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as well as past accidents involving the same type of aircraft. Often the manufacturer is given the opportunity to send a representative to the investigation and investigative records can be obtained in discovery proceedings in a few jurisdictions. This fact gathering requires both technical knowledge of aviation and considerable legal skill in discovery procedure. Since leaving the government, it has been my privilege to work with Jack Kennelly in his tireless and skillful quest for information from a foreign airline, where he got everything but the wallpaper in the executive washroom. 

A foreign manufactured aircraft presents a somewhat different problem, but one certainly not insurmountable. Probably the same type of aircraft is owned and operated by some airline in this country. Possibly the manufacturer has offices here and does business within the United States. If the aircraft is operated here, then it would have to receive some sort of certification by our government. Usually, that process is described in a bilateral airworthiness agreement between the two nations. The fact of subsequent U.S. certification opens the avenue to public records of the FAA, which will include a history of maintenance problems and possible U.S. requirements for modifications in the form of "special conditions" imposed at certification or airworthiness directives issues later.

It will be necessary to research the aviation statutes and regulations of the nation of manufacture as well as the airworthiness criteria of the applicable ICAO Annex. This research can sometimes be accomplished by contact with the aviation attaché at the nation's embassy in Washington, but generally it requires at least correspondence with the foreign nation. The only really safe course is to visit the foreign nation to obtain a thorough understanding of their governmental aviation structure. With this knowledge,