OldPoleBurner Wrote:
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>snip<

> All discovered information must be
> included in the final report; to maintain total
> transparency and to assure that a complete and
> full context surrounding the incident, is well
> understood.

However, the NTSB can pick and chose what information it "discovers." It tends to form conclusions that are consistent with pre-determined or past theories, which may not include all the actual facts surrounding the incident, thus can skew the findings of the incident and shift fault from one party to another.

An excellent example of this is the NTSB's final report on the RCO fatality that happened in UP's yard at Watsonville Junction, CA, on October 13, 2006. It can be found here: [www.ntsb.gov] Although the NTSB was provided with specific information about the root cause of this incident, NTSB chose to ignore it and instead arrived at the "Probable Cause" shown in its report.

Similar questionable conclusions can be found in other NTSB railroad accident reports. I first noticed it in the agency's report on the Conrail vs. Amtrak collision at Gunpow, MD, that became known as the "Ricky Gates collision."