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Atlas / NTSB / NYC77FA028

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event NYC77FA028

1977-01-15 DUANESBURG, New York, United States Fatal 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N87955

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER J3C-65

Year of manufacture

1946 · 31 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR A-65-8 (65 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19520514

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AC1AEA

Registrant of record

NEALEY SUSAN

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

PIPER J3C65 · N87955

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

D1

Operator type

D

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

OVERCAST

Temp

26° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000015573

Total time

1,524 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial — instrument

Total hours

250

Age

43

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

TITUDE,COLLIDED WITH TREES.BOTH PLTS RATED IN A/C.

Investigator remarks

ACFT OBSERVED CIRCLING OVER FARM HOUSE AT LOW AL

Cause factors

  • 64/A/53 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND MISJUDGED ALTITUDE Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 64/A/08 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND DIVERTED ATTENTION FROM OPERATION OF AIRCRAFT Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 88/A/14 A
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS UNWARRANTED LOW FLYING 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 0007. Source file NTSB_1977_3_0007.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.