mexico 3,111 aircraft registered

The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N2681L.json.

Records check free · 1 to understand · 3 clear

The public federal record on N2681L, 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 Otero Charlie M, an individual, certificate issued December 5, 2023, expires December 31, 2030. No fractional interest recorded. [1]

NOTEAirworthiness certificate

Standard certificate for balloon; the FAA file gives no certificate date and no manufacture year. [1]

CLEARPrior registrations of this airframe

No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 386 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]

ATTENTIONTail number reuse

N2681L was previously assigned to 2 other aircraft: Cessna 404 (serial 404-0453, cancelled February 15, 1980); Cessna 172H (serial 17255881, cancelled May 21, 1974). Histories keyed to the tail number alone can mix aircraft up; this check keys on the serial number. [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 N2681L. 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 November 4, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  2. FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of November 4, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  3. FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of November 4, 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, November 4, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data