Hours. [background noises] [inaudible conversations] good morning the. S. Senate committee were having a hearing on the National Transportation safety board investigation and r safety board director. Watchdog ensuring safety is a top priority for the transportation u. S. Department of transportation. Through s investigation into transportation accidents the board makes recommendation that have transformedransportation safety. Ntsb recommendations prompt action to require railroads to use positive control passengers to use seatbelts andd cruise. However the needs to continue to improve safety are ongoing but for instance run a weight near misses and close calls and aviation sector are far too frequent. We simply must do better. East of palestine ive been less than a lacking of the requirementsooking out for these longer trains and improvements. And that is refreshed rating in the drama in pennsylvania or three trains collided but receiving a crisis in the roadways in 2020 when the latest data we have fatalities of the highest since 2005 in my home state fatalities have and 70 in the last decade. So, while all of that is enough to think about, we are urgently in need of ntsb was offering a full strength and operators that we use the expertise to help us for improved safety rate that is why at this committee is passout the aviation bill with the reauthorization of the ntsb. Going to thank you for your hard work and illuminating backlog that we have seen at the ntsb. But clearly you need more investigators on the job to help the faa senate bill advanced by this Committee Also requires the faa finalized their 25 hour constant recording rule also aviation safety inspectors from the faa. These are important reforms will be critical to ntsb house built and sent to the president s desk. But obviously safety concerns of the flying public is probably the main focus of this mornings hearing. Serious questions remain unanswered about alaska flight 1282. We need to be satisfied and manufacturers have strong Quality Controls and the faa oversight is robust. Faa and manufacturers in my opinion should listen to machinist and professional engineers who are asking for a stronger Safety Culture to improve the certification and production quality. We need to do everyth sure theyt intimidated on the job to keep the line moving. Members have been briefed about the accident in this committee will continue to do its oversight role. On february 6, 2024 the ntsb releases p regarding the flight 1282 i appreciate this prompt investigation of the accident. And its predominate findings. The committee continues to be concerned about the deficiencies in Safety Culture. I think probably also articulated or illuminated by the individual report thats required by our and delivered just a few weeks ago. The report implies the boeing facilities may have significant your report to be clear, implies recordkeeping investigatione continues to determine what manufacturing documentation were used to authorized the opening and closingf the left mid exit door plug during rivet rework. In particular we want to know of records that may show why or how it was improperly stalled and what caused the accident at 1282 which raises questions that wl. Whether the documents even exist. These are important issues that we need to the bottom of it. There are a lot of people in the northwest. Not just those who work at boeing but those involved in the aviation culture arod our state. We want to get this right. We look forward to asking questions about this. We also, in my opinion, need to continue the final report on east of palestine. It helped formed brown in advance of the Railway Safety act. Needs to include speeding up phaseout of legacy tank cars that carried Flammable Liquids require railroads to provide states with information about hazardous materials. And we need to pass the senate bill that highlights many of these things. Make sure the ntsb is fully operatio a capable of doing this investigative job. Thank you and now will turn to the Ranking Member. Thank you madam chair. Here a comprehensive discussion about the work of the National Transportation safety board or ntsb. I want to thank chairwoman jennifer for being here today. And for the strong leadership at the ntsb. I certainly recognize that im sure my colleagues here would agree the magnitude of the task of investigating complex and tragic incidents early and impartial. Ntsb arduous task is only made more difficult by the lack of a full board a situation help the senate soon rectifies. Naturally, we all want answers from an investigation as soon as possible. For proper analysis takes i am grateful for your work madam chair, and for the work of all the members and staff at the ntsb. Ntsb serves important function of identifying causes of transportation. Making recommendations to prevent similar future ones. The transportation operators learn from ntsbs investigations and recommendations. The ntsb does not have a Regulatory Authority over transportation safety. Where the ntsb recommendations are considered by congress, or voluntarily depends on the credibility of the board to conduct thorough investigations without prejudice to a conclusion. Maintaining the credibility is essential. I look forward to hearing from chairwomanbout the investigation before the ntsb. Americans are rightly concerned about the deep pressurization effects on Alaska Airlines flight 1282. Concerned about runway incursions and the derailment and east of palestine, ohio last year. I recognize the may not and should not guess what the boards recommendations will be. Or discuss nonpublic information from these investigations. However hope to hear about the status of this investigation and preliminary information thats appropriate to share this relatedly, i plan to ask the chair about a recurring problem with congressional oversight of transportation incidents that are concurrently under investigation at the ntsb. In some cases, Companies Party to ntsb■w i■1nvestigations have confidentiality agreement regulations as restricting what those companies can provide to members of congress and when. That is of course incorrect. Administrative Congress Constitutional power of inquiry. I look forward to hearing the chairs opinion on the matter in the former congressionalta herself. This Committee Also needs to needs herebyntsb authorizing st. As well as the reauthorization proposal the ntsb submitted to congress. Members of this committee must have the opportunity comprehensively examine ntsb as an agency. And to contemplate any changes to the ntsb authorizing statute. Let me be clear. Ntsb is Critical Agency that does vital work. I support that work. And im having to engage in a thorough discussion about its authorities, in addition to defending and needs. Without that discussion, i think the senate would be failing to meet its responsibilities at a importance of the ntsb should not be clearer. Fortunately, todays hearing is an opportunity to begin such a discussion. Thank you santa cruz. And now it will hear from the chair, thank you for being here. We look forward to thank you and good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to appear today, to discuss ntsb, our needs, our challenges in a critical safety measure. Throughout a typical year ntsb works out about 2200 domestic and foreign to 50 foreign cases. We expect the number of cases annually to remain high and continue to increase in complexity. Some■e investigation understandably get more public attention than others. But all our investigations are critical to improving safety. Committee have a particular interest in the highest profile investigation. The boeing 737 night Norfolk SouthernTrain Derailment in east policy and. These investigations are critically important and i am happy to answer as many questions as i can. But i doing to emphasize these investigations are theres still a lot of work to do to understand what led to these events. Unlike the alaska 1282 investigation to dock observant observedthe public on east pale. They contain over 6400 pages of factual information which i can discuss at length. With that said, these are just two of the 1200 active open investigations in 47 states and puerto rico. In addition to the 140 open foreign investigations in over 50 countries. We owe it to the families ofosee communities where events occurred traveling public what happened in all these tragedies to keep them from recent natural gas field home explosion and fires in mississippi that in our home. For the multivehicle crash in ohio and number 14 of last year which included eight motor coach carrying High School Band members and killed six people. For the hot air balloon accident on generate 14th that killed four. However ntsb has completed many complex investigation and issued safety recommendations to prevent this kind is tragedies. There are currently over 1000 open safety recommendations that we have made a crop every mode of transportation. In 2022 and 2023 we issued 159 new recommendations enclosed 261. Of those closed, 80 were closed acceptable. Meaning the recipients took action to implement the safety recommendation. This success rate demonstrates the value of our recommendation and we appreciate the efforts of recipients to address them. The ntsb is also pleased that this committee has included provisions of faa reauthorization for that work will save lives and we thank you for. We also appreciate the committees to authorize as part of the faa bill are authorization expired at the end we are incredibly grateful for the one of 48 million and that 24 appropriation we are a small agency relative to our partners as the numbers show our impact is profound and disproportionate. I like to say we are a small agency was a big voice and everyone at the ntsb plays a Critical Role in achieving our mission to make transpoat safer. Continues as the world a preeminent safety agency, the Gold Standard and develop recommenda■8tions that event safety change without delay we need more resources that funding in the out years as proposed in the senate bill would frankly devastate our agency. In fact it is unprecedented reverse the progress made on enhancing and preparing our workforce for emerging challenges and improving the timeliness of our investigation. As you work through conflict i strongly urge continued support for the ability to carry out a critical Safety Mission now and in the future. Before close unmentioned loss earlier. Loss is not new to the ntsb we know all too well how fragile and precious life is when it hits home and hits us hard reminds us once again what is truly important, our relationships with each other. Ntsb is in the morning this week. From the sudden death of our director of safety captain morgan turow. He began his career in 2003 as a canonical operations investigator. Elected 2007 to serve as vice vicepresident of marine investigations for Princess Cruises and return to the ntsb in 2010. 2014 he became chief investigations in our office of marine safety. Three years later he was promoted to Deputy Director and then director in 2021. Morgan was a marine safety expert here is a proud graduate of the u. S. Merchant Marine Academy serves as a licensed deck officer in closing master on a variety of commercial vessels he was an incredible advocate for improving safety on our waterways. His last words to me on were, im surrounded by my family. Morgan was very close to his family. We are fortunate to have been part of his. He was a incredible person. He was so kind and thoughtful. A mentor, a teacher and a friend to so many of us at the n■ctsb. The coast guard and he will be missed. As a mom, i cannot imagine a greater loss than the loss of your child. I spoke to morgans mom yesterday and she said there will be a piece of her missing forever. Deepest condolences to morgans mom catherine. Morgans father, brian and his older brother, jon. I also want to extend my deepest condolences to all of my colleagues at the ntsb for such a tragic loss, thank you. Thank you chair and thank you for remembering him this way at the hearing. ■ nk you represent N Organization that is all about the culture of those inspectors. You find it doing incredibly important work and weythe resul. We do not get to see the basis. They do not come before us. We are so sorry for ntsb loss and this individual. Im going to let my colleague senator fischer asked the first question that ill come back to me in a minute. Thank you chair for being let me senator fischer asked the first question that ill come back to me in a minute. Thank you chair for being here today. I appreciate it. Last year they Burn University of lincoln cpu electric pickup truck to study whether current highway guard rails, adequately protect against the growing number of those heavier tvs that are on our road. At 68 Miles Per Hour the 7000pound electric truck tour through therier without offering any protection to the traveling public or reduction in speed. I have recently heard from First Responders that are also concerned about to electric vehicle fires. 40 of Fire Fighters have never haev fire safety training. I have heard of instances of more water needed to extinguish vehicle batteries the increase in the toxic gases from the lithium batteries. What has ntsb found in its investigations on the eat the crashes that are unique compared to internal combustion engines . Have you begun to condense the data so it can educate us on whats happening . Yes, just a few years ago issued a report on the risk of lithium ion battery fires to First Responders under second into seconre truck operators. We had done a number of investigations there was significant risk to the First Responders in terms of Standard Energy in the vehicle the battery and the components itself. The amount o work it took to extinguish the fires on the potential for shock to Emergency Responders themselves. In fact we did in investigation and mountain view, california where the First Responders had to reach out to the auto manufacturers to ask them to come to the scene of the crash they were lucky they were 3 miles aw. If you think about volunteer firefighters who may be in a rural area that is not something readilyheir ability to get people on scene. In this particular in result reignition several times of the electric vehicle as we have with others not just on the scene but also on the tow truck in five days later t itself. They are a significant risk in terms of battery fire they are significant risk forme responders. While we have not done in investigation involving electric vehicles and the weight i have raised a red flag numerous times to say it is an impact on safety pretty mention the excellent work done by the university of nebraska. Our guard rails the crash attenuators are read up to 5000 pounds. Many of these vehicles but the 10,000 pounds. One vehicle the lithiumion battery alone weighs the same weight as a honda civic, 3000 pounds. That has an impact on safety. Not just on infrastructure, making sure people in the vehicles are safe after there is a crash. That vehicle to vehicle, to those outside the vehicle and as i sit vehicle to infrastructure. Cooks it would to thank you for your comment. He talked about the weights of these vehicles. Currently have governmental regulations that she use of the mail crash test dummies in vehicle testing. It does not mandate any inclusion of female crash test dummies. This is despite the data thats out there. And the 73 higher likelihood of serious injury among women who were in these vehicles crashes compared to men. Given the statistics that are out there on a regular vehicles. Not even on evs with exponential increase in the we dont you think we need to look at female crash test dummies as well so w can start to gather data there . Do you have any information on the different sized vehicles women may choose to drive compared to men . Women typically pick a larger size vehicles for utility vehicles. Minivans, the larger vehicles whether its an electric vehicle or gas fuel vehicle we are seeing increasing sizes across the industry. Crash test dummies right now for adults are based back to the 70s based on an adult mail that is invoice 175 pounds. That is not applicable to most females. The seatbelt comes across my neck. It was until i had my most recent one i put the seed it comes down to that has our stature of different tf people. Im really thankful for your work in this area very pleased with the report that came out as a result of that work. I do taupe takes up on that takes the recommendation seriously to really look at the different types of people who are operating in our vehicles to ensure safety. Is not just the safety of the individuals but making sure those vehicles are structured so they are protecting the crashworthiness of the vehicle and protecting those inside it. Thank you very much and i hope you gather the statistics on the threat that our First Responders faced with these vehicles you make that available. Yes. I will make sure your staff gets a report and i am happy at any time to commit and growth of the issues. Thank you very much. Thank you. Senator cruz said. Thank you chair. This committee is a mess get transportation incidents remained important derailments in East Palestine, ohio to on on alaskan air flight 1282. A common refrain from parties to ntsb investigations is that they lead advance of approval prior to providing documented information to members of congress. Madam chair, is that true . That is not true. As you know this six City Committee has oversight authority. Does the ntsb confidentiality agreement with parties