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Sissonville, West Virginia, Pipeline Rupture: The final
report on the December 11, 2012, natural gas pipeline
rupture and explosion has been delayed. The Board
Members will consider the draft report before the end of
the calendar year, but it will not be deliberated on
December 3 at the previously scheduled Board Meeting.
Seastreak Wall Street Ferry Accident: The Board Meeting
for the final report on the probable cause of the
January 9, 2013, Seastreak Wall Street ferry accident in
New York has been delayed. A new date for the completion
of the final report will be announced in the coming
weeks.
Boeing 787 Battery Fire: Additional testing of an
exemplar lithium ion battery that was scheduled to begin
during the shutdown had to be delayed.
At
the time of the shutdown, the NTSB had investigators on
the scene of two accidents: a fatal general aviation
accident in Santa Monica, Calif., and a Chicago Transit
Authority rail accident in Chicago. The investigators in
California gathered the perishable evidence before the
shutdown and were furloughed on October 1. Investigators
in Chicago remained on-scene for five days following the
shutdown as they believed that the accident scenario
could be repeated unless safety improvements were
rapidly implemented. Once the NTSB issued three urgent
safety recommendations to prevent a recurrence, those
investigators were furloughed.
During the shutdown, there were 59 new aviation
accidents, of which ten were fatal crashes. In addition,
there was a deadly motorcoach crash, a significant
pipeline leak, a house explosion caused by a natural gas
leak, a fatal grade crossing accident and a fatal
transit accident. The agency launched investigators to
only two of those accidents where it was determined that
there was an imminent threat to life or property.
The NTSB will determine the probable cause of each of
the 59 aviation accidents, but some investigations will
be limited in scope. While the NTSB will not initiate an
investigation into the other accidents listed above,
investigators will review reports and findings from
state and local investigators to determine if there are
any additional safety concerns that the NTSB should
address.
The NTSB continues to assess the long-term impact of
the shutdown on hundreds of other ongoing
investigations including the Boeing 787 battery fire
investigation, the investigation into the May 23
highway bridge collapse in Mt. Vernon, Wash., and
the investigation into the cause of the August 14
fatal crash of a UPS Airbus A300 in Birmingham, Ala.
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