When a Japan Airlines DC-8 lands short of the runway in San Francisco Bay, its captain admits fault with disarming honesty — a statement that later becomes known as the Asoh Defense. Decades later, the U.S. Navy submarine USS Greeneville collides with the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru, and another captain shoulders the weight of guilt. In this episode of The Essence of Safety, we explore how self-blame can obscure the deeper truths behind accidents — and why taking responsibility isn’t always the same as learning from it.

In this episode, we have a special guest: Nuno Aghdassi, an esteemed investigator from GPIAAF, the Portuguese Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Accidents. Aghdassi shares his remarkable journey into the field, reflecting on the evolution of accident investigations over the years. We talk about the initial stages of an investigation and discuss the pros and cons of flight data and ATC recordings being publicly available. From the initial stages of an investigation to navigating the influx of flight and accident data, listeners gain invaluable insights into the intricate process of uncovering the truth behind air disasters. Moreover, Nuno sheds light on the impact of politics and conspiracy theories on investigations, offering compelling perspectives on how these challenges need to be managed.

Listeners are treated to firsthand accounts of the attributes and qualities required of future investigators, providing aspiring professionals with invaluable guidance on joining this vital and rewarding team.

The accident of Rescue 116 is tragic in many ways. On a dark and rainy night, the helicopter and its crew were on a mission to assist in airlifting an injured seaman off a fishing vessel when they collided with terrain. Once again, we go beyond the immediate and obvious reasons for the accident and take a long, hard look at the organisational factors, including the overall safety management. Why wasn't any terrain shown on the crew's maps? Why didn't the EGPWS any warnings? And why was Rescue 116 called out to assist in the first place?

In the second part of our Meditation of Automation, we take a look at the practical aspects of automation. Artificial intelligence is progressing at a staggering pace – but does that equate to automation being smart enough to replace human pilots? To answer that question, we are going to review some of the practical challenges that fully autonomous aircraft and single-pilot airliner would face.

In March 2018, one of Uber ATG's self-driving test cars slammed into a pedestrian. Who is responsible for the accident: The pedestrian? The driver? The software? Or someone no-one suspected?

In this episode, which is the first part of a two-part series on automation, we take a look at the 2018 Uber ATG accident in Tempe, Arizona, and use it as a starting point to discuss the role of automation. Automation has made us safer, there is no doubt about that. But if we add even more automation, will we become even safer?

Sources for this episode include:

The National Transportation Safety Board’s accident report (https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreports/reports/har1903.pdf);

The article Driver in fatal Uber crash rejects plea deal; death in Tempe was 1st in nation for self-driving vehicle written by Ryan Randazzo and published on azcentral.com in June 2022;

Julie Bort’s excellent article Uber insiders describe infighting and questionable decisions before its self-driving car killed a pedestrian published in Business Insider in November 2018;

Sumit Singh’s article: Airbus Says Single Pilot Flight Crews Are The Long Term Future, published in Simple Flying in September 2021;

Driver Behavior in an Emergency Situation in the Automated Highway System by Dick de Waard, Monique van der Hulst, Marika Hoedemaeker and Karel Brookhuis, published in Transportation Human Factors in 1999;

Automated driving: Safety blind spots by Ian Noy, David Shinar, and William J. Horrey, published in Safety Science in February 2018.

The news clip at the beginning of the podcast was taken from a 12 News Arizona report: https://www.youtube.com/c/12NewsAZ

In 2011, the RAF's famous display team Red Arrows lost two pilots in accidents. The second accident occured when the pilot inadvertently activated the ejection seat while preparing the aircraft. Was it really an isolated accident, a mishap that has no connection to the team? This episode reviews the accident, diving deeper into the organizational issues. We are going to talk about how team culture may influence individual team members, and how the pilot's demise may be due to his team getting along all too well.

You can find the original investigation report here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/service-inquiry-into-the-accident-involving-hawk-tmk1-xx177

Welcome to the Essence of Safety! Hosted by airline pilot and safety investigator Nicolaus Dmoch, the Essence of Safety podcast takes deep dives into accidents to uncover the real, underlying causes. In the first season, we are going to look at the accidents of a Ju-Air Junkers Ju-52 in the Swiss Alps, a deadly, inadvertent activation of an ejection seat that killed one of the pilots of the famous Red Arrows aerobatics team, and the accident of Rescue 116, an Irish helicopter that was lost during a search-and-rescue missue - and many more.