The U.S. aircraft register, updated daily

No free picture of N5461E 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 13, 2026
N5461E

Andrew Philip Richardson Dba A55S

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

N5461E is an Andrew Philip Richardson Dba A55S, a balloon with no engine, built in 2016. It has 1 seat. It is registered to co-owned owners in Placitas, New Mexico. The registration is valid: it was issued on May 8, 2018 and expires on May 31, 2028. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated February 5, 2016.

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
Andrew Philip Richardson Dba
Model
A55S · all A55Ss 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 Andrew Philip Richardson Dba 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
205
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
2016
Transponder code
A6F0B6 (octal 51570266)

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 8, 2018
Expires
May 31, 2028
Last FAA action
May 12, 2023
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 · February 5, 2016
FAA region
SouthwesternFAA region code 2 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
FAA record id
01202231

Owner as the FAA publishes it

Name
Randall Thomas D
Type
Co-ownedFAA type of owner code 4 (who holds the registration: a person, a company, a trust or a government body). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Address
53 Petroglyph Trl
Placitas, NM 87043-9467
Co-owners
Randall Ellen D

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 1

2013-01-30Helio H-250 · Sale reported, canceled

Connections how N5461E links to the rest of the register

Design
Place
  • Placitas, NM 19 aircraft registered in this town
  • New Mexico 3,114 aircraft registered

The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N5461E.json.

Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear

The public federal record on N5461E, 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 Randall Thomas D, a co-owned, certificate issued May 8, 2018, expires May 31, 2028. No fractional interest recorded. [1]

CLEARAirworthiness certificate

Standard certificate for balloon, dated February 5, 2016, consistent with the 2016 manufacture year. [1]

CLEARPrior registrations of this airframe

No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 205 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]

ATTENTIONTail number reuse

N5461E was previously assigned to 1 other aircraft: Helio H-250 (serial 2518, cancelled January 30, 2013). 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 N5461E: Accident on April 12, 1995 at Round Mountain, CA: fatal, destroyed (2 fatal). 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

LAX95FA161Accident on April 12, 1995 at Round Mountain, CA: fatal, destroyed (2 fatal).serial on NTSB record: 2518

Aircraft on the NTSB record: Helio H-250 · operated under 091

the pilot's poor preflight planning/preparation and in-flight decision by continuing VFR flight into instrument meteorological conditions. The pilot's delay in returning to the departure airport, the low clouds, and low visibility were factors in this accident.

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 November 13, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  2. FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of November 13, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  3. FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of November 13, 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, November 13, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data