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Atlas / NTSB / NYC78FA083

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event NYC78FA083

1978-08-18 SUSSEX, New Jersey, United States Minor 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

PIPER PA-28 · N1876J

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

Takeoff — initial climb (C1)

Operator type

Part 91 (general aviation)

Airport

SUSSEX

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Aircraft history

Serial number

000028-24319

Total time

3,151 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial — instrument

Total hours

104

Age

34

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

.R TANK APRX 18 GAL.

Investigator remarks

FUEL TANK SELECTOR PSND L TANK.NO FUEL IN L TANK

Cause factors

  • 64/C/29 C
    PILOT IN COMMAND INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PREPARATION AND/OR PLANNING Cause
  • 64/C/32 C
    PILOT IN COMMAND MISMANAGEMENT OF FUEL Cause
  • 88/C/96 C
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FUEL STARVATION Cause
  • 83/B/I B
    TERRAIN HIGH OBSTRUCTIONS

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 2170. Source file NTSB_1978_3_2170.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.