The midair collision between an airliner and a military helicopter in Washington D.C. has led to actions that may hinder aviation safety and national security. And, it has highlighted issues caused by the current air traffic control system as well as vacant leadership positions at the FAA. Greg Feith, John Goglia and Todd Curtis talk about the aviation safety issues surrounding the tragic air crash and the impact of political reactions. They cover the information released by investigators. Knee-...
Feb 19, 2025•36 min•Ep. 258
Nick Lappos, former Vietnam AH-1 Cobra helicopter pilot and Lockheed Martin Senior Fellow for Rotary and Mission Systems, offers insights on the future of air mobility. The focus is on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and advanced air mobility (AAM). Nick was part of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) certification task force that just published the report "Challenges to the Commercialization of Advanced Air Mobility.” He shares his expertise on air traffic management. ...
Feb 12, 2025•51 min•Ep. 257
Details emerge of a possible encounter between a 767 and about 25 unidentified UAP flying near Santa Fe, New Mexico. The plane was headed from JFK to LAX. The UAS followed the aircraft at high altitude for about an hour over hundreds of miles. The FAA or some other organization needs to investigate events like this to assess credible risks and ensure safety of air space. There are significant national security concerns as well. Increased reports of UAP sightings may not be from more events happe...
Feb 11, 2025•32 min•Ep. 256
NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his family survived the August 15, 2019 crash of a Cessna Citation Latitude jet caused by bad pilot decisions. John Goglia, Greg Feith and Todd Curtis go beyond the NTSB report to explore what led to an “unstabilized, ridiculously fast” landing that destroyed the aircraft. Both crew members had hundreds of hours of flight experience in this aircraft model, and the copilot was also the director of operations for the airplane operator. In spite of their experie...
Jan 29, 2025•34 min•Ep. 255
Lax oversight by the FAA and questionable maintenance practices by both a flight school and the previous owner of a Cessna 172P aircraft led to a fatal plane crash. The Flight Safety Detectives find this is another aviation disaster that could have been avoided. The NTSB report points to a corroded aileron control cable that failed just after takeoff as the cause of the event. Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia discuss the circumstances that led to the crash, killing a student and an instr...
Jan 22, 2025•37 min•Ep. 254
A midair collision between a private drone and an aircraft fighting the Los Angeles area fires caused damage to the plane and an evacuation of all firefighting aircraft from the area. John Goglia and Todd Curtis explore the tragic effect on firefighting as well as the violations of aviation rules. This event was a major setback in firefighting efforts. The FAA had taken steps to restrict flying around the fire area that were not followed. They expect federal action to be taken against the drone ...
Jan 15, 2025•25 min•Ep. 253
Sailplane pilot Bob Pett had a close encounter with an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) that exhibited extraordinary speed and maneuverability. Bob shares the experience with John Goglia and Todd Curtis in his first public statement about the encounter. While the first UAP flew in close formation off his left wing during the encounter, two similar UAPs descended from a cloud and joined up with the first. Seeing the next two UAPs approach raised the hair on the back of Bob’s neck. Bob and his...
Jan 10, 2025•43 min•Ep. 252
A wave of drone sightings are being reported throughout New Jersey and metropolitan New York, including flights over military installations and critical infrastructure. Drones are now part of battlefields. Are we under attack? Todd Curtis and John Goglia look at the facts of the recent drone sightings. Some video clearly shows airplanes in flight. However, others appear to show drones. The federal government's response has been lacking, with government spokespersons offering few insights into wh...
Jan 08, 2025•26 min•Ep. 251
Fire and smoke led to the crash of a Douglas DC3 that killed signer Ricky Nelson and six others. To this day, rumors surround this 1985 deadly crash. Todd Curtis and John Goglia dig in to analyze the known facts. Among the rumors they explore is one that suggests that Ricky Nelson and other passengers may have caused a fire while using drugs in the passenger cabin. Although the NTSB report was inconclusive about the cause of the fire, the crew had reported issues starting the cabin heating syste...
Dec 18, 2024•23 min•Ep. 250
Is Qantas Airlines safe? Two recent events have led the Australian media and others to raise that question. The first safety issue was in November 2024. A tool was left in the engine of a Qantas A380 for nearly a month before it was discovered. A few days later, a Qantas 737 had an engine failure while taking off from Sydney. The Australian media covered these events extensively, raising concerns about Qantas’ safety. The Flight Safety Detectives look at whether these events establish a pattern ...
Dec 11, 2024•31 min•Ep. 249
The first fatal HondaJet accident just occurred. Greg Feith and John Goglia go over the known facts of the air crash in Mesa, Arizona on November 5. The jet ran off the runway and struck a car on a nearby road, killing the driver and four of the five people on board the jet. They draw similarities with a 2014 takeoff accident involving a Gulfstream jet near Boston. Poor preflight preparation may be the biggest contributor to this deadly event. Greg and John share the simple tests and steps that ...
Nov 20, 2024•37 min•Ep. 247
A U.S. Army UH-1 Huey helicopter survived the perils of Vietnam but came to a disastrous end in West Virginia. The 1962 helicopter crashed after its engine failed, killing the pilot and five passengers. The 2022 crash happened during an annual event that offers visitors an opportunity to fly either as passengers or as a second pilot. This helicopter was a warbird--a former military aircraft operating as a civil aircraft. It was operated under a special airworthiness certificate in the experiment...
Nov 13, 2024•27 min•Ep. 246
Flight Safety Detectives host John Goglia will be inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, a rare accomplishment in aviation. John is the first person whose career was focused on aviation maintenance to be selected. John Goglia and Todd Curtis talk about the honor before diving into a recent drone accident in Boston that injured two people. The drone crash occurred in downtown Boston during the taping of the TNT show "Inside the NBA." The drone crashed into a pole and fell, injuring peo...
Nov 06, 2024•23 min•Ep. 245
A fatal Piper PA-28-300 plane crash was caused by a loose fuel line that should never have been installed on the aircraft. The NTSB investigation of the fatal May 2018 crash shows that a fuel line that was not approved for use on that aircraft led to an engine fire. Todd Curtis and John Goglia examine the details. Although the fuel line used was an approved aviation part, it was not approved for use in this aircraft. The NTSB could not determine who installed the part or when it was installed. A...
Oct 30, 2024•33 min•Ep. 244
Another flight training accident, another lacking NTSB report. Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia discuss the NTSB report of a fatal June 2021 flight training accident near Indianapolis that lacks useful details or analysis. The accident aircraft was Diamond DA40 with an instructor and student on board. The instructor had received a CFI certification about nine weeks before the accident. Most of the instructor's 329 hours of flight experience were with the same make and model of aircraft. ...
Oct 23, 2024•38 min•Ep. 243
Aviation around the world changed as a result of the fatal accident involving Air Canada Flight 797. The investigation led to massive changes to the materials inside the cabins of commercial aircraft. On June 2, 1983, the DC9-32 on a routine flight from Dallas to Toronto had an inflight smoke event that led to an emergency landing in Cincinnati. As the passengers and crew began evacuating the aircraft, a flash fire in the cabin created heat and toxic smoke that killed 23 of the 46 occupants. The...
Oct 16, 2024•34 min•Ep. 242
Two recent Cirrus accidents killed a total of seven people. Greg Feith, John Goglia and Todd Curtis have some advice for Cirrus pilots to avoid similar tragedies. They caution newer technology supports, but is not a replacement for, good planning and pilot decision-making. One accident at Kill Devil Hills airport in North Carolina, killed four adults and one child. Another, in Provo, Utah airport killed both occupants. The Kill Devil Hills aircraft apparently had the maximum possible number of o...
Oct 09, 2024•38 min•Ep. 241
Fight instructor-related accidents and check ride failures at all levels of certificates and ratings are on the rise. Why? Insights are hard to come by. The report on a February 24, 2024 fatal training flight in South Africa that killed the student pilot and the instructor does nothing to help that issue. The Flight Safety Detectives’ analysis of the document finds a lack of any insightful analysis of the factors that led to the fatal crash. There are no useful insights or lessons that could ben...
Oct 02, 2024•40 min•Ep. 240
A second-in-command pilot left the cockpit and either jumped or fell out of an open rear cargo door of a CASA 212 aircraft flying over North Carolina. Digging into the details reveals he was self-medicating for anxiety and he may have been overcome by agitation during flight. In this 2022 event, the main landing gear was damaged when the plane that was supporting sky diving tried to land. The crew diverted to a larger airport for a second landing attempt. During that diversion, the second in com...
Sep 25, 2024•17 min•Ep. 239
The preliminary accident report on the August 9, 2024 crash of a Voepass ATR72 near Sao Paolo, Brazil has just been issued. John Goglia, Todd Curtis and Greg Feith apply their expertise to examine the findings and critical aviation safety issues. The report has detailed facts, including a summary of the flight, but several key pieces of information are missing. One big issue – no detailed transcript of what was said in the cockpit during the flight. The report focuses on the aircraft's deicing a...
Sep 18, 2024•52 min•Ep. 238
In March, a Mooney airplane door opened in flight, causing a loss of control and two fatalities. Todd and John examine this incident and three other Mooney events. Instead of a fault with Mooney aircraft, they find a pattern of very experienced pilots having issues and crashing when a passenger or baggage door opens in flight. Doors open in flight often. The outcome depends on pilot action. The pilot in the most recent crash had commercial and instrument ratings and nearly 800 hours of experienc...
Sep 11, 2024•28 min•Ep. 237
Get the highlights of the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture 2024 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin! Hundreds of thousands of attendees attended the multi-day event. All sectors of aviation were represented, from the military to general aviation, from exotic and experimental aircraft to flight demonstrations by military and civilian aircraft. John Goglia attended once again this year and chatted with pilots, mechanics, elected officials, and aviation enthusiasts of every age. He met several peop...
Aug 28, 2024•15 min•Ep. 236
What led to the deadly crash of a Voepass Linhas Aereas in August? Video of the flight's final moments show the aircraft rapidly descending in a flat spin. Early reports on the accident mention that icing conditions were present in the area at the time of the crash. Recovering from a spin in a large airliner is a significant challenge for pilots. Understanding how to avoid situations that lead to stalls and spins is the best way to avoid these tragedies. Flight training typically does not requir...
Aug 21, 2024•41 min•Ep. 235
NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) can be used by pilots, mechanics, flight attendants, and others in the aviation safety community to report UAP or UFO encounters without revealing their identity or the identity of their employers. Todd Curtis discussed this in a June 2024 presentation at the Contact in the Desert Conference in Palm Springs, California. In this episode, he and John Goglia dig deeper into the issue of reporting of these encounters in the aviation community. While nei...
Aug 14, 2024•53 min•Ep. 234
Issues from the NTSB investigation of a 2023 railroad accident are used to discuss the voluntary party system. The system is designed to encourage cooperative efforts in an investigation, which does not always work. In the party system, an organization or an individual with relevant expertise or information is invited to participate directly in an NTSB investigation. These parties are required to follow basic rules. They are expected to provide the NTSB information or expertise that helps the in...
Aug 07, 2024•42 min•Ep. 233
A YouTube video showing fireworks fired from a low-flying helicopter at a speeding Lamborghini has led to federal charges for the creator. Suk Min Choi was charged in June by the U.S. Department of Justice with one count of causing the placement of an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft. At least four other people were involved, including two or three people in an apparent Robinson R44 helicopter and the drivers of two vehicles. Replicating a sequence from a video game, Choi presses a ...
Jul 31, 2024•22 min•Ep. 232
A fatal midair collision involving a Cessna 172 illustrates several aviation safety concerns related to pilot training in and around airports with commercial operations. The incident involved a student and instructor on board performing touch-and-go landings and a Dash 8 departing on a passenger flight. While the event happened in Kenya, the circumstances that led to this accident could happen in any location where airliners and small training aircraft operate out of the same airport. In this ca...
Jul 24, 2024•29 min•Ep. 231
Boeing should use a third-party organization that would act on behalf of the FAA to monitor the design and production of its aircraft. That’s the proposal of special guest and Kilroy Aviation CEO Mike Borfitz published in a June 28, 2024 editorial in Aviation Daily. This kind of oversight had been provided in the past by Boeing employees who acted as the eyes and ears of the FAA. The process is based on FAA regulations created in 2005 that allowed manufacturers to create Organization Designation...
Jul 17, 2024•47 min•Ep. 230
Hypoxia is a significant danger in aviation and an insidious killer of passengers and pilots. Special guest Miles O'Brien hosts a discussion with aviation experts Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia that covers how hypoxia impacts all forms of aviation. They discuss personal experiences with hypoxia and share insights from several hypoxia-related accidents. Hypoxia is a condition where the human body is deprived of oxygen which can reduce mental function. Hypoxia can be particularly hazardo...
Jul 10, 2024•35 min•Ep. 229
Planes that experience turbulence in flight are getting a lot of headline attention lately. During one widely covered incident of turbulence in May 2024 a passenger aboard a Singapore Airlines flight was killed. Serious turbulence leading to injuries is not uncommon. Todd Curtis and John Goglia discuss several notable in-flight turbulence events, including the death of 1950s era test pilot Scott Crossfield. Specific and useful information about turbulence conditions is often not readily availabl...
Jul 03, 2024•31 min•Ep. 228
