Atlas / NTSB / LAX81DVA27

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX81DVA27

1981-03-09 MADERA, California, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

N8681F Hughes 369D 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 369D · N8681F

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

D4

Operator type

Public use

Kind of flying

CK

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Temp

65° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

00000970199D

Total time

1,987 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Flight instructor (CFI)

Total hours

6,910

Age

42

Investigator remarks

COUPLING,HUGHES P/N 369H92564 & S/N 592U,FAILED.

Cause factors

78/C/BG C
ROTORCRAFT TAIL ROTOR DRIVE SHAFT ASSEMBLY Cause
88/C/BM C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS DISCONNECTED 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 0397. Source file NTSB_1981_3_0397.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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