After the accident – Working with the NTSB What every air tour operator should know. By Michael Benton When the unthinkable happens and an accident occurs, your team has two jobs: respond with compassion and work within the investigative process. In US aviation operations, that means the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) may soon be involved. How you prepare before the accident, and how you show up afterward, will define not only the investigation but your company’s credibility, culture, and future. The First 48 Hours Accidents hit hard. Lives are changed, emotions run high, and yet the investigation begins immediately. In those first hours, records are pulled and secured, and your team is asked to answer tough questions while still processing the event. It’s a moment in which preparation, or lack thereof, is revealed. The first 48 hours after an accident move more quickly than anyone expects. Investigators arrive and the on-scene work starts. This typically includes field examination of wreckage and records and possibly interviews of survivors and family members. All of this happens at the same time. Your team may be in shock, but the process doesn’t wait. Every weakness in preparation is exposed in those first two days. If your emergency response plan (ERP), training, and communication aren’t second nature, you’ll be improvising under pressure, and missteps will last long after the scene is cleared. This is when disciplined preparation pays off: documented processes, drills, checklists, and defined responsibilities will prevent you from compounding the crisis. What Operators Need to Know The NTSB owns the scene. Once on-site, the NTSB decides who participates. Through “party status,” the Board allows select organizations to assist as technical experts, not as advocates. If granted party status, your representatives must bring expertise and professionalism. Remember: party status is a privilege, not a right. The FAA plays two roles. FAA representatives will support the NTSB investigation, but they also have a separate, enforcement responsibility. Know the distinction and prepare your people accordingly. Your ERP is the blueprint. Practice it. Print it. Update it. A well-worn ERP can turn chaos into coordinated action for the whole process, from your initial response to family assistance and even filling out NTSB Form 6120, the Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report. The go-team selection is crucial. The technical experts you choose must be the team members best suited to serve on scene. They must have the experience and the ability to contribute factually, stay composed under pressure, and respect the boundaries of the process. Information discipline matters. Everything is evidence and may be used as part of the investigation. Be prepared to provide items such as aircraft and pilot records, emails, texts, audio, video, flight data monitoring data, and so on. A single trusted spokesperson is essential to establish clear channels of communication for media, staff, and families. Leadership can help or hurt. One of the quickest ways to damage credibility is when leaders try to inappropriately insert themselves into the technical investigation. The best role for leadership is visible support, not technical representation. Select your experts for the investigation and let other leaders focus on the rest of your team, family members, and organizational continuity. Senior leadership arguing with investigators does more harm than good. In a crisis, humility earns trust and ego erodes it. The security of “no accidents” is a fallacy. A spotless safety record often hides more than it reveals. Too many operators treat “no accidents” as proof of safety, when in reality it can mean hazards aren’t being reported. Underreporting creates a false sense of security and robs leadership of the chance to fix real problems. True safety culture is measured by what gets reported. If you aren’t hearing about near misses, small errors, and operational risks, it’s not because they don’t exist; it’s because your team doesn’t feel safe enough to speak up about them. Insurance underwriters are watching. Another reality: insurance underwriters are paying close attention. After an accident, they don’t just assess the event itself; they evaluate your company’s response. Do you demonstrate transparency, proactive change, and accountability, or do you deny and deflect? The answer shapes not only future premiums but whether you’ll be seen as a trusted operator in the industry. Building on Real-World Lessons At this week’s VAI Air Tour Safety Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, J.C. “Murph” Murphy, director of operations for Safari Helicopters, will talk about the lessons his company learned after experiencing a fatal accident in 2019. His reflections on weather decision-making, cultural blind spots, and the weight of the NTSB process are powerful reminders of what’s at stake. Together, our stories, which will also be presented at the conference, form two sides of the same coin: one conveys how the accident investigation process feels; the other explains how to be ready for it. Three Things to Do Now Pressure-test your readiness for an NTSB investigation with three simple checks: • Pull out your ERP: when was the last drill, and did it include everyone who’ll be involved in the investigation? • Ask your pilots and staff: if something feels unsafe, do they believe they can stop a flight without repercussions? • Walk through your first call after the event: who picks up the phone to notify the NTSB and the FAA of the accident, and do they know exactly what information to have ready? You never want to be on the phone with the NTSB. But if you are, your job is clear: be organized, transparent, cooperative, and ready to improve. Preparation today is the only way to protect your team, your passengers, and your future reputation. Michael Benton is president and CEO of VyClimb Consulting, a global aviation operations and safety consultancy. He will present “After the Accident – Working with the NTSB” on Oct. 22 at the 2025 VAI Air Tour Safety Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
