• Home
  • Sponsors
  • News
  • Flight Safety Presentations
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
Flight Safety Detectives
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
Home1 / Episodes2 / Episode 38 – Merion Air Disaster Revisited
Tomás Del Coro from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA - N104RM 1980 Piper AEROSTAR 601P C/N 61P07568063375, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58210408

Episode 38 – Merion Air Disaster Revisited

September 16, 2020/in Episodes /by FSD

When a Piper Aerostar collided in mid-air with a Bell 412 helicopter over an elementary school in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, in 1991 Greg Feith was among the first investigators on the scene. Greg and John revisit the investigation to highlight NTSB findings that are relevant for pilots today.

The accident started the NTSB discussion and definition of aeronautical decision making. ADM is an important component of safe flying, in the cockpit and the hangar.

In the 1991 accident, five people in both aircraft were killed, including United States Senator John Heinz. Two school children on the ground were also killed by falling debris. More people on the ground were injured.

Greg describes the heartbreaking scene as well as the challenges of recovering evidence from a large debris field. Calling this a tragic event resulting from a “series of simple errors,” Greg talks about the role of crew experience, pilot communication and other notable factors.

Image from the NTSB accident report.

Image from the NTSB accident report.

Episode Photo: Tomás Del Coro from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA – N104RM 1980 Piper AEROSTAR 601P C/N 61P07568063375, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58210408
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail
https://flightsafetydetectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ep38piper.jpg 928 1280 FSD https://flightsafetydetectives.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/fsd-logo.png FSD2020-09-16 20:11:062022-08-24 15:17:42Episode 38 – Merion Air Disaster Revisited

Latest Posts

  • Aviation Maintenance & Real World Safety – Episode 168May 30, 2023 - 2:38 pm
  • 40 Percent Power in a Cessna 150? – Episode 167May 24, 2023 - 9:06 am
  • Pilot Gets Lost During Night Flight – Episode 166May 17, 2023 - 7:21 am
  • commercial space safety
    Commercial Space Safety: Human Factors – Episode 165May 10, 2023 - 8:51 am
  • a terrible year for aviation accidents
    A Terrible Year for Aviation Accidents – Episode 164May 2, 2023 - 11:48 am

Greg Feith and John Goglia, the Flight Safety Detectives

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 offer the ultimate insider view of everything aviation including behind-the-scenes facts on deadly air crashes and issues impacting general aviation and the commercial airline industry.

Archives

Become a Patron!

 

Categories

  • Episodes
  • News

Site Map

  • Home
  • Sponsors
  • News
  • Flight Safety Presentations
  • Contact
© 2023. Flight Safety Detectives.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
Episode 37 – Minute-by-Minute Examination of ValuJet Flight 592’s Electronic...NTSB photo of recovered Flight Safety RecorderEpisode 39 – Accident Shows Importance of Pilot and Mechanic Communic...
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies to improve your browsing experience; the website may not work as expected without them. By continuing to browse this site, you consent to the use of cookies.

Accept settingsHide notification only

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Accept settingsHide notification only