Flight Safety Detectives

This episode dives into the design and maintenance of aircraft cargo doors. Many aviation safety incidents with cargo doors are documented as maintenance issues, but some have caused notable air crashes. Todd Curtis and John Goglia focus on the 1989 plane crash of an Evergreen International Airlines DC9. The first officer did not properly close the main deck cargo door. The door came open shortly...

Some flight plans have aviation safety risks baked in. Todd Curtis and John Goglia discuss a runway excursion accident involving a student pilot who in the same flight was attempting to satisfy both a night currency requirement and a 250 nautical mile training flight requirement for an instrument certification. The plan literally went off track during the attempted takeoff at the fourth stage of t...

You had to be there to know the full story of the plane crash of USAir Flight 5050. John Goglia was, and he shares the experience. Todd Curtis and John discuss the fatal 1989 crash of USAir Flight 5050 at La Guardia Airport in New York. John directly participated in the accident investigation as a mechanic with USAir. He shares accident investigation details well beyond the official report. The ex...

The fiery plane crash that killed Christian music star Keith Green and 11 others resulted in safety lessons for every pilot. The NTSB accident report also has safety takeaways for anyone who rents or uses aircraft and pilots that are not their own. Greg Feith, Todd Curtis, and John Goglia talk about the circumstances of the fatal 1982 air crash. The thorough NTSB accident investigation (NTSB_FTW82...

The NTSB has a message for mechanics – pay attention to B-nuts! Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia dig into NTSB Safety Alert 086, which highlights four accidents that were caused in part by improperly tightened b-nuts. Small parts led to big problems. Two of the accidents were fatal. They focus on one accident that involves a very experienced pilot who also performed maintenance on the acci...

Aviation maintenance professionals are critical to safety. John Goglia helped put the spotlight on aviation maintenance and safety programs at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University recently. John did a presentation on Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) Day and witnessed first-hand some safety operations in place at the university. Greg Feith also reviews lessons learned from the fatal June 1999...

A pilot’s report of 40% engine power is just one of many unexplained facts in the NTSB report of a crash involving a modified Cessna 150. The banner-towing flight crashed while attempting to land in Riverside, California. Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia discuss a Cessna 150 banner tow plane accident where the pilot had engine issues shortly before landing and made an emergency landing nea...

Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia discuss the role of pilot decision making in a crash of a Cessna 152 in Florida. The pilot decided to do some practice flying at night and under low visibility conditions with deadly results. The NTSB investigation of the 2015 fatal crash did not seriously investigate several apparent issues, including the quality of the accident pilot's training and Englis...

Commercial space operations pose significant aviation safety challenges. Safety systems and processes need to evolve to meet the demands of new technologies and approaches. John Goglia and Todd Curtis discuss human factors issues with experimental aircraft. They examine the single commercial space accident in the NTSB database. The investigation looked at the 2014 inflight breaking of Scaled Compo...

John Goglia, Greg Feith, and Todd Curtis discuss the 1985 crash of an Eastern Airlines 727 in the mountains of Bolivia. Greg was an on-site NTSB investigator for the crash that was the start of one of the worst commercial aviation accident years in history. Greg led an expedition to the Andes Mountains to attempt to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. He offers a preview...

John Goglia, Greg Feith, and Todd Curtis share news from the 2023 Aerospace Maintenance Competition held during MRO Americas in Atlanta. More than 80 maintenance teams from around the world participated in this year’s competition. John is a long-time organizer of the event, and Todd is involved in human factors aspects of the competition. Competitors tackled 26 testing areas. Also on hand were som...

Important reminder - wake turbulence can be dangerous. It moves with the wind and can be hard to avoid without great care. John Goglia and Todd Curtis look at two aviation safety events that illustrate what happens when pilots experience wake turbulence. Both incidents under discussion involve certified flight instructors (CFIs). They illustrate issues with decision making and the skill needed to...

The air crash that killed R&B singer Aaliyah had more safety holes than swiss cheese. John Goglia and Todd Curtis examine at the Bahamian authority report of the 2001 event. Eight passengers and a pilot were onboard the Cessna 402B charter flight. John and Todd discuss the details of the accident report and the multiple organizational issues of the aircraft operator. They find that shoddy airline...

Todd Curtis is just back from exploring the future of air transportation on display at SXSW in Austin, Texas. He and John Goglia talk about newcomers Jove and EVE, electric and hydrogen engines and more. Plus, they answer listener questions. They highlight aviation safety issues brought by new technology and aviation innovations. They cover everything from cockpit design to countering perceptions...

The crash of a Pilatus PC-12 this February 24 killed all five aboard. John Goglia and Greg Feith use their investigation prowess to examine whether the air crash was caused by pilot loss of control or structural inflight breakup that led to loss of control. Greg and John discuss the preliminary NTSB accident report and analyze ADS-B data from the flight. They review the facts that show why this ac...

A Cessna 441 Conquest had an engine issue and landed without incident. A fix was made, but that’s not the end of the story. A second incident occurred that revealed damage not initially discovered. The Flight Safety Detectives share major safety takeaways from this sequence of events. The focus is on an Australian investigation of a 2021 incident. During some engine maintenance, two adjacent oil l...

The Flight Safety Detectives examine the preliminary accident report from the fatal January 2023 crash of a Yeti Airlines ATR 72. They discuss professionalism and crew resource management as the central cause. “Pilots needs to execute with purpose,” Greg Feith says. “That means that before you do or touch anything in the cockpit you have to be clear about your purpose.” Greg, Todd Curtis, and John...

Major League Baseball player Cory Lidle was killed when he flew his Cirrus SR20 into a building alongside the East River in New York. The accident shows the consequences of failure to do preflight planning and poor aeronautical decision making. Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia discuss the circumstances around the October 11, 2006 crash. The aircraft was on a VFR flight beneath the Class B...

Vintage airframes are creating modern-day safety issues. Todd Curtis and John Goglia discuss the recent P63 -B17 crash at a Texas air show as one example. They also examine a 2020 crash of a Vietnam era UH-1H helicopter that crashed during fire suppression operations. The Flight safety Detectives talk about the challenges of keeping older airframes safe. Metal ages and fatigues. Maintenance record...

Words matter. Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia discuss several aviation incidents with a common thread of communication issues. They cover two runway incursions that were dangerously close to becoming runway collisions. One was at JFK Airport in January 2023, and the second in Austin in February 2023. These air carrier events are an opportunity to look phraseology and communication as fact...

“A sloppy operation all around.” That’s John Goglia’s summary of a helicopter and truck accident that’s the subject of this episode. John counts 19 operational errors listed in the accident report that all contributed to the crash that destroyed a police helicopter. John and Todd Curtis share insight and amateur video that provide a close look at the 2020 ground collision in Brazil. The helicopter...

John Goglia and Todd Curtis discuss a recent event where an A320 lost part of its left elevator during takeoff in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The focus is on the differences in aviation safety systems around the globe, the challenges of tracking service bulletins on aircraft, and pilot decision making. In this Jan. 29 flight, the flight control system was damaged and the aircraft was una...

Even highly experienced pilots can be overcome by severe weather. Todd Curtis and John Goglia discuss the fatal crash that took the life of famed test pilot Scott Crossfield. A thunderstorm boxed him in, leading to loss of control of his Cessna 210A. John and Todd examine the weather information available to the pilot and to air traffic controllers. Failure to pay attention and communicate about t...

A pilot in training paid with her life when a flight instructor chose a poor location to practice engine failure maneuvers. John and Todd review the evidence collected following the air crash in California to offer flight safety advice. Being a pilot is not easy. Pay attention to everything. Anticipate what could go wrong and have a plan. In the 2017 accident reviewed in this episode, a flight ins...

Spatial disorientation can happen to any pilot. It led to the fatal crashes that killed John F Kennedy Jr and Kobe Bryant. John, Greg and Todd are joined by expert Andy Watson to talk about ways pilots can avoid a deadly air crash. Andy Watson is a professional air traffic controller, pilot, and author of the book, The Pilot’s Guide to Air Traffic Control. He describes the FAA accident briefing th...