Offshore Oil Platforms and Aviation Safety - Episode 269
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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Smart Pilot Makes Bad Decision and Pays with His Life - Episode 268
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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Todd Curtis and John Goglia discuss a fatal air tour helicopter crash near New York City that killed all six people on board, including a family of five from Spain. They examine several witness videos plus ADS-S data in their analysis.The crash happened on April 10, 2025, three days before this episode was recorded. The flight was apparently routine until the helicopter suddenly rotated and crashed. Pieces of the aircraft, including the tail boom and the rotor blades, separated from the aircraft before it crashed into the Hudson River.Air tour operators are allowed to operate flights under Part 91 regulations, although the leasing company operated under Part 135 regulations that have a higher standard for inspections and maintenance. The aircraft was over 20 years old and leased from a company in Louisiana. The NTSB will likely interview anyone from the two companies involved with maintaining the aircraft.Given the circumstances of the crash, maintenance issues may have caused the accident. In addition to live lives lost, leading to concerns about the mental health effects this may have on those who maintained the helicopter. John has experienced incidents where maintainers may have harmed themselves because of their role in maintenance-related accidents.
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Inflight icing may have been a factor in the recent fatal crash of a TBM 700. Relying on publicly available ADS-B data and video from a nearby home, Todd Curtis, John Goglia, and Greg Feith discuss icing and other issues that may have affected the pilot and the aircraft.The TBM 700, a single-engine turboprop aircraft, crashed outside of Minneapolis. The aircraft was expected to land at the Anoka County–Blaine Airport. The pilot, the sole occupant of the aircraft, had departed from Naples, Florida, earlier that day and spent about 36 minutes on the ground at Des Moines, Iowa, before heading to the Minneapolis area. The length of the flight day may have affected the pilot as well as the quality of the information the pilot had about weather conditions.The discussion analyzes the flight's ADS-B data from the last leg of the flight, which shows that the aircraft was in a controlled descent heading for the intended runway. The aircraft entered a shallow left turn before departing from controlled flight and entering a high-angle descent before crashing into a nearby home. The high pilot workload during this phase of flight, the low visibility, and possible pilot fatigue or other physical conditions may have led to the pilot losing awareness of his air speed. Greg compares this event to the 1994 icing-related crash of an ATR 72 in Indiana and the SilkAir crash in Indonesia in 1997.
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World-renowned aviation-industry consultants and former NTSB investigators John Goglia and Greg Feith have 100 years of worldwide aviation safety experience between them. In this hard-hitting podcast series they talk about everything aviation -- from the behind-the-scenes facts on deadly air crashes to topics of interest such as tips and tricks for navigating through airports and security, traveling with infants and children, unruly passengers, and packing your bags to ease through security.
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