The investigation continues into two unusual high-altitude encounters initially described as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drone sightings. Information gathered since the Flight Safety Detectives’ first look at this incident has made these strange events seem like unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) incidents. In December 2024, a Delta 767 crew reported being shadowed for over an hour at 34,000 feet by multiple flashing red-and-white aircraft over New Mexico and Arizona—well above legal ...
Aug 13, 2025•57 min•Ep. 288
A Cirrus SR22T in North Carolina killed the pilot and his entire family. The known details of this July 2025 crash raise serious questions about pilot decisions throughout the flight. The pilot was flying from Florida to North Carolina and ran into trouble early in the trip. The plane experienced electrical problems that worsened throughout the trip. Despite having opportunities to land at several airports, the pilot continued. The aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed a few miles from the destin...
Aug 06, 2025•39 min•Ep. 287
The NTSB just finished a 3-day hearing about the fatal January 2025 midair collision between an airliner and a U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River. Greg Feith, John Goglia and Todd Curtis tuned in and share their takeaways. The hearing covered many issues, particularly the role that FAA and Army procedures and systems played in the crash. They credit NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy and Member Todd Inman with assertive questioning that took the FAA to task for lack of cooperation with the NTS...
Aug 04, 2025•49 min•Ep. 286
We bring you to AirVenture 2025 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This annual event attracts hundreds of thousands of aerospace professionals, aerospace enthusiasts, and their families for a unique aviation experience. John Goglia, Greg Feith, and Todd Curtis talk about the amazing quality and quantity of aircraft at the show. Hear about historical and cutting-edge aircraft on display and in flight and the people from across the aviation industry. The show provides an extensive hands-on education in aviati...
Jul 30, 2025•29 min•Ep. 285
India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has issued an appeal to the public and the media to stop speculating about the cause of the Air India crash. This comes less than a week after the agency released a preliminary report that raises more questions than provides answers. The Flight Safety Detectives share this latest development in an investigation that has been poorly handled from the start. The AAIB has raised many questions that they could and should answer. The preliminary re...
Jul 25, 2025•25 min•Ep. 284
A Cessna Citation crash in March that killed all aboard appears to be the result of bad pilot decision making. Responding to the interest of numerous listeners, John Goglia and Todd Curtis dig into what happened. The pilot was completing a cross-country flight in the early morning hours of March 22, 2025. He took off after 11 pm the previous night in Teterboro, NJ, and crashed hours later in San Diego. John and Todd explore the questionable decision-making by the pilot. Near the end of the fligh...
Jul 23, 2025•26 min•Ep. 283
Former US Air Force and NASA Flight Surgeon Dr. Gregory Rodgers discusses first-hand experiences with the NASA space shuttle program. Among his efforts, he helped change NASA procedures that endangered shuttle crews. Among his efforts to improve space safety, Dr. Rogers tried to convince NASA to add a repair kit to Shuttle missions to deal with the ongoing issue of protective heat-resistant tiles being damaged during missions. Part of his effort was to write the book "Impact," a fictional novel ...
Jul 16, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 282
Yesterday’s special episode generated a lot of questions about the Air India preliminary report. Facts in hand, the Flight Safety Detectives tackle them head on. The preliminary report does not identify any issues with the aircraft that directly contributed to the crash. It focuses on the actions taken by the flight crew. Hear more detail on why the design of fuel cutoff switches makes it unlikely that a mechanical or electrical issue led to the engine shutdown. The most logical cause was action...
Jul 15, 2025•45 min•Ep. 281
The preliminary report on the June 12, 2025, fatal crash of an Air India 787 is most notable for what is unstated, vague, and even misleading. The detectives start with the omission of who turned off the engines just after takeoff. Their list of unanswered questions grows from there. This crash appears to not be an accident, but rather an intentional act by at least one member of the flight crew. The engines were shut down shortly after takeoff. Although at least one pilot took actions to restar...
Jul 14, 2025•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 280
India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau plans to issue a preliminary report on the June 12, 2025, fatal crash of an Air India 787 tomorrow. Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia detectives have serious concerns about the credibility of this investigation and the upcoming preliminary report. They discuss several irregularities with the investigation, including the unusual decision not to include Air India as a party to the investigation. John and Greg have learned through their networks...
Jul 10, 2025•34 min•Ep. 279
An update on the Air India crash investigation, with focus on the flight data recorders installed and recovered from the aircraft. John explains the identical dual flight data and voice recorders installed on the plane. Viewer questions led to further investigation and clarification of the Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFR) installed on the plane. In other news, the NTSB has issued more than 30 findings related to the January 2024 Alaska Airlines door blowout event. The findings reveal ho...
Jul 09, 2025•58 min•Ep. 278
AirVenture 2025 is approaching fast. With it comes the transformation of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, into the busiest airport in the world. Pilots flying in must be prepared for the unique air traffic procedures. In this episode, aviation experts Greg Feith, Todd Curtis, and John Goglia take us behind the scenes of the annual event and discuss the critical safety protocols all pilots must follow. The team also revisits a powerful case study—the 2010 crash involving NASCAR legend Jack Roush. After a miss...
Jul 02, 2025•31 min•Ep. 277
Greg Feith, John Goglia and Todd Curtis find the lack of information emerging about the Air India 787 crash surprising. They wonder if safety critical information is being withheld from the aviation community and the public at large. The flight data recorder (FDR) is in the US for analysis, while the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) remains in India. The CVR and FDR are typically read out simultaneously to marry up the data. Only when analyzed together can the data be fully understood. Assessing the...
Jun 25, 2025•35 min•Ep. 276
Todd Curtis and John Goglia share the unfolding information surrounding a October 20, 2024 crash of an air tour R44 helicopter into a radio tower in Houston. The NTSB investigation continues. The air tour helicopter apparently crashed into the radio tower while the pilot in command was reading back a traffic advisory about a second helicopter in the vicinity. The second helicopter was operated by the same air tour company. The preliminary NTSB report issued less than a month after the accident. ...
Jun 24, 2025•33 min•Ep. 248
Greg Feith, Todd Curtis, and John Goglia are fresh from media interviews on the Air India crash. They regroup here to share their insights with the Flight Safety Detectives audience. An Air India 787 crashed in Ahmedabad, India on June 12. The detectives want to put the brakes on the media, aviation commentators and social media posters who are providing bad information about the cause of the crash. Many people speaking out, including pilots and other aviation professionals, are demonstrating li...
Jun 16, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 275
Nathan Fielder needed an aviation expert for Season 2 of the series "The Rehearsal" so he tapped Flight Safety Detectives’ own John Goglia. John’s recommendations for how crew resource management (CRM) can reduce aviation accidents became the focus of the season. John discusses how he was approached to be in the show, how he didn't have a clear idea of the direction it would take, and the unexpected reaction. Season 2 of "The Rehearsal" addresses the role that enhanced CRM could play in reducing...
Jun 11, 2025•36 min•Ep. 273
Jim Croce died in a plane crash more than 50 years ago. Determining what caused the 1973 crash is challenging. This episode also covers an event where no one was flying a Lufthansa plane. The only surviving document from the plane crash that killed Jim Croce is less than a page long, leaving many questions unanswered. The investigation was likely carried out by an investigator who was outside of NTSB headquarters. At that time, the records for most accident investigations were not sent to headqu...
Jun 04, 2025•37 min•Ep. 272
Recent air traffic control issues at Newark Liberty Airport and the recent dismissal of an NTSB board member signal significant aviation safety issues in the US. Since early May, Newark Airport has experienced significant flight disruptions due to radar outages and shortages of air traffic controllers. The current FAA administrator blames the previous administration for these problems. What’s the truth? These issues have been ongoing for more than a decade for many reasons. Delayed infrastructur...
May 21, 2025•40 min•Ep. 271
A 200-pound chunk of ice came crashing through the roof of a house in February. What was the source? Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia analyze an unusual event involving a large chunk of ice from the sky. The ice fell out of a clear sky and crashed through the metal roof of a home in Florida. After an investigation, the FAA found no evidence that a plane was the source of the ice. Chemical analysis showed that the ice was not contaminated with chemicals that may have come from an airplane...
May 14, 2025•22 min•Ep. 270
Helicopters and offshore oil platform operations can be a deadly combination. John Goglia and Todd Curtis discuss two accidents to illustrate aviation safety concerns. In a 2010 accident discussed, maintenance and managerial failures resulted in minor damage and no injuries because of the pilot's skill. Another is a fatal accident that killed all on board due to the pilot not following the helicopter operator's standard procedures for landing and taking off. In the 2010 accident there were multi...
May 07, 2025•39 min•Ep. 269
A pilot with many hours of experience and an instructor rating died following the bad decision to fly his newly purchased airplane without first understanding how the aircraft systems operate. He also did not review the logbooks or have the plane looked over after 10 years sitting idle. The pilot had purchased a Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche. Key facts in the NTSB report and public docket show that the pilot did not have a pre-buy inspection, was not familiar with the aircraft’s systems, and ignored...
Apr 30, 2025•36 min•Ep. 268
An experienced pilot with multiple ratings lost control of his Mitsubishi MU-2 aircraft and crashed after a missed approach. Greg Feith, Todd Curtis and John Goglia look at the facts surrounding this incident that killed six. ADS-B information broadcast by the plane shows a missed approach followed by an unusual second attempt. Rather than flying the published missed approach, air traffic controllers were directing the pilot to take a series of right turns for a second approach. The pilot was ta...
Apr 23, 2025•33 min•Ep. 267
Todd Curtis and John Goglia discuss a fatal air tour helicopter crash near New York City that killed all six people on board, including a family of five from Spain. They examine several witness videos plus ADS-S data in their analysis. The crash happened on April 10, 2025, three days before this episode was recorded. The flight was apparently routine until the helicopter suddenly rotated and crashed. Pieces of the aircraft, including the tail boom and the rotor blades, separated from the aircraf...
Apr 16, 2025•35 min•Ep. 266
Inflight icing may have been a factor in the recent fatal crash of a TBM 700. Relying on publicly available ADS-B data and video from a nearby home, Todd Curtis, John Goglia, and Greg Feith discuss icing and other issues that may have affected the pilot and the aircraft. The TBM 700, a single-engine turboprop aircraft, crashed outside of Minneapolis. The aircraft was expected to land at the Anoka County–Blaine Airport. The pilot, the sole occupant of the aircraft, had departed from Naples, Flori...
Apr 09, 2025•46 min•Ep. 265
The preliminary accident report on the February crash of the Endeavor Air CRJ-900 in Toronto, Canada has just been released. John Goglia, Todd Curtis and Greg Feith examine the facts provided as well as the gaps in information that still exist. The reported descent rate at touchdown was very close to the descent rate the detectives estimated based on a screen grab taken from a witness video. While confirming some observations, the report is missing key information including the conversations on ...
Apr 02, 2025•37 min•Ep. 264
The investigation of a 2023 Beechcraft Bonanza in Brazil led to an unusual recommendation. The Brazilian authorities find that an engine trend monitoring program could have prevented the accident. In this event, the pilot made a successful off-field landing after the engine failed. The investigation found that the failure was due to a leak in the mechanical pump and fuel controller. The aircraft was on a relatively long flight in Brazil when the pilot diverted to an airport near his intended des...
Mar 26, 2025•23 min•Ep. 263
Travel journalist Peter Greenberg joins Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia for a wide-ranging look at current aviation topics. Peter is a longtime safety advocate and host of the PBS series "The Travel Detective.” Hear as these four experts cover the hottest topics in aviation safety. Ironically, the U.S. has just marked the 30 safest years since commercial aviation began. Yet, recent incidents reported make aviation seem less safe than ever. Much of what has changed is the impact of citiz...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 262
An examination of the preliminary NTSB report of a February 10, 2025 crash of a Learjet 35 that killed the pilot. Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia examine the issues with the landing gear that caused the accident. The flight crew was conducting a normal approach and was apparently unaware that the left main landing gear had failed. Witness photos taken during the approach showed that the left main landing gear was twisted almost 180 degrees from its normal position. About eight months be...
Mar 12, 2025•36 min•Ep. 261
A look at several recent high-profile aviation accidents. Although flying is much less risky than decades ago, crashes change the public's opinion about aviation safety. It now feels less safe to fly. The February 17 crash in Toronto of an Endeavor Airlines CRJ-900 operating as a Delta Air Lines regional flight gets particular emphasis. Todd Curtis, Greg Feith and John Goglia compare the Toronto crash to three other crashes where the wings broke off, the aircraft ended up inverted, and there was...
Mar 05, 2025•48 min•Ep. 260
The pilot of the drone that damaged a firefighting aircraft has pled guilty to causing the damage that grounded the Candian SuperScooper for several days. The event was detailed in Episode 253. The pilot, a successful video game developer, paid over $65,000 to repair the aircraft, will reimburse the government Quebec for additional costs, and faces up to a year in prison. In the words of the Department of Justice, the pilot "recklessly flew an aircraft into airspace where first responders were r...
Feb 26, 2025•20 min•Ep. 259
