I get so sick of hearing pundits talk about how bad it is to criminalize aircraft accidents, how we need to be able to determine the cause of accidents without the threat of criminal sanctions such as fines and jail time impeding the free exchange of information. Some claim that the chilling effect of looming criminal inquiries would thwart the NTSB’s ability to determine probable cause and so on. Ever notice how often those pundits have clients with a big interest in making sure that no prosecutor looks too closely at the bottom-line pressures surrounding an accident? What if there was criminal negligence involved; or what if there were outright intentional crimes, like pencil-whipping required maintenance to meet a schedule or save money?
Let me finish before you dash off those tweets and emails. I am not talking about getting the FBI involved in aircraft accident investigations, unless, of course, it is pretty clear that terrorism was involved. I lived through the TWA 800 debacle where the NTSB investigation was put on hold while the FBI combed through debris for months, searching for what was probably obvious by the first week they would not find–evidence of a bomb or a missile or any explosive device.
