NTSB accident report lookup: finding any report since 1948
The NTSB investigates civil aviation accidents and publishes everything — factual reports, analysis, probable cause. It's a remarkable public record. It's also locked behind a query interface (CAROL) that experienced pilots publicly joke about needing "the secret handshake" to use, and whose public search doesn't even reach the oldest decades of the file.
Here's how the record is organized, and how to search all of it — back to 1948 — the way you'd describe the accident to another pilot.
What's in an NTSB report
A completed investigation file typically contains the factual narrative (what happened, in detail), the analysis, the probable cause finding, aircraft information including airframe hours and last inspection, pilot certificates and experience, weather, and injury/damage classifications. Preliminary reports post first with basic facts; the final analysis follows.
Searching in plain words
AvDB's NTSB source takes the same any-order search as the registry: tail numbers, makes and models, cities and states, years, report numbers, and severity words all work as terms. “SR22 OH” lists every Cirrus accident in Ohio, newest first, severity badged. “Fatal Mooney 1967” does exactly what it says — and yes, 1967 is in there; AvDB's file runs back to 1948, beyond what the NTSB's own public query surfaces.
- 1
Pick the NTSB source
Tap the source pill and choose NTSB — the search box hints take tail number, make/model, location, or date.
- 2
Describe the accident
Any order: “fatal Cessna 210 Colorado”, “N1703”, “Xenia 2016”, a report number if you have one.
- 3
Open the full report
Summary, factual, probable cause, analysis, pilot experience, and the owner at the time — with the accident site on a map and the nearest airport computed.
The details AvDB adds to the record
Two joins make the reports more useful than the raw file. Each accident links to what the aircraft was — the ICAO type resolves to the encyclopedia, so “what even is a BE33?” is one tap. And each report shows who owned the aircraft at the time of the accident, from historical records — not today's registrant, which is what a plain registry join would wrongly show you.
For anyone following an active investigation, favoriting the aircraft in AvDB puts it on your Change Log — when a new record posts against that tail, you'll see it.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find an NTSB report for a specific crash?+
Search any combination you know — tail number, model, city, state, year — in AvDB's NTSB source. If it made the news, the tail number from coverage is the fastest key.
How far back do NTSB records go?+
The board's files reach back to 1948 (predating the modern NTSB itself). AvDB searches the full span — the NTSB's public query only reaches partway.
Are NTSB reports free to access?+
Yes — they're public records. AvDB includes NTSB search in the app with free searches to start.
What do the severity badges mean?+
Injury level (Fatal, Serious, Minor) and aircraft damage (Destroyed, Substantial, Minor) — the two classifications every report carries, surfaced as color-coded badges on each result row.
Run it in AvDB
The whole federal record, one search box
Every lookup in this guide is a single search in AvDB — free to download, with free searches every month.