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Atlas / NTSB / DEN80FA051

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event DEN80FA051

1980-07-28 DELL, Montana, United States Fatal 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

AEROSPATLE 315B · N67103

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

C2

Operator type

E

Kind of flying

CJ

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Temp

80° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000002421

Total time

4,821 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

8,039

Age

43

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

CAL SHAFT OF THE BEVEL GEAR ASSEMBLY.

Investigator remarks

FAILURE OF THE SPLINES ON THE BEVEL GEAR & VERTI

Cause factors

  • 68/A/D0 A
    PERSONNEL IMPROPER MAINTENANCE (MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL) Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 78/A/BG A
    ROTORCRAFT TAIL ROTOR DRIVE SHAFT ASSEMBLY Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/29 A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS IMPROPERLY SECURED Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/AU A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS UNDER TORQUED Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/AV A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS LOOSE,PART/FITTING Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/J/24 J
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS JETTISONED LOAD Joint cause

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 3616. Source file NTSB_1980_3_3616.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.