No free picture of N4502A 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 6, 2026Head Balloons Inc AX8-88B
N4502A is a Head Balloons Inc AX8-88B, a balloon with no engine. It has 4 seats. It is registered to an individual in Lubbock, Texas. The registration is valid: it was issued on December 17, 2023 and expires on December 31, 2030. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated May 30, 1990.
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
- Head Balloons Inc
- Model
- AX8-88B · all AX8-88Bs and related versions
- Built of
- fabric and wickerA hot-air balloon: a coated nylon envelope, stainless-steel cables, and a wicker or aluminium basket under a propane burner. This is how the Head Balloons Inc AX8 family is built; the FAA does not record construction for each aircraft, and the type certificate data sheet is the authority for this one.
- Serial number
- 166
- 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
- 4
- Year built
- Not given
- Transponder code
- A574BB (octal 51272273)
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 17, 2023
- Expires
- December 31, 2030
- Last FAA action
- March 30, 2026
- 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 · May 30, 1990
- FAA region
- SouthwesternFAA region code 2 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 00275111
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Fitzgerald William J
- 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 6084
Lubbock, TX 79493-6084
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
Connections how N4502A links to the rest of the register
- Head Balloons Inc AX8 116 registered
- Head Balloons Inc 197 aircraft on the register
- Built of fabric and wicker · as the model family is built; the register does not record it per aircraft
- Lubbock, TX 273 aircraft registered in this town
- Lubbock Preston Smith International · LBB
- Lubbock Executive Airpark · F82
- Texas 29,966 aircraft registered
- FAA orders naming the Head Balloons Inc AX8 1 airworthiness directives
- Approved modifications for the Head Balloons Inc AX8 14 supplemental type certificates
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N4502A.json.
Records check free · 2 to understand · 2 clear
The public federal record on N4502A, 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 Fitzgerald William J, an individual, certificate issued December 17, 2023, expires December 31, 2030. 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 166 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N4502A was previously assigned to 2 other aircraft: Air Tractor Inc AT-802A (serial 802A-0918, cancelled November 29, 2021); Piper PA-22-150 (serial 22-3805, cancelled October 22, 1970). 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 N4502A: Accident on October 3, 2026 at Albuquerque, NM: 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: Head Balloons INC AX8-88B · operated under 091
Full record in plain English · Docket and reports at the NTSB
- FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file, file of November 6, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of November 6, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of November 6, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- 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 6, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data