Atlas / NTSB / SEA81FA025

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event SEA81FA025

1981-03-21 ARLINGTON, Washington, United States Fatal 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

N9866E Schweizer SGS126 Fatal

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

SCHWEIZER SGS126 · N9866E

Damage

Destroyed

Craft type

C

Classification

Accident

Light condition

Dawn

Weather

VMC

Phase of flight

DC

Operator type

Part 91 (general aviation)

Airport

ARLINGTON

Kind of flying

B0

Weather at impact

Sky

SCATTERED-ABOVE 1000 FEET

Wind

070° / 6 kt

Temp

58° F

Aircraft history

Serial number

000000000132

Pilot

Certificate

IA (IA)

Total hours

11,370

Age

67

Probable cause (from PRE1982.MDB)

RT WG.TOW ROPE DID NOT BREAK,OVER MAX STRENGTH.

Investigator remarks

GLIDER PILOT OUT OF POSITION.SUDDEN JERK FAILED

Cause factors

64/C/27 C
PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER IN-FLIGHT DECISIONS OR PLANNING Cause
64/C/23 C
PILOT IN COMMAND IMPROPER OPERATION OF FLIGHT CONTROLS Cause
70/B/AA B
AIRFRAME SPARS
88/B/BD B
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS BUCKLED
88/B/94 B
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS OVERLOAD FAILURE
68/K/E5 K
PERSONNEL DEFICIENCY,COMPANY MAINTAINED EQPMT,SERVICES,REGULATION Joint factor
76/K/CE K
INSTRUMENTS/EQUIPMENT AND ACCESSORIES GLIDER LAUNCH/TOW EQUIPMENT Joint factor
88/K/BQ K
MISCELLANEOUS ACTS,CONDITIONS EXCESSIVE-WEAR/PLAY 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 0562. Source file NTSB_1981_3_0562.txt. Modern CAROL record on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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