CFS 2026 Coming Soon: A Look Inside NATCA’s Role in Major NTSB Investigations

When a serious accident happens in the National Airspace System, NATCA’s air safety investigators are often working behind the scenes long before the public ever hears the findings. Ahead of CFS 2026, we’re publishing a closer look at how NATCA earns a seat at the table for investigations into incidents like the DCA midair collision and the LaGuardia runway collision — and why that seat matters for every controller in the system. Read the full story on natca.org, then hear more on this and other topics at Communicating For Safety. Can’t make it to Las Vegas? Watch it live on the stream at natca.org/stream

Behind the Investigation: NATCA’s Air Safety Investigators and the NTSB Party Process

When a serious aviation accident or incident occurs in the National Airspace System (NAS), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) leads the investigation, but they don’t work alone. Through a long-standing mechanism known as “party status,” the NTSB brings in outside organizations with direct, technical knowledge relating to the event to help determine what happened and why. When the investigation involves looking into air traffic control, the NTSB may involve the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and its team of Air Safety Investigators (ASIs).

What Party Status Means

Party status is a formal designation the NTSB grants to organizations that can provide relevant technical expertise to an investigation. As the exclusive representative of the nation’s air traffic controllers, NATCA requests and is generally granted party status on most investigations where the NTSB seeks to understand associated air traffic control services. Once granted, a NATCA representative sits on the investigative working group, which will also include a representative from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) because the FAA is automatically included as a party by law. Together, the team will gather and review data, conduct interviews, and document findings. 

It’s an important distinction: the NATCA ASI on an investigative workgroup is not there to represent an individual controller. That role is filled separately by a local representative. Instead, the ASI serves as a subject matter expert to the investigation itself as someone who can translate equipment limitations and displays, phraseology, staffing patterns, and procedures into the operational context investigators need. NATCA’s ASI Committee coordinates this work nationally, training and supporting investigators and reporting on their participation across dozens of cases each year.

A Relationship Built on Trust

According to NATCA ASI, Dan Carrico (ORD), that arrangement works because it is built on years of professionalism.

“NATCA ASIs are instrumental in providing air traffic expertise during an NTSB investigation process,” he said. “We work closely with the NTSB throughout the investigation process. This close working relationship was built on years of trust and mutual respect in each other’s common goals. ASIs and NTSB investigators share the same resolve for determining probable cause with the goal of eliminating future occurrences.”

Ultimately, the NTSB determines probable cause and formal recommendations, but NATCA’s ASIs and other party members help ensure the facts and data are represented well in their findings to ensure the best possible outcome. Dan pointed to the investigation into the January 29, 2025, midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in which an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet collided, as an example of that process reaching its conclusion. The extensive investigative work and collaboration done by Dan and other NATCA representatives involved in the investigation helped uncover many important opportunities to strengthen the NAS. 

“As a NATCA ASI, I have seen this process come to fruition with the closing of the DCA midair investigation,” Dan said. “Currently, this same investigatory process is underway in the LGA runway collision, and initial indications are that several positive safety recommendations are forthcoming.”

On the Ground at LaGuardia

That LGA investigation began on March 23, 2026, when an Air Canada Express regional jet collided with a Port Authority fire truck on a runway at LaGuardia Airport shortly after landing. The NTSB deployed a “Go Team” and immediately granted NATCA party status. NATCA ASI, Cory Davids (ZNY), who served as NATCA’s Party Coordinator for the investigation, described what that additional ASI role looks like in practice.

“Serving as NATCA’s Party Coordinator following the collision at LaGuardia gave me a firsthand appreciation for the importance of NATCA’s role in the NTSB investigative process,” Cory said. “LaGuardia is an incredibly complex operating environment, and understanding an event like this requires more than reviewing recordings, transcripts, and procedures. Having NATCA represented ensures all involved investigators receive accurate information and have access to controllers and subject matter experts who can provide the operational context necessary to understand not only what happened, but why.”

Cory also emphasized how the party system brings together expertise from across the industry to build a complete picture of an event. “One of the most valuable parts of the process is working side-by-side with representatives and experts from across the aviation industry, with each party bringing a different perspective and area of expertise,” Cory said. “Together, we work to piece together the entire picture of an event. As Party Coordinator, my responsibility was to ensure NATCA provided the right information and the right subject matter experts to that effort. Our ASIs bring firsthand knowledge of air traffic procedures, equipment, phraseology, workload, and real-world operations, helping ensure the controller perspective is accurately understood as everyone works toward the same goal: identifying lessons learned and making the National Airspace System safer.”

A Shared Mission

Investigators have already confirmed several key facts in the LaGuardia case. As with the DCA investigation, the NTSB’s process is expected to take a year or more, with NATCA’s ASIs continuing to work alongside investigators and other parties, thoughtfully collecting and documenting every possible bit of data. 

That ongoing collaboration is really the point. Whether it’s closing out a finished investigation or contributing to one still underway, NATCA’s Air Safety Investigators exist to make sure the controller’s perspective is represented accurately and constructively. Being an ASI requires us to have a strong, varied background of experience, as well as confidence in our subject matter expertise, and communication skills to ensure all investigators truly understand what they are looking at. Parties and NTSB investigators don’t always agree, but we remain a partner in the process. It’s a relationship built, as Dan put it, on “years of trust and mutual respect,” all in service of the same goal: NATCA, the NTSB, and the rest of the aviation industry are ultimately working toward a safer National Airspace System.