NTSB CAROL · Event
Event SEA79AA058
Registry · N4SW
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
CESSNA 172M
Year of manufacture
1974 · 5 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING 0-320 SERIES (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
4 seats · 1 engine
Last airworthiness date
19740517
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A4A994
Registrant of record
SALEM AIRPORT AUTHORITY
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
DOUGLAS DC-7C · N4SW
Damage
Destroyed
Craft type
Airplane
Classification
Accident
Light condition
Dusk
Weather
VMC
Phase of flight
D1
Operator type
Part 135 (air taxi/commuter)
Kind of flying
B3
Weather at impact
Sky
CLEAR
Aircraft history
Serial number
000000044287
Total time
121,026 hrs
Pilot
Certificate
Commercial
Total hours
8,200
Age
59
Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)
T PATH.
Investigator remarks
HIT TREES AT CREST OF MOUNTAIN RIDGE ALONG FLIGH
Cause factors
- 64/A/27 A PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER IN-FLIGHT DECISIONS OR PLANNING Cause — pilot/personnel action
- 64/A/53 A PILOT IN COMMAND MISJUDGED ALTITUDE Cause — pilot/personnel action
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 3071.
Source file
NTSB_1979_3_3071.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.
Entity-clustered aviation events in the press — last 24 hr + 30-day archive.
Official agency record + docket.
Investigative docket: factual reports, photos, transcripts.
Long-running aviation incident database (Flight Safety Foundation).
Community NTSB synthesis blog — often has photos and witness reports.
Gold-standard aviation incident blog.
Aviation industry news search.
GA pilot forum — informed but rumor-prone.
GA pilot subreddit search.
Tail-number page — flight history (free tier limited).
AOPA Air Safety Institute search.
Mainstream press coverage. Recent events only.
Privacy-preserving news search.
External links open in a new tab. We don't ingest their content; we deep-link search queries.