Aviation Safety Expert Evaluates Role of Avionics Suite in Light Airplane Crash

Case Overview

Questions to the Aviation expert and their responses

Please discuss your background in flight training?

Aviation, flight training, and safety are the core competencies of my current position. I have held executive management experience in airplane certification, design, engineering, testing, safety, and operations. I am both a pilot and a flight instructor and I have been reviewing NTSB factual reports throughout my career. In fact, I spent time at the FAA where part of my job was to review these reports.

Is it possible that the pilot's lack of familiarity with the avionic suite was the cause of the accident?

It is certainly possible that new and unfamiliar avionics could cause even an experienced pilot to experience a crash due to operator error, even when the pilot has extensive experience with other aircraft.

About the expert

This aviation and aerospace expert is one of the leaders in his industry and has extensive experience in flight test, materials and properties laboratories, unmanned aerial systems, engineering operations, Safety Management Systems and quality. This expert started his career as a United State Army pilot and then advanced to several senior positions with the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA). As Manager Rotorcraft Directorate with the FAA, he was responsible for all FAA Experimental Test Flight policy, training, and administration for over 250 companies. He collaborated with industry to lower the number of fatal accidents from 30 to 14 per year over a five-year average. This expert received the Tony LaVier Award from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots for Lifetime Achievement in Flight Safety. He is a member of numerous prestigious organizations in the aviation field. He has authored 9 publications in the field and is a frequently invited guest speaker at major aviation events. This expert was the 2014 commencement speaker at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University where he also earned his BS in Aeronautical Technology. He received his MS in Aerospace Management at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. Currently, he is the President of an independent aviation consulting firm and President of an international safety and risk management company serving the aviation industry.

E-009401

Specialties:

Aviation