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Atlas / NTSB / OAK73DVA56

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event OAK73DVA56

1973-04-26 LOS BANOS, California, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N8559P

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-24-260

Year of manufacture

1964 · 9 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING TI0-540 SER (310 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S ABBD8C

Registrant of record

MCCLEAN ADAM D

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

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-24 · N8559P

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

EE

Operator type

Business

Airport

LOS BANOS

Kind of flying

B2

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Aircraft history

Serial number

0000024-4016

Total time

2,200 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial — instrument

Total hours

2,000

Age

54

Investigator remarks

WATCHING OTHER ACFT IN PATTERN.DIDNT CK GR LTS.

Cause factors

  • 64/A/39 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO ASSURE THE GEAR WAS DOWN AND LOCKED Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 64/J/08 J
    PILOT IN COMMAND DIVERTED ATTENTION FROM OPERATION OF AIRCRAFT Joint cause
  • 88/J/03 J
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS CHECKLIST-FAILED TO USE Joint cause
  • 88/J/AL J
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS CIRCUIT BREAKER POPPED 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 0999. Source file NTSB_1973_3_0999.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.