The U.S. aircraft register, updated daily

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Registered aircraft · FAA record as of October 30, 2026
N52461

Aerostar International Inc S-77A

ValidFAA registration status code V: Valid registration. All codesNew Mexico

N52461 is an Aerostar International Inc S-77A, a balloon with no engine, built in 2000. It has 9 seats. It is registered to Back Country Ballooning LLC, an LLC in Tres Piedras, New Mexico. The registration is valid: it was issued on September 7, 2026 and expires on September 30, 2033. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated April 21, 2000.

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Flight history: where it flew in the last seven days · follow it on the live map

Aircraft

Maker
Aerostar International Inc
Model
S-77A · all S-77As and related versions
Built of
fabric and wicker
A hot-air balloon: a coated nylon envelope, stainless-steel cables, and a wicker or aluminium basket under a propane burner. This is how the Aerostar International Inc S-77 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
S77A-3031
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
9
Year built
2000
Transponder code
A69B0E (octal 51515416)

Registration

Status
Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Certificate issued
September 7, 2026
Expires
September 30, 2033
Last FAA action
September 7, 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 · April 21, 2000
FAA region
SouthwesternFAA region code 2 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
FAA record id
00113613

Owner as the FAA publishes it

Name
Back Country Ballooning LLC
Type
LLCFAA type of owner code 7 (who holds the registration: a person, a company, a trust or a government body). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Address
70 Calle de Canerio
Tres Piedras, NM 87577

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 3

1989-01-24Cessna 172P · Triennial registration form was mailed and has not been returned by the Post Office
1974-04-01Cessna 182P · exported to Portugal · Valid registration
1954-01-21Piper J3C-65 · Valid registration

Connections how N52461 links to the rest of the register

Design
Owner
Place
  • Tres Piedras, NM 4 aircraft registered in this town
  • New Mexico 3,108 aircraft registered
Airworthiness

The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N52461.json.

Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear

The public federal record on N52461, 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.

CLEARRegistration and identity

Valid registration to Back Country Ballooning LLC, an LLC, certificate issued September 7, 2026, expires September 30, 2033. No fractional interest recorded. [1]

CLEARAirworthiness certificate

Standard certificate for balloon, dated April 21, 2000, consistent with the 2000 manufacture year. [1]

CLEARPrior registrations of this airframe

No earlier tail number is recorded against serial S77A-3031 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]

ATTENTIONTail number reuse

N52461 was previously assigned to 3 other aircraft: Cessna 172P (serial 17274532, cancelled January 24, 1989); Cessna 182P (serial 18262625, cancelled April 1, 1974); Piper J3C-65 (serial 10326, cancelled January 21, 1954). Histories keyed to the tail number alone can mix aircraft up; this check keys on the serial number. [2]

NOTERecent registry documents

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]

ATTENTIONAccident and incident record

1 NTSB record under N52461: Accident on June 3, 2003 at Cottage Grove, MN: serious injuries. Details below. [4]

PENDINGTitle chain, liens and 337 forms

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.

PENDINGAirworthiness directives and utilization

AD compliance against the logbooks and flight-activity reconciliation are researched layers of the full report.

NTSB records 1

CHI03LA147Accident on June 3, 2003 at Cottage Grove, MN: serious injuries.serial on NTSB record: 3031

Aircraft on the NTSB record: Aerostar S-77A · operated under 091

The inadequate touchdown by the pilot.

Full record in plain English · Docket and reports at the NTSB

CLEAR the source was checked and shows no adverse findingATTENTION a fact a buyer or lender should understand, often routineNOTE context onlyPENDING covered by the full report
  1. FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file, file of October 30, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  2. FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of October 30, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  3. FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of October 30, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  4. 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, October 30, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data