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Atlas / NTSB / DEN77FA019

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event DEN77FA019

1976-12-13 COWDREY, Colorado, 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

SIKORSKY S-64E · N6965R

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

D9

Operator type

Y

Kind of flying

CK

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000064060

Total time

5,396 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

4,584

Age

35

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

RVO REVERSED HYD LEAK DEVELOPED IN FLIGHT

Investigator remarks

PRESSURE AND RETURN HYD LINES TO LEFT LATERAL SE

Cause factors

  • 64/A/29 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PREPARATION AND/OR PLANNING Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 68/A/D6 A
    PERSONNEL INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE AND INSPECTION Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 75/A/CL A
    SYSTEMS FLIGHT CONTROL BOOST SYSTEMS, HYDRAULIC Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/CB A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS IMPROPERLY INSTALLED Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 75/A/BD A
    SYSTEMS RESERVOIR,LINES,FITTINGS Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/AJ A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS LEAK/LEAKAGE Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/AV A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS LOOSE,PART/FITTING Cause — pilot/personnel action

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 4084. Source file NTSB_1976_3_4084.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.