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Atlas / NTSB / FTW78FRD15

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW78FRD15

1978-01-11 VENICE, Louisiana, 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

BELL 206B · N8178J

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

C2

Operator type

E

Airport

WD-45CQ

Kind of flying

DD

Weather at impact

Sky

OVERCAST

Wind

045° / 30 kt

Temp

45° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000000558

Total time

9,391 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

5,612

Age

38

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

OT TO REMOVE TIEDOWN ROPE.

Investigator remarks

ACFT DISPATCHER HARRASSMENT OF PILOT. PILOT FORG

Cause factors

  • 64/A/29 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PREPARATION AND/OR PLANNING Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 68/J/K9 J
    PERSONNEL OTHER 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 0116. Source file NTSB_1978_3_0116.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.