Background
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency charged with determining the probable cause of transportation accidents, promoting transportation safety, and assisting victims of transportation accidents and their families. The NTSB provides a fair and impartial adjudicatory process for appeal of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certificate actions and denials, as well as some civil penalty actions through proceedings before the administrative law judges and appellate review of the judges’ decisions. The adjudicatory process is managed by the Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) and General Counsel (GC) offices within NTSB.