An Activist NTSB?

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is one of those federal agencies wed have to create if it didnt already exist. The NTSB has its roots in the 1926 Air Commerce Act and, through successive legislation, was made independent of the FAA, for example, or any other government agency in 1974. Its mission has been relatively consistent throughout its history: "determining the probable cause of transportation accidents and promoting transportation safety. In 1996, Congress added the responsibility to assist victims of transportation accidents and their families. In addition to the aviation accidents and incidents highlighted in these pages, the NTSB also investigates maritime, rail, highway and even pipeline events.

Key Takeaways:

• The NTSB is a highly respected U.S. federal agency responsible for investigating transportation accidents across multiple modes to determine probable cause and promote safety, often participating in international investigations.
• The agency proposes to shift towards a more proactive role in identifying aviation hazards before they cause crashes and seeks access to airlines' confidential Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) data.
• A significant challenge highlighted is the NTSB's four-year backlog in publishing its annual accident data analyses, an issue the author argues should be resolved before pursuing new data sources.

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