Atlas / NTSB / FTW72AF031

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW72AF031

1971-12-05 NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, United States Fatal 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N78D

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BEECH 65-A90-1

Year of manufacture

1967 · 4 years old at event

Engine

P&W PT6A SER (750 hp)

Seats / Engines

9 seats · 2 engines

Last airworthiness date

20050721

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AA8E78

Registrant of record

DYNAMIC AVLEASE INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N78D AERO COMDR 680T Fatal

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

AERO COMDR 680T · N78D

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dusk

Weather

Marginal VMC

Phase of flight

ED

Operator type

D

Airport

LAKEFRONT

Kind of flying

B2

Weather at impact

Sky

OVERCAST

Wind

120° / 22 kt

Temp

59° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000001580-33

Total time

2,333 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

5,812

Age

50

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

N LAKE ON 2ND ATTEMPT. BODY OF 1 PAX NOT RECOVERED

Investigator remarks

DESCENDED BELOW MDA ON LOCALIZER APCH. CRASHED I

Cause factors

64/A/26 A
PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER IFR OPERATION Cause — pilot/personnel action
82/J/A J
WEATHER LOW CEILING Joint cause
88/J/62 J
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS PILOT FATIGUE Joint cause
88/J/88 J
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS AIRCRAFT CAME TO REST IN WATER 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 3206. Source file NTSB_1971_3_3206.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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