write:4. tHE KEy PLAyERSWhen an aircraft accident occurs a surprising number of organizations may have some authority or responsibility. It is essential to understand who these groups m

we could say that the least effective recommendation is going to involve the cement base of the runway distance marker. That is only a hazard on one runway at one airport and you have to run off the runway to encounter it. It is worth correcting
but
realistically
we are not going to prevent a lot of accidents by doing so. The recommendation concerning the tires is priority 2 as it falls somewhere between the engine oil system and the runway marker.Now that’s fairly logical and most people would agree with assigning pri-orities to the recommendations in that manner. That’s a far easier argument to win
because people are not emotionally involved with recommendations; only causes. Bottom line: it is easier and much more productive to spend your time debating recommendations than causes.4. tHE KEy PLAyERSWhen an aircraft accident occurs
a surprising number of organizations may have some authority or responsibility. It is essential to understand who these groups might be.A. IntERnAtIonAL CIvIL AvIAtIon oRGAnIZAtIon (ICAo) (see Chapter 3). While ICAO itself has no particular authority and rarely participates in investigations
it does set the ground rules on how aircraft ac-cidents involving more than one country (state) will be investigated. Since most countries of the world are signatories to the ICAO convention
the rules established by ICAO Annex 13 (Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation) will probably prevail.B. InvEStIGAtoR-In-CHARGE (IIC). This is an ICAO term used almost universally throughout the world to describe the person or group charged with conducting the investigation.C. nAtIonAL tRAnSPoRtAtIon SAFEty BoARD (ntSB) (see Chapter 2). This is an independent board charged with investigating all civil (and some public) aircraft accidents in the United States. There are simi-lar independent boards or groups in Canada
England
Australia
New Zealand
Switzerland
Sweden
Denmark
Norway
Finland
and The Netherlands. By the time of publication of this book
there may be others. Other countries may use their equivalent of the Federal Aviation Administration or Civil Aero-nautics Authority to investigate accidents. Still others may use their judiciary or even their military. In the United States
the NTSB may delegate certain investigations (currently experimental and agricultural aircraft accidents) to the FAA for investigation.D. FEDERAL AvIAtIon ADmInIStRAtIon (FAA). The FAA is the government agency responsible for aviation safety in the United States; not investigation. They will always participate in NTSB investigations as a party (see Chapter 2) and may conduct the entire investigation if the NTSB has delegated it to them. Their principal areas of concern are violations of Federal Air Regulations and deficiencies in FAA systems or procedures.E. LoCAL LAW EnFoRCEmEnt. All land in the world belongs to some-body or some government and someone has jurisdiction over it. That’s not completely true. The question of jurisdiction arose when an Air New Zea-land DC-10 crashed on Mt. Erebus in Antarctica. Antarctica is considered international territory. Since the only local operating agency was the U.S. Navy
that question bothered the lawyers more than the investigators. Aside from that unusual circumstance
the presence of law enforcement at the scene of an accident is common and expected. Normally
their primary concern is the protection and safety of the public within their jurisdiction. Secondarily
they want to be sure that this was in fact an accident and not a criminal act.