19th Annual First State Chapter - PAMA / West Star Aviation Golf Tournament
Wednesday - October 1, 2025 
12:00 - Registration & Lunch
1:00 - Shotgun Start
Registration Open on Golf Registration Page at FirstStatePAMA.com
Deerfield County Club - Newark Delaware
$130.00 includes: Lunch, Best Ball Round of Golf, Golf Cart, Dinner, Door Prizes, Trophies, free alcoholic drinks throughout the day including dinner 

Information & Sponsorships: Please contact John Agnew at [email protected] or 302-983-0042 for details
 
Please see the attached Registration and Vendor Information Form

Visit  www.FirstStatePAMA.com for more information!
Golf Event Title Sponsor – West Star Aviation
Lunch - flyADVANCED
Dinner –  DAS  Aviation
Cocktails – Velocity Maintenance Solutions 
 
Gold Sponsor – $750.00
Cosgrove Aircraft Services Inc.
May have more than 1 Gold Sponsor

Silver Sponsor – $500.00
Aircraft Specialties Inc - ASI
Corporate Jet Support 
May have more than 1 Silver Sponsor

Bronze Sponsor – 250.00
SureFlight Completions 
May have more than 1 Bronze Sponsor Longest Drive – Honeywell
Closest to the Pin – Honeywell

 Hole Sponsorship's - 1 hole for $250.00   3 holes for $600.00
 Polytech School of Aviation Maintenance
Velocity Maintenance Solutions
Honeywell
Aviation Institute of Maintenance

​Contact:
John Agnew
President
First State Chapter - PAMA
302-983-0042

Spotlight on the September 2024 fatal crash involving an Evolution Revo light sport weight shift aircraft (LSA). A CFI and student pilot were killed when the aircraft’s wings folded and it entered a steep dive.

Todd Curtis and John Goglia explore questions not answered in the recently released NTSB report. How or why did the CFI miss the checklist item to attach a key support cable? Had the aircraft recently been transported? Was work done on the aircraft?

The aircraft uses hang-glider-like wings for lift. It relies on moving a control bar to shift the center of gravity and change the shape of the wing and does not rely on traditional flight control surfaces. Despite his extensive experience with the aircraft, the CFI did not properly attach a key support cable called a haul back cable.
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LSA rules will change in 2025 and 2026, including allowing pilots with an LSA certification to fly larger aircraft like the Cessna 172.

Calling out inappropriate CFI behavior! John and Todd dig into the details of a fatal September 2023 accident involving a night training flight. The student’s regular instructor was not available, and this was the first training with a different CFI.

The CFI’s actions were unprofessional and inappropriate. He uploaded posts to Snapchat before and during the flight.

In a post uploaded prior to the flight, the CFI complained about how long the student took to do a preflight inspection. John Goglia reminds that a preflight inspection should take as long as necessary!
The CFI was the pilot-in-command of the flight. He made critical decisions that put the aircraft in danger and likely led to the crash.
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While returning from the night training flight, the CFI ignored storms in the area and pressed on instead of landing at an alternate airport. The plane encountered severe turbulence and broke up in flight, killing the CFI and the student.

Viewer questions lead to continued discussion in Episode 288 about a fleet of unknown drones that violated FAA regulations by flying near an airliner for an hour. John Goglia and Todd Curtis provide additional insights.

Would cameras in the cockpit be helpful? Probably not. Advances in flight data recorder technology have allowed flight data recorders to track over a thousand inputs about the state of the aircraft, including most of the information that a camera in the cockpit could provide. In the case of the drones, the pilots would have had a better view compared to a cockpit camera, which would have been designed to capture images inside the cockpit rather than outside.

Were the drones UFOs? Unidentified anomalous phenomena (AUP) has replaced the term UFO in many government organizations.

Whatever the term used, an issue for pilots is the social stigma about reporting something that could be a UAP. The pilots of the airliner that was followed sent a message indirectly to air traffic controllers rather than sending the message by radio, potentially putting other aircraft at risk by delaying communication to other pilots about a potential hazard.
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Continuing the focus on drones, a pair of test drones recently crashed due to a software error. The software error that caused the drones to crash is one of several risks posed by large-scale commercial operations. John discussed proposed FAA regulations that would set standards for this kind of drone operation.

Registration Open on Golf Registration Page at FirstStatePAMA.com
Wednesday - October 1, 2025 
12:00 - Registration & Lunch
1:00 - Shotgun Start

Deerfield County Club - Newark Delaware

$130.00 includes: Lunch, Best Ball Round of Golf, Golf Cart, Dinner, Door Prizes, Trophies, free alcoholic drinks throughout the day including dinner 
Information & Sponsorships: Please contact John Agnew at [email protected] or 302-983-0042 for details
 
Visit  www.FirstStatePAMA.com for more information!
Golf Event Title Sponsor – West Star Aviation
Lunch - $1000.00
Dinner –  DAS  Aviation
Cocktails – Velocity Maintenance Solutions 
 
Gold Sponsor – $750.00
May have more than 1 Gold Sponsor

Silver Sponsor – $500.00
Aircraft Specialties Inc - ASI
May have more than 1 Silver Sponsor

Bronze Sponsor – 250.00
May have more than 1 Bronze Sponsor Longest Drive – Honeywell
Closest to the Pin – Honeywell

 Hole Sponsorship's - 1 hole for $250.00   3 holes for $600.00
Velocity Maintenance Solutions
Honeywell
Polytech School of Aviation Maintenance

John Goglia, Todd Curtis, and Greg Feith discuss the details of a fatal R44 helicopter crash in Australia that involved a pilot who had been drinking and had suspected mental health issues. The pilot took off without permission and made several low-level passes over the city before crashing into a hotel.

The ATSB accident investigation report included a detailed analysis of the flight and of the helicopter wreckage, but didn’t provide details as to the level of the pilot’s intoxication, the pilot’s mental fitness or witness statements that may have shed some light on the pilot’s state of mind.

Greg discusses how flight instructors evaluate their students for changes in personality that may be a sign of an underlying problem. John shared his own experiences with maintenance professionals whose personal issues impacted their work.

They examine this accident to understand how mental health issues may lead to behaviors that cause crashes. Investigations that look at effects of alcohol and other substances and what pilots did in the 72 hours leading up to an event can provide critical insight.
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The episode ends with a call to action: friends and coworkers should ask anyone they know who seems to be struggling about how they are doing and give them a chance to talk. And, if the situation gets worse, do what you must do to keep that person safe.