Atlas / NTSB / CHI80FA032

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CHI80FA032

1980-03-28 BELLEFONTAINE, Ohio, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N39897

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BELLANCA 17-30A

Engine

CONT MOTOR IO 520 SERIES (285 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19730412

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A4A434

Registrant of record

PINGSTON ROBERT D

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N39897 Bellanca 17-30A None

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

BELLANCA 17-30A · N39897

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dusk

Weather

IMC

Phase of flight

D1

Operator type

D

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

OVERCAST

Temp

46° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000007330556

Total time

1,383 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Age

43

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

D APRX 2IN.

Investigator remarks

NUMEROUS CRACKS FOUND IN ALT DRIVE BELT,DEFLECTE

Cause factors

64/C/01 C
PILOT IN COMMAND ATTEMPTED OPERATION W/KNOWN DEFICIENCIES IN EQUIPMENT Cause
75/C/AC C
SYSTEMS GENERATORS/ALTERNATORS Cause
88/C/BQ C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS EXCESSIVE-WEAR/PLAY Cause
88/C/33 C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS ELECTRICAL FAILURE Cause
64/C/32 C
PILOT IN COMMAND MISMANAGEMENT OF FUEL Cause
88/C/63 C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FUEL EXHAUSTION Cause
82/K/A K
WEATHER LOW CEILING Joint factor
82/K/C K
WEATHER FOG 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 1147. Source file NTSB_1980_3_1147.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Beyond the agency record

Search this event elsewhere.

Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.

TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press

Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.

NTSB CAROL Agency ↗

Official agency record + docket.

NTSB Docket Agency ↗

Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.

Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗

Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).

Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗

Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.

Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗

Gold-standard aviation incident blog.