The National Transportation Safety Board is limiting operations to emergency response and other essential work while the federal government is shut down.
In a post on social media, the independent agency said it will continue to respond to transportation-related accident scenes to gather evidence and carry out investigations. It will also continue investigating past incidents and work to deliver probable cause findings and other recommendations on transportation safety and procedures.
All other activities, however, will be curtailed, the NTSB said.
The NTSB is currently investigating several high-profile accidents, including the collision of an American Airlines passenger jet with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over Washington, D.C., in January and the container ship Dali’s 2024 strike of the Francis Scott Key Bridge near Baltimore, which caused the bridge to collapse into the lower Patapsco River.
The agency is also looking into several small aircraft and helicopter crashes. Among them is the April crash of a Bell 206 helicopter used for air tours of New York City that broke apart midair and fell into the Hudson River, killing all six people on board.
The federal government shut down early Wednesday after elected officials in Congress failed to reach a compromise on spending. Many federal workers will be furloughed, while others, including the majority of employees at the FAA, have been deemed essential and must continue working without pay.
According to a planning document, just over 100 NTSB employees, or about 25 percent of its total workforce, are expected to be furloughed.
The agency said Wednesday that its website will not be updated until funding is restored, and its media relations wing will only answer questions about active investigations.
