Balloon Works FIREFLY 8B-15
N3171L is a Balloon Works FIREFLY 8B-15, a balloon with no engine, built in 1996. It has 1 seat. It is registered to an individual in Topeka, Kansas. The registration is valid: it was issued on July 30, 2015 and expires on July 31, 2028. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated February 15, 1996.
Aircraft
- Maker
- Balloon Works
- Model
- FIREFLY 8B-15 · all FIREFLY 8B-15s and related versions
- Serial number
- F8B-493
- Type
- Balloon
- Power
- None
- Seats
- 1
- Year built
- 1996
- Transponder code
- A36358 (octal 50661530)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registration
- Certificate issued
- July 30, 2015
- Expires
- July 31, 2028
- Last FAA action
- May 26, 2023
- Airworthiness
- Standard · Balloon · February 15, 1996
- FAA region
- Central
- FAA record id
- 00315691
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Goodnow Tony A
- Type
- Individual
- Address
- 8325 NE Indian Creek Rd
Topeka, KS 66617-2218
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 N3171L, 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 Goodnow Tony A, an individual, certificate issued July 30, 2015, expires July 31, 2028. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Standard certificate for balloon, dated February 15, 1996, consistent with the 1996 manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial F8B-493 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N3171L was previously assigned to 1 other aircraft: Cessna 310J (serial 310J0171, cancelled October 26, 1992). 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 N3171L: Accident on May 11, 2013 at Anthony, KS: 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: Balloon Works FIREFLY 8B-15 · operated under 091
The pilot’s failure to monitor the balloon's altitude, which resulted in the balloon impacting an airport rotating beacon tower.
Search the NTSB's CAROL system for CEN13CA278 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