This video features James Cash of the 
The Partnership for Public Service honored the nine winners of this year’s Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals at a Washington, D.C. gala Thursday evening.
National Transportation Safety Board
This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Career Achievement Medal James Cash, chief technical advisor, office of research and engineering at the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, D.C.
James Cash has spent nearly three decades 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. Keep reading →
On Jan. 31, 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 plunged 18,000 feet into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 88 people on board. This was also Sharon Bryson’s first day as head of a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) program that assists survivors and family members of those killed in transportation disasters.
Bryson quickly grabbed her “go-bag” and headed to the West Coast to support the distraught families of the victims, a crucial but heart-wrenching task that she has undertaken more than 140 times. Keep reading →