No free picture of N8709R 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, 2026Schempp-Hirth SHK1
N8709R is a Schempp-Hirth SHK1, a glider with no engine, built in 1965. It has 1 seat. It is registered to an individual in Tehachapi, California. The registration is valid: it was issued on November 6, 2018 and expires on November 30, 2028. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for normal, dated March 11, 1966.
Schempp-Hirth: Ventus and Discus with electric self-launch
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
- Schempp-Hirth (Germany)
- Model
- SHK1 · all SHK1s and related versions
- Built of
- steel tube, wood and fabricA welded steel-tube fuselage and wooden wings, all covered in fabric: the construction of the 1930s and 1940s, which makes wood rot and fabric age the inspection items. A glider of wood and fabric, with a steel-tube fuselage frame on some versions. This is how the Schempp-Hirth SHK1 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
- 05
- Type
- GliderFAA type of aircraft code 1 (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
- 1965
- Cruising speed
- 60 mph
- Transponder code
- ABF9F9 (octal 52774771)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Certificate issued
- November 6, 2018
- Expires
- November 30, 2028
- Last FAA action
- November 18, 2024
- 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 · March 11, 1966
- FAA region
- Western-PacificFAA region code 4 (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 00412261
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Knerr Joshua D
- 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
- 16334 Harris Rd Apt 29
Tehachapi, CA 93561-6458
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.
Connections how N8709R links to the rest of the register
- Schempp-Hirth SHK1 6 registered
- Schempp-Hirth 516 aircraft on the register
- Built of steel tube, wood and fabric · as the model family is built; the register does not record it per aircraft
- Tehachapi, CA 161 aircraft registered in this town
- Mountain Valley Airport · L94
- Tehachapi Municipal · TSP
- California 28,286 aircraft registered
- Approved modifications for the Schempp-Hirth SHK1 4 supplemental type certificates
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N8709R.json.
Records check free · 0 to understand · 5 clear
The public federal record on N8709R, 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 Knerr Joshua D, an individual, certificate issued November 6, 2018, expires November 30, 2028. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Standard certificate for normal, dated March 11, 1966, consistent with the 1965 manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial 05 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
No other airframe has carried N8709R according to the deregistered file. [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]
No NTSB investigation records located under N8709R. CLEAR means the query ran and returned nothing, not that nothing ever happened. [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.
- FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file, file of November 13, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of November 13, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of November 13, 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 13, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data