Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank NTSB Chairman Jim Hall and NTSB
Managing Director Peter Goelz for their support and assistance with this
project and for their appreciation of the benefits to be gained from
independent research. Special thanks also go to Bernard Loeb, Vernon
Ellingstad, Barry Sweedler, Dan Campbell, and Craig Keller, senior staff
at the NTSB, for their advice, counsel, and expertise about the aviation
accident investigation process. The authors would also like to
especially thank a former NTSB staff member, Matthew M. Furman, who as
Special Counsel, helped to devise the notion of this project and to
formulate the initial research agenda. Last, but certainly not least,
NTSB Board Members Robert T. Francis II, John Goglia, George W. Black,
Jr., and John Hammerschmidt spent many hours in open and frank
discussions of safety board procedures and operations.
A central element of this study was obtaining access to NTSB data
sources and information about the accidents selected for review. The
authors wish to thank the staffs of the NTSBs Offices of the Chief
Financial Officer, Human Resources, Government, Public and Family
Affairs, Aviation Safety, Research and Engineering, and Safety
Recommendations and Accomplishments for their cooperation, patience, and
support. Personnel in all of these offices provided rapid response to
our inquiries and were available to assist us in obtaining the
information we requested. A special thanks also goes to Henry Hughes, a
senior investigator at the NTSB, who went to extraordinary lengths to
provide special insights into safety board operations. The authors would
also like to thank C. O. Miller, who, although long retired from the
NTSB, continues to offer valuable insights and institutional memory that
proved to be of great assistance in our research.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey and David Thomas, then the FAAs
Director of Accident Investigation, provided a fundamental understanding
of the relationship between the NTSB and the FAA. RAND is very
appreciative of the insights of Mary Connors and Irving Statler of the
NASA Ames Research Center, who provided information on the Aviation
- xviii -
- xix -
- xx -