I'm reminded of Ethiopian Airlines 409, which went down after taking off from Beirut, Lebanon. Not much information was forthcoming from this investigation, which was headed up by Lebanon.

Just found this quote on the matter:

 

"We have an interest in making [the investigation] transparent and credible - said Yopie Hidayat, Indonesian vice-president Boediono's spokesman - and so it will be under the control of Indonesian institutions. Russia will only provide support".

 

Al

 

So that is certainly Russia and Indonesia, but since there are a lot of companies from all around the globe involved in the SSJ's construction, it does make you wonder whether the AAI international agreements set down in Annex 13 cover that, or if they might have to be altered in order to cover the fact that aircraft construction and parts manufacturing is now very often dispersed around the globe.

 

The State of Design and the State of Manufacture have the right to appoint accredited representatives, and also may request the State of Design or Manufacture of powerplant or major components appoint accredited representatives.

 

scott s.

.

Yup, but that's only a request those with rights can make, and not a right for those component and sub assembly makers.

 

Al

To quote Lev from the film Armagedon:

 

Lev: It's stuck, yes?

Watts: Back off! You don't know the components!

Lev: Components. American components, Russian Components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!

The Indonesian NTSC publishes all their accident investigation reports online here: http://www.dephub.go.id/knkt/ntsc_aviation/aaic.htm so I don't think transparency will be the issue in this case.

 

Legally the State of Occurrence is always in charge of an investigation (in international waters the State of Registry), though they can always ask a different State to run the investigation.

 

The States of Registry, Operator, Design and Manufacture may all appoint accredited representatives who get to participate fully in the investigation (along with their advisers, which will include experts proposed the the operator and by the organizations responsible for the type design and for the final assembly).

 

States having suffered fatalities or serious injuries to their citizens may appoint an expert who may visit the scene of the accident, assist with parts of the investigation related to citizens of the State in question (e.g. victim identification, questioning of citizens of that State), and receive all factual information. However they do not have the right to participate in analysis sessions (or other activities like sim testing, etc.)

 

The State of Occurrence is usually pretty clear cut. The State of Design and Manufacture these days not so much. With Boeing it's easy, because wherever the components are made the company responsible for the type design (i.e. filing for the type certificate) and for the final assembly is quite obviously American. For Airbus stuff is a bit more murky though, since they have final assembly lines in more than one country.

 

For those who are interested, the full text of Annex 13 is available here: http://www.airsafety.com.au/trinvbil/C619icao.pdf

 

Also, since people are starting to use the b-word, it's good to re-iterate article 3.1: "The sole objective of the investigation of an accident or incident shall be the prevention of accidents and incidents. It is not the purpose of this activity to apportion blame or liability."