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 crash.

Many people speaking out, including pilots and other aviation professionals, are demonstrating little understanding of 787 systems and procedures. They are misrepresenting the limited information available about the event. This is a disservice to the public as well as aviation safety.

Boeing 787 Systems Explained

Greg explains how the 787 flap and slat system operates and how that led many commentators to misinterpret what they saw in the two videos of the crash that have been widely circulated. The main landing gear is visible in the videos, leading some commentators to speculate that the crew neglected to raise it. Greg notes that one of the videos showed clear evidence that the landing gear was in the process of being raised.

The audio of one of the videos suggested that the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) was deployed. John and Greg detail how the RAT provides critical hydraulic and electrical capacity to the aircraft. They describe several ways the system can be deployed manually or automatically.

Todd, John, and Greg all criticize the Indian authorities' management of the accident investigation. Video clips of the accident scene show that news media and others had relatively free access to the site. Evidence from the accident scene was disturbed before investigative authorities could inspect it. The lack of security may make it hard to fully understand why the aircraft crashed.

Middle East Conflict Impacts Flight Safety

A major military conflict between Iran and Israel began the day after the Air India crash, dramatically changing flight patterns in that part of the world. Flights may be disrupted further should the conflict intensify. Passengers and flight crews in that area should be prepared with alternative plans should the situation change for the worse.

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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 unexpected reaction.

Season 2 of "The Rehearsal" addresses the role that enhanced CRM could play in reducing accidents. The tropic is explored in the context of comedy, absurdity, and simulations of the travel experience. Throughout, John is featured as the voice of authority.

Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the series was how seriously deeply Fielder approached the subject. He went from being a non-pilot to getting a type rating in a 737. Hear John’s insider look at how the show came together.

Stay tuned – John has invited Nathan Fielder to appear on a future episode of Flight Safety Detectives!

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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 NTSB headquarters. At that time, the records for most accident investigations were not sent to headquarters.

Jim Croce was traveling late at night from Louisiana to Texas. For reasons that are not explained, the aircraft hit a tree off the end of the runway. It was destroyed in the subsequent fire. While the report mentions the weather conditions and the pilot's preexisting heart condition, it does not answer many questions, such as whether the plane was overloaded or even the position of the tree relative to the runway.

In a 2024 incident involving Lufthansa, the captain stepped out of the cockpit and the first officer lost consciousness. For 10 minutes, no one was flying the plane!

The event did not result in an accident, although it was a close call. Fortunately, the first officer recovered enough to open the cockpit door, and the flight continued without incident.

John Goglia and Todd Curtis agree that always having a second person in the cockpit is a good practice. The regulations in Europe, where Lufthansa is based, do not require a second person.

Although these two events are very different, like many accidents and incidents, each provides learning opportunities. Aviation is a learning adventure!

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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 truth?

These issues have been ongoing for more than a decade for many reasons.

• Delayed infrastructure improvements
• Aging air traffic controller workforce
• Increased demand for flight operations at Newark

Add to this that there aren’t enough trained air traffic controllers. A combination of retirements, COVID hiring freezes, and flawed hiring policy changes have limited the number of potential new controllers.

John Goglia and Todd Curtis discuss possible air traffic controller mental health issues that may arise from a combination of stress from long hours and high workload. Negative news coverage from both traditional and online media compounds the situation.

NTSB board member Alvin Brown was removed without explanation in May. Brown is a former mayor of Jacksonville, Florida. He was a board member since March 2024 and vice chair since December 2024. This is the first time a Board member had been removed in such a fashion. Todd and John speculate that Brown was dismissed because of his close association with the Democratic Party.

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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 analysis showed that the ice was not contaminated with chemicals that may have come from an airplane's lavatory.

Twelve to 15 ice fall events occur annually. Since 2000, 78 of these events had no identified origin.

Was it an icy meteorite? Space debris? Someone in the local area launching it with a catapult? The detectives explore these and other possibilities.

This event fits into the category of a UAP, or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, that is possibly from unknown or unrecognized natural phenomena.

Bonus: Hear Greg’s review of the Mark Wahlberg movie "Flight Risk."

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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 helicopter operator's standard procedures for landing and taking off.

In the 2010 accident there were multiple missed inspections by mechanics and pilots over several days, including the accident flight. The poor maintenance effort led to system malfunctions that prevented the pilot from fully controlling the helicopter, forcing the pilot to make a running landing at about 45 knots.

In a 2022 accident, the pilot landed away from the center of the helideck and the rear of the right skid was over the edge of the helipad and adjacent to a raised perimeter light. When the pilot took off, the right skid contacted a perimeter light, causing the helicopter to roll sharply to the right. The helicopter struck the helideck, rolled off the oil rig, and sank. The pilot has a documented history of not following takeoff and landing procedures on most of his flights to and from oil rigs.

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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 the pilot did not have a pre-buy inspection, was not familiar with the aircraft’s systems, and ignored the advice of his friend and former CFI to not fly.

The pilot knew about a landing gear indication light problem before takeoff. He proceeded without resolving it or reviewing the appropriate emergency procedures for operating the landing gear. The plane stalled and crashed while he tried to troubleshoot the issue in flight.

In this analysis with John Goglia and Todd Curtis, Greg Feith shares that he is currently in the process of buying a used airplane. Like the accident pilot, the aircraft has not flown in several years. Unlike the accident pilot, he is working closely with an experienced mechanic to make the aircraft airworthy and to examine all systems on the aircraft.

Greg is frustrated with the quality of the decisions made by the pilot before and during the flight. He’s further critical of the NTSB’s analysis of this accident. The probable cause statement focuses on a stall that happened at the end of the flight rather than all the pilot actions before and during the flight.

“[The NTSB probably cause statement is] so vanilla. It is such a cop-out,” Greg says.

This accident is a result of poor aeronautical decision-making by the pilot and the actions of others around the pilot who failed to assert proper safety practices.

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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 controllers were directing the pilot to take a series of right turns for a second approach.

The pilot was taking several members of his family to a holiday celebration, so the pilot may have chosen to fly a non-standard missed approach because it would take less time than the published approach.

Greg shares firsthand experience and knowledge of the performance of MU-2 aircraft. Several years ago, he evaluated MU-2 models for safety issues and found that many previous accidents in these models were due to issues with the pilot, not the aircraft.

This aircraft was being flown by a single pilot in IFR conditions. Flying single-pilot IFR in actual IFR conditions is a challenge for any pilot under normal circumstances. Temperatures were just above freezing at neighboring airports and there was snow in the area at the time of the crash. Icing and the presence of five passengers and their baggage may have degraded the aircraft's performance.

The pilot's familiarity with the destination may be a factor. A review of flight records showed this was the first time the aircraft had flown to this airport in the previous six months.

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