Atlas / NTSB / OAK78DVA53

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event OAK78DVA53

1978-07-08 TULARE, California, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N6538

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

GRUMMAN G-164A

Year of manufacture

1969 · 9 years old at event

Engine

P&W R1340 SERIES (600 hp)

Seats / Engines

1 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19691028

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A89B4F

Registrant of record

HOLTZ BRITTON N

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

N6538 Grumman G-164A 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

GRUMMAN G-164A · N6538

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

Takeoff — initial climb (C1)

Operator type

Part 135 (air taxi/commuter)

Airport

WESTERNAIR STRIP

Kind of flying

DD

Weather at impact

Sky

CLEAR

Wind

150° / 2 kt

Temp

102° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000000670

Total time

2,269 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial

Total hours

6,250

Age

31

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

N.

Investigator remarks

PILOT TOOK OFF WITH FUEL SELECTOR IN OFF POSITIO

Cause factors

64/C/29 C
PILOT IN COMMAND INADEQUATE PREFLIGHT PREPARATION AND/OR PLANNING Cause
88/C/96 C
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS FUEL STARVATION Cause
83/B/F B
TERRAIN ROUGH/UNEVEN

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 1240. Source file NTSB_1978_3_1240.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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