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Registered aircraft · FAA record as of November 6, 2026Adams Balloons Llc A55S
N491A is an Adams Balloons Llc A55S, a balloon with no engine, built in 2020. It has 1 seat. It is registered to an individual in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The registration is valid: it was issued on May 21, 2025 and expires on May 31, 2032. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated December 19, 2020. 1 document is on file: bill of sale (evidence of ownership).
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Flight history: where it flew in the last seven days · follow it on the live map
Aircraft
- Maker
- Adams Balloons Llc
- Model
- A55S · all A55Ss 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 Adams Balloons Llc A55 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
- 261
- 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
- 1
- Year built
- 2020
- Transponder code
- A613CF (octal 51411717)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Certificate issued
- May 21, 2025
- Expires
- May 31, 2032
- Last FAA action
- May 21, 2025
- 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 · December 19, 2020
- FAA region
- Northwest MountainFAA region code S (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 01295834
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Ragsdale William M II
- 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
- 3610 W Wade Ln
Colorado Springs, CO 80917-5824
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 1
Earlier use of this number 2
Connections how N491A links to the rest of the register
- Adams Balloons Llc A55 12 registered
- Adams Balloons Llc 37 aircraft on the register
- Built of fabric and wicker · as the model family is built; the register does not record it per aircraft
- Colorado Springs, CO 557 aircraft registered in this town
- City Of Colorado Springs Municipal · COS
- Meadow Lake Airport · FLY
- Colorado 7,485 aircraft registered
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N491A.json.
Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear
The public federal record on N491A, 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 Ragsdale William M II, an individual, certificate issued May 21, 2025, expires May 31, 2032. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Standard certificate for balloon, dated December 19, 2020, consistent with the 2020 manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 261 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N491A was previously assigned to 2 other aircraft: Piper PA-28R-201 (serial 2844050, cancelled April 26, 2004); Beech 95-C55 (serial TE295, cancelled November 2, 1983). Histories keyed to the tail number alone can mix aircraft up; this check keys on the serial number. [2]
1 document received recently: Bill of sale (evidence of ownership) (October 21, 2026). [3]
1 NTSB record under N491A: Accident on February 25, 1982 at Huron, CA: 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 1
Aircraft on the NTSB record: Beech BE-95-C55 · 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