NTSB Meeting on Highway, Air Accidents Tuesday
Board members will determine the probable cause during the earlier meeting of the April 29, 2013 crash of a National Airlines Boeing 747 freighter shortly after takeoff from Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan.
Two multi-fatality transportation accidents separated by a year and about 7,700 miles will be discussed in July 14 meetings by the National Transportation Safety Board's members. Both meetings are at NTSB headquarters in Washington, D.C. Their 9:30 a.m. meeting will determine the probable cause of the April 29, 2013 crash of a National Airlines Boeing 747 aircraft shortly after takeoff from Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan. At meeting #2 starting at 1 p.m., the board will consider the highway accident report on the April 10, 2014, collision of a tractor double trailer with a passenger car and a motorcoach on Interstate 5 in Orland, Calif.
All seven members of the crew of the National Airlines plane died in the crash. On June 26, 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration announced its proposed $77,000 penalty against National Air Cargo Group Inc. for allegedly failing to comply with requirements for loading and securing heavy cargo. The agency said that, in 2013, the company failed to comply with Federal Aviation Regulations while loading heavy military vehicles onto two Boeing 747 jetliners that the company operated. The jets were flown on seven flights while loaded with one or more Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs), and the improper restraining affected the operation of the aircraft that crashed in Afghanistan while loaded with five MRAPs, killing the crew of seven and destroying the aircraft, according to the FAA.
The Orland crash occurred when the tractor double trailer crossed a 58-foot-wide median, struck the passenger car, and hit the motorcoach head-on. Both the truck's driver and the motorcoach driver died in the crash, along with eight passengers in the coach. Thirty-seven passengers on the coach and two occupants of the passenger car were injured.
The meetings are open to the public and will be webcast, as well. A link to the webcast will be available shortly before the start of the meeting at http://ntsb.capitolconnection.org.