Helicopters, Inc. v. Nat’l Transportation Safety Bd.

Ct. of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to consider petitioner’s appeal of order of NTSB that denied petitioner’s request to rescind Factual Report issued by NTSB regarding information it had gathered during investigation of helicopter crash, where petitioner argued that Factual Report had omitted significant information that prevented NTSB from making accurate determination of probable cause of said crash. Petitioner could not base instant appeal on 49 USC section 1153, where said section required existence of final order, and instant Factual Report was not final order, where: (1) there was no legal consequence of any kind that stemmed from issuance of said Report, which was otherwise used by NTSB to make recommendations to prevent similar accident in future; and (2) no part of said Report could be admitted into evidence or used in any civil proceeding for damages resulting from matters mentioned in said Report. Fact that petitioner claimed that it would receive reputational harm if Report were published was immaterial and could not transform instant Report into final agency order.