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Atlas / NTSB / SEA80DYM10

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event SEA80DYM10

1979-12-17 MILL CITY, Oregon, United States None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N55963

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

AEROSPATIALE SA315B

Year of manufacture

1975 · 4 years old at event

TCDS

H1IN · AIRBUS HELICOPTERS

Engine

TURBOMECA ARTOUSTEIIIB (858 hp)

Seats / Engines

5 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19770624

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A72420

Registrant of record

INTERNATIONAL AIR SERVICES INC TRUSTEE

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

AEROSPATLE SA315B · N55963

Damage

Substantial

Craft type

Balloon

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

D4

Operator type

Part 135 (air taxi/commuter)

Kind of flying

CB

Weather at impact

Sky

OVERCAST

Wind

225° / 8 kt

Temp

50° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000002428

Total time

1,327 hrs

Pilot

Certificate

DA (DA)

Total hours

5,495

Age

39

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

BUCKET REPAIR OPNS.

Investigator remarks

M/R BLADES HIT TRACTOR BUCKET DURING FERTILIZER

Cause factors

  • 64/A/20 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND FAILED TO FOLLOW APPROVED PROCEDURES,DIRECTIVES,ETC. Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 64/A/54 A
    PILOT IN COMMAND MISJUDGED CLEARANCE Cause — pilot/personnel action
  • 68/J/K3 J
    PERSONNEL GROUND CREWMAN 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 3098. Source file NTSB_1979_3_3098.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.