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Atlas / NTSB / NYC81FA020

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event NYC81FA020

1981-01-16 PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, United States Serious 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

AGUSTA A109-A · N86NR

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

IMC

Phase of flight

D1

Operator type

Business

Kind of flying

B3

Weather at impact

Sky

BROKEN

Wind

160° / 5 kt

Temp

26° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000007123

Total time

955 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

DA (DA)

Total hours

11,708

Age

43

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

TLES.BEARING CVRS NOT RQRD TO BE REMVD FOR INSPTN.

Investigator remarks

#7 HANGER BEARING FAILED.PLT DID NOT CLOSE THROT

Cause factors

  • 78/C/BG C
    ROTORCRAFT TAIL ROTOR DRIVE SHAFT ASSEMBLY Cause
  • 88/C/80 C
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS LACK OF LUBRICATION-SPECIFIC PART,NOT SYSTEM Cause
  • 64/B/20 B
    PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO FOLLOW APPROVED PROCEDURES,DIRECTIVES,ETC.
  • 88/B/07 B
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS IMPROPER EMERGENCY PROCEDURES
  • 68/L/J6 L
    PERSONNEL OTHER
  • 88/K/88 K
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS AIRCRAFT CAME TO REST IN WATER Joint factor

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 0832. Source file NTSB_1981_3_0832.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.