OTD, 25 years ago today (9 Feb 2001): the USS Greenville collided with the Ehime Maru. Many factors were at play: Hazy weather, lost situational awareness, poor teamwork, and a rushed emergency ballast blow. Yet only one person took all the blame. 🎙️ open.spotify.com/episode/1Tgb...

Today in 1995, US and Norwegian scientists launched a Black Brant XII high-altitude sounding rocket from Andøya Island off of Norway to study the aurora borealis. A Russian early-warning radar on the Kola Peninsula quickly detected the launch, which operators mistook for a US Trident II D5 SLBM.

I designated today as my writing day and now it seems that the NTSB server is offline... 😑

Wisdom of Trevor Kletz www.linkedin.com/posts/benhut...

The recent first-time ever activation of the Garmin Autoland was not due to pilot incapacitation, but a conscious decision by the crew: Garmin Autoland Activation Was Crew Decision share.google/9KaQmvdJXCxe...

Special Report: The night everything at DCA finally went wrong theaircurrent.com/aviation-saf... (via @willguisbond.com) #staycurrent

#OTD 2018: ERJ-190 Flying Control Rigging Error: Design not error proof. Documentation misleading. Maintenance training only "a starting point". Competence assessment, IIs, supervision are key. aerossurance.com/safety-manag... #flightsafety #aviationsafety #maintenance #humanfactors

WATCH LIVE: NTSB media briefing today at 3 p.m. ET on its investigation into the crash of a UPS MD-11 cargo airplane, Flight 2976 near Louisville, Kentucky. https://youtube.com/live/Rw6CtQJckzE?feature=share

2025-11-04: UPS MD-11F (N259UP, *1991) suffered an engine #1 explosion on take-off runway 17R at Louisville-Intl AP(KSDF), KY with 3 crew on board, lost height and crashed about 1 mile S of the runway. All occupants of flight #UP2956 to Honolulu perished. Also, 4 people on the ground died.

Little is known about the UPS MD-11F accident at this point, but footage taken from the air shows a chunk of one engine nacelle inlet sitting at a spot 2,000 feet before the end of runway 17R at SDF.

#OTD 2011 As the crew did not declare an autoland, ATC allowed another aircraft to depart which interfered with the localiser signal say BFU in a report issued after 85 months. aerossurance.com/safety-manag... #flightsafety #aviationsafety

After self-driving cars - self flying aircraft? The rise of autonomous systems promises AI pilots that never get tired - but can they cope with the unexpected? #avgeek ow.ly/M73r50XiTcI

I joined Eckhard Jann again on Error One to discuss the Kalitta Air 747 crash in Brussels — a powerful case of decision-making under pressure and how one split-second can change everything. #AviationSafety #HumanFactors 🎧 open.spotify.com/episode/0kLd...

Both pilots had studied the Route Guide. Both were safety-conscious. Yet neither saw the 282-ft obstacle. Lighting, layout, glare-how did so many small issues align? #tbt to one of our most haunting episodes of The Essence of Safety. #rescue116 open.spotify.com/episode/1PAa...

“At 1:43 and some odd seconds, I felt the first shudder… a loud bang. Something was gravely wrong.” The story of Greeneville — a U.S. Navy submarine, a routine drill, and a tragedy that shocked the world. 🎙️ Listen to the full episode now: open.spotify.com/episode/1Tgb...

In 1968, a Japan Air Lines DC-8 landed in San Francisco Bay. No one died, but the captain’s blunt confession became legendary: “I f*cked up.” But did self-blame help aviation safety - or hide the real lessons? 🎧 The Essence of Safety — new episode out now: open.spotify.com/episode/1Tgb...

When a JAL DC-8 lands short of the runway in San Francisco Bay, its captain admits fault with disarming honesty. Decades later, a U.S. Navy submarine collides with a Japanese fishing vessel, and another captain shoulders the weight of guilt... open.spotify.com/episode/1Tgb...

After many months of research, I finally finished the write-up for the next episode - and started recording it. Unforeseen circumstances aside, I should publish it next week. The first part is about this ⬇️ accident. Fortunately no-one got seriously hurt. Any idea what it was?

Crashing in a helicopter while on a crocodile egg gathering mission - only in Australia! 😄

#OTD 2015 Shoreham youtu.be/u20-oh5Wblw #flightsafety #aviationsafety

Embraer 195 probe: captain pressured first officer to accept incorrect take-off calculation after wrong-runway taxi - More on hype.aero

In 2019 the evacuation of a burning Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet was hampered with fatal consequences. Why are passengers still taking hand luggage with them? #avgeek #aviation #safety www.aerosociety.com/news/a-bag-f...

Recently, the topic of pilot error / human error / human factor has come up a lot again, and I thought it might be useful to start a 🧵 summarizing how modern safety science views the human role in safety-critical systems – and particularly in accidents. It's going long, but worth it, I promise!

AVHerald update on AI171: "It is becoming [...] clear [...] that there was probably 0 negligence in the cockpit [...]. The probability of a technical cause is high." avherald.com/h?article=528f…

Eckhard Jann and I sat down and talked about the 2014 Falcon 50 accident at Moscow-Vnukovo that killed Total CEO Christophe de Margerie [in German]. open.spotify.com/episode/5upw...

Nearing the end of the final report on Aeroflot 1492, I think I'm close to a full understanding of why this crash happened. I have a record 30 pages of notes, and I still need to read the Aeroflot and Rosaviatsiya dissenting opinions and the MAK's responses before I assemble the final text. (1/2)

A must-read. Yet another instance in which the non-public military accident investigations uncover troubling technical problems and the public report just blames the pilot.

The NTSB released its preliminary report on the crash of a Medevac Learjet 55 last month. Of note, the NTSB says, “The CVR did not record the accident flight and ... it was determined that the CVR had likely not been recording audio for several years.” www.flightradar24.com/blog/flight-...

TONIGHT! Free #aviation lecture, RAeS Solent Branch, 5 March, 'Accident Investigation - The Human Perspective' #avgeek buff.ly/Wliyx8A

Today I learned that Ron Schleede died this month. He was a well-known air crash investigator that appeared on many Mayday episodes. My condolences to his family and all of his friends and colleagues.

“The role of the operator in an accident is to add the final garnish to a lethal stew whose ingredients have been long in the cooking” No one has ever said it better.

NTSB releases an image of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of the Learjet 55 that crashed on Jan. 31 in Philadelphia. The CVR was located at the site of initial impact, at a depth of 8 feet.

I shan't speculate, of course, but I do wonder whether last night's tragedy was related to forcing night visual approaches on crews. I find them a major safety issue that is (luckily) normally mitigated by technology. The Opsgroup wrote a great piece on the topic: ops.group/blog/us-visu...

Here's a great video explaining why the CVR and FDR of #Jeju2216 stopped recording at around the same time. The most likely information, based on what is publicly known so far, is a failure and/or shutdown of both engines. So, no cover up. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TKo...

There are lots of reports that both the Cockpit Voice Recorder & the Flight Data Recorder of Jeju Air 2216 stopped working four minutes before the crash. Given their independent power supplies etc., that would be indeed very odd. But before anyone suspects foul play, here are two thoughts about it:

The 23 yo Swiss flight attendant has died from a lack of oxygen, autopsy revealed airlive.net/reports/2025...

What an excellent, insightful article! It's a long read, but worth every second.

This episode about the Irish rescue helicopter was a real work of love, but writing it was really rewarding.

#OTD in 1974: TWA Flight 514, a B-727, crashes in Mt. Weather (Virginia, US), all 92 aboard die. On approach in stormy conditions, jet impacted high ground on a CFIT. Report noted “inadequacies and lack of clarity“ on ATC instructions resulting in a premature descent.

Lithuanian authorities have found the CVR and FDR of the Boeing 737. Ministry of Justice's statement here: tm.lrv.lt/lt/naujienos... The article has been updated.