Flight Safety Detectives

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 cras...

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 unexpect...

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 N...

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...

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...

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 helicop...

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 th...

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 controll...

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 crash...

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...

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...

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 w...

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 incide...

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 l...

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 c...

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 Depar...

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 cra...

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...

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 nati...

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...

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 Fe...

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 ar...

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...

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 feder...

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 inc...