Piper J3C-65
N56SM is a Piper J3C-65, a fixed-wing airplane with one motor with a piston engine, built in 1942. It has 2 seats. It is registered to an individual in Angola, Indiana. The registration is valid: it was issued on July 11, 2023 and expires on July 31, 2030. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for normal, dated April 15, 2026.
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Flight history: where it flew in the last seven days · follow it on the live map
Aircraft
- Maker
- Piper
- Model
- J3C-65 · all J3C-65s and related versions
- Built of
- steel tube and fabricThe fuselage is a welded steel-tube frame covered in fabric, with metal or wooden wing spars under fabric-covered wings; the fabric is replaced every few decades. This is how the Piper J-3 Cub 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
- 8624
- 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
- Piston (reciprocating)FAA type of engine code 1 (what powers it, as the FAA classes engines). Every aircraft with this code · All codes, 1 motor · Cont Motor C85-12F · 85 hp
- Fuel
- 100LL avgas
- Seats
- 2
- Year built
- 1942
- Cruising speed
- 67 mph
- Transponder code
- A7262D (octal 51623055)
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 11, 2023
- Expires
- July 31, 2030
- Last FAA action
- July 11, 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 · NormalFAA certificate purpose code N (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). All codes · April 15, 2026
- FAA region
- Great LakesFAA region code C (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 01248063
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Swick Stephen 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
- 1445 N 200 e
Angola, IN 46703-7228
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
Connections how N56SM links to the rest of the register
- Piper J-3 Cub 3,804 registered
- Piper 44,842 aircraft on the register
- Built of steel tube and fabric · as the model family is built; the register does not record it per aircraft
- Continental C85-12F 90 aircraft with this engine series · 85 hp
- Angola, IN 28 aircraft registered in this town
- Tri-State Steuben County · ANQ
- Crooked Lake Seaplane Base · I58
- Lake James Seaplane Base · 01E
- Lake Pleasant Seaplane Base · C67
- Indiana 5,704 aircraft registered
- FAA orders naming the Piper J-3 Cub 19 airworthiness directives
- Failure reports filed on the Piper J-3 Cub 46 reports since 1995
- Approved modifications for the Piper J-3 Cub 241 supplemental type certificates
- FAA orders naming the Continental C85-12F 7 airworthiness directives
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N56SM.json.
Records check free · 3 to understand · 2 clear
The public federal record on N56SM, 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 Swick Stephen M, an individual, certificate issued July 11, 2023, expires July 31, 2030. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
The airworthiness certificate on file is dated April 15, 2026, 84 years after the 1942 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 8624 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N56SM was previously assigned to 1 other aircraft: Smith James L MINI-COUPE (serial 113, cancelled February 15, 2018). 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 N56SM: Accident on April 2, 2003 at Estes Park, CO: 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: Hughes 369D · operated under 091
the failure of the pilot-in-command to maintain clearance from terrain. Factors include the high density altitude and the pilot-in-command's improper in-flight planning.
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