NBAA Single-Pilot Standdown: Real-World Lessons from Business Aviation Incidents

Oct. 13, 2025

Expert air safety investor Peter Basile, chief air safety investigator at Textron Aviation, shared invaluable insights into decision-making under pressure, risk management and best practices for maintaining safety in demanding single-pilot operations with attendees of the 2025 NBAA Single-Pilot Safety Standdown.

Basile provided a high-level overview of the accident investigation process, as a party to accident investigations with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), before describing two case studies relevant to Standdown attendees.

In May of this year, a Cessna S550, converted to be flown single pilot, crashed in San Diego, CA, resulting in six fatalities. The flight was almost seven hours of flight time with one fuel stop. The pilot didn’t list an alternate airport on the flight plan and weather conditions at the intended airport were poor, with low visibility and low ceiling. The NTSB has not yet completed its investigation on this accident.

In another accident, in July 2023, a Cessna 550 crashed in Murrieta, CA. The aircraft departed French Valley Airport (RBK) in Murrieta to Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), spending about six hours in Las Vegas, before departing to return to French Valley Airport around 3 a.m. At the time of the accident, the visibility and ceiling were very low with marine fog in the area. Two pilots and four passengers died in the accident.

While the Murrieta accident was technically piloted by two certificated airmen, Basile questioned the value of the second pilot, based on NTSB port-mortem findings that found the co-pilot of the Murrieta accident had an elevated blood alcohol content level.

In the final report, the board noted alcohol-related impairment may have limited the copilot’s ability to make a positive contribution to flight safety but could not definitively determine if alcohol had a causal effect in the accident.

Basile discussed the dangers of flying after consuming alcohol or other substances that might cause impairment and in the case of multi-pilot crews, the importance of being aware of and assertive enough to question a crewmember’s condition, if necessary.

Basile gleaned several common threads in these accidents:

• Continuing flight in poor weather conditions
• Failure to maintain a stabilized approach
• Accident time during periods of Window of Circadian Low, typically between 3 and 5 a.m.

He added that these factors continue to be common in aviation accidents.

“I would love to come back and talk about something else next year, but we keep having the same issues,” said Basile. “Let’s prevent these types of accidents from happening again.”