Only Human – News, Analysis, and Insights from the World of Human Performance · Dr. Tony Kern

Plane Crashes and Personal Crisis with Special Guest D. Smith

February 4, 2025·32 min·2 clips

Dee Smith describes sitting in his garage with a gun and deciding not to leave that legacy.

1. Only Human: News, Analysis, and Insights from the World of Human Performance centers this episode on aviation safety, the Reagan Airport crash, and personal crisis. 2. Tony Curran hosts and Dee Smith appears as Executive Director of Safety Management for the Transportation Safety Institute, a role that makes his safety perspective central to the discussion. 3. The episode asks what aviation safety failures and depression have in common as Tony frames both as systemic problems that demand honest talk. 4. Dee Smith says TSI trains aircraft accident investigators and aviation safety professionals and keeps six full-time accident investigators on staff. 5. He says TSI runs about 2,500 to 2,700 trainees a year and has spent 21 years in his current role. 6. Dee says the Reagan Airport accident was already dominating discussion and argues the United States was “due for this accident.” 7. He describes a safety cycle in which inspectors, air traffic controllers, and training budgets rise after incidents and then shrink when years pass without a crash. 8. Tony adds that recent near misses in airport traffic show how congested U.S. airspace has become. 9. Tony also says the industry has accepted lower-quality candidates and shifted toward profit instead of protection. 10. Dee invokes H.W. Heinrich’s accident-causation theory and the idea that about 600 prior conditions can exist before a catastrophic event finally happens. 11. The conversation turns to mental health when Tony describes speaking publicly about depression at a Bombardier safety stand down. 12. Dee says he noticed that disclosure immediately because he has lived with depression and post-traumatic stress. 13. Tony explains rumination as repetitive negative thinking and says he sometimes handles depressive periods by going deep into writing, reading, or building a new course. 14. He says he tells his wife when he is going into a focused period and quotes Paul Simon’s line, “hello, darkness, my old friend.” 15. Dee says he was medically discharged from the Army after an injury in Iraq and later faced a long dark period after leaving military life. 16. He says that period led him to a garage, a gun, and the realization that his children’s legacy kept him from acting. 17. Tony says depression cannot be solved by dating, buying things, or pretending that material comfort changes the condition. 18. Dee says faith helps him handle the tide-like return of depression, and Tony agrees that spiritual strength matters in his own life. 19. The exchange feels like a candid interview with two longtime aviation safety colleagues who shift between technical safety analysis and personal testimony. 20. Listeners who want aviation safety, leadership under pressure, or direct talk about depression will get the most from it; listeners avoiding suicide-related discussion may skip it.

As heard by us

A safety conversation that turns into a direct, humane look at depression, rumination, and resilience.

Tony Curran and Dee Smith open with aviation safety, then move into depression, rumination, and the work of staying functional when thoughts start looping.

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Why you'd press play

When aviation safety becomes a blunt way to think about depression, rumination, and staying functional through the rough patches.

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