Schempp-Hirth DISCUS CS
N520RJ is a Schempp-Hirth DISCUS CS, a glider with no engine, built in 1996. It has 1 seat. It is registered to Skyline Soaring Club INC, a corporation in Front Royal, Virginia. The registration is valid: it was issued on January 17, 2018 and expires on January 31, 2028. It holds an experimental airworthiness certificate for racing; exhibition, dated June 4, 1996.
Schempp-Hirth: Ventus and Discus with electric self-launch
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Flight history: where it flew in the last seven days · follow it on the live map
Aircraft
- Maker
- Schempp-Hirth (Germany)
- Model
- DISCUS CS · all DISCUS CSs and related versions
- Built of
- compositeThe airframe is composite: carbon fibre or glass fibre set in resin, moulded in large pieces with few joints, which gives smooth shapes but needs different inspection and repair methods from metal. A glass-fibre glider. This is how the Schempp-Hirth DISCUS CS 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
- 217CS
- Type
- GliderFAA type of aircraft code 1 (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
- Seats
- 1
- Year built
- 1996
- Transponder code
- A68A6E (octal 51505156)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Certificate issued
- January 17, 2018
- Expires
- January 31, 2028
- Last FAA action
- March 6, 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 · Racing; ExhibitionFAA certificate purpose code 43 (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). All codes · June 4, 1996
- FAA region
- EasternFAA region code 1 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 00745991
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Skyline Soaring Club INC (flying club: its whole fleet and safety record)
- Type
- CorporationFAA type of owner code 3 (who holds the registration: a person, a company, a trust or a government body). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Address
- 424A South St # 172
Front Royal, VA 22630-2116
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.
Connections how N520RJ links to the rest of the register
- Schempp-Hirth DISCUS CS 36 registered
- Schempp-Hirth 516 aircraft on the register
- Built of composite · as the model family is built; the register does not record it per aircraft
- Skyline Soaring Club INC 7 aircraft in the fleet
- Front Royal, VA 29 aircraft registered in this town
- Front Royal-Warren County · FRR
- Virginia 5,972 aircraft registered
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N520RJ.json.
Records check free · 1 to understand · 4 clear
The public federal record on N520RJ, 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 Skyline Soaring Club INC, a corporation, certificate issued January 17, 2018, expires January 31, 2028. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Experimental certificate for racing; exhibition, dated June 4, 1996, consistent with the 1996 manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 217CS for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
No other airframe has carried N520RJ according to the deregistered file. [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 N520RJ: Accident on October 8, 2022 at Woodstock, VA: 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: Schempp-Hirth DISCUS CS · operated under 091
Improper repair of a crack by maintenance personnel, which resulted in a subsequent failure of the glider canopy.
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