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Atlas / NTSB / LAX73DUJ55

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX73DUJ55

1973-02-18 MARICOPA, Arizona, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N7770S

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

SCHWEIZER SGS 2-32

Year of manufacture

1968 · 5 years old at event

Engine

NONE NONE

Seats / Engines

3 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19690409

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AA8571

Registrant of record

AUTOMOTIVE & MARINE SPEACIALISTS INC

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

SCHWEIZER SGS232 · N7770S

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

C

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

Takeoff — initial climb (C1)

Operator type

Part 121 (air carrier)

Airport

ESTRELLA SAILPORT

Kind of flying

A0

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000000066

Total time

2,208 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Flight instructor (CFI)

Total hours

6,221

Age

33

Investigator remarks

TOW ROPE BROKE. HAD TO AVOID TELEPHONE POLES.

Cause factors

  • 76/C/CE C
    INSTRUMENTS/EQUIPMENT AND ACCESSORIES GLIDER LAUNCH/TOW EQUIPMENT Cause
  • 88/C/95 C
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS MATERIAL FAILURE Cause
  • 83/B/I B
    TERRAIN HIGH OBSTRUCTIONS
  • 84/B/7 B
    MISCELLANEOUS EVASIVE MANEUVER TO AVOID COLLISION

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 0353. Source file NTSB_1973_3_0353.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.