TABLE OF CONTENTS(Click on Section)

PURPOSE

BACKGROUND

CHAIRMAN'S OPENING STATEMENT

WITNESSES

The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony on the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reauthorization proposal. The Board is presently authorized through September 30, 2006.

The NTSB was established as an independent agency in 1974, when it was removed from the Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency is charged with investigating civil aviation accidents and significant transportation accidents in the surface modes – railroad, highway, marine, and pipeline. The NTSB determines the probable cause of all civil aviation accidents and significant surface transportation accidents, conducts safety studies, and evaluates the effectiveness of other government agencies’ programs for preventing transportation accidents.

In addition, the NTSB assists the families of victims of aviation accidents. When resources allow, the NTSB also provides family assistance for accidents in other transportation modes.

The Board also serves as the “court of appeal” for airmen, mechanics, and mariners whenever the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or the U.S. Coast Guard takes a certificate action. The Board’s four administrative law judges issue decisions on appeals filed with the Board, and these decisions may be further appealed to the full five-member Board.

Most importantly, the NTSB makes safety recommendations, based on its investigations, to Federal, state, and local government agencies and to the transportation industry regarding actions that should be taken to prevent accidents.

Since 1967, the Board has investigated more than 124,000 aviation accidents, and at least 10,000 accidents in other transportation modes. The Safety Board also investigates accidents involving the transportation of hazardous materials, and is the sole U.S. accredited representative at foreign aviation accident investigations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

NTSB has no authority to issue substantive regulations covering the transportation industry. Therefore, its effectiveness is dependent upon timely accident reports and safety recommendations. According to the NTSB, since its inception in 1967, it has issued almost 12,000 safety recommendations in all modes of transportation. The regulatory and transportation communities have adopted over 82 percent of these recommendations.

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has jurisdiction over the NTSB reauthorization legislation. Although the NTSB investigates transportation accidents in all modes, the Board’s broadest investigative mandate is in the aviation mode. Therefore, the Aviation Subcommittee traditionally has the lead role on issues involving the agency.

NTSB Structure

The NTSB is composed of five board members who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. No more than three members may be from the same political party, and at least three members must be appointed on the basis of technical qualification, professional standing, and demonstrated technical knowledge. All board members serve a five-year term. The president designates, and the Senate confirms, one of the five members to serve as Chairman for a term of two years. The president also designates one of the members to serve as Vice Chairman.

Currently, Vice Chairman Mark V. Rosenker (R) is acting as Chairman. Acting Chairman Rosenker will serve until April 1, 2007, as Vice Chairman and until December 31, 2010 as a member. The other members include:

NTSB Operations

Each year, the NTSB investigates more than 1,800 aviation accidents and incidents, and about a hundred railroad, highway, maritime, and pipeline transportation accidents. To leverage its limited resources, the Board typically designates other government agencies, organizations, corporations, or foreign authorities (in the case of, for example, investigations involving foreign aircraft) as parties to the investigation. According to the NTSB, the participation of these other parties not only greatly multiplies the Board’s resources, it also ensures general agreement on the facts developed during an investigation, and allows first-hand access to information so that the parties can take appropriate and timely corrective actions.

The NTSB has wide discretion over which organizations it designates as parties, except that, by law, the Federal Aviation Administration is a party to each aviation investigation. Only those entities that can provide technical expertise required for the investigation are granted party status, and only those persons who can provide the Board with needed expertise are permitted to serve on the investigative team.

When the NTSB is notified of a major accident, it launches a “go-team” that varies in size depending on the severity of the accident and the complexity of the issues involved. Go-teams consist of Safety Board investigators who are experts in appropriate technical specialties, based on the mode of transportation and the nature of the accident. Each Safety Board expert manages an investigative group made up of other experts from industry and government organizations that are parties to the investigation. Each Safety Board expert prepares a factual report that is verified for accuracy by the party representatives in the group. The factual reports are placed in the publicly accessible docket and, after the completion of a formal technical review by the entire team, they constitute the factual record of the investigation.

After investigating an accident, the NTSB determines the probable cause and issues a formal report. Parties do not participate in the analytical or report-writing phases of NTSB investigations, although they may submit their proposed findings of probable cause and proposed safety recommendations directly to the Board.

The NTSB is statutorily required to determine the probable cause of all civil aviation accidents. The Board asks the FAA to send inspectors to document the facts of certain aviation accidents, and the Board uses this information to make a determination of probable cause. In general, the Board relies on the FAA to conduct the on-scene investigation on its behalf for most non-fatal aviation accidents and for some fatal aviation accidents in which the cause is obvious and there is little chance of deriving a safety benefit from the investigation.

NTSB Training Academy

The Academy provides training in transportation safety and accident investigation techniques to its own investigators and the transportation community. The NTSB Academy opened in Ashburn, Virginia, in September 2003. The building houses the forward portion of the TWA flight 800 aircraft fuselage, laboratory spaces, meeting rooms, student and teacher work areas, and various offices including one of the Board's aviation regional offices. Since the Academy became operational, the staff has mainly focused on delivering, improving, and expanding programs that were already being delivered before the building opened.

Concerns about the level of investigative resources being used to support the Academy have prompted NTSB management to revise the focus of the Academy. The NTSB will be exploring partnership and contracting possibilities that yield higher revenue returns, with decreased demands on investigative resources. According to the NTSB, the Academy will rely more heavily on instructors from academic, governmental, and private organizations.

The NTSB also plans to establish a training and academic Oversight Board comprised of senior NTSB staff. This panel will oversee the curriculum development of contractors and third party organizations, will monitor the Academy Plan, will oversee marketing strategy, and will ensure that the Academy courses maintain a high standard of excellence and accountability to students and the public. The NTSB believes that these changes will reduce the amount of investigative resources used at the Academy and create more training opportunities for NTSB staff at the Academy.

The NTSB’s three-year reauthorization request includes additional funding, additional staff, and statutory changes. The table below shows the NTSB’s FY 2006 appropriation level, the FY 2007 President’s request level, and the authorization levels that are requested by the NTSB for FYs 2007-2009.

The FY 2007 President’s budget requests $79.6 million for the NTSB, $2.864 million above the FY 2006 enacted level. The increase is related to pay raises, benefit cost increases, inflation, and a proposal to merge the NTSB’s $2 million Emergency Fund into its regular salaries and expenses accounts. No new program initiatives are funded in the President’s request level. The FY08 and FY09 authorization levels requested by the NTSB are based on 475 full time equivalents. The NTSB has determined through a human capital forecast conducted in 2006 that 475 is the minimum number of full time employees needed to effectively and efficiently meet the mission and support efforts that are expected of the Board.

The NTSB has requested three statutory changes. The requested statutory changes pertain to the Board’s contracting authority, its authorization and use of appropriations, and payment for the services of the DOT Inspector General.

Relief from Certain Contracting Requirements for Investigation Services

The Board’s last reauthorization legislation, the National Transportation Safety Board Reauthorization Act of 2003 (PL 108-168), provides the authority for the NTSB to enter into agreements or contracts without competition when necessary to expedite an investigation. This authority sunsets on September 30, 2006. The Board proposes that the sunset provision be deleted and that the special contracting authority be made permanent.

Authorization and Use of Appropriations

PL 108-168 authorized appropriations separately for the NTSB and for its Academy. This Act also authorized the NTSB to collect fees for services provided through the Academy (e.g., course tuitions). Such fees are credited as offsetting collections, and remain available until expended. Finally, this Act requires the NTSB to submit an annual report to Congress on activities and operations at the Academy.

The Board proposes that the Academy be authorized as part of the agency as a whole, rather than as a distinct, subordinate entity. The Board is actively working to more fully integrate its Academy into the agency’s overall mission and programs. Consequently, the Board proposes ending the practice of separately authorizing its Academy.

The Board also proposes language that would permit it to credit reimbursements (not just Academy fees) as offsetting collections that would remain available until expended. Finally, in keeping with the Board’s efforts to further integrate its Academy into the agency, the Board proposes incorporating the content of the Academy’s annual report into the Agency’s annual report to Congress.

Payment for Services of DOT Inspector General

The National Transportation Safety Board Amendments Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-424) authorized the DOT Inspector General to review the financial management, property management, and business operations of the Board. That Act also provided that the Inspector General would be reimbursed by the Board for the costs associated with carrying out these activities.

The Board proposes that the reimbursement provision be deleted with the understanding that the Inspector General would be funded directly for these activities. This would allow for a more efficient allocation and management of resources. The Safety Board reports that the Inspector General concurs with this proposal.

The National Transportation Safety Board Reauthorization Act of 2003 (PL 108-168) was signed into law on December 6, 2003. It authorized appropriations for the NTSB for FYs 2003 through 2006, and made the following statutory changes.

Academy Authorization

Section 2 of the Act separately authorized appropriations for the NTSB and for its Academy for FYs 2003 through 2006. This section also authorized the NTSB to collect fees for services provided through the Academy (e.g., course tuitions). Such fees are credited as offsetting collections, and remain available until expended. Finally, this section requires the NTSB to submit an annual report to Congress on activities and operations at the Academy.

Assistance to Families

The NTSB is responsible for providing assistance to family members when it investigates an air carrier or foreign air carrier crash involving a major loss of life [49 U.S.C. 1136(a)]. So that services are provided to families without delay, this responsibility is triggered regardless of the cause or suspected cause of the occurrence [49 U.S.C. 1136(h) (1)]. A mechanism exists to provide a smooth, coordinated transfer of investigative priority from the NTSB to another federal agency (e.g., the FBI) when evidence indicates that an “accident” may have been the result of an intentional act [49 U.S.C. 1131(a) (2) (B)]; however no mechanism existed to transfer the family assistance responsibilities at the time of the events of September 11, 2001. Because it is appropriate for family assistance responsibilities to follow the responsibility for leading the investigation, Section 3 of the Act permits the NTSB to transfer its family assistance responsibilities to another Federal agency when it transfers investigative priority to that agency.

Relief from Certain Contracting Requirements for Investigation Services

Section 4 of the Act permits the NTSB to enter into agreements or contracts without competition when necessary to expedite an investigation. This authority sunsets on September 30, 2006. Section 4 also required the NTSB to submit a report on usage of this authority on February 1, 2006, to Congress describing each contract for $25,000 or more executed by the NTSB pursuant to this authority.

Appeal rights for aviation “accident” determinations

Section 5 of the Act requires the NTSB to notify the owner or operator of an aircraft of certain appeal rights regarding the Board’s classification of a particular occurrence as an accident. Specifically, in any case in which a Board employee determines that an aircraft occurrence constitutes an “accident,” the employee is required to notify the aircraft owner or operator of the right to appeal that determination to the Board. This requirement does not apply in the case of accidents that result in loss of life.

Secretary of Transportation’s Responses to Safety Recommendations

Section 6 of the Act requires the Secretary of Transportation to submit a report to Congress and to the Board on February 1 of each year detailing the regulatory status of each safety recommendation on the NTSB’s “most wanted” list that was issued to the Secretary or to an organizational unit that reports to the Secretary. The provisions of Section 6 sunset once the Secretary files the report due on February 1, 2008.

Section 9 of the Act required the Secretary of Transportation to submit biennial reports to Congress and to the Board detailing the regulatory status of each open safety recommendation made by the Board to the Secretary concerning 15-passenger van safety, railroad grade crossing safety, and medical certifications for a commercial driver's license. The first report was due 1 year after the date of enactment of the Act. The provisions of Section 9 sunset once the Secretary files the report, if any, due in 2008.