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Atlas / NTSB / SEA78FA018

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event SEA78FA018

1977-12-01 STEPTOE, Washington, United States Fatal 2 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

CESSNA 320E · N3431Q

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

Airplane

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

IMC

Phase of flight

D0

Operator type

D

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

OVERCAST

Wind

030° / 3 kt

Temp

44° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

0000022-2790

Total time

4,043 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

Commercial — instrument

Total hours

630

Age

49

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

UT OF TLRNC.MFR WX.HIT MTN 4300FT MSL 22MI NW MFR.

Investigator remarks

CLRD FOR STRAIGHT-IN ILS.RPTD NDB INBD.NDB SGL O

Cause factors

  • 74/C/KA C
    POWERPLANT POWERPLANT FAILURE FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS Cause
  • 64/B/16 B
    PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO OBTAIN/MAINTAIN FLYING SPEED
  • 64/B/23 B
    PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER OPERATION OF FLIGHT CONTROLS
  • 82/K/A K
    WEATHER LOW CEILING Joint factor
  • 88/K/11 K
    MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS INSTRUMENTS-MISREAD OR FAILED TO READ 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 3334. Source file NTSB_1977_3_3334.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.