NTSB CAROL · Event
Event LAX80FA020
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
PIPER PA-24 · N5664P
Damage
Destroyed
Craft type
Airplane
Classification
Accident
Light condition
Dawn
Weather
IMC
Phase of flight
D0
Operator type
D
Kind of flying
B0
Weather at impact
Sky
OVERCAST
Aircraft history
Serial number
00000024-736
Total time
3,072 hrs
Pilot
Certificate
Commercial
Total hours
595
Age
35
Investigator remarks
RECOVERY DATE 11-26-79.MTN TOPS OBSCD IN CLDS.
Cause factors
- 64/A/04 A PILOT IN COMMAND CONTINUED VFR FLIGHT INTO ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 82/J/A J WEATHER LOW CEILING Joint 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 3509.
Source file
NTSB_1979_3_3509.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.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.