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Atlas / NTSB / IAD77FIG35

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event IAD77FIG35

1977-09-15 GAITHERSBURG, Maryland, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

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 269B · N9568F

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

EI

Operator type

Personal/private

Airport

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Kind of flying

A3

Weather at impact

Sky

BROKEN

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000310460

Total time

1,161 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

GA (GA)

Total hours

3,003

Age

30

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

OVER,M/R HIT GND.

Investigator remarks

STANDARD SKIDS,BOTH WORN EXCESSIVELY.HELO NOSED

Cause factors

  • 64/C/29 C
    PILOT IN COMMAND INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PREPARATION AND/OR PLANNING Cause
  • 68/C/D6 C
    PERSONNEL INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE AND INSPECTION Cause
  • 68/C/E5 C
    PERSONNEL DEFICIENCY,COMPANY MAINTAINED EQPMT,SERVICES,REGULATION Cause
  • 70/C/CI C
    AIRFRAME SKID ASSEMBLY Cause
  • 88/C/95 C
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS MATERIAL FAILURE 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 2157. Source file NTSB_1977_3_2157.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.