Hosted by renowned pilot and aviation expert CAPTAIN BRIAN SCHIFF

With special guest presenter MARK TOMICICH

We’ll start with a familiar scenario: a VFR cross-country after refueling that turns into an engine problem and an emergency approach in low ceilings and mist. Using the accident sequence—from the first vibration and oil-pressure anomaly through the last-ditch approach to Flagler County—we’ll focus on recognizing engine trouble early, choosing a landing option when options are limited, and avoiding a stall while “stretching” the glide near the ground.

VFR content will cover preflight and maintenance red flags, fuel and configuration decisions, realistic personal weather minimums, and procedures to follow if you lose power near marginal VFR or rising terrain.

IFR content will focus on clear, unambiguous communication with ATC, assessing whether vectors and approach geometry keep the runway within glide range, and controlling airspeed and altitude from cloud break to touchdown. Throughout, we’ll turn the investigation’s findings on oil-starvation engine failure, weak maintenance documentation, and pilot–controller miscommunication into practical checklists, briefing habits, and training scenarios any pilot can use on their very next flight.

What you’ll learn:

• What to say to ATC - Clearly declare the emergency and the actual situation (e.g., “lost all power”) so ATC understands the severity and vectors you with runway and glide range in mind.
• What needs to be prioritized - Treat oil-pressure anomalies, visible leaks, and recent engine work as high-consequence risk factors and be willing to divert early rather than “press on.”
• How to safely reach an emergency landing site - In IMC or marginal VFR, think glide range first: question any vectoring or approach geometry that moves you away from your best landing option when power is in doubt.
• How to maintain aircraft control - Protect airspeed and angle of attack all the way to the ground; resist the urge to “stretch the glide,” especially when breaking out low with obstacles ahead.
• How to make maintenance-related decisions -Handle maintenance and modifications professionally: ensure proper documentation, understand what was done, and verify airworthiness before launching on demanding flights.
• How to create a conservative safety margin -As a VFR pilot, respect how quickly a “simple” trip can turn into an IFR-quality emergency, and set personal weather and fuel/alternate minimums that provide margins when something fails.

This podcast is the audio part of the original live video broadcast available at https://www.theschiffshow.tv/15 If you wish, please visit that website to view the archived version of the live event - including audience comments and polling.

This podcast qualifies for FAA WINGS credit. After listening, go HERE to test your knowledge and earn immediate FAA WINGS credit upon successful completion of the quiz. You must be registered on the FAA Safety Team website to access this quiz and credits. If you have not yet registered, you may do so HERE.

THE SCHIFF SHOW is proudly sponsored by AVEMCO. Learn more about Avemco Insurance Company HERE or give them a call 800-276-5199. Tell them THE SCHIFF SHOW sent you and earn a 5% discount on your aircraft insurance.

Hosted by renowned pilot and aviation expert CAPTAIN BRIAN SCHIFF

With special guest presenter GREG REVERDIAU

An upgraded Cessna 421C, advanced weather tools, a professional pilot, and plenty of warnings—yet N4467D still penetrated a severe storm, lost control, and came apart in the Gulf of Mexico with five fatalities. In this episode, THE SCHIFF SHOW welcomes Greg Reverdiau, aviation educator, human factors specialist, and co-founder of Pilot Institute, one of the largest online training platforms for manned and unmanned pilots. Together, we will replay the flight, the ATC exchanges, the convective SIGMET environment, and the weather technology picture that set this crew up for disaster.

Using the same teaching style and tools Greg’s team applies in Pilot Institute’s online ground schools and accident case studies, we will slow the event down and visually compare what the pilot likely saw on XM weather versus what was really happening on radar and satellite imagery. We will examine attenuation, radar shadowing, distance limits, and radar tilt management in a single pilot IFR workload, along with the 10 to 15 minute latency “gotcha” that can turn a seemingly safe gap into the core of a mature thunderstorm.

By the end of this presentation, you’ll be able to:

• Recognize the specific limitations of onboard radar and XM / satellite weather—and why “seeing red” is not the whole story in convective environments.
• Apply practical techniques for using strategic (XM) versus tactical (airborne radar) tools, so you do not “thread the needle” through a moving line of storms.
• Identify human factor traps highlighted in this accident, including expectation bias from airline PIREPs, pressure to continue, and over-trust in what ATC “is painting” on their scopes.
• Decide earlier and more confidently when to divert, hold, or turn back—even when technology, ATC, and other pilots seem to be telling you it’s fine to continue.

This podcast is the audio part of the original live video broadcast available at https://www.theschiffshow.tv/14 If you wish, please visit that website to view the archived version of the live event - including audience comments and polling.

This podcast qualifies for FAA WINGS credit. After listening, go HERE to test your knowledge and earn immediate FAA WINGS credit upon successful completion of the quiz. You must be registered on the FAA Safety Team website to access this quiz and credits. If you have not yet registered, you may do so HERE.

THE SCHIFF SHOW is proudly sponsored by AVEMCO. Learn more about Avemco Insurance Company HERE or give them a call 800-276-5199. Tell them THE SCHIFF SHOW sent you and earn a 5% discount on your aircraft insurance.

Hosted by renowned pilot and aviation expert CAPTAIN BRIAN SCHIFF

With special guest presenter Lt. Col. TAMMY BARLETTE

A thought-provoking episode of THE SCHIFF SHOW that dissects how a successful, highly educated attorney bought “too much airplane,” skipped ahead in training, and paid the ultimate price. We’ll discuss how intelligence, confidence, and a big checkbook can combine into a deadly form of overconfidence when pilots outfly their experience and underestimate the learning curve of complex, high-performance aircraft.

In this presentation, Brian Schiff and Tammy Barlette break down the accident from both the aeronautical and mental perspectives, highlighting the human factors, cognitive traps, and decision-making errors that led a competent professional to make fatally dumb choices in the cockpit. Pilots will learn practical strategies to recognize when ego is driving the airplane, safely manage the “step up” to more capable machines, and build a mental game that is at least as strong as their bank account and logbook.

Pilots will walk away with practical techniques to:

• Recognize when ego is PIC and the brain is just along for the ride.
• Plan a sane, structured transition to higher-performance aircraft.
• Build a **mental** game that keeps them from becoming the cautionary tale other pilots learn from at the next safety seminar

Our special guest is Tammy Barlette. Tammy brings deep knowledge of mental performance training to the discussion.

Many in-flight performance issues are actually cognitive margin problems rather than competence problems. As demands stack—new aircraft or avionics, IMC, approach changes, emotional pressure—mental bandwidth gets saturated, which can lead to stress-induced errors or even spatial disorientation. Training teaches procedures, but mental performance determines whether pilots can think clearly and access those skills under stress. Topics like early recognition of overload, emotional regulation, reframing emergency declarations as workload-management tools, and understanding how passengers increase cognitive load would help viewers see that the goal in overload is stability first, not speed or progress.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from a tragic event and enhance your operational safety and piloting expertise.

This podcast is the audio part of the original live video broadcast available at https://www.theschiffshow.tv/13 If you wish, please visit that website to view the archived version of the live event - including audience comments and polling.

This podcast qualifies for FAA WINGS credit. After listening, go HERE to test your knowledge and earn immediate FAA WINGS credit upon successful completion of the quiz. You must be registered on the FAA Safety Team website to access this quiz and credits. If you have not yet registered, you may do so HERE.

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The Schiff Show is a monthly aviation education variety show hosted by Brian Schiff and sponsored by AVEMCO. It is offered for FAA WINGS credit. Brian will discuss a specific theme across five program segments on the second Thursday of each month. The themes will be chosen from a hit list of common accident causes. Each episode will be one hour long and focus on a particular causal accident factor, and will include the following segments:

• Accident Review
• Regulatory Review
• Training Topic
• Technology Tips and Tricks
• Knowledge and Trivia Questions

Registration is not required. Go to

THE SCHIFF SHOW is proudly sponsored by AVEMCO. Learn more about Avemco Insurance Company