Just realized the official report on the 1979 DC-10 crash in Chicago lists a different number of eyewitnesses than the original transcripts.

I was reading through the NTSB documents online last night, and the final summary says 12 people on the ground saw the engine separate. But the initial interview logs from the week after the crash show 17 separate accounts. That's a drop of five witnesses between the field notes and the published record. Has anyone else dug into the witness count for major accidents and found similar gaps?

3 comments

3 Comments

derekward1mo ago

I remember reading a book about accident investigations that talked about this. The author pointed out how common it is for witness counts to get trimmed. They cited the TWA 800 crash, where dozens of people reported seeing a streak of light, but the official count of those statements was later consolidated. It seems like investigators sometimes group similar accounts or dismiss ones they find less reliable before the final report. Your find on the DC-10 is a perfect example of that process in action. It makes you wonder what details get left on the cutting room floor.

paulw8716d ago

But what if trimming the noise actually helps find the real cause faster?

kim7271mo ago

Yeah, that's pretty messed up.