Atlas / NTSB / OAK70DVG09

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event OAK70DVG09

1970-04-06 MAXWELL, California, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N4420Z

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-18-150

Engine

LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19910417

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A5547B

Registrant of record

RUFF GREGORY Z

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N4420Z Piper PA-18 None

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-18 · N4420Z

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

Cruise — descent (EF)

Operator type

Z

Airport

GUNNERSFIELD

Kind of flying

A3

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Temp

70° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

0000018-8756

Total time

272 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Airline transport

Total hours

35

Age

23

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

,BRAKES AND SEAT ADJUSTMENT CHECKED OK.

Investigator remarks

LANDED ONE-HALF WAY DOWN 2600FT RWY.FLT CONTROLS

Cause factors

64/C/79 C
PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL Cause
64/C/46 C
PILOT IN COMMAND MISJUDGED DISTANCE AND SPEED 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 1754. Source file NTSB_1970_3_1754.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.

TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press

Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.

NTSB CAROL Agency ↗

Official agency record + docket.

NTSB Docket Agency ↗

Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.

Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗

Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).

Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗

Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.

Aviation Herald Aviation press ↗

Gold-standard aviation incident blog.