Patrick R. Veillette

Patrick Veillette, Ph.D. July 01, 2026 Both engines failed at low altitude as the Challenger 604 was turning onto final approach for landing. The subsequent teardown revealed corrosion in the compressor section of the engine caused by lengthy exposure to a salt air environment. Credit: NTSB Insert the word “corrosion” into the NTSB’s search engine and you will be stunned to see how often that has caused a mechanical failure in an aircraft.

Most pilots understand that significant visible ice contamination on a wing can cause severe aerodynamic and control penalties. However, accident history reveals that pilots do not recognize how fine particles of frost or ice, merely the size of a grain of table salt, and as sparse as one grain per square centimeter, can destroy enough lift to prevent a plane from taking off.

By Patrick Veillette, Ph.D. Upon his retirement as a non-routine flight operations captain from a fractional operator in 2015, Dr. Veillette had accumulated more than 20,000 hours of flight experience in 240 types of aircraft-including balloons, rotorcraft, sea planes, gliders, war birds, supersonic jets and large commercial transports. He is an adjunct professor at Utah Valley University.