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Accident/Safety Investigation Board (AIB/SIB)


Ryder1587

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Does anyone know the Air Force, well military, definition and difference between a mishap and an accident? We found out about the types of mishaps but that is about it. It's for a class here and our Captain is telling us he doesn't know of one but the teacher is riding our ass about it. Any help would be appreciated.

[ 20. September 2006, 20:57: Message edited by: Toro ]

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Originally posted by Ryder1587:

Does anything know the Air Force...

Although I do consider myself a someone and not something...

Perhaps he is referring to the difference between an ACCIDENT investigation board (AIB) and Safety Investigation board (SIB). JAG runs the AIB, I believe, while SIB is run by safety folks for mishap prevention purposes. One should not be punished according to the SIB findings, while one can be punished under the AIB.

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SIB gets first crack, and then AIB. SIB puts together a report, TABS A-Z. TABS A-S are factual only, releasable and are given to AIB when SIB is complete. SIB is accomplished so that we do not do the same thing again...hopefully. TABS T-Z contain crew testimony, SIB findings, engineer testimony, etc. They are privileged information so that hopefully those involved can admit their mistakes if they know that they made a mistake, or if the board does determine crew fault. I am not quite sure what all happens with the AIB since I am a safety person. You would need a lawyer, or someone who has been through one, to respond as to what the AIB actually does with the investigation.

But again, unless criminal activity is suspected or discovered, the SIB will go first with crash scene, evidence, etc.

As far as what board they go through (if you are referring to mishap class), that is all based on dollar cost or aircraft damage/crew injury.

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On a purely semantic level, a former chief of Air Force safety once told me these incidents should all be called mishaps, because "accident" implies that whatever happened was unavoidable. There's always a reason.

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He isn't the only one that feels this way, but I am not one of those people. Sure, I agree, any accident was probably avoidable at some point, and there is room for improvement in the Air Force. However, until humans stop flying airplanes, humans will crash airplanes. It is unfortunate, but we are human, therefore we are fallible. One has to hope that on the day you make a mistake, others catch it. These mishaps happen when all the mistakes align at the same time (Swiss cheese theory of investigation).

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  • 3 years later...

SIB gets first crack, and then AIB. SIB puts together a report, TABS A-Z. TABS A-S are factual only, releasable and are given to AIB when SIB is complete. SIB is accomplished so that we do not do the same thing again...hopefully. TABS T-Z contain crew testimony, SIB findings, engineer testimony, etc. They are privileged information so that hopefully those involved can admit their mistakes if they know that they made a mistake, or if the board does determine crew fault. I am not quite sure what all happens with the AIB since I am a safety person. You would need a lawyer, or someone who has been through one, to respond as to what the AIB actually does with the investigation.

But again, unless criminal activity is suspected or discovered, the SIB will go first with crash scene, evidence, etc.

As far as what board they go through (if you are referring to mishap class), that is all based on dollar cost or aircraft damage/crew injury.

Way late, but FWIW, the AIB's basic goal is to determine if monetary compensation or criminal blame should be pursued by the military.

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If you've got access to the SIBs, read both the SIB and AIB for any particular mishap you're interested in. Its always interesting to see the different conclusions the two boards make. Sometimes, the differences are slight. Other times, the two reports are night and day. Some of the difference is the quality of testimony to the two boards (safety privilige vs lawyers in the room). Probably a much bigger difference is that it is very difficult to conclude *exactly* what happened on a particular mishap. Given mostly the same evidence, there's an entire spectrom of conclusions that can be made about the causes of a mishap. A/SIB reports represent that particular board's best judgement of the the cause of a mishap, but they don't capture well the board's confidence or Pk of their judgement...know that when you read and read critically.

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Is there a link where full reports can be accessed, as opposed to the executive summary for AIBs?

Yes. If you have a good reason to read the reports, go see your local squadron/group Flight Safety Officer. He/She can access the report and you can read it. If you're not in, or associated with, the AF, then you'll need to file a Freedom Of Information Act request with Public Affairs. Have fun with that.

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  • 5 months later...

If you think it is OK to copy/paste the SIB or AIB here you should have your balls cut off.

If you have acess through your unit safety guy, please go read it.

AIB for B-2 Crash posted here: B2 Crashes in Guam

AIB for F-22 Crash posted here: F-22 Edwards Crash

AIB for DHC-8 Crash posted here: Report: Failure to Refuel Caused Crash

When released, the AIB for the C-17 crash at Elmendorf will be posted here.

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If you think it is OK to copy/paste the SIB or AIB here you should have your balls cut off.

If you have acess through your unit safety guy, please go read it.

Here's your standard SIB vs. AIB training that you get at least once a year as part of your required privilege training as a flyer (and probably closer to quarterly) and every time a mishap is discussed on baseops.net.

The results of the Safety Investigation Board are privileged information that is restricted to USAF personnel with a need to know (mostly flyers and MX). A SIB is conducted by mostly flyers and MX personnel.

The results of the AIB are public record and anyone can read them. An AIB is usually conducted by one or two flyers/MX folks along with a JAG representative.

Log it.

  • Upvote 1
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AIB for B-2 Crash posted here: B2 Crashes in Guam

AIB for F-22 Crash posted here: F-22 Edwards Crash

AIB for DHC-8 Crash posted here: Report: Failure to Refuel Caused Crash

When released, the AIB for the C-17 crash at Elmendorf will be posted here.

One step further:

http://usaf.aib.law.af.mil/

I appologize for stirring this shit storm, I didn't read the post close enough to realize it was just the SIB that had been released and not the AIB.

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The difference between an AIB and SIB

Direct quote:

The SIB Report is prepared in two parts. The first is purely factual, and the second is privileged, meaning it is to be used solely for mishap prevention and is restricted from release outside the Air Force. The factual part is passed to the accident investigation board and is incorporated in that report in its entirety. The privileged part contains testimony taken under promise of confidentiality and a record of the SIB's deliberations. Additionally, certain medical material is included in this latter part to protect individuals' privacy.

After the report is approved, if there are fatalities in the mishap, the families of the deceased or any injured victims will be briefed privately prior to public release. If a press conference is held, the AIB President serves as the Air Force spokesperson and is available to answer questions. The AIB report is releasable to the public.

The SIB is out, not the AIB. Further, not all AIBs are released to the public.

Edited by HercDude
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Butters, sorry for the confusion. I have no idea what the status of the AIB is, nor should I. The SIB is complete and if you have access or get ahold of your safety guys, you can give it a look over.

Chalk it up to my poor reading comprehension.

I really think people can learn things from just about any accident no matter your airframe.

And FWIW a direct quote from my AMIC insturctor: "you want nothing to do with an AIB, I'd rather deal with a crash in the deepest swamp than serve on an AIB"

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Butters, sorry for the confusion. I have no idea what the status of the AIB is, nor should I. The SIB is complete and if you have access or get ahold of your safety guys, you can give it a look over.

Chalk it up to my poor reading comprehension.

I really think people can learn things from just about any accident no matter your airframe.

And FWIW a direct quote from my AMIC insturctor: "you want nothing to do with an AIB, I'd rather deal with a crash in the deepest swamp than serve on an AIB"

Happens to all of us. I was just asking for clarification. I am TDY and the nearest AF base is over 6,000 miles away. Oh, and yes, you want nothing to do with an AIB. Lawyers crawling up your ass the entire time. It sucks.

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