Federal investigators have begun a sweeping probe for answers in the collision that sent two aircraft plunging into the Potomac River. Leading the investigation is the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency entrusted by Congress to examine serious transport-related accidents, including in civil aviation.
“We are going to conduct a thorough investigation of this entire tragedy, looking at the facts,” the agency’s chairwoman, Jennifer Homendy, said Thursday, a day after the crash involving an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter. All 67 people aboard the two aircraft were believed to have been killed.
Here’s how the investigation is expected to unfold.
Who makes up the N.T.S.B.?
The agency has five board members, each serving a five-year term. The members must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
About 400 employees, including investigators, work for the agency. Since 1967, the N.T.S.B. has investigated more than 153,000 aviation accidents, according to its website.
It is collecting evidence at the crash site.
Representatives from the agency were at the site within hours of the Wednesday night collision near Reagan National Airport in Washington. On Thursday, as it became clear that no one had survived, dozens of investigators began collecting evidence from the scene.
Two “black boxes” — the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder — from the Bombardier CRJ700 plane operated by American Airlines were recovered and sent to an agency lab, the N.T.S.B. said. A senior Army official on Thursday urged caution in making assessments until the helicopter’s black box could also be recovered and analyzed. It was not known early Friday whether it had been retrieved.
“Right now we are going through the debris fields,” J. Todd Inman, a board member, said Thursday. While evidence needed to be verified, he said the accident involved a “very, quick rapid impact.”
Investigators will also gather evidence from other sources, including flight data and maintenance records, and will conduct interviews to understand what happened in the lead-up to the crash.
Investigators will look at ‘the human, the machine and the environment.’
The inquiry will probably pull in a wide range of industry groups, labor unions and aircraft manufacturers.
“As part of any investigation, we look at the human, the machine and the environment,” Ms. Homendy said.
Mr. Inman said that it would seek information from parties including PSA Airlines, which operated the Wednesday flight for American Airlines; GE Aerospace, an aircraft engine supplier; Sikorsky, the maker of the helicopter; the Federal Aviation Administration; labor unions representing air traffic controllers, pilots and flight attendants; and MHI RJ Aviation, which owns Bombardier’s CRJ aircraft program.
He said that some teams of investigators would examine the Bombardier plane’s accident history and operating systems, and its altitude and course before impact. Others will look at the Sikorsky helicopter and review air traffic control communications.
They will also study the actions of the people involved in the crash to determine if human error played a role.
“A loss of life in an aviation accident is very unusual in the United States,” Mr. Inman said. “Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened, and to recommend changes to prevent it from happening again.”
A preliminary report is expected within 30 days.
The N.T.S.B. typically shares a preliminary report that describes what probably caused an accident. A final report, which requires approval from the agency’s board or a director, is released later.
In all, its investigations into aviation accidents can take one to two years, according to the agency. Mr. Inman said the N.T.S.B. intended to have a preliminary report within 30 days, and that it was too soon to speculate on potential findings.
If a possible criminal act is found to have occurred, the agency turns its findings over to local law enforcement agencies or the F.B.I.
The post N.T.S.B. Investigates Washington Plane Crash: What to Know appeared first on New York Times.
