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Atlas / NTSB / MKC81FA022

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event MKC81FA022

1981-02-25 COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa, United States Fatal 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N332A

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

EUROCOPTER AS332L1

TCDS

H4EU · AIRBUS HELICOPTERS

Seats / Engines

26 seats · 2 engines

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A39D3D

Registrant of record

VALIAIR LIMITED CO TRUSTEE

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

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

AMER AVCO AA-1A · N332A

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

D8

Operator type

Personal/private

Airport

EPPLEY

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Wind

075° / 15 kt

Temp

55° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

00AA-1A-0021

Total time

1,901 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial — instrument

Total hours

110

Age

25

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

HITTING TREES.

Investigator remarks

WITNESSES OBSD ACFT TURN AS IT APCHD PWR LNS BFR

Cause factors

  • 64/A/15 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO SEE AND AVOID OBJECTS OR OBSTRUCTIONS Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 64/A/33 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND EXERCISED POOR JUDGMENT Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/14 A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS UNWARRANTED LOW FLYING Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 84/J/7 J
    MISCELLANEOUS EVASIVE MANEUVER TO AVOID COLLISION Joint cause

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 0457. Source file NTSB_1981_3_0457.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.