A photo shoot in a dry Nevada lakebed went horribly wrong when the wing of an airplane hit the model in the head. Miles O’Brien, Todd Curtis, and John Goglia discuss the June 2023 accident that involved an Aviate Husky plane.
The pilot, photographer and his wife, who was the model for the photo session, met early on the morning of the accident.On the fly, they planned a complex photo session involving the aircraft flying close to the model. The pilot misjudged his approach and the wingtip of the aircraft struck the back of model’s head and caused a serious injury. John compares this event to the 1982 fatal accident where actor Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed in a helicopter crash on the set of the Twilight Zone movie. Todd shares the pilot’s prior experience with similar photo sessions, and compares his approach to the much more structured approach that occurs in professional film and television productions. Miles and John share personal experiences with risky decision making. For Miles, it was his decision to continue flying with low fuel and landing with little left in his tanks. For John, he recalled a flight over the Atlantic where he had concerns that aircraft would not make it to land, and how he had a sudden interest in the operation of the life raft!
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Home-built aircraft are dangerous. Special guest Miles O’Brien joins Todd Curtis and John Goglia to discuss an August 2023 crash of a Kit Fox Model 3 aircraft that seriously injured the pilot.
The FAA’s approach to home-built aircraft allows owners to build their aircraft with little or no direct oversight. The accident rate is more than two times higher than general aviation aircraft. The pilot did not have a current FAA medical certification or a current endorsement to operate an aircraft as a single pilot. According to the maintenance documentation, in the eight years prior to the accident, the pilot had fewer than three hours of flight time. Home-built aircraft have advantages such as lower cost of ownership. Kit built aircraft have grown in popularity as more manufacturers enter the market. There are even high schools that build kit aircraft for resale as part of their educational programs. The safety risks are high. Kit aircraft are certified as experimental aircraft by the FAA. Some have modifications that would not be allowed on other kinds of general aviation aircraft. Little more than a driver’s license is needed to pilot one of these aircraft. flight safety detectives episode 213 - stall and spin maneuvers lead to fatal cessna 172 crash3/20/2024 An experienced flight instructor and student were killed when stall and spin practice in a Cessna 172 went horribly wrong. Flight data recorded by the aircraft and other evidence shows that the aircraft entered a very steep spiral turn nearly 6,000 above the ground and did not recover.
“They set themselves up for the right conditions. This accident just doesn’t make sense,” John Goglia says. Todd Curtis and John dig into the November 11, 2021 fatal plane crash. The flight instructor had nearly 15,000 hours of experience in the Cessna 172 and the student pilot had nearly 370 hours in the same make and model. No mechanical fault was found with the plane involved. Based on information in the student’s logbook and the Cessna 172 operating handbook, the student pilot and instructor may have been performing a maneuver associated with obtaining a commercial pilot certificate. Todd, who is also considering the same certification, discusses the requirement that the pilot be familiar with spiral turns. Students pursuing a private pilot certificate are not required to perform a spin maneuver, but it is still often part of flight instruction. They advise aspiring pilots to decline optional maneuvers that they think are too risky. flight safety detectives episode 212 - new aviation safety incidents involving boeing planes3/15/2024 More than 50 people were injured on March 11 when a Boeing 787 flying from Australia to New Zealand experienced a precipitous drop. John Goglia shares inside information that indicates one of the pilot seats was accidentally moved forward, jamming the pilot up against the control column and causing the sudden drop.
Special guest Miles O’Brien joins Todd Curtis and John Goglia to discuss this and another aviation incident from early March 2024. The second incident occurred on March 7, when a planespotter recorded a video of a wheel falling off of a 777 shortly after takeoff from San Francisco. The location of the cockpit seat switch in the 787 airplane is examined in detail. John shares first-hand experiences that demonstrate why the information about the March 11 flight is plausible. The event investigation by the Chilean authorities is expected to provide full details. Todd shares his experiences as a Boeing engineer working on the 777 development program. He and his colleagues identified design changes to deal with potential safety issues, but most of those changes never happened. John shares his experiences with wheel separation events. He has an informed opinion on how the recent 777 wheel separation event may have happened. The NTSB needs to get to the root cause and provide the public with detailed information about what happened. The media, including social media, plays a significant role in bringing attention to aviation safety events that were often ignored in the past. Are there more aviation safety issues than in years past? John points out issues such as experienced professionals leaving aviation. Todd looks at the impact of increased availability of aviation data. Todd Curtis, Greg Feith, and John Goglia discuss the crash of a Joby JAS4 eVTOL aircraft to highlight safety concerns and regulatory challenges. Propulsion units used in eVTOLs pose significant safety risks.
The eVTOL in this crash was being remotely flown during a test flight. The aircraft is powered by six electric motors and is designed to take off and land vertically like a helicopter and cruise like an airplane. John, Greg, and Todd examine how the design of the aircraft, with a unique configuration of six propulsion units, creates several failure modes that don’t exist for currently certified passenger-carrying aircraft. While no one was injured or killed in this crash, Greg, Todd, and John explore risks evident in the accident. They call on the FAA to consider these risks during the certification process. Several eVTOL manufacturers, as well as some manufactures of large jet transports, are designing their aircraft for either single pilot or autonomous operation. These designs make it difficult to respond to unforeseen emergencies. Greg and John note the crew responses to several past aviation accidents and how a single pilot or an autonomous system may not be able to deal with those situations. The jet, which had three crew members and two passengers, was nearing the end of a flight from Columbus, Ohio, when the flight crew declared an emergency to air traffic control. They lost their engines and could not make it to the airport.
Little official information was available at the time of the recording. It was not known whether the aircraft was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder. The engines appear to be intact, which will help with the investigation. John and Todd compare this accident to a 1997 Southern Airways DC9 crash in New Hope, Georgia. In that accident the crew was able to land on a road, and the aircraft caught fire after running into obstructions near the road. In both accidents there were survivors among the cabin crew and passengers. Todd and John encourage pilots to assess their options for making an emergency landing so they are prepared to take action if an emergency occurs. flight safety detectives episode 209 - pilots in helicopter crash repeat errors in kobe bryant crash2/28/2024 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 explore the known facts surrounding the fatal flight. The forecast called for wintry mix along the flight path and witnesses reported precipitation at the time of the accident. The helicopter may not have been equipped for the conditions. The pilots were following roads, which can cause disorientation issues during night flying. Greg calls for a new look at regulations that allow Part 135 operators of smaller helicopters to fly without either a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder. The lack of recorders limits information available to accident investigators. John and Greg discuss their experiences consulting for companies and high net worth individuals who use executive air transportation services. They have found an overall lack of due diligence to ensure the safety of these operations. flight safety detectives episode 208 - declaring an in-flight emergency can save your life2/21/2024 Most general aviation pilots hesitate to declare an in-flight emergency fearing negative consequences. Greg Feith, John Goglia and Todd Curtis use a Beechcraft Bonanza plane crash to illustrate how declaring an in-flight 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 the Year Gary “GPS” Reeves. Known as The Guy in the Pink Shirt, Reeves uses examples from several incidents to illustrate good general aviation pilot habits. Reeves uses the Beechcaft Bonanza event to highlight the advantages of not waiting to declare an emergency. The Flight Safety Detectives find that this crash is also a classic example of how oversights and bad habits by the pilot in command can lead to an avoidable accident. They offer life-saving insights into this aviation disaster. The NTSB found that the cause was an improperly positioned fuel selector lever. Greg shares his own experience dealing with an improperly positioned lever. John recounts accidents involving fuel selector levers, including the crash that killed John Denver. Amazingly, John’s experience is that many general aviation pilots have problems with the fuel sector due to not using them at all and never getting a feel for how they operate. “It’s not like jumping in the car to go to the grocery store,” John says. “Flying is not that simple. You need to do a thorough preflght, every time.” If the accident pilot had followed Gary Reeves advice to declare an in-flight emergency when problems first develop, the pilot would have been able to land safely at an airport. The FAA would have looked at the scenario as prudent decision making and would likely not have taken any action against the pilot. flight safety detectives episode 207 - conspiracy theories surrounding jenni rivera plane crash2/15/2024 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 Detectives team after they analyzed the formal accident report that was released by the Mexican government. Todd, Marcos, and Isabel discuss several conspiracy theories surrounding the Jenni Rivera plane crash, and how the facts of the accident report don’t support those theories. They also cover the Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 plug door loss, an event that happened a few weeks prior to the interview. 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 understanding about the aircraft and its systems contributed a series of decisions that led to the plane crash. The pilot took off with the fuel pump on to deal with an overheating problem in two of the six cylinders of the engine. He did this despite a placard advising that the aux pump should not be on during takeoff. In the Continental IO-520 engine in this plane, as in many piston engines, airflow cools the cylinders. Common and overlooked, baffles are critical for proper engine cooling. John details his experiences seeing damaged, cracked and improperly installed baffles on engines. Greg contrasts the good decision the pilot made to not attempt a return the airport with the bad decisions he regularly encounters when pilots make the hazardous and often fatal decision to make an impossible turn back to the runway. |
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