The Independent Safety Board Act (Pub. L. 93−633) is a 1974 law that ended all ties between the

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

and the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

. It was created to avoid possible conflicts between agencies.

Background

The National Transportation Safety Board originated in the

Air Commerce Act The Air Commerce Act of 1926 created an Aeronautic Branch of the United States Department of Commerce. Its functions included testing and licensing of pilots, certification of aircraft and investigation of accidents. In 1934, the Aeronautics Branc ...

of 1926. From that year onwards, Congress required civil aviation accident investigations to be conducted under that law. In 1967, Congress merged the transportation agencies into the U.S. Department of Transportation and established the NTSB as an independent agency within DOT for administrative support. The NTSB is chiefly known for its oversight in aviation accident investigations. From 1926 onwards, Congress required the investigations of civil aviation accidents under the

(Pub. L. 69-254, 44 Stat. 568). Later on, Congress created other laws as well, which created the

Civil Aeronautics Board The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1940 from a split of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services (including scheduled passe ...

and the Federal Aviation Agency, in which the latter became the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

. The

Federal Aviation Act of 1958 The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 was an act of the United States Congress, signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, that created the Federal Aviation Agency (later the Federal Aviation Administration or the FAA) and abolished its predecessor, t ...

, which created the Federal Aviation Administration, gave the Civil Aeronautics Board duties investigating civil aviation accidents. In 1974, as the airline industry rapidly expanded, Congress established the NTSB within the framework of the Department of Transportation, as outlined in the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. This legislation bestowed upon the NTSB responsibilities previously held by the Civil Aeronautics Board. However, as the NTSB began conducting investigations into the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), conflicts of interest emerged. Consequently, Congress enacted the Independent Safety Board Act to mitigate such conflicts and ensure the NTSB's autonomy. The Act also prohibits the use of any portion of an NTSB report as evidence in a lawsuit related to matters discussed in the report and, with few restrictive exceptions, bars discovery, admittance into evidence, and public release of transcripts or recordings of a "cockpit or surface vehicle...voice or video recorder" if not made public by the NTSB.See the boilerplate message contained in most NTSB reports, eg.:

References

{{Authority control United States federal transportation legislation National Transportation Safety Board Transport safety 93rd United States Congress