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letter.txt
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letter.txt
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National Transportation Safety Board
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Office of the Chief Information Officer
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FOIA Office (CIO-40)
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Washington, DC 20594
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April XX, 2026
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Mr. XXX
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XXX
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XXX
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Nanjing, Jiangsu
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XXX
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Re: National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
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Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) No. FOIA-XXXXXX
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March 21, XXX, XXX (DCA22WA102)
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Dear Mr. XXX:
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This letter responds to your FOIA request dated January XXX, 2026, seeking the following
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records related to the above-referenced accident investigation:
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1. Final or Completed Report / Technical Summary (if any) Any final or completed NTSB
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report, technical memorandum, factual report, readout summary, briefing document, or other
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written summary prepared by the NTSB concerning China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735.
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If no single “final report” exists, please provide the most final or complete NTSB-produced
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written summary or summaries that memorialize the NTSB’s assistance in the investigation
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and its results in finalized form.
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2. Communications Log or Index with CAAC (March 21–May 21, 2022) Any existing
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communication log, index, tracker, register, or similar record maintained by the NTSB that
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lists or summarizes communications between the NTSB and the Civil Aviation
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Administration of China (CAAC) relating to China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 for the
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period March 21, 2022, through May 21, 2022.
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As you may know, the China government was the lead investigative authority on
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Investigation No. DCA22WA102, in accordance with Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation,
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Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (9th ed. 2001).
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The Safety Board’s enabling statute, 49 U.S.C. § 1114(f) addresses the Board’s compliance
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with Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, and precludes the Board from
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releasing information from a foreign investigation, until the investigation fulfills specific criteria:
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(f) FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS.—
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1 In general.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, neither the
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Board, nor any agency receiving information from the Board, shall
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disclose records or information relating to its participation in foreign
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aircraft accident investigations; except that –
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(A) the Board shall release records pertaining to such an investigation when the
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country conducting the investigation issues its final report or 2 years following
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the date of the accident, whichever occurs first; and
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(B )the Board may disclose records and information when authorized to do so
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by the country conducting the investigation.
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In this case, two years have passed since the date of the accident. Accordingly, the Board is
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releasing certain records relating to this investigation.
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The Safety Board located 2,818 pages of records responsive to your request. Enclosed are
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1,959 pages, two Excel spreadsheets, and three FDR files, a total of 13 files, which are being
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delivered via Box, a secure cloud-based sharing platform. However, we withheld certain
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information partially and in full pursuant to the exemptions specified below.
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We withheld, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), commercially sensitive or proprietary information
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voluntarily given us “of a kind that would customarily not be released to the public by the person
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from whom it was obtained.” See Critical Mass Project v. NRC, 975 F.2d 871 (D.C. Cir. 1992).
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Pursuant to this exemption, we withheld 26 pages in full consisting of manuals and proprietary
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data.
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We determined that certain documents are exempt from release under 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5)
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(“Exemption 5”), which exempts from disclosure “inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or
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letters that would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the
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agency, provided that the deliberative process privilege shall not apply to records created 25 years
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or more before the date on which the records were requested.” Exemption 5 protects agency
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records that are predecisional and deliberative. National Wildlife Fed’n v. U.S. Forest Serv., 861
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F.2d 1114 (9th Cir. 1988); Jowett, Inc. v. Department of the Navy, 729 F. Supp. 871 (D.D.C. 1989).
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Overall, Exemption 5 justifies withholding material that reflects the Safety Board’s deliberative
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process in order to ensure the free flow of information during investigations and other agency
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work. Mead Data Cent., Inc. v. Department of the Air Force, 566 F.2d 242, 256 (D.C. Cir. 1977).
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Pursuant to this exemption, we partially redacted 122 pages and withheld 478 pages in full
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consisting of pre-decisional, deliberative material, preliminary information, analysis, and draft
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documents.
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Personal information including autopsy information and graphic photographs, Social Security
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numbers, and other personally identifying details is withheld pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6),
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which exempts from disclosure “personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of
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which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” including items such
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as personal addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and similar sensitive data. Pursuant to this
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exemption, we partially redacted 192 pages and withheld 355 pages in full containing personal
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privacy-protected information.
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In several documents enclosed with this letter, we determined that exemption(s) to the FOIA
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required that we redact a limited amount of material. The redactions are clearly marked, and the
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applicable exemption(s) are noted at the place of the redaction.
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With respect to the FDR files, specialized software is required to import and interpret the data.
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Even with the appropriate software, the data would not be usable without the manufacturer’s
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proprietary documentation. Additionally, the Safety Board does not possess any CVR data
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responsive to your request.
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Some of the responsive documents identified during our search originated with another
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federal agency, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Pages or portions of pages that
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originated with the FAA have been marked as “Referred” or "Other Reason." In accordance with
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standard government practice, these documents have been referred to the FAA for a determination
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on whether they may be released to you. You will receive a response from the FAA directly
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regarding these records.
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We did not locate any other records responsive to your request other than this information.
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The NTSB has completed processing your FOIA request, and we are waiving all fees at this
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time. In accordance with the standard codified in the statute, even where an exemption would
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otherwise apply, agencies may withhold information only when (1) the agency reasonably foresees
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that disclosure would harm an interest protected by one of the nine exemptions that FOIA
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enumerates; or (2) disclosure is prohibited by law. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(8)(A)(i). The NTSB
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considered the foreseeable harm standard when reviewing records and applying FOIA exemptions
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in response to this FOIA request and has determined that releasing the records would create a
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foreseeable harm. Disclosure of the information would chill agency officials’ ability to candidly
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discuss policy options and confuse the public where options being considered are not ultimately
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adopted.
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You may contact our FOIA Public Liaison at 202-314-6540, for any further assistance and
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to discuss any aspect of your request. Additionally, you may contact the Office of Government
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Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to
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inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer. The contact information for OGIS is as
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follows: OGIS, NARA, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001, e-mail at
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ogis@nara.gov; telephone at 202-741-5770; toll free at 1-877-684-6448; or facsimile at 202-741
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5769.
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If you are not satisfied with the response to this request, you have the right to appeal this
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determination under the FOIA. You may administratively appeal by writing to the NTSB, Attn:
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Ms. Dana Schulze, Managing Director, 490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, D.C. 20594. Your
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appeal must be postmarked or electronically transmitted within 90 days of the date of the response
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to your request.
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Sincerely,
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for
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Roger Castillo
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Acting FOIA Officer
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Enclosure
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