anjinoo7 said:
I was curious; we in the Air Force have two separate investigations. One called a Safety investigation and a separate Accident investigation. The Safety investigation is published however the Accident investigation is not. I had a buddy fly his plane into the ground in 29 Palms a couple years ago and never found out why. Anyone have any advice?
Within a few hours, all Naval Aviation mishaps are assigned an "Aviation Mishap Board" (AMB). The AMB is convened by the authority that "owns" the aircraft(s) involved. It could be a squadron, group, or wing. If the mishap "cross-decks" (ie: involves aircraft from two different units), the highest common "owner" makes the call.
The senior officer of the AMB must be senior to the most senior pilot/operating crewmember involved in the mishap.
At least one member of the AMB must be a school-trained ASO ("Aviation Safety Officer"). In the USMC it's a secondary MOS.
There are typically 5 members of each AMB, but the convening authority can assign more. They have access to any experts necessary to complete the report.
All AMB reports are submitted through the chain-of-command, with each reviewing authority adding endorsements. The two archives for every USMC mishap are DCS/Air (Deputy Chief of Staff - Air) a 3-star at HQMC...and BuWeps (The Navy Bureau of Weapons).
I have no clue how to get a copy or even a summary of a mishap report.
The other possible investigation that sometimes occurs with a mishap is a JAG Manual investigation. It is required if there is a non-aviation element that costs the government money. Any commanding officer (squadron, group, wing) can require a JAG investigation if there is an issue of "Line Of Duty".