Balloon Works FIREFLY 8B-15
N3282P is a Balloon Works FIREFLY 8B-15, a balloon with no engine. It has 1 seat. It is registered to an individual in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The registration is valid: it was issued on March 14, 2019 and expires on March 31, 2029. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated October 10, 1996.
Aircraft
- Maker
- Balloon Works
- Model
- FIREFLY 8B-15 · all FIREFLY 8B-15s and related versions
- Serial number
- F8B-520
- Type
- Balloon
- Power
- None · None NONE
- Seats
- 1
- Year built
- Not given
- Transponder code
- A38EB4 (octal 50707264)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registration
- Certificate issued
- March 14, 2019
- Expires
- March 31, 2029
- Last FAA action
- July 21, 2023
- Airworthiness
- Standard · Balloon · October 10, 1996
- FAA region
- Central
- FAA record id
- 00816211
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Wheeler Archie J
- Type
- Individual
- Address
- 1710 Joben Dr
Murfreesboro, TN 37128-5813
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 · 2 clear
The public federal record on N3282P, 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 Wheeler Archie J, an individual, certificate issued March 14, 2019, expires March 31, 2029. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Standard certificate for balloon; the FAA file gives no certificate date and no manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial F8B-520 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N3282P was previously assigned to 1 other aircraft: Piper PA-23-160 (serial 23-1227, cancelled May 1, 1961). 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 N3282P: Accident on July 15, 2017 at Murfreesboro, TN: serious injuries. 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 passenger's failure to let go of the balloon's gondola when the balloon began to ascend. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to maintain control of the balloon after landing, which resulted in an inadvertent takeoff.
Search the NTSB's CAROL system for ERA17LA243 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