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Atlas / NTSB / MKC79FA032

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event MKC79FA032

1979-05-25 KANSAS CITY, Missouri, 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

HUGHES 269A · N8864F

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

A3

Operator type

Personal/private

Airport

K.C.DOWNTOWN

Kind of flying

DC

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Wind

120° / 5 kt

Temp

69° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000000223

Total time

6,557 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

GA (GA)

Total hours

10,486

Age

57

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

PRESSURE.

Investigator remarks

TWO FORWARD STRUTS CONTAINED LESS THAN 50PSI AIR

Cause factors

  • 68/A/D6 A
    PERSONNEL INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE AND INSPECTION Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 70/A/CI A
    AIRFRAME SKID ASSEMBLY Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/CL A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS PRESSURE TOO LOW Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/AX A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS GROUND RESONANCE Cause — pilot/personnel action

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 0855. Source file NTSB_1979_3_0855.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.