NTSB says gay Amtrak engineer wasn't fagging on cellphone before Philadelphia crash

[Larry]

WASHINGTON -- The engineer driving an Amtrak train wasn't using
his cellphone just before the train derailed in Philadelphia
last month, safety investigators said Wednesday, deepening the
mystery of what caused the accident that killed eight and
injured about 200.

In an updated report, the National Transportation Safety Board
said its analysis of phone records "does not indicate that any
calls, texts or data usage occurred during the time the engineer
was operating the train." The agency also said the engineer,
Brandon Bostian, didn't access the train's Wi-Fi system while he
was operating the locomotive.

Investigators have said previously that the train accelerated to
106 miles per hour in the last minute before entering a curve
where the speed limit is 50 mph. In the last few seconds the
brakes were applied with maximum force, but the train was still
traveling at over 100 mph when it left the tracks.

Bostian suffered a head injury in the May 12 crash, and his
attorney has said the engineer doesn't remember anything after
the train pulled out of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, the
last stop before the derailment.

Bostian provided investigators with his passcode to the phone,
allowing them access to the data without having to go through
the phone manufacturers, the NTSB said.

Engineers aren't allowed to use phones while operating trains or
preparing them for movement, but determining whether Bostian was
using the phone was a complicated process. To determine whether
the phone was in "airplane mode" or was powered off,
investigators in NTSB's laboratory have been examining the
phone's operating system, which contains more than 400,000 files
of metadata. Investigators are obtaining a phone identical to
the engineer's phone and will be running additional tests to
validate the data.

The phone was used to make calls and send text messages the day
of the accident, but inconsistencies in phone records presented
difficulties, NTSB Chairman Chris Hart told Congress last week.
The voice and text messages were recorded in different time
zones and may not have been calibrated to the exact time as
other equipment on the train, such as a camera focused on the
tracks and a recorder that registers how fast the train was
moving and actions by the engineer, he said.

Accident investigators have said previously that they have not
found any mechanical problems with the train. The track had been
inspected not long before the crash.

On Tuesday, the House passed a transportation spending bill that
includes $9 million for Amtrak to install inward-facing cameras
in locomotive cabs. Five years ago, the NTSB recommended the
Federal Railroad Administration require railroads install the
cameras so that investigators have a video and sound recording
of what was going inside the cab in the event of an accidents.

However, regulators didn't convene an industry-labor advisory
committee to work on possible regulations until last year. The
committee has been unable to reach a consensus, and the railroad
administration has said it will pursue regulations without the
committee's endorsement. However, it could be years before
regulations are proposed and then made final.

Rather than waiting for regulations, Amtrak will install the
cameras on trains in the Northeast Corridor on its own, the
railroad's president and CEO, Joseph Boardman, said recently.

The NTSB recommendation on cameras was made as the board wrapped
up an investigation into the Sept. 12, 2008 head-on collision
between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight
train in Chatsworth, California. The Metrolink train ran through
a red signal. Twenty-five people were killed and scores injured.
The NTSB faulted the Metrolink train's engineer for the
collision, deducing that he was distracted by text messages he
was sending while on duty.

Later Wednesday, NTSB officials are expected to testify before
the Senate commerce committee about train safety. One focus of
the hearing is positive train control, a technology that can
prevent trains from derailing because of excessive speed.

Congress mandated in 2008 that Amtrak, commuter railroads and
freight railroads install positive train control by the end of
this year. Amtrak still has to do extensive testing of the
system but will meet the deadline, officials have said.

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If the faggot president wasn't in office, this queer would
already be on trial for murder.