The U.S. aircraft register, updated daily

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Registered aircraft · FAA record as of November 9, 2026
N72718

National Ballooning Ltd 755-12

Renewal notice sentFAA registration status code 25: First notice for registration renewal. All codesNew Mexico

N72718 is a National Ballooning Ltd 755-12, a balloon with no engine, built in 1989. It has 4 seats. It is registered to an individual in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The FAA lists the registration as "first notice for registration renewal" (certificate issued May 30, 2001). It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated May 31, 1989.

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

Aircraft

Maker
National Ballooning Ltd
Model
755-12 · all 755-12s 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 National Ballooning Ltd 755 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
55121
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
4
Year built
1989
Transponder code
A9C029 (octal 52340051)

Registration

Status
First notice for registration renewalFAA registration status code 25 (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Certificate issued
May 30, 2001
Expires
April 30, 2027
Last FAA action
January 22, 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 · May 31, 1989
FAA region
SouthwesternFAA region code 2 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
FAA record id
00644671

Owner as the FAA publishes it

Name
Mcfadden Joseph 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
705 Hydra Rd SE
Rio Rancho, NM 87124-2813

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

1951-05-02Cessna 140 · Valid registration

Connections how N72718 links to the rest of the register

Design
Place
  • Rio Rancho, NM 119 aircraft registered in this town
  • New Mexico 3,113 aircraft registered
Airworthiness

The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N72718.json.

Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear

The public federal record on N72718, 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.

ATTENTIONRegistration and identity

Registration status is "First notice for registration renewal". An aircraft cannot be operated on an invalid or expired registration; resolve this with the FAA before any transaction. [1]

CLEARAirworthiness certificate

Standard certificate for balloon, dated May 31, 1989, consistent with the 1989 manufacture year. [1]

CLEARPrior registrations of this airframe

No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 55121 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]

ATTENTIONTail number reuse

N72718 was previously assigned to 1 other aircraft: Cessna 140 (serial 9897, cancelled May 2, 1951). 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]

CLEARAccident and incident record

No NTSB investigation records located under N72718. CLEAR means the query ran and returned nothing, not that nothing ever happened. [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.

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 9, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  2. FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of November 9, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  3. FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of November 9, 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 9, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data