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Atlas / NTSB / DEN73FQA15

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event DEN73FQA15

1972-08-22 GALLUP, New Mexico, 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

PIPER PA-17 · N4657H

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

Takeoff — initial climb (C1)

Operator type

D

Airport

CLARKE

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

SCATTERED-ABOVE 1000 FEET

Temp

78° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000017-65

Total time

3,168 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

235

Age

20

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

. PLT TRIED TO RET TO FLD. DENSITY ALT 8900 FT.

Investigator remarks

MAGS CONTAMINATED WITH GREASE,P LEAD STUDS LOOSE

Cause factors

  • 74/C/BA C
    POWERPLANT MAGNETOS Cause
  • 88/C/29 C
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS IMPROPERLY SECURED Cause
  • 84/C/G C
    MISCELLANEOUS FOREIGN MATERIAL AFFECTING NORMAL OPERATIONS Cause
  • 68/C/D6 C
    PERSONNEL INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE AND INSPECTION Cause
  • 64/C/29 C
    PILOT IN COMMAND INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PREPARATION AND/OR PLANNING Cause
  • 64/B/16 B
    PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO OBTAIN/MAINTAIN FLYING SPEED
  • 88/B/07 B
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS IMPROPER EMERGENCY PROCEDURES
  • 82/K/W K
    WEATHER HIGH DENSITY ALTITUDE 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 1433. Source file NTSB_1972_3_1433.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.