The federal government shutdown has canceled a carefully planned and critical meeting between Alaska aviators, air cargo carriers, businesses and federal and state safety regulators.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Alaska office personnel have been furloughed without pay, and until further notice, due to a gridlocked Congress that failed to fund the U.S. government last week. The NTSB is charged by Congress with overseeing every civil aviation accident in the U.S. The agency is also the principal sponsor of the Alaska Aviation Disaster Response Seminar, which had been scheduled to take place on Monday and Tuesday in Anchorage.
The Alaska Air Carriers Association announced the cancellation on Friday.
"We will be rescheduling the seminar and are currently looking for dates within the month of November or December. As soon as we have a new date, we will resend out a new invitation for the seminar. We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause," Michael Crook, an NTSB Disaster Operations coordinator, said via email Friday, adding that the NTSB remained committed to providing the seminar but that agency employees were not authorized to travel until a federal budget resolution had been achieved.