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Registered aircraft · FAA record as of October 30, 2026Aerostar International Inc S53A
N9046A is an Aerostar International Inc S53A, a balloon with no engine, built in 1999. It has 1 seat. It is registered to an individual in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The registration is valid: it was issued on May 1, 2024 and expires on May 31, 2031. It holds a standard airworthiness certificate for balloon, dated January 18, 1999.
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Aircraft
- Maker
- Aerostar International Inc
- Model
- S53A · all S53As and related versions
- Built of
- fabric and wickerA hot-air balloon: a coated nylon envelope, stainless-steel cables, and a wicker or aluminium basket under a propane burner. This is how the Aerostar International Inc S53 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
- S53A-3036
- 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
- 1
- Year built
- 1999
- Transponder code
- AC8133 (octal 53100463)
Registration
- Status
- Valid registrationFAA registration status code V (whether the registration certificate is in force). Every aircraft with this code · All codes
- Certificate issued
- May 1, 2024
- Expires
- May 31, 2031
- Last FAA action
- May 1, 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 · BalloonFAA certificate purpose code B (the kind of airworthiness certificate it flies under and what it is approved for). All codes · January 18, 1999
- FAA region
- Great LakesFAA region code C (the FAA regional office that handles the record). All codes
- FAA record id
- 00723647
Owner as the FAA publishes it
- Name
- Gulson James
- 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
- 6 e Twin Oaks Est
Sioux Falls, SD 57105-7015
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 2
Connections how N9046A links to the rest of the register
- Aerostar International Inc S53 64 registered
- Aerostar International Inc 825 aircraft on the register
- Built of fabric and wicker · as the model family is built; the register does not record it per aircraft
- Sioux Falls, SD 248 aircraft registered in this town
- Joe Foss Field · FSD
- South Dakota 2,273 aircraft registered
- FAA orders naming the Aerostar International Inc S53 1 airworthiness directives
- Approved modifications for the Aerostar International Inc S53 6 supplemental type certificates
The whole map of how records connect · these connections as data: /graph/aircraft/N9046A.json.
Records check free · 2 to understand · 3 clear
The public federal record on N9046A, 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 Gulson James, an individual, certificate issued May 1, 2024, expires May 31, 2031. No fractional interest recorded. [1]
Standard certificate for balloon, dated January 18, 1999, consistent with the 1999 manufacture year. [1]
No earlier tail number is recorded against serial S53A-3036 for this model in the deregistered file. [2]
N9046A was previously assigned to 2 other aircraft: Bell 47G-2 (serial 6658, cancelled April 2, 1993); Cessna 170B (serial 18805, cancelled February 23, 1971). 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 N9046A: Accident on July 25, 1983 at Cumberland, KY: minor injuries, destroyed. 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: Bell 47G-2 · operated under 091
Full record in plain English · Docket and reports at the NTSB
- FAA Releasable Aircraft Database, master file, file of October 30, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA deregistered aircraft file (part of the same download), file of October 30, 2026. registry.faa.gov/
- FAA document index: registry documents received in recent weeks, file of October 30, 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, October 30, 2026. See this record on the FAA site · This record as data