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A Lockheed Martin F-16, the same model family as N852TA
A Lockheed Martin F-16 like this one, not N852TA itself. Photo: Master Sgt. Andy Dunaway, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Pictures of N852TA itself may be on Planespotters · JetPhotos · Airliners.net. Operator or owner? Send your own picture.
Registered aircraft · FAA record as of October 23, 2026
N852TA

Lockheed Martin F-16B

ValidFAA registration status code V: Valid registration. All codesArizona

N852TA is a Lockheed Martin F-16B, a fixed-wing airplane with one motor with turbofan engines, built in 1978. It has 2 seats. It is registered to Top Aces CORP, a non-citizen corporation in Mesa, Arizona. The registration is valid: it was issued on July 24, 2024 and expires on July 31, 2031. It holds an experimental airworthiness certificate for crew training, dated May 22, 2026. 3 documents are on file: bill of sale (evidence of ownership), loan or lien (security agreement), loan release.

Where is it now Last seen October 16 at 3:53 pm.

Last seen October 16 at 3:53 pm. Checking whether it is in the air right now…

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
Lockheed Martin
Model
F-16B · all F-16Bs and related versions
Built of
aluminium
The airframe is aluminium: sheet metal over a riveted frame, the way most aircraft have been built since the 1940s. This is how the Lockheed Martin F-16 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
78-0360
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
TurbofanFAA type of engine code 5 (what powers it, as the FAA classes engines). Every aircraft with this code · All codes, 1 motor · P & W F100-PW200 · 23,770 lb thrust
Seats
2
Year built
1978
Transponder code
ABB070 (octal 52730160)

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 24, 2024
Expires
July 31, 2031
Last FAA action
July 24, 2024
Airworthiness
ExperimentalFAA airworthiness class code 4 (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). Every aircraft with this code · All codes · Crew trainingFAA certificate purpose code 5 (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). All codes · May 22, 2026
FAA region
Western-PacificFAA region code 4 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
FAA record id
01460601

Owner as the FAA publishes it

Name
Top Aces CORP
Type
Non-citizen corporationFAA type of owner code 8 (who holds the registration: a person, a company, a trust or a government body). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
Address
7852 e Velocity Way
Mesa, AZ 85212

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 3

2026-10-13Bill of sale (evidence of ownership)
2026-10-13Loan or lien (security agreement)
2026-10-13Loan release

Earlier use of this number 2

2012-03-27Aviat Aircraft Inc A-1B · exported to Botswana · Valid registration
1980-05-14Fairchild FH-227 · exported to United Kingdom · Valid registration

Connections how N852TA links to the rest of the register

Design
Engine
Owner
Place
  • Mesa, AZ 713 aircraft registered in this town
  • Falcon Field · FFZ
  • Arizona 8,410 aircraft registered
Live

The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N852TA.json.

Records check free · 3 to understand · 3 clear

The public federal record on N852TA, 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 Top Aces CORP, a non-citizen corporation, certificate issued July 24, 2024, expires July 31, 2031. No fractional interest recorded. [1]

ATTENTIONAirworthiness certificate date

The airworthiness certificate on file is dated May 22, 2026, 48 years after the 1978 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 78-0360 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]

ATTENTIONTail number reuse

N852TA was previously assigned to 2 other aircraft: Aviat Aircraft Inc A-1B (serial 2388, cancelled March 27, 2012); Fairchild FH-227 (serial 532, cancelled May 14, 1980). Histories keyed to the tail number alone can mix aircraft up; this check keys on the serial number. [2]

ATTENTIONRecent registry documents

1 loan or lien document received by the registry recently (October 13, 2026), and 1 release. The full title and lien picture is in the FAA aircraft records file. [3]

CLEARAccident and incident record

No NTSB investigation records located under N852TA. 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 October 23, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  2. FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of October 23, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  3. FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of October 23, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
  4. NTSB aviation accident database (CAROL), records through September 30, 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 23, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data