As Boeing continues to be the subject of investigations and congressional hearings the concept of criminalization has come to the forefront. This could have a devastating impact on aviation safety in the U.S. Special guest and aviation attorney Mark Dombroff focuses on efforts to criminalize the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents.

The effort to use criminal prosecutions to address aviation safety issues in the U.S. would dramatically impact the process of getting to the facts, including making witnesses more reluctant to come forward with details. Criminalizing will make the safety investigation process more difficult and less effective.

While some in the legal community favor criminalization, it is not the approach used in most of the world. Aviation accident investigation focuses on understanding what happened and how to prevent similar events in the future. A criminal investigation would shift the goals to assigning blame and handing out punishment.
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Several notable past investigations came up during the discussion, including a fatal 2006 midair collision in Brazil involving a 737 and a corporate jet. The corporate jet pilots were detained in Brazil for several months and threatened with prosecution for almost 18 years. When TWA Flight 800 crashed, there was tension over whether the FBI or the NTSB would conduct the investigation.

Missing equipment and inexperience led to a plane crash that killed 3. Precipitation, turbulence, and icing were factors in the crash of a Piper PA-30 Comanche in Oklahoma. The pilot did not have an instrument certification and was not able to handle the conditions.

The pilot had a private pilot and multiengine rating but did not have instrument training. Todd Curtis, Miles O’Brien, and John Goglia discuss what may have driven the pilot to fly into deteriorating weather. “Getting there” seems to have been the focus rather than planning and preparation.

The pilot was cruising at about 8,500 feet and climbed to as high as 16,500 feet. While the aircraft could provide supplemental oxygen, the equipment to use that system was not on board.
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The pilot likely climbed to escape a storm. He flew to an altitude where supplemental oxygen was required. The plane crashed and all 3 people on board were killed.

The fatal crash of Hughes 369 helicopter being used to trim trees has a backstory that gives insight into what went wrong. This workhorse of a helicopter apparently had damage from previous incidents.

The NTSB investigation found cracks in an engine mount that were likely present before the crash. John Goglia and Todd Curtis look beyond the fatal accident and share three previous investigations involving this helicopter. Two involved a crash with serious structural damage or a hard landing. These events may have stressed the engine mounts.

The fatal crash happened when the helicopter was in use for an operation that used a large 10-bladed saw to trim trees close to power lines. The helicopter went into a spin and low altitude and crashed, killing the pilot.
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This episode highlights the importance of knowing an aircraft’s history. Studying previous events involving a particular aircraft could reveal issues that should be inspected more closely or more frequently. The required 100-hour and 300-hour inspections were completed for the helicopter at the center of this discussion. However, additional inspections would have been smart given the previous accident history of the helicopter.

Training flight gone wrong! An examination of a February 2024 training flight disaster that involved an unstable approach, a tail strike, and a near collision with an airplane hanger.

Both the instructor and student involved in the Cessna 172 accident survived. Their account of the event provides insights into how a routine training flight turned into a near disaster. The instructor’s decision-making created a dangerous situation.

Shortly before landing, ATC redirected the aircraft to a much shorter runway, and the instructor allowed the student to bring in the aircraft too high and too fast. The instructor then allowed the student to land instead executing a missed approach.

After the student put the aircraft on the runway and braked hard enough to lock the brakes, the instructor took control of the aircraft, continued to apply brakes and pulled back on the control column hard enough to cause a tail strike.

The instructor turned onto a taxiway near the end of the runway and took off again, barely missing a nearby hanger. Fortunately, the instructor was able to land the damaged aircraft.
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The Australian authorities reference FAA criteria for a stabilized approach in the accident report. The detectives share anecdotes that reinforce the importance of judging whether an approach is stable and being consistent with landing procedures.