Safety Investigator Describes Two Relevant Case Studies

The National Business Aviation Association hosted a Single-Pilot Safety Standdown in conjunction with its Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) happening this week at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Nevada.

The standdown featured air safety investigator Pete Basile, chief air safety investigator at Textron Aviation, who shared with attendees critical insights of decision-making under pressure, managing risk, and best practices for maintaining safety in demanding single-pilot operations.

As a party to investigations with the National Transportation Safety Board, Basile presented a high-level overview of the accident investigation process before he described two case studies pertinent to the attendees.

Both accidents involved Cessna 550 aircraft, one of which had been modified for single-pilot ops. Both accidents together resulted in the deaths of twelve people, six in each one.

In the single-pilot accident, the flight was almost seven hours in duration with one fuel stop. The pilot had not listed an alternate on the flight plan and weather at the intended airport was poor with low visibility and ceiling. The NTCB has not yet completed that investigation.

In the second one from July 2023, the aircraft was attempting to return to French Valley Airport (RBK) in Murrieta, California, at around 3 am local. There was low visibility and ceiling with marine fog in the area. In this case, the NTSB noted alcohol impairment may have limited the copilot’s ability to make positive contributions to flight safety, but did not explicitly state it was a causative factor in the accident.

Basile discussed the common threads in the accidents, and added that these factors continue to be common in aviation accidents:

• Continuing flight in poor weather conditions
• Failure to maintain a stabilized approach
• Accident time during periods of Window of Circadian Low, typically between 3 and 5 a.m.

Basile said, “I would love to come back and talk about something else next year, but we keep having the same issues. Let’s prevent these types of accidents from happening again.”

FMI:  nbaa.org/