---
kind: "section"
citation: "49 U.S.C. § 1112"
title: "49"
title_heading: "Transportation"
number: "1112"
heading: "Special boards of inquiry on air transportation safety"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/49/1112"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Other Government Agencies"
  - "Chapter 11 — National Transportation Safety Board"
  - "Subchapter II — Organization and Administrative"
---

# §1112. Special boards of inquiry on air transportation safety

- (a) **Establishment.—** If an [accident](/usc/49/1101.md?p=a-1) involves a substantial question about public safety in air transportation, the National Transportation Safety Board may establish a special board of inquiry composed of—
  - (1) one member of the Board acting as chairman; and
  - (2) 2 members representing the public, appointed by the President on notification of the establishment of the special board of inquiry.
- (b) **Qualifications and Conflicts of Interest.—** The public members of a special board of inquiry must be qualified by training and experience to participate in the inquiry and may not have a pecuniary interest in an aviation enterprise involved in the [accident](/usc/49/1101.md?p=a-1) to be investigated.
- (c) **Authority.—** A special board of inquiry has the same authority that the Board has under this chapter.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 103–272, § 1(d), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 747.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 1112 | 49 App.:1443. | Aug. 23, 1958, Pub. L. 85–726, § 703, 72 Stat. 782. |
|  | 49 App.:1655(d) (1st sentence). | Oct. 15, 1966, Pub. L. 89–670, § 6(d) (1st sentence), 80 Stat. 938. |
|  | 49 App.:1903(a)(1)(A). | Jan. 3, 1975, Pub. L. 93–633, § 304(a)(1)(A), 88 Stat. 2168. |

In subsection (c), the words “when convened to investigate an accident certified to it by the National Transportation Safety Board” are omitted as surplus.