380 Max Trescott on Aviation Safety, Judgment, and Human Performance on Dr. Tony Kerns podcast + ForeFlight News
In this special crossover episode, Max Trescott, host of the Aviation News Talk podcast, appears as a guest on Dr. Tony Kerns Only Human podcast. The two aviation safety advocates engage in a candid, insightful conversation that bridges their shared backgrounds in aviation, safety culture, and leadership.
The episode begins with a segment called This Week in Safety Land, spotlighting a tragic helicopter crash involving tourists over the Hudson River. The Director of Operations (DO) at the company involved chose to cease operations pending investigation, only to be overruled and fired by the CEOprompting FAA intervention. Max and Tony reflect on this as a textbook example of the ongoing conflict between operational production and safety protection, a dynamic familiar in aviation, military, and corporate environments alike. They explore how profit-driven decisions often undermine safety, and how organizations with high-risk operations must prioritize a culture that empowers safety-conscious leadership.
Tony shares a story of elephants at the San Diego Zoo sensing an earthquake before it was perceptible to humansforming a protective circle around the young. Max likens this to the importance of organizational structures that support bottom-up safety communication. Drawing on his early career at Hewlett-Packard, he praises HPs open-door policy that encouraged employees to escalate safety issues when necessary. He stresses that open communication channels are essential, especially in high-risk domains.
Max then shares his personal journey from a successful 25-year career at HP to full-time aviation after a layoff. What began as a side hobby teaching flying eventually evolved into a full-time vocation, spurred in part by a deeply personal tragedy: the death of a close friend and five others in a preventable aircraft accident. Max, who arrived on the crash scene within 45 minutes and attended multiple funerals that week, found a new purposepreventing similar accidents by educating pilots.
That experience drove Max to start Aviation News Talk, where he strives to deliver rich, actionable content on general aviation safety. His mission: to save lives by making safety knowledge accessible, engaging, and relevant to every pilotfrom student to professional. He explains that his podcast is designed to offer at least one nugget of value per episode that listeners can apply immediately.
Tony and Max discuss the unglamorous public perception of safety rolesoften viewed as dull or punitive. Tony notes that safety officers are often assigned the job after incidents or during grounding periods. Max offers a reframing: dont lead with safetylead with professionalism. If pilots strive to be excellent in their craft, safety naturally follows. Do your job well, be curious, be disciplined, Max saystraits that elevate both personal performance and safety outcomes.
They turn to current trends, asking whether aviation is getting less safe. While total accident numbers may be down, Max points out that media coverage is up, and many general aviation (GA) accidentsespecially runway excursions involving business jetssuggest continued risks. What matters more than raw numbers, he explains, is the accident rate per 100,000 hours flown, data that lags by over a year. For GA pilots, the accident risk remains significant, especially among newer or less experienced pilots.
Looking forward, Max and Tony explore the safety challenges of tomorrow. Max debunks the idea of achieving a static safe state and explains that aviation is inherently dynamicsubject to changes in personnel, technology, weather, and processes. He highlights the importance of conducting safety assessments prior to changes in operations, procedures, or equipment. Quoting safety expert Todd Conklin, Max describes accidents as the unexpected combination of normal aviation variability, reinforcing the need for ongoing vigilance.
Tony adds that while technological innovationslike AI, automation, and real-time trainingoffer efficiency, they dont guarantee increased safety. Often, humans simply push the margins when given better tools. He uses anti-lock brakes as an analogy: rather than driving more safely, people just drive faster. Similarly, faster, cheaper training methods could reduce experience levels without solving core human performance issues.
The conversation closes with Max outlining the timeless characteristics of a great aviator:
- Judgment the most critical trait, separating the skilled from the safe.
- Curiosity a desire to learn, explore, and seek out knowledge.
- Discipline and consistency following procedures and making flights boring in the best way.
- Situational awareness understanding not just your own position, but what everyone else in the airspace is trying to do.
- Humility recognizing that overconfidence kills and that learning never stops.
Max emphasizes that aviation teaches life skills: staying humble, seeking excellence, and always being ready to learn. He ends by inviting listeners to consider flight trainingnot just for fun, but as a profound growth experience. Learning to fly, he says, can change how you see the world and yourself.
Tony echoes the sentiment, encouraging listeners to take a discovery flight and explore the possibility. As the episode wraps, both hosts agree: while aviation may be unforgiving, it offers unmatched rewards for those who approach it with professionalism and passion.
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