NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW66A0005
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
HUGHES 269A · N8710F
Damage
Destroyed
Craft type
Balloon
Classification
Accident
Light condition
Dawn
Weather
VMC
Phase of flight
D1
Operator type
D
Kind of flying
B0
Weather at impact
Sky
CLEAR
Temp
104° F
Aircraft history
Total time
1,090 hrs
Pilot
Certificate
Airline transport
Total hours
30
Age
33
Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)
D AIRCRAFT FELL WITH ROTOR BLADES POINTED VERTICAL
Investigator remarks
PILOT FAILED TO INITIATE AUTOROTATIVE LANDING AN
Cause factors
- 64/A/29 A PILOT IN COMMAND INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PREPARATION AND/OR PLANNING Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 64/A/32 A PILOT IN COMMAND MISMANAGEMENT OF FUEL Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 88/A/19 A MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS INATTENTIVE TO FUEL SUPPLY Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 88/A/63 A MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FUEL EXHAUSTION Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 88/B/07 B MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS IMPROPER EMERGENCY PROCEDURES
- 64/K/23 K PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER OPERATION OF FLIGHT CONTROLS Joint factor
- 64/K/44 K PILOT IN COMMAND SPONTANEOUS-IMPROPER ACTION 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
2 0525.
Source file
NTSB_1965_2_0525.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.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.