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NTSB
The National Transportation Safety Board was established in 1967 to conduct independent investigations of all civil aviation
accidents in the United States and major accidents in the other modes of transportation. It is not part of the Department of
Transportation, nor organizationally affiliated with any of DOT's modal agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration. The
Safety Board has no regulatory or enforcement powers.
To ensure that Safety Board investigations focus only on improving transportation safety, the Board's analysis of factual
information and its determination of probable cause cannot be entered as evidence in a court of law.
SafEty REcoMMEndations
Safety recommendations are the most important part of the Safety Board's mandate. The Board must address safety deficiencies
immediately, and therefore often issues recommendations before the completion of investigations. Recommendations are based
on findings of the investigation, and may address deficiencies that do not pertain directly to what is ultimately determined to be the
cause of the accident.
For example, in the course of its investigation of the crash of TWA flight 800, once it was determined that an explosion in the
center fuel tank caused the breakup of the aircraft, the Board issued an urgent safety recommendation and three other
recommendations in 1996, four years before completion of its investigation, that were aimed at eliminating explosive fuel/air
vapors in airliner fuel tanks. The Board issued an additional recommendation in 1997 regarding the detection of explosives and six
recommendations in 1998 to improve fuel quantity indication systems. When the Board issued its final report on the TWA 800
accident in 2000, four additional safety recommendations were issued that focused on the aircraft wiring systems.
Public HEaring
The Board may hold a public hearing as part of a major transportation accident investigation. The purpose of the hearing is twofold; first, to gather sworn testimony from subpoenaed witnesses on issues identified by the Board during the course of the
investigation, and, second, to allow the public to observe the progress of the investigation. Hearings are usually held within six
months of an accident, but may be delayed for complex investigations.
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