NTSB News Talk – Aviation Accidents, Safety Investigations & Pilot Lessons

Max Trescott and Rob Mark talk about how pilots get into trouble when they misunderstand instrument procedures, mishandle a go-around, or make shockingly poor decisions on the ground and in the air. They open with Max’s unusual call from the NTSB, which asked him to discuss advisory glidepath guidance, the “+V” vertical path shown on some nonprecision approaches. That leads to a sharp discussion of why advisory glidepaths can become traps when pilots confuse LNAV+V or LP+V with true precision-style guidance and fail to respect MDA limits. Garmin has also released a new Service Alert on +V glide paths.
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The team first discusses a recent accident in which the pilot of N58544, a Cessna 182, took off from York, PA with at tow bar attached. Rob and Max share what they teach student pilots about the handling of tow bars to avoid these kinds of mishaps.
They then examine two preliminary reports. In Gulf Shores, Alabama, Beech A36 Bonanza N66519 crashes on approach in weather near minimums after weak radio reception, missed vectors, and a breakdown during the final phase of flight. Near Hartsburg, Missouri, Piper PA-46 Malibu Mirage N451MA breaks up in severe weather after entering a steep descending turn.
The final reports are just as revealing. Cirrus SR22 N272HM near Lake Elsinore, California becomes a success story when the pilot, task-saturated in IMC, wisely pulls CAPS and survives. Cirrus SR20 N1108T in Key Largo, Florida stalls during a go-around after the flaps are retracted too quickly. The episode also includes a drunk CFI’s VFR-into-IMC Cessna 150 crash, a hand-propping accident in N26AJ, an RV-9, and a runaway Bellanca, N8213R, left idling with a non-pilot onboard.

Max Trescott and Rob Mark open with the crash at LaGuardia, where an Air Canada regional jet collided with a fire truck while landing. They examine how a separate emergency, possible controller overload, combined frequencies, and the loss of a second set of eyes may have lined up in a classic Swiss-cheese chain of events. It’s a sobering look at runway-incursion risk, situational overload, and why vehicles and airplanes can never safely share the same space without strong procedural barriers.
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Then the episode turns deeply personal. Rob talks about the fatal March 4 crash of Cessna T210M N19FB near Chicago Executive Airport, flown by a pilot he knew personally through the local aviation community and Civil Air Patrol. Using the preliminary report and additional ADS-B analysis, Max and Rob walk through the RNAV Runway 16 approach, the low-altitude alerts, the unstable descent profile, and the danger of pressing an instrument approach near or below minimums.
What makes this episode stand out is its human side. Max and Rob talk candidly about what it feels like when a crash stops being abstract and becomes the loss of someone you knew, and how pilots can process that loss while turning it into safer decisions in their own flying.

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.
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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 ATC, pointing toward possible pilot incapacitation amid icing concerns and other red-flag gaps.
The episode then tackles the Beech 35-C33 Debonair crash (N5891J) near Pulaski, Tennessee, where ADS-B data showed worsening pitch oscillations consistent with an autopilot/trim misunderstanding and pilot-induced oscillations. Two more reports highlight night risk: a Zenith CH 701 (N4209W) lost to spatial disorientation after VFR flight into deteriorating conditions, and a Cozy Mk IV (N656TE) that departed Half Moon Bay into night IMC and went into the ocean.
Finally, they cover a Cirrus SR22 (N253BC) overweight takeoff with distraction from alerts, and a Piper Saratoga (N4187Q) engine power loss at night IFR that left the pilot with few runway options.

Max Trescott talks with co-host Rob Mark about new docket details on Bering Air Flight 445—a Part 135 Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, N321BA—that crashed near Nome, Alaska after a troubling sequence of weight, icing, and airspeed issues. They discuss how overweight loading, Alaska-specific operating allowances, and confusing “minimum speed in ice” guidance can combine to erase stall margin fast. The Preliminary Report is here.
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They also touch on the Epic E1000 crash of N98FK near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, a night RNAV (GPS) approach where LNAV+V advisory glidepath guidance may have lured the airplane below MDA into terrain—a reminder that LNAV+V can look like LPV but provides no obstacle protection below MDA.
Plus: an experimental Lancair IV-P, N163BR, suffers an apparent engine failure near Savannah, Georgia, and the occupants survive thanks to a ballistic-parachute deployment. Two final reports round out the episode: a Cessna 182P, N14YY, in Mississippi where a non-venting fuel cap contributed to fuel-starvation symptoms and a loss of control on landing, and a turbocharged Beech A36 Bonanza, N347M, in Pennsylvania where a door-open startle after takeoff, combined with an overweight condition, ended in a stall and crash.

Max talks with co-host Rob Mark about two headline-making NTSB threads: the DCA midair collision and the preliminary report on the Greg Biffle crash. First, they react to the NTSB’s day-long public hearing on the DCA midair and the board’s newly adopted probable-cause statement—an unusually long, multi-factor finding that points toward fixes in airspace design, controller procedures, ADS-B policy, and military aviation governance.
Then they pivot to the Cessna Citation 550 accident involving NASCAR driver Greg Biffle (N257BW) near Statesville, North Carolina. The preliminary report raises hard questions about cockpit workload and decision-making: instrument anomalies, an apparent electrical/power issue, and a “second in command required” limitation that wasn’t satisfied by the right-seat occupant.
The episode also rounds up several other investigations: a Cirrus SR20 CAPS deployment in England where the parachute lines may have separated after snagging power lines, a Cirrus SR22 engine-failure diversion in South Carolina, an IFR Bonanza crash in rain near Sabine, Texas, a Mexican Navy King Air 350i accident near Galveston, and final reports covering a training stall/spin in Georgia and a Musketeer engine failure after an undetected oil-system leak. If you care about real-world lessons—and what the NTSB is signaling for the next wave of safety changes—hit play and share it with another pilot.
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