Flight Safety Detectives

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...

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...

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 operat...

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 dur...

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...

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. Mos...

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 airc...

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...

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 analys...

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...

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 transcri...

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 pi...

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...

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...

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 G...

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...

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...

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...

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 ba...

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 hu...

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 C...

As Boeing continues to be the subject of investigations and congressional hearings the concept of criminalization has come to the forefront. This could have a devastating impact on aviation safety in the U.S. Special guest and aviation attorney Mark Dombroff focuses on efforts to criminalize the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents.  The effort to use criminal prosecutions to address...

Missing equipment and inexperience led to a plane crash that killed 3. Precipitation, turbulence, and icing were factors in the crash of a Piper PA-30 Comanche in Oklahoma. The pilot did not have an instrument certification and was not able to handle the conditions. The pilot had a private pilot and multiengine rating but did not have instrument training. Todd Curtis, Miles O’Brien, and John Gogli...

The fatal crash of Hughes 369 helicopter being used to trim trees has a backstory that gives insight into what went wrong. This workhorse of a helicopter apparently had damage from previous incidents. The NTSB investigation found cracks in an engine mount that were likely present before the crash. John Goglia and Todd Curtis look beyond the fatal accident and share three previous investigations in...

Training flight gone wrong! An examination of a February 2024 accident that involved an unstable approach, a tail strike, and a near collision with an airplane hanger. Both the instructor and student involved in the Cessna 172 accident survived. Their account of the event provides insights into how a routine training flight turned into a near disaster. The instructor's decision-making created a da...