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Atlas / NTSB / FTW72FPA11

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW72FPA11

1971-12-26 VALLEY MILLS, Texas, 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

SCHWEIZER TG-3A · N59432

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

C

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

Cruise — level (EA)

Operator type

Z

Airport

VALLEY MILLS

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

UNKNOWN/NOT REPORTED

Wind

180° / 11 kt

Temp

70° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000042-52929

Total time

163 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial — instrument

Total hours

150

Age

19

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

TIGHT 360 DEG PATTERN. PLT HAD 20 MIN IN TYPE ACFT

Investigator remarks

PREMATURE RELEASE FROM AUTO TOW. STALLED DURING

Cause factors

  • 64/A/16 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO OBTAIN/MAINTAIN FLYING SPEED Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 64/J/31 J
    PILOT IN COMMAND LACK OF FAMILIARITY WITH AIRCRAFT Joint cause
  • 64/J/20 J
    PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO FOLLOW APPROVED PROCEDURES,DIRECTIVES,ETC. 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 3733. Source file NTSB_1971_3_3733.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.