NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW66A0105
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
BELL TOMCAT · N9168R
Damage
Substantial
Craft type
Balloon
Classification
Accident
Light condition
Dawn
Weather
VMC
Phase of flight
Takeoff — initial climb (C1)
Operator type
Part 135 (air taxi/commuter)
Kind of flying
CA
Weather at impact
Sky
UNKNOWN/NOT REPORTED
Wind
170° / 6 kt
Temp
82° F
Aircraft history
Total time
645 hrs
Pilot
Certificate
Commercial
Total hours
8,681
Age
43
Investigator remarks
TOOK OFF FROM CLEARING IN FOREST.
Cause factors
- 64/A/18 A PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO MAINTAIN ADEQUATE ROTOR R.P.M. Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 82/J/U J WEATHER HIGH TEMPERATURE Joint cause
- 83/J/I J TERRAIN HIGH OBSTRUCTIONS Joint cause
- 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
2 0297.
Source file
NTSB_1966_2_0297.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.