Platinum Jet crash at Teterboro in 2005
Who is an air crash investigator? On those television
documentaries, there’s always some government sleuth who cracks the case with
extraordinary tenaciousness and a lot of taxpayer money to spend on labs, test
flights and reconstructions.
The ever-popular NBC News commentator and Greg
Feith usually makes an appearance, which gives me a chance to remind my readers
that his nickname is “the Mud Stud” picked up during the ValueJet crash of
1996.
>Bob Benzon appears on Aircrash Confidential
Bob Benzon, Bob MacIntosh, and other folks not named Bob but but with
experience working for a government accident bureau are also featured.
Having spent eight years heading up the investigation
department of the American aviation law firm, Kreindler & Kreindler, I’d
like to add that there are lots of non-officials who also try to figure out
what happens after an air accident.
In fact in my upcoming book, Lost and Confounded, an entire section is devoted to the non-official,
in some cases armchair investigators who challenged the probable cause reports
in some very controversial crashes including the Air New Zealand Mt. Erebus disaster
in 1979 and the Eastern Airlines flight
into terrain at Mt. Illimani in 1985.
All of us learn from each other. Conferences like the annual
seminar put on by the International Society of Air Safety Investigators are
great for sharing. Here are two other
upcoming events that sound pretty darned interesting.
AViCON,
a two day conference for legal and insurance professionals – focusing on
safety, investigations and claims starts tomorrow in Stevensville, Maryland.
NTSB Chairman Chris Hart will be there and I’m pretty sure RTI Forensics,
sponsor of the event is going to show off some of their high-tech tools. I know
this is last minute, but if you are interested, I’m sure the folks at RTI will
squeeze you in.
FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute is opening up its fancy pants injury lab for a two-day conference on November 3
and 4. Dennis Shanahan and Eduard Ricaurte, two of my favorite aerospace physicians will be speaking along with
many others.
Plan to learn about the multitude of ways bodies get banged, burned, and otherwise
mangled and what those injuries can can teach the industry about how to do this
flying thing better and safer. Oh and
for those actual on-scene tin-kickers out there, the Injury Mechanism Analysis
Workshop has something for you, a lecture on how to do your job without
becoming a victim yourself.
For more information on the CAMI seminar click here.
Author of The New York Times bestseller, The Crash Detectives, I am also a journalist, public speaker and broadcaster specializing in aviation and travel.
