(The following story by J.E. Dunlap, Jr. was published by the Harrison Daily Times on April 28.)
HARRISON, Ark. — Harrison native, John Arthur Hammerschmidt, who last month completed 18 years with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), 12 years as a member of the Board, and who for several months as vice chairman was the acting chairman as he closed out his NTSB career.
In a recent interview, he recalled some on-scene investigations:
* the 2001 collision between the U.S. nuclear attack submarine USS GREENVILLE and the Japanese fisheries training vessel EHIME MARU near Honolulu, HI;
* the 2000 Alaska Airlines Flight 261 accident near Point Mugu, CA;
* the 1999 gasoline pipeline accident in Bellingham, WA;
* The 1997 Comair EMB-120 commuter airline accident near Monro, MI;
* the 1996 collision of the bulk carrier BRIGHT FIELD with the Port of New Orleans River Walk Shopping Mall;
* the 1995 Atlantic Southeast Airlines EMB-120 commuter accident at Carrollton, GA;
* the 1994 USAir DC-9 accident at Charlotte, N.C.;
* the 1993 Amtrak accident near Mobile, AL., the worst in Amtrak history.
In 2000, Mr. Hammerschmidt chaired the Board’s 4-day public hearing on the Alaska Airline Flight 261 accident.
In 1999, he chaired the Board’s public hearing in Miami, FL., on the 1998 fire aboard the cruise ship MS ECSTASY as the vessel was leaving the Port of Miami.
In 1997, he chaired a 4-day public hearing in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on the worst pipeline accident ever investigated by the Board, an explosion that killed 33 people there.
In 1996, he chaired the Board’s public hearing into the Fox River Grove, IL., grade-crossing accident that killed 7 high school students in a school bus.
In 1995, he chaired the 5-day public hearing in Indianapolis, IN., on the American Eagle ATR-72 accident near Roselawn, IN.
In 1994, he chaired the public hearing in Charlotte, N.C., on the USA DC-9 accident there and he chaired the public hearing in Ypsilanti, MI., on the American International Airways DC-8 accident at the U.S. Naval Air station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Prior to 1985, Mr. Hammerschmidt served in the office of the Vice President of the United State (1984), and from 1974-83 he was the Chief Executive Officer of the Hammerschmidt Lumber Co., Inc., Harrison. Mr. Hammerschmidt was president of the Boone County Industrial Development Corporation.
In 1971, Mr. Hammerschmidt graduated from Dartmouth College “with highest distinction” in his major and was named a Rufus Choate Scholar. He later attended Vanderbilt Law School and Harvard Business School. He also studied at the Catholic University of Ecuador in Quito as part of Georgetown University’s foreign study program.
Mr. Hammerschmidt presently resides in Arlington, VA.