What does this form do? DA Form 2397-8 is titled TECHNICAL REPORT OF US ARMY AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT, PART IX - PERSONAL DATA, and its job is to technical report of u.s. army aircraft accident, part ix - personal data. Anyone sent to find "the 2397-8" is being sent here. Everything below expands on that one function.
Is this the current version? The edition offered here is dated February 2009, published with the status not stated. That date is the version number of a military form; there is no other.
Who fills it out, and how long does it take? The individual named in the entries fills it, or a records clerk fills it on that person's behalf. Length is 1 page(s) with about 200 entry fields, which is the honest measure of the work involved. Who owns the form and when it is raised comes from OCSA and PAM 385-40 respectively.
What the form asks for
- ACDT_HRS
- ACDT_HRS_1
- ACFT_MTDS
- ACFT_MTDS_1
- ACFT_MTDS_2
- ACFT_NO
- ANL_PHY_A
- ANL_PHY_B
- ANL_PHY_C
- APART
- ATM_ASC
- ATM_INV
- AUTH_A
- AUTH_B
- AUTH_C
- AUTO_A
- AUTO_B
- AUTO_C
- AUTO_DAT
- BACK_A
- BACK_A_1
- BACK_A_2
- BACK_A_3
- BACK_A_4
Download the form
What can I download here? The formats available are PDF, XFDL. Each one reproduces the identical official layout. What separates them is the method of entry, nothing on the page itself.
What is the difference between fillable and printable? A fillable pdf has live fields that accept typing and can be saved with your entries in place. A printable pdf is the same blank page with no live fields, meant to come out of a printer and be completed with a pen. Both print identically once filled.
Do I need special software? Not for reading — a pdf opens in the browser you already have. For filling, install a full pdf reader rather than trusting the in-browser viewer, which sometimes displays fields it cannot save. Type into one field, save, reopen and confirm the text survived. Why will my xfdl file not open? Because it is IBM Lotus Forms, not pdf. The Lotus Forms Viewer is the only application that reads it.
Does the download cost anything? No. There is no charge, no account and no email address to surrender, and the file you receive is the published document with nothing added to it.
Which entries come before the rest? The identifying ones at the head of the page: name, identification number, unit, date of preparation. Does it matter that they come first? Yes — everything downstream retrieves the record by those values, so they are worth getting right before you touch the substantive blocks.
How should you work through the entry fields? With the tab key. It follows the order the form was constructed in, which is usually the order the page reads, so nothing gets passed over. Do check boxes work the same way? They are clicked rather than tabbed into. In an exclusive group, a second click elsewhere clears your first choice, as intended.
What happens if your answer is too long for the field? It prints cut off. A single-line field does not wrap, so text running past the edge stays readable on screen and then disappears at the margin on paper. What do you do instead? Move it to the remarks area or onto a continuation sheet. And a field that does not apply to you? Mark it as not applicable rather than leaving it blank — an empty box tells the reviewer nothing about whether you read the question.
When do you sign? Last, after every other entry is settled. Until the signature is applied the document is a draft, however complete it looks. What if more than one signature is required? Reviewing official, approving authority and witness sign in the order the blocks print, and each dates the form on the day of signing rather than the day it was prepared. What goes wrong most often? Mandatory fields left empty, transposed digits in identification numbers, dates with day and month reversed, and old entries surviving in a working copy that was reused instead of a fresh blank form.
Why does the form carry a Privacy Act statement? Because personal information is being collected, and the statement declares the authority, the purpose, who else routinely sees the data, and whether answering is required or optional. Is it worth reading? Read it before you fill the fields it governs, not after. Does it change how you keep the file? It should — a filled copy is a personal record and gets the handling such records receive.
Where do you send it? To the destination the prescribing directive names, which may be a specific office, the unit administrative channel, or the individual's file. Is a copy worth keeping? Always, and taken before submission. How long does the receiving office keep it? For the period the records schedule for the series prescribes, regardless of local custom.
Which other forms travel with this one? Those found by series and number: DA series documents sharing a proponent or a governing directive are frequently needed in combination, and a form referenced on the face of another generally accompanies it. Do you assemble them before or after sending? Before. Continuation sheets, cover sheets and transmittals are part of the same package.
What causes a form to be superseded? A revision issued by the proponent, after which the previous edition date no longer matches the one in force. How do you check a copy you saved? Read the edition date on the page and hold it against the current edition. Must earlier submissions be redone? They must not — a completed record executed on a prior edition is unaffected.
Is this an official Department of the Army site? No. It is an independent site distributing reproductions of published Department of the Army documents for download, with no authority to issue forms. Does it guarantee acceptance of anything you submit? It does not, and nothing on the page is legal advice. Who should you ask instead? OCSA or your servicing administrative office, whenever an entry, a requirement or your eligibility is in doubt.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 2397-8?
- TECHNICAL REPORT OF US ARMY AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT, PART IX - PERSONAL DATA
- Which edition is current?
- February 2009
- Who is responsible for this form?
- OCSA
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL