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Atlas / NTSB / FTW72FRA45

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW72FRA45

1972-04-04 PEARLAND, Texas, United States Minor 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

HUGHES 300C · N9654F

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

EI

Operator type

I

Airport

ALEXANDER DUSTERS

Kind of flying

A0

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Wind

020° / 14 kt

Temp

65° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000610122

Total time

175 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Flight instructor (CFI)

Total hours

1,456

Age

33

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

F DESCENT INCREASED.CRASHED.

Investigator remarks

PLT INCREASED BANK TO COMPENSATE FOR WIND,RATE O

Cause factors

  • 64/A/23 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER OPERATION OF FLIGHT CONTROLS Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 64/A/49 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND MISJUDGED SPEED AND ALTITUDE Cause — pilot/personnel action

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 1017. Source file NTSB_1972_3_1017.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.