Obviously the stakes are very high relating to the Continental Airlines Denver Airport accident and the press and maybe those with vested interest in more flyers would have investigators speculate on accident causes. It is very interesting to listen to the chief investigator at the press conferences stating that "no analysis" will be done onsite, the primary mission is to capture evidence that will disappear over time and that the TRUE cause may take up to a year to determine.

It actually provides me with confidence that they will determine the TRUE cause and that will allow the powers that be to implement a TRUE fix.

Here is a link to NTSB INVESTIGATION GUIDES AND PROCEDURES

Can we take lessons from this incident and apply them to the failures at our plants or is that too extreme?

Terry O

airport_accident.jpg (34 KB, 60 downloads) Airliner after accident

Politics as usual.

But things can look good on paper.

Terry O,
Since every RCA is evidence-based, it is clearly important to capture all the evidence, as that is a volatile item, and can 'disappear' or be made to 'disappear'. So one cannot but endorse fully what the NTSB Chief said.
Such an investigation must be thorough and exhaustive, so it can take many months. There is always the danger though that reports that come out a very long time later may have less impact than one that comes out fairly soon. Vested interests get more of an opportunity to 'guide' the outcome with longer studies.
There must therefore be a sense of urgency to the task, without investigators being pushed to 'get a result' rapidly.
A very Happy New Year to members of this lively Forum, Kelly and self.