Weber Aircraft Corporation, a Division of Walter Kidde and Company, Inc., and Mills Manufacturing Corporation v. United States

*640NORRIS, Circuit .Judge:

The principal issue in this case is whether witness statements given under a promise of confidentiality to an Air Force aircrash investigation board are exempt from the mandatory disclosure provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552. The district court held that the government was authorized to withhold the documents by Exemption 5 of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5),1 and by traditional equity principles. We reverse and remand.

I. BACKGROUND

Captain Richard Hoover sustained serious injuries when he ejected from an Air Force airplane after the…