By Chairman Robert Sumwalt I grew up in the South, and people sometimes say we do things slowly in that part of the country. Whether there’s any validity to that claim, I can’t say with certainty. What I can say with great certainty, however, is that speed isn’t an attribute commonly associated with the Federal … Continue reading Twelve Years After Colgan 3407, FAA Still Hasn’t Implemented Pilot Records Database→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
By Member Jennifer Homendy After 50 years of investigation, advocacy, and persistence by the NTSB, positive train control (PTC) is now a reality across the country! PTC systems use GPS and other technology to prevent certain train collisions and derailments. It could have been lifesaving in the 154 rail accidents that have killed more than … Continue reading We Can Do Big Things. Just Look at Positive Train Control→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
By Jeff Marcus, Chief, NTSB Safety Recommendations Division From the Wright brothers’ first flight on December 17, 1903, to today, aviation has made remarkable progress. The affordability, speed, capacity, comfort, and, most importantly, safety of flight have all improved to the point that flying is one of the safest modes of transportation. But that safety … Continue reading How Tragedy Led to Trust: National Aviation History Month→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
By Paul Stancil, NTSB Senior Hazardous Materials Accident Investigator I wonder what Don Ross, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) investigator-in-charge, might have said to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the train derailment that occurred in Lac‑Mégantic, Quebec: a tragedy that claimed 47 lives, forced about 2,000 people to evacuate, and destroyed 40 buildings … Continue reading Rail Tank Car Safety Ten Years after Lac‑Mégantic→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
By Elias Kontanis, Chief, Transportation Disaster Assistance Division Last year, for the first time, the international aviation community observed February 20th as the International Day Commemorating Air Crash Victims and Families. This year, on the second annual observance, we join in reflecting on the lives lost in aviation accidents as well as on the vigilance … Continue reading Commemorating Air Crash Victims and Honoring Families, Every Day→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
By James Scheffer, Strategic Advisor, NTSB Office of Marine Safety It’s been 40 years since the large bulk carrier SS Marine Electric tragically sank on February 12, 1983, off the Virginia coast. Nearly all aboard—31 of 34 souls—were lost. But I remember the events of that tragic day as if they happened yesterday. On that … Continue reading 40 Years Later, The Marine Electric Sinking Remembered→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
By Chair Jennifer Homendy Three years ago, I launched with the NTSB Go Team to Santa Barbara, California, to investigate the deadliest U.S. marine accident in decades. On September 2, 2019, the Conception dive boat caught fire in the early morning hours, burned to the waterline, and sank less than 100 feet from shore. Tragically, … Continue reading Time for Action: Passenger Vessel Safety Can’t Wait→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
By Lorenda Ward, Chief, NTSB Air Carrier and Space Investigations Division When I read the Chair’s blog, “A Call to Action from Kennedy,” I asked myself, “Are we ready?” Not for commercial space exploration, but for the next commercial space accident investigation. One of my responsibilities as the chief of the NTSB’s Air Carrier and … Continue reading Ready to Answer the Call→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
By Chair Jennifer Homendy This week, I visited NASA, Boeing, Blue Origin, and Space-X at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. KSC has been a leader in space exploration for over 50 years. The Apollo, Skylab, and Space Shuttle programs took off from there, as did the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars Rover project, and … Continue reading A Call to Action from Kennedy→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
By Chair Jennifer Homendy Blue jackets. Devastating scenes. Calm in the wake of tragedy. This is how many people describe their first impressions of NTSB. It’s not surprising given the international visibility of our on-scene work. But today is all about who you don’t see: the folks who make the agency’s headline-grabbing work possible. I’m … Continue reading Recognizing a Quarter Century of 24/7 Response→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
By Chair Jennifer Homendy Two years ago today, a preventable tragedy became one of the worst maritime events in US history. At about 3:14 a.m. on September 2, 2019, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) received a distress call from the Conception, a 75-foot-long small passenger vessel operated by Truth Aquatics, Inc. The Labor Day fire … Continue reading Two-years Later: Conception Tragedy Still a Reminder that More Should Be Done to Improve Passenger Vessel Safety→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
By Jeff Marcus, Chief, NTSB Safety Recommendations Division Fifteen years ago today, on August 27, 2006, Comair flight 5191, a Bombardier CL-600-2B19, lined up on the wrong runway and crashed during takeoff from Blue Grass Airport, Lexington, Kentucky (LEX), killing 49 people, including the captain and flight attendant. The first officer, who was seriously injured, … Continue reading Comair 5191 Crash Led to Air Traffic Control Changes→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog
In this episode of Behind-the-Scene @NTSB, NTSB Managing Director, Sharon Bryson and Frank Hilldrup, Chief Technical Advisor for International Affairs, NTSB Office of Aviation Safety, talk about the July 17, 1996, TWA flight 800 accident. We discuss what happened, the findings and safety recommendations that came out of the investigation, its tremendous impact on aviation … Continue reading Episode 42: TWA Flight 800→| NTSB Safety Compass Blog