Flight Safety Detectives

The helicopter crash that killed the CEO of a major Nigerian bank and his family appears to be the result of similar pilot errors that caused the Kobe Bryant crash and other high-profile accidents. Greg Feith and John Goglia cite several recent accidents that show that poor decisions among pilots who fly for Part 135 operators may be the common contributing factor. The Flight Safety Detectives exp...

Most general aviation pilots hesitate to declare an inflight emergency fearing negative consequences. Greg Feith, John Goglia and Todd Curtis use a Beechcraft Bonanza plane crash to illustrate how declaring an emergency can be the safest move. The fatal Beechcraft Bonanza accident in the spotlight of this episode is featured in the book, "Single-Pilot IFR Pro Tips" written by 2019 National CFI of...

Singer Jenni Rivera’s tragic plane crash was a tragic accident and not the result of a conspiracy. This special episode of the Flight Safety Detectives features the January 24 interview Todd Curtis gave on the KIQI radio show “Hecho en California,” about the 2012 crash that killed Jenni Rivera.  Todd shares with hosts Isabel and Marcos Gutierrez the conclusions shared by the Flight Safety Detectiv...

The pilot of a Beech Bonanza F33A made an off-field landing when the engine lost power shortly after takeoff. John Goglia, Greg Feith and Todd Curtis dig into the information gathered by the NTSB and find this crash was caused by poor decisions made by the pilot. Greg, Todd, and John analyze the information from the Public Docket of the crash investigation. They find that the pilot's lack of under...

The events that led up to the crash of a MD82 in Detroit are used to illustrate the critical role of operational discipline. Greg, Todd and John give insight into the issues that led to Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashing and disintegrating. This is just one example of bad decisions taking an airplane out of the sky. This aviation disaster killed two people on the ground and nearly everyone on...

Jenni Rivera was a huge celebrity at the time of her death. Was the plane crash that killed her an accident or do the conspiracy theories point to the real cause?  In a continuation of the examination of this aviation incident that started in Episode 203, Greg Feith joins John Goglia and Todd Curtis to discuss why the conspiracy theories related to the crash are unlikely to be true. They use the e...

Todd and John analyze the plane crash that killed singer Jenni Rivera. The report from the Mexican accident investigation found that the Learjet 25 aircraft lost control during climb for reasons that could not be determined.  Key items are missing from the report that concluded that the crash was a loss of control event: No analysis results of the flight controls No flight data recorder recovered...

Latest on the Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 737 MAX 9 aircraft plug door separation and rapid decompression. Todd, Greg, and John discuss recent developments, including the recovery of the plug door. They talk about the value of having the plug door for inspection. They share the sequence of events that led to the door separation based on factual evidence. The spotlight is now turnin...

Runway images show that the Coast Guard Dash 8 involved in the collision with Japan Airlines Flight 516 was in the wrong place. The crew was to hold on the taxiway, but were actually on the runway. The plane standing still on the center line would have been virtually invisible to the pilots of the JAL Airbus A350.  The scenario is similar to a runway collision involving US Air Flight 1493 that Joh...

United Airlines has reported loose bolts on five of their 737 MAX 9 aircraft plug doors. This is the latest in the unfolding look at what happened in the incident involving Alaska Airlines Flight 1282. John and Greg use insights from their decades of experience inside NTSB and other aviation safety incident investigations to explain the latest developments. They cover the information that has been...

What happened to Alaska Airlines Flight 1282? What is going on at Boeing? In this special episode, Greg and John provide expert insight into the rapid decompression and inflight separation of an exit door panel on a Boeing 737-9 Max airplane. The Flight Safety Detectives dissect issues surrounding this incident and the regulatory response that is already happening. They discuss similar incidents,...

Airport rescue and firefighting expert Jack Kreckie and the Flight Safety Detectives discuss the January 2, 2024 runway collision between a Japan Airlines A350 and a Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 in Tokyo. Kreckie shares his inside knowledge of aircraft firefighting techniques and the systems in place to save lives and manage fires. He shares how modern composite materials used on aircraft impact the j...

Todd Curtis and John Goglia analyze an accident that was investigated by the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau, Australia's version of the NTSB. The ATSB report offers comprehensive aviation safety details and insight. John and Todd review the level of detail and compare it to what they find in NTSB reports from similar general aviation accidents. The Australian accident involved a Cessna 17...

Greg Feith and John Goglia review recent general aviation safety issues. Lack of operation discipline is leading to avoidable plane damage insurance claims. Because the claims increase insurance rates, all general aviation pilots are paying a price. Multiple incidents are shared as examples: planes running over taxi lights, ground collisions with aircraft and other objects, engines started with to...

Pilot and maintenance failures combined to create a dramatic turboprop incident that became a criminal case. John Goglia and Greg Feith explore the incident with a Piaggio aircraft that lost an elevator on the first flight of the day and continued with operations. The air taxi flight crew landed and flew to next airport without performing a preflight inspection. John and Greg talk about the indica...

More money than brains? Todd, Greg, and John examine a fatal Bahamas helicopter crash where the pilots’ focus on what their billionaire boss wanted overrode operational discipline. The 2019 Agusta AW139 helicopter crash at sea killed both pilots and all five passengers. While the crew had flown the route on at least 10 previous occasions, this was their first night flight. Greg, Todd, and John rai...

A drone and helicopter collide in midair as they cover a desert road race. The crash caused minor damage to the helicopter and major damage to the drone. Todd Curtis and John Goglia dissect the video and NTSB report of the incident involving a Aerospatiale AS350BA helicopter and a DJI Mavic 2 Zoom drone. John and Todd focus on key safety issues that the NTSB did not raise as they examined the 2020...

Oil leaks don’t just happen. When they do, they should trigger a close look at the engine. John Goglia and Todd Curtis share this advice after digging into the fatal crash of a Cessna Centurion after the owner and his passenger made unscheduled repairs on the oil system. The experienced pilot and passenger lost oil in fight and landed to add more. Surprisingly, there is no evidence that they did a...

A pilot doing his first banner tow with a Piper PA25 crashed and died. Todd and John examine this devastating banner tow plane crash. They urge pilots to educate themselves about all types of flight operations. NTSB reports are a good resource, but more data is often available online. Images and videos taken by other pilots and the public and websites like FlightAware can help the effort to unders...

A former major league pitcher who had a Hall of Fame career died when doing stunt-type maneuvers in his plane. Todd Curtis and John Goglia discuss Roy "Doc" Halladay’s risk-taking behavior that led to the November 2017 crash of the Icon A5 light sport aircraft he was piloting. The plane crash occurred when Halladay was executing aggressive maneuvers at low altitudes over the waters near Clearwater...

The recent event where an off-duty airline pilot who was flying in an airplane jump seat allegedly tried to shut off the engines leads to a discussion of crimes in the air. John and Todd talk about several examples of criminal aviation disasters. In the October 2023 event, a Horizon Air Embraer E175 airliner carrying dozens of passengers from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco was endangered. A...

An experienced pilot and mechanic made risky decisions, causing a plane crash that killed himself and a passenger. Todd Curtis and John Goglia discuss the 2021 crash and the many decisions made that compromised aviation safety. The pilot was flying a recently purchased Piper PA24 Comanche that had been grounded for the previous 15 years. The accident pilot was an experienced and certified FAA mech...

Not too long ago, anyone who reported a UFO, or UAP as they are called today, was deemed crazy. The most likely follow up was a psychiatric exam. John Goglia and Todd Curtis report on the growing effort to systematically record and analyze these events. A September 2023 NASA report from an independent study team recommended that NASA use the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) to support U.S....

Special guest former NTSB Board Member Richard Healing and Greg Feith and John Goglia cover the recent fatal crash involving Richard McSpadden. McSpadden was executive director of the AOPA Air Safety Institute and a true champion of aviation safety. “Richard contributed a lot to aviation safety, especially on the general aviation side,” Feith shares. The number of accidents involving flight instru...

People have seen unexplained objects in the skies for decades. The US Government and other entities are finally discussing these events publicly, an important development for aviation safety. “These events have an impact on flight crews and systems and are important to look at,” says Todd Curtis. Now falling under the classification, unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), these events have been c...