NTSB investigating Biscayne Bay helicopter crash

are following another. Deadly aircraft crash in Florida. This is footage from the Coast Guard saying one person is dead and two others are injured after a helicopter crash in Biscayne Bay. And it's another incident that has people asking questions about aviation safety. It really does seem like we've been hearing about a lot of different small aircraft and helicopter crashes more and more lately. So is there actually a trend here or are these incidents getting more attention? So joining us live to continue this conversation is Ron Alvarado, a pilot and former Marine One commander to help us break it all down. Ron, first of all, thank you for your service and thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate you. How are you doing today? Doing very well, thank you for having me. Of course, I wish it were under better circumstances. But I wanna talk about this helicopter crash because it happened yesterday. We were in breaking news coverage here on Tampa Bay Live. But I mean, when you hear of something like this and you look at this footage, what went through your mind? What stands out to you about what happened? Well, this was an accident that occurred very quickly. Obviously, the pilot didn't plan on flying into the water, but I do believe that weather was a factor. That's the first thing that came to my mind. And also, this R44, it's a smaller helicopter, single pilot, very capable. There's about 5,000 that have been made all over the world. And but when I heard that there was weather in the area, this pilot could have suffered spatial disorientation. And something to keep in mind is when you're flying over the water, it is very hard to distinguish depth perception. So if you're looking down at the water from a helicopter or any aircraft, it is hard to distinguish if you're at five feet or 500 feet. So if this pilot was yanking and banking, taking video, With his fellow crew members, it is easy to quickly impact the water. And I hope that's not what happened here, but the investigators will find out what occurred. I wanna talk about, I feel like when we hear of something like this, oftentimes the make model, the type of aircraft it was is obviously investigated. I know this was a Robinson R 44, three people on board. So I guess what can you tell us about this type of helicopter? Does that matter a lot in this investigation? Well, it's actually a very safe helicopter made in Tarns, California, and they've been producing helicopters, this one specifically, since 1991. So the R-22 is a trainer helicopter, fits two people, the R-44 fits four people. It's a piston engine helicopter, six cylinder, and it's very safe. However, they are involved in a lot of accidents, 63 over the last several years, the reason The reason being is because It's such a economical helicopter to buy that you have novice pilots. Pilots with not a lot of experience, not a lot of flight hours. And experience will keep you from doing something. Amateur, if you will, inside the cockpit there. So I'm not pointing any fingers, not speculating anything about this pilot. But all I'm saying is in this helicopter, there are usually a lot of associated accidents because of the inexperience of the pilots flying the helicopter. And we obviously don't know what caused this crash yet. And you make a lot of great points. I do want to preface for people who did not know prior to this interview that the helicopter was in the area filming boats before it went down, according to reports. But what are some of the first things, Ron, that investigators will be looking at here? There are three elements that the NTSB and the FAA investigators will be looking at. The first one is going to be meteorological, so the weather, they're gonna be looking at the weather. And as mentioned, there were storms rolling through, visibility could have been an issue. But the investigators will look at that. The second is going to be human factors, so the pilot. They're going to look at the pilot's training records, amount of hours, background. They may look at his health, physical, etc. The third element that the investigators will be looking at is the aircraft, the systems of the aircraft. They'll be looking at maintenance records, they'll be looking at was there any recall items, any items or defects that are associated with this type of airframe. So those are the three elements that the investigators will be looking at initially. Ron, I can't believe we are even able to do this, but I do also want to talk to you about that horrific plane crash that happened in West Palm Beach. Everything you just said, I feel like I already know because I have just asked experts what- Investigations like this look like, when you talk about, we've been getting more and more increments of information as the days have gone on. Here's a look at that scene from earlier, massive crater in the road. It's not even really a scene anymore because of how rough the impact was. And the most recent update that struck me was that they found a part of the tail located really far, like miles away from the impact crater, which was an indication the plane was likely breaking up before it hit the ground. Is that- I don't know how to word this, is that usual? If you're descending at that speed, would the plane start to break apart? What did you think of when you heard that? Well obviously it's a horrible way to die, and unfortunately the pilots knew this was a unrecoverable situation. And this aircraft, this Learjet 60, was in an overspeed condition. So how did that happen? Right now they're suspecting weather, they're suspecting icing. I've got friends who fly Learjets and they've seen me on TV already and they said, hey, you might wanna think about this, think about that. We can't really speculate anything until the investigators are done concluding. Bringing all the factors together, but the jet departed flights, in other words, it lost lift and it was essentially screaming for the Earth. It was in excess of 400 knots, it departed flight and because it was in an overspeed condition, there were parts of the aircraft that came apart. It was structurally Coming apart because this airframe was not rated to perform in those type of circumstances in that type of a situation. So therefore, the first thing that departed was more than likely the horizontal stabilizer, the elevator. And once that occurs, recovery is almost impossible. Yeah, you just. We have covered several plane crashes over the course of the last few months. And I mean, I mean, it's... is this because it's getting more media attention? Have you as an aviation expert now been feel like there's been a lot more crashes than usual? Walk me through what a lot of people are thinking is why is this happening? And are we really seeing more plane crashes these days and Helicopter crashes. Well, unfortunately, you're correct. I do believe there have been a lot of aviation accidents, and I think it has to do with accessibility. I believe that a lot of Americans are doing very, very well Well, with the top. Earners obviously doing very, very well, so they have access to private jets, they have access to helicopters. So therefore, there are more people in the skies, even airliners are doing very well throughout the world, even though fuel costs are very expensive. So there are more people flying and therefore statistically there's going to be incidents like this that do occur. And also think about this, a lot of senior pilots are retiring, a lot of military pilots Like myself, I've retired from the airlines, retired from the military. There are a lot of airline pilots retiring. So therefore, who's gonna fill those ranks? The military does not produce pilots like they used to. During Vietnam, during all the wars, they produced hundreds and thousands of pilots who immediately went to the airlines or flew corporate jets. And that market is going away because we don't have the experience anymore. So I believe the accessibility to airframes, to jets and aircraft, By people who have the money to pay for these type of assets and then also the lack of experience in the skies. I do believe that there are a lot of young pilots and even pilots moving up the rank. They might not have the experience that Bruce is required to fly high performance jet aircraft like the Learjet 16. Yeah, and I mean for someone watching these headlines, I know and no matter what the situation The situation is we always stress Even though it seems like it's happening more and more often, it is still very rare. But for someone watching, you know, all of this coverage right now of these different aircraft crashes and might be getting a little hesitant to fly, what would your best advice be, especially coming from someone like you? I would recommend, just do your homework, if you're gonna fly a corporate charter company, do your research. Look at the background of the pilots, if you're able, look at the webpage. Same with the airlines. Typically, American-owned airlines are very, very safe. And that's because the airliners that we're flying are smarter than sometimes human beings. Human beings are up there in the aircraft, up in the flight deck, to monitor the systems. And I was telling my wife the other day, jets will tell you if you're messing up, it'll wake you up and say, what are you doing? And the alarms and bells will go off to remind the pilot, hey, get back to your job. That is with airliners. Now, a lot of aircraft that are being flown today, they're older corporate jets, older helicopters, they don't have the advanced systems that these modern jets do have. But for the flying public, they should be Be aware that it is very, very safe to fly in our skies and If you're going to fly corporate, just do your homework. If you're going to fly private, again, investigate or look at the background of the pilots. And inspect what you expect is what I always say. Absolutely. Ron Alvarado, we really appreciate all of your insight and expertise. We could do a whole segment just on you alone. I know that as a Marine One commander, you were responsible for flying the president around. So we really appreciate having you on and talking about a scary time, but also reassuring us that that flying really is and can be safe. Thank you so much. We will talk to you again soon. Have a wonderful day, Ron. Thank you. You too. Have a Have a good day. All right.