"The NTSB has done a lot of good work that has
tremendously improved the safety of air travel... and in fairness
to the NTSB, I must point out that this accident was its first big
investigation. I know their procedures have improved in the years
since. But in fairness to the people who died in this accident and
their families, I must also make the point that the NTSB should
admit if mistakes were made. It's the right thing to
do."
Source: Paul Houle, whose initial curiosity
into a 1967 midair collision involving a Piedmont Airlines 727 and
a Cessna 310 evolved into an exhaustive research effort into the
initial NTSB ruling on the accident that the Cessna pilot was to
blame for the loss of 82 lives -- which was perhaps compromised by
the fact the