Atlas / NTSB / LAX81FVD36

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX81FVD36

1981-08-01 SANTA ROSA, California, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

N9578K Piper PA-28 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

PIPER PA-28 · N9578K

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

D1

Operator type

D

Airport

SONOMA COUNTY

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Aircraft history

Serial number

028R-7635248

Total time

2,077 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial — instrument

Total hours

142

Age

42

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

.LNDD IN GRAPE VINEYARD.

Investigator remarks

7 OUT OF 8 CYL HOLD DWN STUDS ON NO 3 CYL FAILED

Cause factors

74/C/AD C
POWERPLANT CYLINDER ASSEMBLY Cause
88/C/95 C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS MATERIAL FAILURE Cause
83/K/D K
TERRAIN HIGH VEGETATION Joint factor

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 2380. Source file NTSB_1981_3_2380.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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