The Second Annual Knucklehead Smiff Aviation Award – The Ree-dik-er-uth
AKSA Award’s Inspiration, Knucklehead Smiff
The Knucklehead Smiff Aviation Award (AKSA) The Ree-dik-er-uth, is intentionally derisive, more than a playful jab. Aviation safety is a serious subject and who better to call those in charge who dismiss safety than much-loved ventriloquial figure, Knucklehead Smiff. The character Knucklehead Smiff had a childlike view, not unlike the young boy at the end of The Emperor’s New Clothes. What could be more appropriate than for a juvenile to call out the recklessness of adults?
Regarding aviation safety, there’s no opinion of right and wrong – there’s safe and there’s not safe. One can’t be a little safe; there’s no such thing as ‘middle ground’. This year’s AKSA award winners have inspired unsafe behavior and dangerous practices, putting others in harm’s way. They’ve produced fatalities in areas never seen in 120 years of aviation; people died who shouldn’t have died. How many more will lose their property, health, or even their lives because of unsafe ignorance. “The world is quick to criticize and find fault, but slower to find the positive and praise.” In unsafe actions, there are no positives; there is no praise.
Without further ado, here are the Knucklehead Smiff, Ree-dik-er-uth Award winners for 2025:
#10. Journalists and critics of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), who delayed the astronauts’ return to Earth after a Boeing Starliner capsule failure: This AKSA award falls under the “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” category. The #10 slot is owned by those ‘experts’ – especially the media – who shoveled disdain on Boeing for its failure to return the International Space Station (ISS) astronauts in September; Boeing deferred to Space-X to return them safely in March 2025. This decision reflected well on Boeing and NASA’s safety-mindedness, learned at great cost from the Challenger and Columbia accidents. For those aeronautical ‘journalists’, some of whom weren’t born in 1986 or even 2003, who heaped disdain for opting for the safest decision, you embarrassed yourselves with your ignorance. Well done aviation media, you got it wrong … again. Truthfully, I’ve lost count.
#09. Aviation Writers, Wrong Again: The ninth spot also belongs to aviation ‘journalists’ who, despite having access to countless aviation resources at their disposal, still managed to get the story wrong. Following the January 29, 2025, accident between a military helicopter and PSA 5342, crack aviation writers from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) stated, “The United States’ streak of more than 15 years without a major fatal airline crash …”. What’s wrong with this statement? It’s clear they were referring to Colgan Air 5407 which crashed in 2009. However, the WSJ failed to research more recent FAA-overseen airline accidents, such as National Air Cargo 102, an FAA-certificated operation, its B747 cargo airliner crashed on April 29, 2013, or Atlas 3591, a B767 that crashed in Trinity Bay outside Houston on February 23, 2019. These two accidents cast doubt on the WSJ’s alleged safety record. Why is this important? Because the WSJ exaggerated – failed to verify – the record. For what purpose? Unknown. However, if the WSJ can get some known aviation facts so very wrong, how many less popular publications can get facts wrong. It’s bad enough accident victims’ families are put through the endless barrage of uninformed ‘journalists’ getting it wrong; even more uninformed ‘experts’ getting it wrong; and endless runs of the accident video on social media, but to have those ‘experts’ who feel it’s their right to speculate by using ‘journalist’-supplied non-facts that are the polar opposite of information, is irresponsible. The B747 and B767 are popular passenger airliners; if we ignore the cargo versions because they are “just cargo,” what do we miss? The WSJ and its co-media should’ve taken the time to get it right. How do we learn from accidents if the media keep ignoring cargo accidents?
#08. American Airlines ditches Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) hiring practices at the business end of a lawsuit: American Airlines vacated its DEI hiring practices after a federal investigation found the airline had “violated anti-discrimination laws while receiving millions in government contracts.” America First Legal brought the suit, stating, “American’s promotion policies violate Executive Order 11246, issued by [oddly enough] President Lyndon Johnson.” Oh, the irony. American Airlines owns its AKSA because it took a lawsuit to force American’s incompetent upper management (UM) to be called out on choosing unsafe DEI policies. By incorporating DEI policies in their hiring practices, American’s – and other major airlines’ – UM proved they had no spine. Their UM caved to unpopular opinion, which deprived safety quality to the majority. The airlines’ UM demonstrated their obliviousness, saying to the flying public, “Safety be damned.” Safety cultures are built from the top down, from UM to the workforce. Apparently, UM needs to get out of the office more often.
#07. Delta Airlines collision: On September 10, 2024, a Delta Airbus A350’s wing struck an Endeavor (operating as a Delta regional) Bombardier CRJ900’s empennage in Hartsfield International Airport. The airlines have been plagued with safety mishaps reaching into operations and airworthiness. Have the forced departures of qualified aviation folks from CØVID mandates crippled aviation safety? That’s a good conversation. We’re seeing the consequences of poor decision-making made in the last few years. But to be clear, to strike an airplane so hard as to knock the entire empennage – vertical stabilizer and horizontal stabilizer T-tail – clean off an airliner is incredible. The A350 didn’t just crunch the CRJ900’s rudder or breach the pressure vessel, the CRJ’s empennage departed the hull. Then, on February 5, 2025, a Japan Airlines 787 wing sliced into a Delta 737 vertical stabilizer. What the …? Is someone parking planes in the taxiway? Are captains ignoring traffic control? How, with all our technology, can this happen more than once? These events raise legitimate concerns about ground operations, namely who’s taxiing these airplanes (Are they following the double yellow line?), pilot training; qualifications; etc. Maybe it’s Root Cause Analysis time.
The ‘new and improved’ Part 147
#06. The ATEC victory lap: Nobody blows their own horns loudest than those who have no idea what damage they’ve caused. By working around regulation writing procedures, such as the Notices of Proposed Rulemaking – the NPRM – process specifically by altering Title 14 code of federal regulations Part 147, the Aviation Technician Education Council (ATEC) has single-handedly hobbled proper aviation technician education and removed the safety-focus of aircraft maintenance schooling. It’s interesting when those who don’t deal with the industry side of their actions are compelled to ‘improve on’(?) what had been working as designed. ATEC stated: “Tired of the wait and wary of inflexibilities a new rule would introduce given FAA proposals, the Council engaged its elected leaders to ensure the final rule provides the flexibility industry needs to train the next generations of next aviation technicians.” In other words, they cut the line. “We’re ATEC! We don’t need no stinkin’ NPRMs.” AKSA Award winner #5 is an example of the safety-deprived future ATEC’s myopic education view has condemned the industry to. The true damage won’t become blatantly obvious for years. In the meantime, I prefer to walk.
#05. Delta training and exploding tires: This AKSA is sobering; it’s very serious! It goes to Delta management. An event at Delta Airlines resulted in tragedy. To be clear, this never EVER should have happened. At 5:00 AM on August 27, 2024, in the Delta Airlines Technical Operations Center at Hartsfield-Jackson airport, two aircraft mechanics were killed when a recently removed B757 tire exploded. Why? How could disassembling a tire, a routine job, lead to tragedy? Where was the training? Every line mechanic knows the tire must have the nitrogen pressure depleted before it is removed from the axle, when the dry nitrogen is still hot from friction and taxiing after landing. How, then, did the tire get from the line to the tech center with full pressure? Was a cage used for the disassembly? The FAA was in touch with Delta and would release their report … maybe soon. This tragedy follows other events where several airliners lost main and nose tires during taxi or takeoff; one United B777 main tire fell from the departing airplane and bounced around an airport parking lot. How’d THAT happen? The uninformed media didn’t understand; “It’s just a tire.” To be clear, tire changes are the simplest tasks an aircraft mechanic is trained to do. If aircraft mechanics can’t get that right, what other safety-related tasks are they getting wrong? Other training problems could include contract maintenance at out-stations unable to comply with simple tasks, like servicing hydraulics. What about used aircraft tires being transported in an airliner’s luggage compartment, from the field station to an airline’s hub; are they having the nitrogen pressure removed? Safety’s not getting better. But if we ignore it long enough …
#04. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Failures: Former Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, Nicholas Sabatini, passed away on November 27, 2024. A dark day for aviation. His greatest safety achievement (there were many) was getting the FAA ISO 9001 certified. The program: the Flight Standards Evaluation Program (FSEP) successfully brought about FAA standardization and improved aviation safety … industry wide. When two ignorant congressmen sabotaged Sabatini’s safety strategies, Sabatini was forced to walk away. FAA upper management under Buttigieg torpedoed the FSEP program after fourteen successful years. Any aviation safety failures resulting from this witless move falls squarely on FAA upper management.
#02. NTSB Madam Chairwoman’s ego: The Alaska Airlines 1282 hearing was nothing but a chance for the NTSB Chairwoman to display pictures of herself doing … what she was never trained to do. Unsafe and unprofessional. She discredited NTSB folks who do their jobs by having pictures of her interviewing pilots and her inspecting the doorframe, then posting them on the NTSB website, taking credit for NTSB investigators’ work. She changed Hearing protocol for investigation party members; again, unsafe and unprofessional. Does the NTSB need vanity on full display during a safety hearing? On the NTSB website? How embarrassing. Now that Biden is out, her Chairwomanship is over; the NTSB can go back to being serious. Or at least try.
#01. Pete Buttigieg, Secretary, Department of Transportation (SDOT) failures: The #1 AKSA spot goes to former SDOT, Peter Buttigieg, who managed to damage all five transportation disciplines in a single term. 1 – His absence during the supply chain problems, hobbling the trucking industry (Highway); 2 – His ignoring the East Palestine, Ohio, toxic train crash (Rail); 3 – His overseeing the parking of dozens of unloaded cargo ships off the California coast in 2021 (Marine); and 4 – the canceling of the Keystone Pipeline (Pipeline). But the AKSA is about aviation. Buttigieg takes the AKSA Award’s #1 spot for ridiculous actions against aviation safety:
1. The Biden administration’s forced vaccine mandate pushed experienced, knowledgeable professionals out of industry and the FAA.
2. The ludicrous decision to push DEI policies on government agencies and then pushing airlines to adopt the same unsafe policies.
3. The allowance of trans policies in flight attendant positions in place of safety-focused flight crewmembers and passenger trust.
4. The push to have all government workers with certificate oversight, to conduct surveillance virtually, from home.
5. The unprovable and unsustainable lawsuits against airlines for: illegal chronic flight delays – not making that up – by twisting DOT’s mission of safety to a merry-go-round of lawsuits.
6. His telling the media that Biden was competent enough to govern even though it was proven he was not. This put all transportation at risk.
These facts – and many more – are Buttigieg’s legacies. He lowered the bar for safety; he lowered the bar for the SDOT position. Repairs to our transportation industry will take decades. America is now less safe because of Buttigieg’s failures.
It is my hope that this is the last year of the AKSA’s Ree-dik-er-uth Award. One thing that stands true for all; we as a nation, we as a people, we as an industry, must stop relying on local and federal government agencies to improve our lives. Government agencies don’t understand what causes industry problems; they don’t understand what corrects industry problems; they don’t understand what it takes to fix industry problems. Government agencies fail to recognize they are the problem. They have ‘spaghetti’ programs, where ‘solutions’ are thrown at the wall to see if they ‘stick’. When their ‘solutions’ fail, they double down out of ignorance. The aviation community must amend its thinking and stop relying on an ignorant government to make aviation safe.
“If government would just shut the doors and sneak away for three weeks, we’d never miss ‘em.”
Ronald Reagan
To the new administration’s SDOT Sean Duffy, the transportation industry needs someone with common sense; someone who understands what is important to transportation and what is not; to regulate, not participate. Professionals in the transportation industry – all five disciplines – understand and appreciate how important your job is and how you can promote safety. I speak for myself, but I offer my knowledge and experience to you to make these improvements. We wish you the best.