Too Many Plane Crashes Caused by Flight Instructor Error – Episode 186
Special guest former NTSB Board Member Richard Healing and Greg Feith and John Goglia cover the recent fatal crash involving Richard McSpadden. McSpadden was executive director of the AOPA Air Safety Institute and a true champion of aviation safety.
“Richard contributed a lot to aviation safety, especially on the general aviation side,” Feith shares.
The number of accidents involving flight instruction is sky high right now. Healy discusses his ongoing work in researching aviation safety issues involving training flights. Among the findings – an alarming number of accidents caused by flight instructor error.
The discussion focuses on issues of operational discipline. From their days at the NTSB to current investigations, John, Greg and Dick have all found that neglecting the rules is a leading cause of flight issues.
They make the case for some form of flight data recording in flight instruction aircraft. The investment could help instructors learn and provide better aviation safety data.
Related document: NTSB Aviation Investigation Preliminary Report for October 6, 2022 training flight crash in Newport News, Virginia
