Episodes

Max Trescott and Rob Mark open Episode 33 of NTSB News Talk by noting that general aviation accident activity often rises during the summer months because more flying is taking place. They stress that this does not make accidents acceptable or less tragic, but it does help explain why there are more recent events to choose from during this time of year.The first segment looks at a runway close call at Boston Logan involving Delta Air Lines Flight 2351 and American Airlines Flight 3161. Delta 23...

In NTSB News Talk #32, Max Trescott and Rob Mark examine two major new aviation accidents, a dramatic United 767 light pole strike at Newark, and several newly released NTSB final reports that highlight familiar accident themes: unstable approaches, low-altitude decision-making, maintenance neglect, traffic-pattern workload, weather surprises, visual illusions, and delayed instructor intervention.Brought to you by AVEMCO aircraft insurance.Support Rob and Max by making a donation at Patr...

Max Trescott and Rob Mark review a new NTSB recommendations for the FAA’s Runway Condition Assessment Matrix after wet-runway overruns showed that heavy rain can sharply reduce braking effectiveness.Brought to you by AVEMCO aircraft insurance.Support Rob and Max by making a donation at Patreon.comThe episode then turns to several recent and preliminary accidents, including a Piper PA-28 N7188W loss-of-control crash at Akron-Fulton Airport, a Piper PA-32 Saratoga N5802N accident southwest of...

Max Trescott and Rob Mark discuss several recent aviation accidents and new NTSB reports, beginning with a tragic Frontier Airlines A321 accident at Denver International Airport, where a man entered the runway environment and was struck during takeoff. The crew rejected the takeoff at high speed, the right engine caught fire, and multiple passengers reported minor injuries.Brought to you by AVEMCO aircraft insurance.Support Rob and Max by making a donation at Patreon.comThe episode then...

LaGuardia Runway Collision and Firetruck CrossingIn this episode of NTSB News Talk, Max Trescott and Rob Mark begin with the LaGuardia runway collision involving Jazz Flight 646 and an airport firetruck that was cleared to cross runway 4 shortly before the landing regional airliner arrived. The collision occurred during an emergency response on another part of the airport, creating a fast-moving chain of events involving air traffic control, a responding firetruck, runway status lights, and a l...

A Week of Accidents With the Same Underlying LessonMax Trescott and Rob Mark talk about a long list of recent accidents and final reports, including Beech 58 Baron N2063G, Sling N166TW, Piper Saratoga N4190E, Cirrus SR22 N124SP, Cirrus SR22 N285AH, Mooney M20K N4387W, Piper PA-44 Seminole N595ND, Cessna 172P N781FM, and Mooney M20E N5632Q. The airplanes are different, the missions are different, and the outcomes range from minor damage to fatal crashes, but the pattern is remarkably consiste...

Advisory Glidepath Can Be a TrapMax talks with Rob Mark about one of the most important instrument-flying subtleties many pilots still do not fully understand: advisory glidepath guidance, often shown as “+V.” The discussion starts with Max describing an unusual request from the NTSB, which contacted him as an expert to talk about the details of advisory glidepaths. That conversation sets up one of the central themes of the episode: an advisory glide slope does not change the rules of a nonprec...

LaGuardia Crash Turns a Long-Feared Runway Incursion Into RealityIn this episode of NTSB News Talk, Max Trescott and Rob Mark begin with the crash at LaGuardia in which an Air Canada regional jet struck a fire truck while landing. It’s the kind of accident many people in aviation have feared for years, a runway incursion involving a landing airplane and a ground vehicle in a busy airport environment.Max and Rob explain why this accident is so troubling. It does not look like a simple one-error...

In episode 25 of NTSB News Talk, Max Trescott and Rob Mark break down seven NTSB reports with a common theme: the accident often starts long before the impact.They begin with an experimental Carbon Cub (N126C) that appears to have struck power lines during very low flight along the Payette River near Montour, Idaho—another reminder that wires are nearly invisible until they aren’t. Next is a Cessna 310R (N252DL) that descended into terrain on an IFR flight after the pilot stopped responding to...

Max Trescott talks with co-host Rob Mark about the newly released docket on Bering Air Flight 445: a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, N321BA, operating under Part 135, that crashed on February 16, 2025, near Nome, Alaska. The Preliminary Report is here. The Caravan was flying between Unalakleet and Nome (about 145 miles), with portions of the route 10–20 miles offshore—well outside gliding distance when down low and without life preservers or a raft aboard. While the airplane was level at 6,000 feet, ...

Max talks with co-host Rob Mark about the NTSB’s day-long board hearing on the DCA midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Even though the final report isn’t out yet, the board has already adopted a detailed probable-cause statement with many contributing factors. Max and Rob discuss what that length and tone usually mean: the investigators aren’t pointing at a single “gotcha,” they’re pointing at a system—airspace design, controller procedures, ADS-B policy, and the way...

Max Trescott and Rob Mark talk about the Bangor, Maine Bombardier Challenger 650 crash (N10KJ)—a major breaking story—and what the earliest discussion points usually look like before investigators have hard answers. They outline why takeoff accidents in winter conditions immediately raise questions about contamination, deicing decisions, holdover time, and whether ice or snow could have been present at the start of the takeoff roll.Then the episode shifts to set of other NTSB cases with sharply different aircraft and missions—but familiar human factors. These include the American Aviation AA-1A (N9439L) near Alamogordo, Cirrus SR20 (N814) in Watertown, Beech C23 (N76SB) in Virginia, Mooney M20C (N1204X) in Texas, Cessna 206 (N460DC) in California, Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche (N8693Y) in Illinois, and a Beechcraft 95 Travel Air (N369BB) training flight in Alabama. Across them: unstable approaches, late go-arounds, loss of control close to the ground, and pilots pushing past safe marg…

Max Trescott and Rob Mark connect a string of very different accidents with one shared theme: safety margin usually disappears one “reasonable” choice at a time—until the airplane (or the environment) collects the debt.They open with a major development: the NTSB’s urgent recommendation to Textron after two fatal post-maintenance stall test flights in Hawker business jets. Max and Rob explain why stall testing in swept-wing jets can be uniquely unforgiving, and why “unacceptable stall characteristics” should make every pilot sit up straight. The takeaway: if a flight requires test-pilot skills, then “maintenance requires it” doesn’t make it safe—it demands the right training, the right crew, and the right conditions.Max then shares NTSB news: a public board meeting on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. ET to determine probable cause for the January 29, 2025 midair collision over the Potomac River near Reagan National (PSA CRJ700 and an Army UH-60L Black Hawk). Max and Rob …

Episode 20 of NTSB News Talk opens with an aviation milestone: the first confirmed in-service, real-world use of Garmin’s Autoland. A King Air B200, tail number N479BR, squawked 7700 and ultimately landed itself at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (KBJC) in Broomfield, Colorado on Saturday, December 20, 2025.Garmin later confirmed the activation, and ATC audio captured the synthetic callouts declaring “pilot incapacitation” and the system’s intention to land.Max adds the kind of detail th...

Max talks with Rob Mark about the fatal crash of a Citation 550 in Statesville, North Carolina, that killed six people, including a NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and members of his family. The accident occurred shortly after takeoff, making it one of the most closely watched aviation tragedies of the week and a focal point of this episode.Preliminary information indicates the Citation 550 departed Runway 10 at Statesville Airport and soon reported engine trouble. The crew attempted to return to la...

Episode 18 begins with an extraordinary behind-the-scenes dispute surrounding the Air India Boeing 787 crash investigation. Max and Rob open with a Wall Street Journal report describing how U.S. technical experts arrived in Delhi last summer expecting to assist with the black-box analysis, only to be told they would need to board a late-night military flight to a remote facility. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy expressed concerns about U.S. personnel and equipment being moved into an area under Stat...

Episode 17 of NTSB News Talk brings together an unusually rich set of accidents and safety insights, all centered on pilot decision-making, trim system failures, swept-wing stall risks, and the ongoing challenge of hand-flying in IMC when automation misbehaves. In this week’s discussion, hosts Max Trescott and Rob Mark use recent NTSB reports to highlight the mistakes, mechanical failures, and chain-of-events that continue to trap even experienced pilots. For listeners who fly IFR, rely on autop...

Max Trescott and Rob Mark explore one of the most overlooked killers in aviation: common medications that quietly impair pilots and contribute to fatal crashes. While many aviators think over-the-counter or prescription drugs are safe if they “feel fine,” the NTSB’s recent accident reports tell a different story. In case after case, pilots who ignored FAA medication rules—or failed to understand them—lost control of their aircraft, sometimes within seconds of takeoff. Pilots should read the FAA'...

In Episode 15 of NTSB News Talk, co-hosts Rob Mark and Max Trescott examine a week filled with new legislation and a series of tragic accidents that highlight recurring lessons in aviation safety and human factors.The show opens with the Senate Commerce Committee’s new bipartisan aviation safety bill, which—if passed—would close the ADS-B loophole that allows certain military aircraft to operate without transmitting position data. Rob explains that the legislation was sparked by the midair col...

In Episode 14 of NTSB News Talk, hosts Max Trescott and Rob Mark analyze a series of recent NTSB preliminary and final reports that reveal how weather, fatigue, distraction, and airspeed management continue to play major roles in both near misses and fatal crashes. With their characteristic mix of insight and practicality, the two veteran aviation journalists connect the dots between accidents that could have been avoided — from runway confusion at LAX to a tragic Cessna 210 in-flight breakup in...

In this episode of NTSB News Talk, hosts Max Trescott and Rob Mark welcome Michael Graham, a current member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), for a deep discussion on the agency’s work and the broader state of aviation safetyGraham begins by clarifying the role of NTSB board members, often misunderstood as investigators. While trained in accident investigation, board members function more like the “Supreme Court of Transportation Safety,” deliberating on reports and voting on...

Episode 12 of NTSB News Talk with hosts Max Trescott and Rob Mark delivers a comprehensive discussion of recent accidents, preliminary findings, and final NTSB reports, highlighting recurring safety themes for GA pilots.The episode begins with the White House nomination of American Airlines captain John DeLouv to the NTSB board, and an invitation for listeners to suggest questions for an upcoming interview with a board member.The first accident examined is a Lancair Super ES crash near San J...

Max talks with Rob Mark about the latest NTSB cases and safety lessons for pilots. They begin with new details on the B-52 near miss at Minot, North Dakota, where the bomber nearly collided with both a regional jet and a Piper Archer. The tower controller, working alone without radar support, became overwhelmed and failed to advise the B-52 crew of conflicting traffic. At one point, he even issued incorrect altitude and heading clearances. Though everyone avoided contact, the case illustrates th...

In Episode 10 of NTSB News Talk, aviation safety experts Max Trescott and Rob Mark examine recent accident reports that reinforce why loss of control in flight continues to be the number one cause of fatalities in general aviation. Drawing from official NTSB accident reports and preliminary findings, they analyze crashes involving a TBM turboprop in Montana, a Beechcraft King Air in Arizona, and other cases where night flying illusions and equipment failures played a decisive role.TBM Crash in...