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Atlas / NTSB / LAX80FVM17

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX80FVM17

1980-03-09 SALINAS, California, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N78900

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

BELL 47D1

Year of manufacture

1952 · 28 years old at event

TCDS

H-1 · SCOTT'S-BELL 47 INC

Engine

FRANKLIN 6V4 SERIES (210 hp)

Seats / Engines

3 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19611007

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AAB466

Registrant of record

MASTER DESIGNS 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

BELL 47D1 · N78900

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

DK

Operator type

Part 135 (air taxi/commuter)

Kind of flying

CA

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Temp

50° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000000480

Total time

6,438 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Flight instructor (CFI)

Total hours

12,483

Age

32

Cause factors

  • 64/A/23 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER OPERATION OF FLIGHT CONTROLS Cause — pilot/personnel action

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 1466. Source file NTSB_1980_3_1466.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.