National Council for Transport Safety

NTSB was established in 1967 as the main government agency for investigating incidents in all modes of transport - aviation, road, rail, sea and pipeline. The basis for the creation of the council was the Security Bureau under the Civil Aviation Council . The Civil Aviation Council retained the functions of economic regulation of the aviation industry until its closure on December 31, 1984 in connection with the 1978 Law on Centralization of Airlines. Initially, the NTSB was closely associated with the US Department of Transportation, but the Security Council Independence Act was passed in 1974 to end this dependency. In its activities, the organization is guided by Chapter 11 of Section 49 of the US Code ^[2] . In its history, the NTSB has investigated more than 140,000 incidents.

The Council consists of five members proposed by the President and approved by the Senate for a five-year term. One of them is proposed by the president as chairman of the council; the candidacy is approved by the Senate for a two-year term. The second member of the council is appointed by the deputy chairman and, in the absence of the chairman, exercises his functions ^[3] .

Of the five members of the Council, no more than three may belong to one political party ^[4] .

The organizational structure of the Council consists of subcommittees responsible for the investigation of incidents related to safety in road, sea, aviation, rail, pipeline transport and during the transport of hazardous materials, scientific, technical and design work, communications and legislative activities. Subcommittees report to the chairman.

The NTSB is typically the primary organization investigating incidents in its area of ​​responsibility. However, these powers may, by decision of the Attorney General of the United States, be transferred to other organizations if he believes that the incident is connected with a deliberate crime. However, even so, the NTSB provides technical support to the investigation. The last time this happened during the investigation of the events of September 11 , when the investigation was transferred to the US Department of Justice ^[5] .

An investigation of a major incident in the United States usually begins with the creation of a “rapid response team” consisting of specialists in areas relevant to the incident. Then, the circle of organizations and companies that should be involved in the investigation is determined. The Council may schedule public hearings on relevant issues. Upon completion of the investigation, a final report is published and, if necessary, safety recommendations are issued. The Council does not have legal authority to implement or implement its recommendations. This is the responsibility of the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), federal or regional transport regulatory authorities, and transport companies ^[6] .

NTSB has priority in investigating all U.S. civil aviation incidents. The FAA is always involved in investigations, but the NTSB is the main investigative body. In some cases, a lack of resources forces the NTSB to request the FAA to collect factual information at the scene, and then draw up its report based on the data collected.

In some cases, the NTSB assists in investigating incidents outside the United States. Typically, this happens if the incident happened to an aircraft registered with the United States or American owners, except when the aircraft belongs to the US Army or Intelligence Service, with the aircraft in a foreign airspace, if it was made components made in the USA .

The NTSB also assists the investigating authorities of other countries if they do not have the equipment or specialists to conduct a comprehensive investigation of a complex incident.

The authority of the NTSB to investigate other accidents depends on the mode of transport. For example, when investigating a car accident, the NTSB works with the state authorities where the accident occurred. Maritime accidents are being investigated in cooperation with the US Coast Guard in accordance with the memorandum of understanding signed. In investigating rail and pipeline incidents, the NTSB takes precedence.

A little-known function of the NTSB is to hear appeals from pilots, aircraft mechanics, aviation companies, and sailors when their license is suspended or revoked. An NTSB decision can be appealed to a U.S. federal court, FAA, or U.S. Coast Guard.

The NTSB has a training center in Ashburn , which provides training for employees of the Council, other federal agencies, foreign states and private companies in investigating small aircraft incidents, certain aspects of the investigation (percentage of survival and human behavior), communication with the families of the victims and journalists. For training specialists, the center has a 30-meter section of a Boeing 747 , collected from fragments raised from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean during the investigation of the disaster of flight 800 of TWA ^{[7] [8]} .

The main result of the NTSB is security recommendations. Over its history, the Council has issued more than 13 thousand recommendations, most of which were fully or partially accepted.

The most important transport safety improvements adopted by the NTSB are:

• Aviation : technology for preventing collisions in the air, warning systems of approaching the ground, smoke detectors in toilets on board, light strips on the floor, pressurizing fuel tanks with inert gas.
• Automobile transport (in the USA): graduation of a driver’s license for young drivers, laws on drunk drivers, “smart” airbags, third brake light, driver’s license for commercial vehicle drivers, standardization of the design of school buses.
• Rail transport (in the USA): collision avoidance technology, increasing the number of emergency exits in passenger cars, car buffers for transporting hazardous materials.
• Maritime transport : safety of pleasure craft, increased safety on cruise ships, safety devices on fishing vessels.
• Pipeline transport : Protection of pipelines during earthwork, protection of pipelines against corrosion, shut-off valves with remote control.
• Multimodal transportation : testing for alcohol and drug intoxication on all modes of transport.

Since 1990, the NTSB has been compiling a list of the most desired improvements in transport safety, containing recommendations that will bring significant, and sometimes immediate benefits to travelers. The NTSB holds a press conference annually where it talks about changes to this list.

The NTSB assisted NASA in the investigation of the space shuttle disasters Challenger and Columbia .

• Greg Fight