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FTW85FA079

1984-12-18 · LAREDO, Texas, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport LRD

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE ACFT WAS OBSERVED TO ENTER A DOWNWIND LEG OF THE TRAFFIC PATTERN AT A LOW ALT (ESTIMATED 100 FT AGL). THE WITNESS LOOKED AWAY FOR A MOMENT. WHEN HE LOOKED BACK, HE DID NOT SEE THE ACFT. A SEARCH WAS INTIATED & THE ACFT WAS FOUND WHERE IT HAD CRASHED IN A STEEP NOSE DOWN ATTITUDE. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS FOUND. TOXICOLOGICAL CHECKS OF THE PLT'S BLOOD AND URINE BY CAMI SHOWED ALCOHOL LEVELS OF 0.406% AND 0.075% RESPECTIVELY. A TOXICOLOGICAL TEST PERFORMED BY MERCY HOSPITAL, LAREDO, TX, SHOWED A BAC LEVEL OF 0.112%. VARIANCE BETWEEN ALCOHOL LEVELS IN THE BLOOD AND URINE SIMILIAR TO THIS CASE CAN ALSO RESULT WHEN THE INDIVIDUAL IS IN AN ABSORPTIVE STATE. THE PLT HAD NOT LOGGED ANY NIGHT TIME IN THE PREVIOUS 90 DAYS. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1984_FTW85FA079.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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