National Transportation Safety Board- NTSB

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National Transportation Safety Board- NTSB

• AST 425

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NTSB

• What is the NTSB?- It is an independent federal
  accident investigation agency responsible for the
  investigation of all transportation related
  accidents.
• The NTSB was formed in 1966 as a part of the DOT
  act and was placed under the DOT (Department of
  Transportation)
• NTSB was made independent in 1974 by the NTSB Act.

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NTSB

• The NTSB mission is
• To determine the probable cause of
  transportation accidents
• To formulate safety recommendations designed to
  improve transportation safety

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NTSB

• Scope
• The NTSB is required to determine the probable
  cause of the following types of accidents
• Civil Aviation Accidents
• Major Highway Accidents
• Passenger train accidents involving fatalities
• Major Marine Accidents
• Pipeline Accedents

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NTSB

• Aviation Accidents Investigated
• Responsible for all aviation accidents but
  typically are only directly involved in those
  involving fatalities- the rest are delegated by
  a letter of agreement (LOA) to the FAA- Based on
  workload and staffing and varies from year to
  year.
• FAA investigates all ag., homebuilt/experimental
  accidents

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NTSB

• The NTSB investigates thousands of accidents
  annually
• All air carrier accidents
• All in-flight collisions
• All fatal general aviation accidents
• All air-taxi accidents
• All accidents involving large aircraft (greater
  than 12,500 lbs.)

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NTSB- Other Responsibilities

• The 1974 NTSB Act requires the NTSB to
• -Conduct special studies on safety problems
• -Mid-Air collisions
• -Runway Incursions
• -In-fight icing- regional airliners- AE 4184
• Since NTSBs creation accidents have gone down
  considerably (Chapter 2)

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NTSB Other Responsibilities- Ctn.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of government agencies
  involved with transportation including
• FAA- over 90 of the recommendations made to the
  FAA by the NTSB are acted upon favorably- FAA is
  required by law to respond.
• NHTSA

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NTSB Other Responsibilities Ctn.

• Evaluate the safeguards used in the
  transportation of hazardous materials
• Review appeals from
• Airman and merchant seamen whose certificates
  have been suspended or revoked
• Make an annual report to congress on the State of
  Transportation Safety

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NTSB structure

• Made up of 5 members appointed by the president
  for a 5 year term- confirmed by the senate
• The chairman and vice chairman are appointed to
  serve for typically two years (although the last
  one, Jim Hall served for 5-6 years)
• 340 Total Employees Nationwide- only 75 dedicated
  to the air mode

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NTSB structure ctn.

• Headquartered in Washington DC. With 5 regional
  and 4 field offices in
• Chicago, Anchorage, Atlanta, Ft. Worth, Los
  Angeles, Miami, New York, Denver, and Seattle
• -These field offices investigate about 99 of
  the accidents under the NTSBs jurisdiction

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NTSB Structure

• The GO-Team in Wash. DC. Investigates an average
  of 10-12 accidents per year.
• Headquartered in DC
• On 24 hour alert- must go anywhere in the world
  on 2 hours notice- fly in the NTSB G-IV
• 8-12 member team- rotating duty- headed by one of
  the 5 board members
• Reserved for major carrier accidents

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NTSB- GO TEAM

• Consists of various specialists- metallurgy,
  avionics, ATC, maintenance, flight, etc.
• Usually on site for one or two weeks or less
• Jump Start an investigation
• Send evidence for laboratory analysis- back in
  DC. Or where specialized services are offered-
  ie. Aeromedical- OK. City OK.

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NTSB

• Laboratory analysis
• Analyze Black Boxes- Flight Date Recorders
  (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVR)
• Analyzing wreckage for
• Inadequate design
• Excessive loading
• Fatigue/Corrision
• Etc.

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NTSB Recommendation

• The Recommendation- End product of the
  investigation
• Recs. Are issued as soon as they are discovered-
  dont await the final report which can take
  months
• Identifies person/s or agencies (FAA,
  manufacturers, etc.) that need to take action and
  describes the action which needs to be taken.

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Chronology Ctn.

• States the safety need to be satisfied
• DOT (FAA) must respond within 90 days

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Chronology Ctn.

• Public Hearing held to
• Collect more information
• Air at a public forum the issues involved in an
  accident

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Chronology Ctn.

• Final Report- publication which gives accident
  details as well as a probable cause for the
  accident. Results have been used to make
  systemic improvements such as
• Pilot training
• Aircraft Maintenance
• ATC procedures
• Survival Equipment Requirements

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Major Accident Chronology

• Go Team on site
• Site Analysis
• Public Hearing
• Laboratory Analysis
• Safety Recommendations
• Public Hearing
• Final Report
• Publication Made Public

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NTSB Ctn.

• NTSB investigates approx. 2400 aviation accidents
  per year.
• Each regional office investigates approximately
  400 per year- 60 delegated to FAA- 12 13
  employees each- huge workload!
• Go Team investigates approx 10-12 per year

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The End!