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Atlas / NTSB / CHI79FEC28

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CHI79FEC28

1979-06-03 NAPOLEON, Michigan, United States Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N26769

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER J3L

Year of manufacture

1940 · 39 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING 0-145B SERIES (65 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19770808

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A29C4A

Registrant of record

CASCADE AERIAL SERVICES LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

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

PIPER J3L · N26769

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

Takeoff — initial climb (C1)

Operator type

D

Airport

MAULE

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

SCATTERED-ABOVE 1000 FEET

Wind

213° / 13 kt

Temp

84° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

Z

Total time

2,000 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

2,000

Age

45

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

25 FT ABOVE GROUND LEVEL.

Investigator remarks

FUEL SHUTOFF VALVE PN 70781. PILOT ATTEMPTED 180

Cause factors

  • 74/C/CC C
    POWERPLANT SELECTOR VALVES Cause
  • 88/C/BA C
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS BINDING Cause
  • 88/C/99 C
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FUEL SELECTOR POSITIONED BETWEEN TANKS Cause
  • 64/B/16 B
    PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO OBTAIN/MAINTAIN FLYING SPEED
  • 64/B/20 B
    PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO FOLLOW APPROVED PROCEDURES,DIRECTIVES,ETC.
  • 88/B/07 B
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS IMPROPER EMERGENCY PROCEDURES

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 1749. Source file NTSB_1979_3_1749.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.