The government’s airplane crash detective By The Partnership for
Public Service, James Cash has spent nearly three decades in
federal service successfully deciphering information from
electronic recording devices to help determine the causes of
major aviation and other transportation accidents, leading to
reforms and greater safety for the traveling public. As the
chief technical adviser for the National Transportation Safety
Board’s (NTSB) Office of Research and Engineering, Cash is the
government’s top expert on cockpit voice recorders—the black box
devices that record the voices of pilots and co-pilots during
flights, and are used to help determine the system failures and
human errors that cause airplane crashes. “Jim has helped grow
the science of cockpit recording devices. He’s been here through
the history of recording devices and has led the next generation
of recorders,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman. Over the
years, Cash has played a pivotal role in the development and use
of sophisticated audio