NTSB CAROL · Event
Event FTW81FRA43
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
CESSNA 402B · N3971C
Damage
Substantial
Craft type
Airplane
Classification
Accident
Light condition
Dusk
Weather
VMC
Phase of flight
EE
Operator type
Business
Airport
HOBBY
Kind of flying
B2
Weather at impact
Sky
BROKEN
Wind
135° / 5 kt
Temp
65° F
Aircraft history
Serial number
0000402B0843
Total time
1,037 hrs
Pilot
Certificate
DA (DA)
Total hours
4,407
Age
33
Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)
LWR GEAR BY TURNING HAND CRANK IN WRONG DIRECTION.
Investigator remarks
R STARTER SOLENOID STUCK IN CLOSED PSN.ATMTD TO
Cause factors
- 64/A/10 A PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO EXTEND LANDING GEAR Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 64/A/20 A PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO FOLLOW APPROVED PROCEDURES,DIRECTIVES,ETC. Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 88/A/07 A MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS IMPROPER EMERGENCY PROCEDURES Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 64/J/31 J PILOT IN COMMAND LACK OF FAMILIARITY WITH AIRCRAFT Joint cause
- 74/J/HH J POWERPLANT STARTERS Joint cause
- 75/J/AJ J SYSTEMS RELAYS AND WIRING Joint cause
- 88/J/CQ J MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS STICKING Joint cause
- 88/J/33 J MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS ELECTRICAL FAILURE 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 1394.
Source file
NTSB_1981_3_1394.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.