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Atlas / NTSB / IAD79FA046

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event IAD79FA046

1979-05-04 SEVIERVILLE, Tennessee, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N123SM

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 421

Year of manufacture

1968 · 11 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR GTSIO-520-C (340 hp)

Seats / Engines

8 seats · 2 engines

Last airworthiness date

19681231

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A06073

Registrant of record

FERNAIR LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

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 421 · N123SM

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

EB

Operator type

E

Airport

SEVIER-GATLINBURG

Kind of flying

CI

Weather at impact

Sky

SCATTERED-ABOVE 1000 FEET

Wind

270° / 5 kt

Aircraft history

Serial number

0000421-0193

Total time

3,641 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

1,995

Age

32

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

G RUNWAY.

Investigator remarks

AIRCRAFT STRUCK OPEN DRAINAGE DITCH AFTER LEAVIN

Cause factors

  • 64/C/48 C
    PILOT IN COMMAND MISJUDGED DISTANCE AND ALTITUDE Cause
  • 80/K/BY K
    AIRPORTS/AIRWAYS/FACILITIES OTHER Joint factor
  • 88/K/94 K
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS OVERLOAD FAILURE Joint factor

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 1047. Source file NTSB_1979_3_1047.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.