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Registered aircraft · FAA record as of November 6, 2026Aerovodochody L-29 DELFIN
N4985Z is an Aerovodochody L-29 DELFIN, a fixed-wing airplane with one motor with turbojet engines, built in 1964. It has 2 seats. It is registered to an individual in Fernley, Nevada. The registration is valid: it was issued on July 7, 2021 and expires on July 31, 2028. It holds an experimental airworthiness certificate for exhibition, dated October 15, 1997.
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Flight history: where it flew in the last seven days · follow it on the live map
Aircraft
- Maker
- Aerovodochody
- Model
- L-29 DELFIN · all L-29 DELFINs and related versions
- Built of
- aluminiumThe airframe is aluminium: sheet metal over a riveted frame, the way most aircraft have been built since the 1940s. This is how the Aerovodochody L-29 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
- 491165
- Type
- Fixed-wing, single engineFAA type of aircraft code 4 (the FAA's broad category for the airframe). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Power
- TurbojetFAA type of engine code 4 (what powers it, as the FAA classes engines). Every aircraft with this code · All codes, 1 motor
- Seats
- 2
- Year built
- 1964
- Transponder code
- A630EF (octal 51430357)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Certificate issued
- July 7, 2021
- Expires
- July 31, 2028
- Last FAA action
- May 26, 2023
- Airworthiness
- ExperimentalFAA airworthiness class code 4 (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). Every aircraft with this code · All codes · ExhibitionFAA certificate purpose code 3 (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). All codes · October 15, 1997
- FAA region
- Western-PacificFAA region code 4 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 00406661
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Mathison John 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
- 733 e St
Fernley, NV 89408-8570
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 N4985Z links to the rest of the register
- Aerovodochody L-29 67 registered
- Aerovodochody 67 aircraft on the register
- Built of aluminium · as the model family is built; the register does not record it per aircraft
- Fernley, NV 23 aircraft registered in this town
- Samsarg Field · N58
- Nevada 4,591 aircraft registered
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N4985Z.json.
Records check free · 3 to understand · 2 clear
The public federal record on N4985Z, 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 Mathison John M, an individual, certificate issued July 7, 2021, expires July 31, 2028. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
The airworthiness certificate on file is dated October 15, 1997, 33 years after the 1964 manufacture year. A re-issued certificate commonly follows export and re-import, a rebuild, or a return to the register after cancellation. The cause is documented in the FAA aircraft records file, which the full report obtains. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 491165 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N4985Z was previously assigned to 2 other aircraft: Mckinney-Bruce VARIEZE (serial 427, cancelled December 15, 1992); Piper PA-18-150 (serial 18-7764, cancelled September 14, 1962). 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 N4985Z: Accident on November 24, 1989 at Aspen, CO: fatal, destroyed (2 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: Bruce Mckinney VARI-EZE · operated under 091
THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO REFUEL THE AIRPLANE, WHICH RESULTED IN FUEL EXHAUSTION. A RELATED FACTOR TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: THE MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN.
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