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A Aeronca 7 Champion (Champ), the same model family as N81578
A Aeronca 7 Champion (Champ) like this one, not N81578 itself. Photo: Arpingstone, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Pictures of N81578 itself may be on Planespotters · JetPhotos · Airliners.net. Operator or owner? Send your own picture.
Registered aircraft · FAA record as of November 6, 2026
N81578

Aeronca 7BCM

ValidFAA registration status code V: Valid registration. All codesCalifornia

N81578 is an Aeronca 7BCM, a fixed-wing airplane with one motor with a piston engine, built in 1945. It has 2 seats. It is registered to co-owned owners in Nevada City, California. The registration is valid: it was issued on February 17, 2004 and expires on August 31, 2029. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate, dated May 22, 1958. 1 document is on file: bill of sale (evidence of ownership).

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

Aircraft

Maker
Aeronca
Model
7BCM · all 7BCMs and related versions
Built of
steel tube and fabric
The 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. Wooden wing spars on older Champs; metal spars since the 1990s rebuilds. This is how the Aeronca 7 Champion (Champ) 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
7AC-197
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 A&C75 SERIES · 75 hp
Fuel
100LL avgas
Seats
2
Year built
1945
Cruising speed
90 mph
Transponder code
AB1F5D (octal 52617535)

Registration

Status
Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Certificate issued
February 17, 2004
Expires
August 31, 2029
Last FAA action
August 25, 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 · May 22, 1958
FAA region
Western-PacificFAA region code 4 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
FAA record id
00790112

Owner as the FAA publishes it

Name
Wikstad Herulf L
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
12786 Discovery Way
Nevada City, CA 95959-9044
Co-owners
Wikstad Rosita A

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 1

2026-10-27Bill of sale (evidence of ownership)

Connections how N81578 links to the rest of the register

Design
Engine
Place
  • Nevada City, CA 40 aircraft registered in this town
  • California 27,897 aircraft registered
Airworthiness

The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N81578.json.

Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear

The public federal record on N81578, 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 Wikstad Herulf L, a co-owned, certificate issued February 17, 2004, expires August 31, 2029. No fractional interest recorded. [1]

ATTENTIONAirworthiness certificate date

The airworthiness certificate on file is dated May 22, 1958, 13 years after the 1945 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]

CLEARPrior registrations of this airframe

No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 7AC-197 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]

CLEARTail number reuse

No other airframe has carried N81578 according to the deregistered file. [2]

NOTERecent registry documents

1 document received recently: Bill of sale (evidence of ownership) (October 27, 2026). [3]

ATTENTIONAccident and incident record

1 NTSB record under N81578: Accident on April 20, 1991 at Elma, WA: no injuries, substantial damage. 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

SEA91LA093Accident on April 20, 1991 at Elma, WA: no injuries, substantial damage.

Aircraft on the NTSB record: Aeronca 7BCM · operated under 091

THE PILOT USED INADEQUATE STARTING PROCEDURES. FACTORS TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE PILOT DID NOT USE PROPER ASSISTANCE AND THE PASSENGER'S INADVERTENT CONTROL INTERFERENCE.

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 6, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  2. FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of November 6, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  3. FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of November 6, 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 6, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data