Visiting the USC Aviation Safety Program's accident investigation warehouse

On Friday, March 28th, 2025, USC's ITE and Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) student chapters joined forces for a site tour of USC's Aviation Safety Program's accident investigation warehouse. Although not always well known, USC's Aviation Safety Program has long been a leader in educating aviation crash investigation and crash prevention professionals, owing to the aerospace industry's storied involvement in Southern California. Indeed, the Aviation Safety Program formerly trained US Air Force and Navy professionals! Today, the program offers short, intensive classes for professionals to enhance thier crash investigation skills. The accident investigation warehouse is just one piece of that puzzle: it holds dozens of crashed aircraft (including both fixed-wing airplanes and helicopters) that students can investigate to understand the cause of their respective demises.

While at the investigation warehouse, Laboratory Manager Daniel Scalese showed our students his vast and deep knowledge about the planes contained within. For example, he explained how a large bird strike caused the accident that the fighter jet pictured above was involved in. This event caused the aircraft to experience engine failure, a fire, and eventually a crash - although both pilots were able to safely eject with no injuries! Discovering the complexities of and the many factors that cause aviation accidents helped our students appreciate the sheer complexity of safely keeping thousands of planes in the air every day. It also revealed the great attention to detail - examining the little things, down to paint chips present on an accident aircraft - that a good aviation safety investigator must exhibit to decipher and prevent aviation accidents.

Daniel also shared advice for students interested in entering the aviation safety and accident investigation field. He expressed that the field is a stable and well-compensated one - there will always be a need for professionals who can ensure planes fly safely. We had both public policy and industrial & systems engineering students present at the tour, and Daniel shared that both fields of study are highly applicable to aviation safety. He also shared several valuable scholarship and learning opportunities in the space, which our students look forward to taking advantage of.

We greatly appreciate the Aviation Safety Program's support for this site tour!