NTSB Aviation Accident Scraper

NTSB Aviation Accident Scraper

Scrape NTSB aviation accident reports by city, registration number, injury level, or date range, up to a million per run. Each record includes the investigation narrative, aircraft details, injury counts, and probable cause findings. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

The NTSB's CAROL database holds decades of U.S. aviation accident and incident reports, but the web query interface limits you to one page at a time. This actor reads the public search results directly, applies your filters for city, registration number, injury severity, and date range, and returns every matching record in a structured dataset. No API key, no browser automation, and no manual clicking through pages.

Who uses it	What they scrape NTSB for
Aviation safety analysts	Monitor accident trends by aircraft type, location, and injury severity over time.
Insurance underwriters	Pull loss history for specific aircraft registrations or geographic regions.
Journalists and researchers	Gather primary-source accident narratives and probable cause findings for investigations.
Law firms	Collect case-relevant NTSB reports by registration number or date range for litigation support.

What it does

This Actor collects NTSB aviation accident records from the CAROL database by city, registration number, injury level, and date range, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🔍 City search: filter accidents by city name, such as Los Angeles, Houston, or Denver.
• 🛩️ Registration lookup: search by aircraft N-number to pull every report tied to a specific airframe.
• ⚠️ Injury severity filter: limit results to Fatal, Serious, Minor, or None injury levels.
• 📅 Date range: set a start and end date to isolate accidents within a specific period.
• 🚦 Multi-mode support: switch between Aviation, Highway, Marine, Pipeline, and Railroad investigations.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with NTSB data

📈 Track aviation accident trends.

An aviation safety analyst runs the actor weekly with a date range filter to compile recent fatal accidents and identify emerging patterns by aircraft make or region.

📋 Underwrite aircraft insurance policies.

An underwriter searches by registration number to review the complete accident history of a specific airframe before quoting a premium.

📰 Research an investigative story.

A journalist pulls all NTSB reports for a specific city over five years, using the narrative and probable cause fields to build a data-driven article on local aviation safety.

⚖️ Prepare litigation support.

A paralegal collects every report tied to a registration number and date range, exporting the structured data for expert witness review.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Investigation narrative	Full factual and analysis text from the NTSB report
Aircraft details	Make, model, and registration number for each accident
Injury counts	Number of fatal, serious, minor, and uninjured persons
Probable cause	The NTSB's official probable cause finding

How it compares

This actor focuses on flexible filtering by city, registration number, injury level, and date range against the NTSB CAROL database, while competitors offer varying search capabilities and update monitoring.

Feature	ParseForge	NTSB Aviation Accident Scraper	Ntsb Aviation Accident Scraper	NTSB Aviation Accident Update Search Monitor
City search filter	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Registration number (N-number) search	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Injury severity filter	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Date range filter	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Yes
Multi-mode transportation types	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Scheduled monitoring for new reports	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed	Yes

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a city name, aircraft registration number, injury severity, and a date range, alone or together, and filters run as each record is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "mode": "Aviation"
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "mode": "Aviation"
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0075 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.75
1,000 results	$7.50
10,000 results	$75.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the NTSB Aviation Accident Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to NTSB through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/ntsb-accident-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your filters are not too restrictive. Try broadening the date range, removing the city or registration number, or setting the injury level to 'All Levels' to confirm the actor can reach the database.

Why does my date filter return unexpected results?

Confirm you are using MM/DD/YYYY format. Leading zeros matter: use 01/01/2020, not 1/1/2020. Also verify the NTSB database has records for your chosen range.

Why is the actor running slowly?

The NTSB CAROL database can be slow to respond during high-traffic periods. If you are collecting a large number of records, consider narrowing your filters or running during off-peak hours.

Why does my registration number search return no matches?

Enter the N-number without dashes or spaces, for example N12345. If the aircraft was involved in an incident before the NTSB digitized its records, it may not appear.

Why are some fields empty in my results?

Not every NTSB report contains all data points. Older investigations or preliminary reports may lack a probable cause finding or detailed injury counts.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What is the NTSB CAROL database?	CAROL is the NTSB's public Case Analysis and Reporting Online database. It contains investigation records for aviation, highway, marine, pipeline, and railroad accidents in the United States.
Can I search by aircraft registration number?	Yes. Enter the N-number in the Registration Number field to pull every accident report associated with that airframe.
Does this actor require an API key or login?	No. It reads the public NTSB CAROL search results directly. No registration, API key, or authentication is needed.
What date format should I use?	Use MM/DD/YYYY format for both the Start Date and End Date fields. Both fields are optional and can be used together to define a range.
Can I scrape highway or marine accidents too?	Yes. The Investigation Mode dropdown lets you switch between Aviation, Highway, Marine, Pipeline, and Railroad accident types.
How many records can I collect in one run?	You can set the maximum up to 1,000,000 accidents per run. The actor will paginate through results until it reaches your limit or exhausts the matches.
What export formats are supported?	Your dataset can be exported to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML directly from the Apify platform.
Does the actor return the full investigation narrative?	Yes. Each record includes the complete factual narrative, analysis, and probable cause text from the NTSB report.
Can I filter by injury severity?	Yes. The Highest Injury Level filter lets you limit results to Fatal, Serious, Minor, or None injury outcomes.
Is the data structured the same way for every record?	Yes. Every accident is returned as a flat row with a fixed schema, making it ready for analysis in spreadsheets or databases.

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Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by National Transportation Safety Board. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.