Atlas / NTSB / FTW81FRA52

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW81FRA52

1981-08-13 HOUSTON, Texas, United States Minor 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

N9450F Hughes 269B Minor

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 269B · N9450F

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

C2

Operator type

D

Airport

HOUSTON INTCNTL

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Wind

140° / 6 kt

Temp

83° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

0000016-0227

Total time

1,631 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Flight instructor (CFI)

Total hours

245

Age

24

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

SVR VIB.R REAR DAMPER FLAT,L FNT DAMPER SLGTLY HI.

Investigator remarks

AS PWR INCREASED TO 2800RPM FOR LIFT-OFF,ENCTRD

Cause factors

68/A/D6 A
PERSONNEL INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE AND INSPECTION Cause — pilot/personnel action
70/A/CA A
AIRFRAME MAIN GEAR-SHOCK ABSORBING ASSY,STRUTS,ATTACHMENTS,ETC. Cause — pilot/personnel action
88/A/47 A
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS IMPROPER ALIGNMENT/ADJUSTMENT Cause — pilot/personnel action
88/A/AX A
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS GROUND RESONANCE Cause — pilot/personnel action

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 2566. Source file NTSB_1981_3_2566.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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