July 19, 2001 - Seattle, WA
Former NTSB Investigators Join SSI

Former NTSB senior accident investigators Ron Schleede, Gregory Feith and Mike Stockhill have joined Seattle-based Safety Services International, an aviation accident investigation and safety consulting group.

"We are delighted to add Ron, Greg, and Mike to our team," said John Purvis, former head of Boeing's accident investigation group and founding partner of SSI. "With the addition of these experts, you can pick any major civil aviation accident in the last decade and chances are at least one, and probably several, of our SSI team members have been involved in its investigation."

Ron Schleede is known throughout the world for leadership in international safety and investigation matters. He joined the NTSB in 1972 as a Human Factors Group Chairman on major go-team accidents. From 1985-1995, he led the NTSB's go-team investigators-in-charge (IIC) as Chief of the Major Aviation Accident Division. He was the Deputy Director of the Office of Aviation Safety from 1995-1999, and capped off his career as Director of Air Investigations for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada in a government-to-government exchange program. Ron retired from public service last year.

Gregory Feith joined the NTSB in 1981 as an investigator in the Denver field office. He was the interim Director of the Northeast Regional office prior to his 1993 assignment to the Major Investigation Division as a go-team IIC. Since that time he has acted as IIC on a number of high profile accident investigations, including the ValueJet DC-9 crash in the Florida Everglades, the American Eagle ATR 72 accident at Roselawn, and the American MD-82 overrun at Little Rock. He received an Aviation Week Laurel award for his leadership in the ValuJet investigation. Greg was also the US team leader for a number of high profile non-US accidents, including the SilkAir 737 in Indonesia and the Swiss Air MD 11 accident in Nova Scotia. Greg left the NTSB this year.

Mike Stockhill is a highly experienced pilot and NTSB field investigator. Since joining the NTSB in 1989 he investigated several hundred general aviation accidents involving a wide range of aircraft. He also participated in a number of air carrier investigations, including TWA 800 and the Alaska Airlines flight 261 crash. Prior to joining the NTSB, Mike owned and operated a fixed base operation, worked as an FAA Principal Operations Inspector and as an FAA Accident Prevention Specialist. Stockhill, who retired from the NTSB last year as a senior air safety investigator, is an A&P mechanic and an ATP-rated pilot. He was formerly contributing editor to Private Pilot and Lightplane Maintenance and has published in Air Progress and Flying magazines as well.

"One of our goals at SSI was to establish the finest, most experienced team of aviation accident investigation and safety consultants ever assembled," said Purvis. "There is no doubt in my mind that we have now achieved that goal."

More information on Safety Services International can be found on its web site: www.safeserv.com

For additional information, contact SSI at ssi@safeserv.com or call 1.425.898.0448

When experience counts, count on SSI.
Safety Services International is a Washington State Limited Liability Company