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Atlas / NTSB / FTW81FA050

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW81FA050

1981-03-20 EL PASO, Texas, United States Fatal 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N3945M

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

ZIPLINE INTERNATIONAL INC P2 ZIP

0

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A494B8

Registrant of record

ZIPLINE INTERNATIONAL INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

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-28 · N3945M

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dusk

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

EB

Operator type

D

Airport

EL PASO INTL

Kind of flying

B1

Weather at impact

Sky

SCATTERED-ABOVE 1000 FEET

Wind

290° / 27 kt

Temp

56° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

0028-7890343

Total time

1,943 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial — instrument

Total hours

197

Age

31

Investigator remarks

WIND GUSTING 31KTS.

Cause factors

  • 64/A/28 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER COMPENSATION FOR WIND CONDITIONS Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 64/A/16 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO OBTAIN/MAINTAIN FLYING SPEED Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 82/J/J J
    WEATHER SUDDEN WINDSHIFT Joint cause
  • 88/1/AW 1
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FEMALE PILOT Subordinate · 1

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 0616. Source file NTSB_1981_3_0616.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.