On this day in 2018, Elaine Herzberg became the first pedestrian killed in a self-driving car collision.
The investigation revealed familiar patterns: reliance on automation, human factors, unforeseen scenarios, and organisational pressures.
Listen: A Meditation on Automation
OTD in 2017, Rescue 116, a SAR helicopter on a support mission, crashed into Blackrock, an island on Ireland's west coast. All four crew members on board, Captain Dara Fitzpatrick, Chief Pilot Mark Duffy, winch operator Paul Ormsby, and winch man Ciarán Smith were killed.
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...
A color photograph of a long, thin, needle-like Black Brant XII sounding rocket at launch, with a bright orange plume of exhaust emanating from its tail end as the rocket leaves the launch rail. The rocket is painted black, silver, red, white, and yellow.
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... 😑
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
I haven't seen it yet, but heard great things. Well done!
#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
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
No, because the autopilot doesn't take any decisions for the pilots.
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
Interesting, but I feel that socio-technological aspects are being overlooked. I created two episodes (A Meditation on Automation part I+II) on the topic, using the accident of Uber's self-driving car as an example:
open.spotify.com/episode/7C20...
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...
Exactly!
That's the one :)
Close, but not quite it.
A DC-8 airliner ditched in shallow waters. In front of it, a small patrol vessel.
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
