Atlas / NTSB / LAX81FA015

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX81FA015

1980-11-17 SANTA ROSA, California, United States Fatal 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

N2553P Piper PA-38 Fatal

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-38 · N2553P

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Night

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

Takeoff — initial climb (C1)

Operator type

Personal/private

Airport

SONOMA COUNTY

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Wind

150° / 6 kt

Temp

50° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

0038-79A1036

Total time

78 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Flight instructor (CFI)

Total hours

254

Age

25

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

OF VALVE.1ST TKOF ABORTED DUE PWR LOSS.

Investigator remarks

PUSHROD,NR4 INTAKE VALVE,FLARED.THERMAL FATIGUE

Cause factors

68/C/J2 C
PERSONNEL POOR/INADEQUATE DESIGN Cause
74/C/AF C
POWERPLANT VALVE ASSEMBLIES Cause
88/C/CT C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS EXCESSIVE TEMPERATURE Cause
88/C/36 C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FATIGUE FRACTURE Cause
88/C/95 C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS MATERIAL FAILURE Cause
64/B/01 B
PILOT IN COMMAND ATTEMPTED OPERATION W/KNOWN DEFICIENCIES IN EQUIPMENT
64/B/16 B
PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO OBTAIN/MAINTAIN FLYING SPEED

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 3738. Source file NTSB_1980_3_3738.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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