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Atlas / NTSB / FTW74FQG18

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW74FQG18

1973-10-18 POST, Texas, United States Fatal 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

PIPER PA-25 · N4990Y

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

DJ

Operator type

Part 135 (air taxi/commuter)

Kind of flying

CA

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Aircraft history

Serial number

0000025-4800

Total time

1,500 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Flight instructor (CFI)

Total hours

7,500

Age

34

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

HOLE.EVIDENCE OF OVRHEAT OF SPAR TO STRAIGHTEN.

Investigator remarks

FATIGUE CRACK INITIATD AT IMPROPRLY DRILLD RIVT

Cause factors

  • 68/A/D6 A
    PERSONNEL INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE AND INSPECTION Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 70/A/AA A
    AIRFRAME SPARS Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/36 A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FATIGUE FRACTURE Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/J/AD J
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS UNAPPROVED MODIFICATION Joint cause
  • 88/J/49 J
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS SEPARATION IN FLIGHT 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 4148. Source file NTSB_1973_3_4148.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.