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DA Form 2397-6 belongs to the DA series of Department of the Army publications. Its official title is TECHNICAL REPORT OF US ARMY AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT, PART VII - IN-FLIGHT OR TERRAIN IMPACT AND CRASH DAMAGE DATA, and its stated purpose is technical report of u.s. army aircraft accident part vii - in-flight or terrain impact and crash damage data. Edition in force: February 2009. Publication status: not stated. Length is 2 page(s), with roughly 200 fields available for entry.
Proponency for the form rests with OCSA. The governing authority is PAM 385-40, which establishes the circumstances of use and the required routing. Preparation falls to the individual named in the entries or to the unit administrator acting on that individual's behalf; review and signature follow the chain set out in the governing authority.
Available formats: PDF, XFDL. Each is a rendering of the same official layout; the content is identical across them and only the means of completion differs. The pdf is the reference copy. Fillable pdf carries interactive form fields; a printable pdf is the same page image without them, intended for pen entry after printing.
A pdf opens in any current browser or in a dedicated reader. Fillable behaviour is more reliable in a full reader than in a browser viewer, where some field types render but do not save. An xfdl file is also published. This is the IBM Lotus Forms format used within Army systems; it requires the Lotus Forms Viewer and will not open in a pdf reader or a word processor.
All formats are free to download and no registration is involved. The files are the published documents, distributed unmodified.
What the form asks for
- AIRCRAFT
- AIRSPEED
- ANGL_DEG
- ANGL_DOWN
- ANGL_UP
- ANG_DEGREE
- BIRDS
- CABPENE_A
- CABPENE_A_1
- CABPENE_A_2
- CABPENE_A_3
- CABPENE_B
- CABPENE_C
- COCKPIT_A
- COCKPIT_B
- COCKPIT_C
- COCKPIT_C_1
- COCKPIT_C_2
- COCKPIT_C_3
- COCKPIT_C_4
- COCKPIT_D
- COCKPIT_D_1
- COCKPIT_E
- COCKPIT_E_1
The blocks are worked through in the order they appear on the sheet. At the head sit the identifying entries: name, identification number, unit, date. Because the filed record is indexed on these, they precede everything substantive.
Interactive fields are filled by typing into them. Movement between fields is by tab, following the order established when the form was constructed, which usually tracks the page layout. Check boxes and radio groups are set by clicking, and exclusive groups permit one selection at a time. A one-line field has no wrap: text beyond its width prints truncated even when the screen shows it. Overlong content is placed in remarks or on a continuation, not forced into the field.
Signature comes at the end, applied in ink or by an accepted electronic method. Until it is applied the document is a draft. Additional signatures — reviewer, approver, witness — are taken in printed block order, each dated when signed rather than when the form was drafted. The commonest error is a mandatory field left blank; where nothing applies, the entry is marked accordingly instead of being skipped. Transposed identification digits, day and month reversed in dates, and carried-over data from a reused working copy account for most of the remainder.
Where personal information is gathered, the form carries a Privacy Act statement giving the collection authority, the purpose, the routine uses, and the mandatory or voluntary character of the disclosure. It is read before entries are made rather than afterwards. A completed copy holds personal data and is stored and transmitted under the corresponding safeguards.
The completed form is routed as the governing authority prescribes: to the office named in the directive, through the unit administrative channel, or into the individual's file, depending on the case. A copy is retained by the preparer. Filing and retention follow the records schedule applicable to the series rather than local practice.
Companion forms are traced by series and number. Within the DA series, documents sharing a proponent or a governing directive are frequently required together, and a form cited on the face of another is generally submitted alongside it. Continuation sheets, covers, and transmittal forms are part of that set and are assembled in advance of submission.
Revision by the proponent supersedes an edition. Version is read from the edition date printed on the form itself, and a stored copy is compared against the current edition before it is used again. Documents already executed under an earlier edition are not redone because of the change.
What is offered here are copies of published Department of the Army documents, made available for download. The site is independent of the Department of the Army and publishes no forms of its own. The material is informational and not legal advice, and no statement is made about whether any office will accept a given document. Questions of entry, requirement, or eligibility go to the proponent or the servicing administrative office.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 2397-6?
- TECHNICAL REPORT OF US ARMY AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT, PART VII - IN-FLIGHT OR TERRAIN IMPACT AND CRASH DAMAGE DATA
- Which edition is current?
- February 2009
- Who is responsible for this form?
- OCSA
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL