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Atlas / NTSB / ATL80FA073

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ATL80FA073

1980-07-12 WASHINGTON, District of Columbia, United States Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Historical record (pre-1982)

NTSB recorded this accident in the pre-1982 coded-field schema — structured fields rather than free-text narrative. Decoded codes use established NTSB single-letter taxonomies; cause factors remain verbatim pending the Form 6120.4 codebook lookup.

Aircraft

HUGHES 269B · N9482F

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

D1

Operator type

Personal/private

Kind of flying

CY

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Aircraft history

Serial number

000001160288

Total time

1,378 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

4,933

Age

38

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

TRIP FOR WINNERS OF CONTEST.

Investigator remarks

#5 HOLD DOWN STUD ON #3 CYL FAILED.SIGHT-SEEING

Cause factors

  • 68/C/D0 C
    PERSONNEL IMPROPER MAINTENANCE (MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL) Cause
  • 74/C/AD C
    POWERPLANT CYLINDER ASSEMBLY Cause
  • 88/C/55 C
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS CORRODED/CORROSION Cause
  • 88/C/36 C
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FATIGUE FRACTURE Cause
  • 64/K/33 K
    PILOT IN COMMAND EXERCISED POOR JUDGMENT Joint factor
  • 88/K/14 K
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS UNWARRANTED LOW FLYING Joint factor

Decoded against the NTSB Form 6120.4 cause-factor codebook (ct_Pre1982 table). Each row shows the raw triplet, modifier (Cause / Factor / etc.), category, and specific code.

Source: NTSB pre-1982 historical archive. Docket 3 2181. Source file NTSB_1980_3_2181.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.