Accident Investigation
I am not sure which forum this would be most appropriate in, so I will post here and the Mods can move it if there is a better place.
My question involves accident investigation. This is an area that has always fascinated me. Does ALPA have a group of pilots that work on safety/accident investigation teams? If so, can someone tell me how this works and is structured? Does anyone know someone or has anyone on the forum actually served on an accident investigation? How many people are represented (I asume the manufacturer sends someone, the airline, ALPA maybe, the NTSB) and how do the groups interact? Is there in-fighting between the groups (manufacturer vs. airline, ALPA vs. airline, etc)? What are the things that work well, and what needs improvement in the process?
There is a thread in the "135" section about the tragic Caravan crash in Ohio. I believe one frequent poster here - cubdriver i think, works for a manufacturer. What response will Cessna have to this accident? Will they send engineers and pilots to help the investigation?
I have been interested in this for a long time. My Grandfather, at one point, was TWA's most experienced DC-9 guy. This was in the early 60's, after TWA first purchased the -9. He did the acceptance flights, then developed TWA's training for the airplane. In 1967 there was a mid-air in Urbana, Ohio in which a DC-9 collided with a Baron killing all aboard both aircraft. He was pulled off the line and sent to Ohio to be part of the crash investigation. I remember going through his box of stuff (he kept everything - big box full of data, testimony transcripts, etc) and it was incredibly interesting and sparked my interest in this. In fact, it was this wreck that caused the speed limits under certain altitudes in certain airpace.
Just would like to hear all the people here chime in - APC is a great learning tool and would love to hear anything on this topic. Thanks in advance.