Addressing the Rise in Aviation Ground Damage (ft. Special Guest Jermaine Cadogan)
While crashing airplanes have been in the news a lot lately, there’s another major problem currently plaguing aviation: the precipitous increase in ground damage incidents, along with their associated costs. Ground damage events occur when the aircraft is not flying, during taxi, aircraft repositioning, loading/unloading, fueling, and maintenance tasks. Our news story and resulting discussion come from the article, “From the Hangar to the Tarmac: Rising Trends in Ground Incidents,” published in the 2025 issue of Jetstream from the insurer Global Aerospace. Special Guest Jermaine Cadogan is the Lead Instructor for a revolutionary training program called the “Aviation Maintenance Never Events,” which was developed by Convergent Performance to provide maintainers and other support personnel effective methods to prevent ground damage events like those described in the article. Tony and “Caddy” discuss the root causes behind this rise in ground damage, the ways rising costs will impact the industry and passengers, how the industry and regulators might try to tackle this critical issue, and why the “Never Events” program is the solution, garnering support from aviation professionals in both the public and private sectors in the decade since its inception.