Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / LAX81FVG53

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event LAX81FVG53

1981-07-23 WILLOWS, California, United States Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

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

HILLER ACFT UH-12E · N4027T

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

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000005079

Total time

1,218 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

9,200

Age

39

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

REASE NOT RCMDD,COLL PSBL DIRT/ABRASIVES.ALFALFA.

Investigator remarks

TAIL ROTOR CTL CABLE FAILED AT PULLEY W GREASE.G

Cause factors

  • 68/C/D6 C
    PERSONNEL INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE AND INSPECTION Cause
  • 78/C/C2 C
    ROTORCRAFT TAIL ROTOR PITCH CONTROL SYSTEM Cause
  • 88/C/95 C
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS MATERIAL FAILURE Cause
  • 88/L/BQ L
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS EXCESSIVE-WEAR/PLAY
  • 88/L/BU L
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FRAYED

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 2376. Source file NTSB_1981_3_2376.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.