NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW81FRA30
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
HUGHES 269C · N7413F
Damage
Destroyed
Craft type
Balloon
Classification
Accident
Light condition
E
Weather
VMC
Phase of flight
DC
Operator type
D
Kind of flying
B0
Weather at impact
Sky
CLEAR
Wind
180° / 5 kt
Temp
80° F
Aircraft history
Serial number
000000660512
Total time
1,450 hrs
Pilot
Certificate
Commercial — instrument
Total hours
4,200
Age
40
Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)
ENG LOST PWR AT NGT,SKID HIT WTR BFR FLARING.
Investigator remarks
OBSD AT LOW ALT,NOSED OVR IN CHANNEL.PLT STATED
Cause factors
- 74/C/KA C POWERPLANT POWERPLANT FAILURE FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS Cause
- 88/K/14 K MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS UNWARRANTED LOW FLYING Joint factor
- 88/K/88 K MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS AIRCRAFT CAME TO REST IN WATER Joint factor
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 1987.
Source file
NTSB_1981_3_1987.txt.
Modern CAROL record on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Beyond the agency record
Search this event elsewhere.
Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.