Opinion ID: 185028
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Investigation of Flight 1406

Text: 14 On September 5, 1996, Federal Express Flight 1406's cargo caught fire. Unable to control it, the crew made an emergency landing, but smoke and fire destroyed the plane and most of its cargo. NTSB immediately began an investigation, which quickly focused on a DNA synthesizer as the possible source of the fire's ignition. Chiron, who owns the synthesizer, and PerSeptive, who manufactures it, were invited to participate in the investigation. Both Chiron and PerSeptive were actively involved in the investigation, but neither was happy with its progress. 15 Chiron and PerSeptive have maintained that something other than the DNA synthesizer may have started the fire on Flight 1406. When they were unable to convince NTSB investigators to focus on other possibilities, Chiron and PerSeptive resolved to explore these possibilities on their own.To that end, they sought to discover what else Federal Express was carrying on Flight 1406. NTSB, however, refused to disclose the cargo list. Chiron and PerSeptive then filed formal petitions requesting the cargo information. Their petitions were denied. The Board explained that party status did not grant parties a right to information and that it was withholding the information because Federal Express considered the information to be a trade secret. See Letter from Daniel D. Campbell, General Counsel, National Transportation Safety Board, to Jay E. Grover, Director, Environmental Health and Safety, Chiron Corp. (Oct. 31, 1997), reprinted in Respondent's Appendix at 139-40; Letter from Daniel D. Campbell, General Counsel, National Transportation Safety Board, to Jerry W. Cox (May 4, 1998), reprinted in Respondent's Appendix at 151. This petition for review followed.