National Transportation Safety Board

Low fuel, a hard-to-reach handle to switch gas tanks and modifications to his homemade airplane may have figured in the crash that killed singer John Denver last year, federal investigators said Monday. The National Transportation Safety Board, wrapping up the fact-finding phase of its investigation into the Oct. 12 crash, also confirmed that Denver lacked an aviation medical certificate--a requirement for a valid pilot's license--at the time of the crash.

States should implement a ban on cellphones — even hands-free devices — when driving except in emergency situations, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended Tuesday. The board said the dangers outweighed any benefits to talking or texting while on the road. "It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving," NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said. "No call, no text, no update, is worth a human life. " The recommendation was unanimously agreed to by the five-member board and drew attention to an August 2010 traffic collision on Interstate 44 in Gray Summit, Mo. In that incident, a pickup truck ran into the back of a truck-tractor that had slowed because of a construction zone.

Federal safety officials on Friday recommended stricter maintenance and inspection programs for firefighting aircraft after concluding that aging metal caused three fatal air tanker accidents in the last 10 years, including one in the Sierra Nevada.

A series of weld defects has been found in detailed studies of the high-pressure gas pipeline that exploded last year in a San Bruno neighborhood, killing eight and destroying dozens of homes, federal investigators reported Friday. The spot where the 30-inch line first cracked and failed also has been located, along a seam that ran in the direction of the pipeline. The interim National Transportation Safety Board report does not conclude what caused the 54-year-old transmission line to rupture.

A series of pilot errors caused the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo, N.Y., last year, killing 50 people, but several common aviation industry practices may have led to the mistakes, the National Transportation Safety Board reported Tuesday. NTSB Chairwoman Deborah A.P. Hersman said the pilots' errors showed their "complacency and confusion that resulted in catastrophe." She said she would press the Federal Aviation Administration and Congress to change procedures.

As federal authorities prepare to close out a 16-month investigation of the deadly Chatsworth Metrolink disaster, a key issue remains in dispute: What color was the fateful final signal? The only eyewitnesses to come forward publicly have maintained that the light was green as Metrolink 111 barreled toward a head-on crash with a Union Pacific freight train. And the conductor of the train told investigators that he radioed the Metrolink engineer before leaving Chatsworth station that the signal was green and the train was clear to proceed, records show.

President Reagan will nominate Lemoine Dickinson Jr. to be a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, the White House announced Tuesday.

In dramatic testimony Tuesday, an air traffic controller accepted blame for February's fatal runway collision in Los Angeles and the co-pilot of one plane told how his pilot died in the flaming wreckage. It was the first public appearance by 38-year-old controller Robin Lee Wascher since the accident and the first time she acknowledged publicly that her mistake led to the crash.

The Senate confirmed James E. Hall to chair the National Transportation Safety Board. Hall had been chief of staff to outgoing Sen. Harlan Mathews (D-Tenn.).

President Bush announced Monday that he will nominate James Kolstad as chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Kolstad has been serving as acting chairman since 1988.

Federal regulators Monday issued seven safety recommendations ? six of them labeled urgent ? stemming from the explosion of a natural gas pipeline that killed eight people and destroyed 37 homes in the Bay Area community of San Bruno last September. The urgent recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board call on pipeline operators and regulators in California and the rest of the United States to find and correct any record-keeping deficiencies that could result in pipelines being operated at pressures higher than they were designed to bear.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday issued a series of new safety recommendations based on lessons from the landing of a US Airways plane in the Hudson River last year. Though the board applauded the skill of the flight crew, it said there were problems that could have turned the incident into a tragedy. The Airbus A320 was equipped with inflatable life vests, lifelines and slide rafts, which officials said were crucial to passengers' safe escape.

A series of pilot errors caused the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo, N.Y., last year, killing 50 people, but several common aviation industry practices may have led to the mistakes, the National Transportation Safety Board reported Tuesday. NTSB Chairwoman Deborah A.P. Hersman said the pilots' errors showed their "complacency and confusion that resulted in catastrophe." She said she would press the Federal Aviation Administration and Congress to change procedures.

As federal authorities prepare to close out a 16-month investigation of the deadly Chatsworth Metrolink disaster, a key issue remains in dispute: What color was the fateful final signal? The only eyewitnesses to come forward publicly have maintained that the light was green as Metrolink 111 barreled toward a head-on crash with a Union Pacific freight train. And the conductor of the train told investigators that he radioed the Metrolink engineer before leaving Chatsworth station that the signal was green and the train was clear to proceed, records show.

Federal investigators interviewed the pilot and co-pilot of the Northwest Airlines flight that overshot the Minneapolis airport by 150 miles last week. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway would not provide additional details and said the NTSB would not comment on the substance of the discussions until today at the earliest. Air traffic controllers tried for more than an hour to contact the flight, which later turned around and landed safely. It was en route from San Diego.

A federal administrative law judge has upheld the government's decision to revoke the pilot's license of a veteran aviator who flew in a July 4 celebration in Tehachapi that ended with the fatal crash of a vintage Soviet military jet. Patrick Geraghty, a judge with the National Transportation Safety Board, ruled late Monday in an appeal by Douglas E. Gilliss of Solana Beach, a former Air Force pilot and Vietnam War veteran with years of aviation experience....

Patricia A. Goldman, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Thursday that she is resigning the post. Goldman will become senior vice president for corporate communications for USAir Inc., she said in a statement.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it has recommended design changes in the Boeing 747 jetliner to prevent further structural breakdowns such as those suspected of causing the Japan Air Lines crash that killed 520 people in August.