The DEADLY Truth About The Dallas Air Show Crash!

The Dallas Air Show crash never should have happened. The investigation revealed several shocking details over the course of ~1,700 pages of interviews and evidence. It was very difficult to cover every single detail in this short video. That's why I've included some additional information below.

#aviation #flying #pilotdebrief

10 Deadliest Air Show Disasters In History

Details
If you want to become an Air Boss today, there’s technically no requirement that you have experience as an air traffic controller, you don’t need to be a pilot or have formation flying experience. It’s essentially an informal apprenticeship program where you spend a lot of time observing other air bosses. Eventually you get a few letters of recommendation, you pass a written exam, and you attend a course through ICAS and then an Air Boss Evaluator will observe you in action and if everything’s good then ICAS will make a recommendation to the FAA and the FAA will issue you a letter of authorization.

One of the most shocking things about this tragedy was that the warning signs were already there. Two weeks prior to this crash there was an air show in Houston. The air boss’s father was the Air Boss for that show but his son was there and helping out. It was reported that during the Houston show on Saturday they had an incident of a fighter flying head on at a C-47 and passing below them when they were only 200 feet above the ground. Even though the pilot said it wasn’t normal, he never talked to the Air Boss about it. Then, on Sunday during the Houston show, a P-51 cut through the middle of the bomber formation at the same altitude as the bombers. This wasn’t planned or briefed and it allegedly happened because of something the Air Boss directed the P51 to do on the radio. Unfortunately, because this happened on Sunday, there was no debrief after flying, so no one ever talked about this incident.

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[corwinchristensen]

I was a cameraman that videoed the pilot briefing for an airshow back in the '90's. The AirBoss literally had the pilots walking around the chairs and tables in the room, cards in hand, to practice the show. It was choreographed and practiced including "what if's" and "exit points" throughout the show. Restrictions and limits were set on MANY factors including elevation, position, timing, holding areas, one word acknowledgements for pilots for brevity and more. Everyone in the room knew EXACTLY what was going to happen, where, and when.

[jhempsrt]

I am an engineer, and one of the phrases i hate the most is "we always do it that way", or some variation of that. It's like nails on a chalk board.

[StephenLuke]

RIP
Terry M. Barker
(1955-2022)
Kevin D. Michels
(1969-2022)
Dan A. Ragan
(1934-2022)
Lloyd Root
(1956-2022)
Curtis J. Rowe
(1958-2022)
and
Craig S. Hutain
(1959-2022)

[macbook]

1 person directing 7 planes with no distinct plan is insane.

[michaelsteiger]

I stopped flying CAF air shows when this family was running as airboss. They would never use debriefs to learn of previous issues and when confronted, they were not open for criticism and made you look bad for asking questions.. Their briefs were incomplete and non sensical . I complained and was shut down. I walked away…. Your debrief is sadly spot on. I could see it. Many others could see it yet were familiar with the airboss and managed to work well with them.

[daryllowey]

Terrific presentation. As a former air show performer, I agree 100% with your analyzation. I left the air show industry years ago simply because the show was about ego... not about safety.

[aidanacebo]

I was there, I saw this happen. I've held off watching any sort of debrief because I was so angry about the whole situation, and not just a little traumatized at seeing this happen.
I'm a big fella, big burly hairy biker. I've been in several hairy situations where I should have died. this, where there was no danger at all to me, has affected me more than any of those. seeing two of my favorite aircraft, with people onboard, disintegrate midair before my eyes... saying "it sucked" is the understatement of the decade.

thanks for making this, thanks for explaining it all. it's taken me this long to watch something about it, and I chose your video because it popped up in my feed, and I know you're not going to be overly dramatic about it.

[watsonwrote]

Even as layperson when I heard "It can degrade safety to assign altitudes... speeds... headings..." my alarm bells went off.

[buddydoodle]

I really enjoy your show…i am a retired woman who has never flown any type of aircraft but I am intrigued by the details you share of why the accidents/crash happened. You are a class act and very respectful of the how you present the details.

[Il-SKl]

I found the following quote from 2021 interview of this air boss very telling:

<< Once the first plane takes off, Royce quipped that it is his job to, “manage the absolute chaos that ensues, because nothing goes according to plan.” >>

If you manage safety and things regularly devolve to chaos then you’re a knowingly irresponsible air boss.

[danielayers]

This accident reminds me of the Rust film shooting, where an apparently immature and unqualified person was put in a position of responsibility largely because her father was well known for doing that type of work. In my opinion, same thing here.

[jimmiller]

"it's not fair to say that adding a restriction increases safety" --- as a junior engineer I was told to jump back when "not invented here" or "not the way we've always done it" were put on the table.

[jadziadax]

I said to myself “Wow! That’s arrogant” right before you said “This might sound harsh…” Not harsh at all, totally agree with your assessment.

[danielbailey]

I was asked to fly for this organization several years ago based on tailwheel, radial, and instruction experience. A couple of hangar meetings and parties convinced me to walk away. So glad I did, and Hoover’s analysis helped me understand my decision even though I couldn’t explain the feeling at the time.

[AJ-cowan]

My wife and I love your content, , we appreciate how respectful you present your debrief.. hats off to you and thank you for your service 🙏

[OldManAndTheSeaOfTooManyCats]

P-51 pilot hearing instructions: “That’s not clear.” Enough said.

[TheUsmc]

Criminal negligence. I was a JTAC, altitude separation is the easiest and simplest way to deconflict air. This scrub needs to be charged for multiple counts of manslaughter. Plain and simple. Hes making calls on the fly and has no altitude deconfliction. From the ground you would not notice 1000 ft or more of altitude separation.

[dannyc.]

There are too many arm chair quarter backs, including seasoned aviators, who haven't the slightest idea what they are talking about. I don't mean to bash a fellow Navy officer but there's a guy (Not a pilot but an NFO) on YouTube who shoots off the hip and is just looking for a book deal or movie consultation contract. He's a legend in his own mind. It is refreshing to have a consummate professional like "Hoover" analyze these accidents. He does so by methodical analysis of every important aspect. This only comes from someone who has been professionally trained and has "been there." Hoover, I speak from being a former Naval Aviator, NATOPS officer, Safety Officer, 25, 000 hours of accident free flight time (mostly jet), flight instructor with Civilian, Military, Airline and retired airline captain. I salute you "Hoover, " terrific job!

[fokkerdred]

The Air Boss in this situation should have been held accountable for this tragedy. The fact that he doesn't feel responsible for what happened, really blows me away.

[smithnyiu]

Having been in the airshow circuit for 5 years as part of the US Air Force air demonstration team, and having been through at least 50 of the pre show briefs, I can tell you I never heard an air boss tell anyone to deconflict themselves like this. What usually happens at every show I was at, is a school bus or big truck is parked as "show center", typically 1, 000ft from the crowd, and perpendicular to the DV tent. Big airplanes are usually told to fly over the show center, and fighters are typically told to fly inside, or closer to the crowd. The heavies are told to never fly inside the bus, or on the crowd side. Fighters are usually faster, so they typically do more of a curved path, or a "banana pass", and always split the bus and the crowd visually. When fighters enter their pass, they are supposed to hit a visual waypoint to deconflict them outside the heavies' line of flight. It doesn't sound like anything I just described was briefed at all. So this is a non-standard airshow from what I experienced. Tragic.