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Atlas / NTSB / FTW80DRG64

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW80DRG64

1980-08-13 MATHIS, 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

BELL 47G4A · N4779R

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

D4

Operator type

D

Kind of flying

DY

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Wind

180° / 5 kt

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000007665

Total time

5,742 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

879

Age

21

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

232-9,FAILED.HOVERING OVR WTR FOR PAX PICK-UP.

Investigator remarks

HERDING CATTLE.TAIL ROTOR DRIVE SHAFT,PN 47-644-

Cause factors

  • 78/A/BG A
    ROTORCRAFT TAIL ROTOR DRIVE SHAFT ASSEMBLY Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/95 A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS MATERIAL FAILURE Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 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 2301. Source file NTSB_1980_3_2301.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.