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Atlas / NTSB / FTW72IF046

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW72IF046

1972-01-21 EL PASO, Texas, United States None 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

BOEING 720B · N57206

Damage

None

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

C

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

D1

Weather at impact

Sky

UNKNOWN/NOT REPORTED

Aircraft history

Serial number

Z

Pilot

Certificate

DA (DA)

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

COUPLER PLUG,CAUSED SHORT.ACFT ENTERED DUTCH ROLL.

Investigator remarks

SPILLED COFFEE IN COCKPIT DRIPPED ON YAW DAMPER

Cause factors

  • 75/A/CK A
    SYSTEMS FLIGHT CONTROL BOOST SYSTEM, ELECTRICAL Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/BX A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS GROUNDED Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/89 A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FROZEN, MOISTURE Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/77 A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS INTERFERENCE WITH FLIGHT CONTROLS 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 4 0024. Source file NTSB_1972_4_0024.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.