NTSB CAROL · Event
Event NYC78FA021
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
BEECH H50 · N5581
Damage
Substantial
Craft type
Airplane
Classification
Accident
Light condition
Dawn
Weather
IMC
Phase of flight
EY
Operator type
D
Airport
POTTSTOWN
Kind of flying
B0
Weather at impact
Sky
OVERCAST
Wind
020° / 8 kt
Temp
34° F
Aircraft history
Serial number
000000HH-141
Total time
1,547 hrs
Pilot
Certificate
Commercial — instrument
Total hours
3,900
Age
39
Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)
STRUCK HI TRRN 2 MI NE OF ARPT.
Investigator remarks
DRG VOR APCH DCNDD BLO MDA,CONTD FLT AT LOW ALT
Cause factors
- 64/A/26 A PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER IFR OPERATION Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 64/A/20 A PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO FOLLOW APPROVED PROCEDURES,DIRECTIVES,ETC. Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 82/J/A J WEATHER LOW CEILING Joint cause
- 82/J/C J WEATHER FOG Joint cause
- 83/J/I J TERRAIN HIGH OBSTRUCTIONS 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 0030.
Source file
NTSB_1978_3_0030.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.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.