Atlas / NTSB / IAD78FLQ34

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event IAD78FLQ34

1978-09-18 LEXINGTON, Kentucky, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N8938F

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

HUGHES 269A-1

Year of manufacture

1964 · 14 years old at event

TCDS

4H12 · SCHWEIZER RSG LLC

Engine

LYCOMING I0360 SER (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19640820

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AC53EF

Registrant of record

SOUTHERN CROSS AVIATION INC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N8938F Hughes 269A None

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 269A · N8938F

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

D1

Operator type

Personal/private

Kind of flying

DD

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Aircraft history

Serial number

0000044-0009

Total time

4,373 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Flight instructor (CFI)

Total hours

6,052

Age

56

Cause factors

64/C/29 C
PILOT IN COMMAND INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PREPARATION AND/OR PLANNING Cause
64/C/32 C
PILOT IN COMMAND MISMANAGEMENT OF FUEL Cause
88/C/63 C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FUEL EXHAUSTION 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 2884. Source file NTSB_1978_3_2884.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.

TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press

Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.

NTSB CAROL Agency ↗

Official agency record + docket.

NTSB Docket Agency ↗

Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.

Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗

Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).

Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗

Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.

Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗

Gold-standard aviation incident blog.