From my view,  the NTSB for many years was either trying to protect Industry 
from bad publicity - or- they were just being taken advantage of by the Mfg. 
Reps. at accident investigation sites.  The latter may have been the case,  
sort of like Hero Worship or "they want to find the cause more than anyone 
else so they are helping us".
I was working on one accident that was a Major Airline.  The Airline told me 
their Rep. to contact.  I gave him an overview of my findings,  his comment 
was, "have you discussed this with the Manufacture"?  My comment was, "I 
think they already know the same as I do, but I'm not going to get into a 
P----en
contest with them".
Even Airlines, in the past, have thought their reliable source was the MFG.
Maybe Congressman John Duncan Jr. TN, put some heat on them to change their 
style of investigations.  It seems the TWA 800 accident has been more of NTSB 
than other sources, meaning Special Interest.
Politics is a mean thing.  Sometime I will write you about my position as 
Director of Operations for a Certificating Airline in 1946.  I mentioned it 
the other day when we had Coffee but time was limited so I did not go into 
it. Interesting Story though.
The HEAD of the State Republican Party for the State and Harry Truman did not 
get along,  that was our main problem,  plus the guy being an all out Crook.
--- FLAME v1.1
---------------