NTSB CAROL · Event
Event NYC78FA078
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
BELL 47G4A · N473FW
Damage
Substantial
Craft type
Balloon
Classification
Accident
Light condition
Dawn
Weather
VMC
Phase of flight
D5
Operator type
Personal/private
Kind of flying
DL
Weather at impact
Sky
BROKEN
Wind
150° / 9 kt
Temp
76° F
Aircraft history
Serial number
000000007764
Total time
5,990 hrs
Pilot
Certificate
Commercial
Total hours
1,122
Age
28
Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)
CH TO LDG GOT INTO SETTLING WITH POWER.TALL GRASS.
Investigator remarks
PILOT SUSPECTED MALFUNCTION IN FLT.DURING APPROA
Cause factors
- 64/A/23 A PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER OPERATION OF FLIGHT CONTROLS Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 64/J/82 J PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO INITIATE GO-AROUND Joint cause
- 64/J/35 J PILOT IN COMMAND SELECTED UNSUITABLE TERRAIN Joint cause
- 88/J/AQ J MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS DOWNWIND 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 2356.
Source file
NTSB_1978_3_2356.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.