Hawker Stall-Test Crashes: Urgent NTSB Action + NOTAM Slackline Tragedy
About this episode
Max Trescott and Rob Mark discuss aviation safety, focusing on recent accidents and NTSB recommendations regarding stall testing in Hawker jets.
Max Trescott and Rob Mark connect a string of very different accidents with one shared theme: safety margin usually disappears one “reasonable” choice at a time—until the airplane (or the environment) collects the debt. They open with a major development: the NTSB’s urgent recommendation to Textron after two fatal post-maintenance stall test flights in Hawker business jets. Max and Rob explain why stall testing in swept-wing jets can be uniquely unforgiving, and why “unacceptable stall characteristics” should make every pilot sit up straight. The takeaway: if a flight requires test-pilot skills, then “maintenance requires it” doesn’t make it safe—it demands the right training, the right crew, and the right conditions. Max then shares NTSB news: a public board meeting on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. ET to determine probable cause for the January 29, 2025 midair collision over the Potomac River near Reagan National (PSA CRJ700 and an Army UH-60L Black Hawk). Max and Rob will be watching closely and will share clips in a future episode. From there they break down recent accidents and reports, including: the Dassault Falcon 50, 9H-DFS, crash near Haymana, Turkey; an MD530F…
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