Todd Curtis and John Goglia analyze an accident that was investigated by the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau, Australia's version of the NTSB. The ATSB report offers comprehensive aviation safety details and insight. John and Todd review the level of detail and compare it to what they find in NTSB reports from similar general aviation accidents.

The Australian accident involved a Cessna 172 aircraft that crashed due to pilot decision making. This was the pilot’s first solo flight using the autopilot system. His confusion led to the fatal plane crash.

John compares the pilot’s decisions in the Australian accident with those of the pilots in the 2000 crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261. In that aviation disaster, the crew decided to keep flying rather than make a precautionary landing.

Todd discusses the steps he takes to avoid making autopilot-related errors in flight. He uses both a laptop-based flight simulator at home and a more sophisticated fixed based simulator to complement his flight training.

Related documents are available at the Flight Safety Detectives website.

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