SAFETY UPDATE!
Air Travel is Safer than driving because the numbers of deaths are lower. That’s what they say. It may have been once, but I’m not so sure anymore. Just because you did not die does not mean it’s safe. Other metrics might tell a better story.
During my trial, Captain James Graham, SVP of Delta, now CEO of Endeavor, bragged that the airline (Delta) had 25,000 Air Safety Reports (ASAP) in 2018. That was always something that disturbed me, because while he thought that was a good thing reflecting a “reporting culture” I thought it was a huge red flag.
On March 11, 2025, I asked the question, How Safe Is Flying? I provided statistics of six US airlines. This has nothing to do with my reporting safety concerns to Delta other than I had identified numerous problems with training, and nothing changed. Even though Delta lost in trial and on appeal, nobody was held accountable to fix the problem. I still believe solving the problem is the best course of action, not kill the messenger. Yet… we’re not there. And I do not believe it’s only American, United, SWA and Delta, therefore I dug a little deeper to see what was happening in the world.
WORLDWIDE DATA
Do these statistics indicate there is a problem (or a few thousand) and we might need to do something about it? I believe so. If this is training, we need to address it immediately. However, I don’t believe the current FAA or airline management have the requisite knowledge to solve a training issue, so they pretend there is not a problem. If they don’t know how to fix it, then it’s easier to ignore.
IMMEDIATE ACTION
Congress should probably make an immediate decision to extend the pilot retirement age to 67 (68). I recently came upon a video that is of interest to improving safety. Something you might want to view. The Hidden Problems in Aviation Safety – And How to Fix Them
LEGAL UPDATE
In response to my clarification per Delta’s attorney’s request on the post, Delta’s Effort to Silence me, I have an update from their attorney. In response to the text message identifying dates:
Attorney David L. Balser, King & Spalding LLP writes:
“Delta has received additional permission from the TSB to disclose the following pertinent information regarding your false and defamatory statements about his training:
- The Captain applied for a Delta FO position in May 2022.
- Following a mandatory 90-day hold back period, he received a conditional job offer in September 2022 and was assigned to a training class set to begin on November 2022.
- In October 2022, the Captain informed Delta that he was withdrawing from his assigned class and forfeiting his Flow Up rights.
- The Captain’s PRD contains absolutely no records of any training taken, completed, or attempted at Delta. “
Delta asserts he forfeited his flow up rights. Well… if Delta says so, it must be true. Now, this is where my history does impact my opinion, as I have seen first hand, wiping of records, withholding of records and violations of regulations. Plus a few more issues. But I have no reason to doubt the truth in Delta’s newest statement. You can make your own decision. Besides, this is really picking fly shit out of pepper. One must ask why this heavy-handed focus on this issue. Thousands of legal dollars have been spent denying this, and they could be going to support training.
This Captain crashed a plane. He was a simulator instructor. He was a lifer Endeavor pilot. Endeavor/Delta has a history, that they do not deny, that when captain flows to Delta and their performance is substandard, they are allowed to resign and return to their old position as captain.
Hopefully the investigation will be complete soon, and Delta will be transparent and share the CVR and the FDR. Do you think they will? This is the only way other airlines will learn from what happened, and perhaps it won’t happen elsewhere.
CVR: Will Delta Release it?
Did you know that congress passed a law to prohibit the NTSB to release the CVR? The reason is the result of a Delta crash in August of 1988, Flight 1141 at DFW the pilots forgot to set flaps, and they crashed after takeoff.
After a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) battle with a television station, they finally aired the CVR. The NTSB asserted there was “Non-pertinent conversation between the flight crew and flight attendant” who happened to be in the cockpit during taxiing.
What did the CVR reveal?
The pilots said, ″We forgot to discuss about the dating habits of our flight attendants so we could get it on the recorder in case we crashed. Then the media would have some kind of a juicy tidbit.” And “We gotta leave something for our wives and children to listen to.”
Delta Can Release the CVR
The law says that after the NTSB is complete with their investigation, they will release the CVR to Delta, the owner/operator of the aircraft. Delta has the authority to release the CVR. If they don’t, it can be subpoenaed for trial. Why is this necessary? Because there is a regulation that there is no “non-standard” conversation from start up to 10,000 feet. And the reverse is true upon landing below 10,000. Often the discussions can determine if there was awareness, a problem, or a conversation to distract. This will speak volumes.
Do You Think this World Data is Acceptable?
I would like to know, attacks on opinions aside, if you believe those numbers of ASAP reports, accidents, incidents and crashes are acceptable? Do you believe we can expect a few more accidents and incidents this year, based upon a trend of the past?
