Final answer:
NTSB decisions do not require unanimity to be binding; they can be made through a majority vote, unlike jury decisions in courtrooms which require a unanimous decision to convict a defendant.
Step-by-step explanation:
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency tasked with investigating civil transportation accidents, and occasionally, its findings and decisions gain attention. While it instinctively feels like such decisions would require unanimity to have binding authority, akin to the unanimity rule in jury trials, this is not necessarily the case for the NTSB. The unanimity rule, the most extreme form of supermajority, is indeed required in the U.S. and in several other countries for a jury to come to a convicting decision in a courtroom. Under this rule, a defendant cannot be found guilty unless the jury reaches a unanimous decision; if the jurors cannot agree, it may result in the defendant being released or facing a retrial. However, the NTSB operates differently and does not require full-board decisions to be unanimous to be binding. Their decisions can be made through a majority vote among the board members.