Atlas / NTSB / MKC71FCJ68

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event MKC71FCJ68

1971-06-07 SIDNEY, Nebraska, United States Serious 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N5201L

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

MOONEY M20J

Year of manufacture

1978

Engine

LYCOMING I0360 SER (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19780522

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A68B74

Registrant of record

MELCHIORRE JOSEPH G JR

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N5201L Piper PA-28 Serious

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 · N5201L

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

D1

Operator type

D

Airport

SIDNEY MUN

Kind of flying

B2

Weather at impact

Sky

SCATTERED-ABOVE 1000 FEET

Wind

340° / 7 kt

Aircraft history

Serial number

0000028-4491

Total time

540 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial — instrument

Total hours

1,000

Age

58

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

FILT GASKET P/N CFO-203 NOT SEATED UNDER FILT CASE

Investigator remarks

ENG SEIZED.DRG APCH PLT PULLED UP OVR WIRES.OIL

Cause factors

68/C/D0 C
PERSONNEL IMPROPER MAINTENANCE (MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL) Cause
74/C/DD C
POWERPLANT FILTERS,SCREEN Cause
74/C/DI C
POWERPLANT SEALS AND GASKETS Cause
88/C/CB C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS IMPROPERLY INSTALLED Cause
88/C/81 C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS OIL EXHAUSTION-ENGINE LUBRICATION SYSTEM Cause
64/B/16 B
PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO OBTAIN/MAINTAIN FLYING SPEED
84/B/7 B
MISCELLANEOUS EVASIVE MANEUVER TO AVOID COLLISION
83/B/I B
TERRAIN HIGH OBSTRUCTIONS

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 0195. Source file NTSB_1971_3_0195.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Beyond the agency record

Search this event elsewhere.

Pre-filled searches into the sources where news + community discussion of aviation events lives. External sources are reported, not agency. Treat them as signal that something happened, not as fact about what happened.

TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press

Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.

NTSB CAROL Agency ↗

Official agency record + docket.

NTSB Docket Agency ↗

Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.

Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗

Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).

Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗

Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.

Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗

Gold-standard aviation incident blog.