How TurbineWire verifies an event
What we cover
Accidents, serious incidents, and safety-significant events involving widebody, narrowbody, and regional transport jets and comparable business jets. Not general aviation, not rumor-only threads. If it wouldn't make Steve pause mid-coffee, it's probably out of scope.
Confidence labels
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Developing | Early; facts may change; thin sourcing. |
| Reported | Credible secondary sources agree; no official word yet. |
| Confirmed | Primary or official corroboration (investigator, operator, authority notice). |
We never mark an event Confirmed from social media alone — Steve's rule, carved on the desk.
Source ladder
- Tier A — primary/official: investigation authorities, civil aviation authorities, operator newsrooms, airport notices.
- Tier B — strong secondary: reputable aviation and general press, flight-tracking data.
- Tier C — leads only: posts on X and other social platforms. Used to find stories, not to state facts.
Before we publish
- Aircraft type and operator checked against at least one solid source.
- Known vs unknown separated; no speculation on cause.
- No victim names unless officially released; no humiliating passenger media.
- Every source linked and tiered.
- Steve reads it once more — then the stamp.
The Steve Check
Every card runs the Steve Check — the desk's written gate for publishing on Steve's behalf when circumstances are solid.
- Floor: at least one Tier A source, or two independent Tier B sources, agreeing on operator, aircraft, date, place and outcome.
- Auto-pass: in scope, facts only (what, when, where, injuries as reported), no cause claims, every source linked, confidence label set.
- Steve reviews personally: any fatalities, conflicting severity, single-source stories, victim names, security or military events.
- Never published: cause or blame speculation, social-only drama, recycled old events, out-of-scope aircraft.
Cards that pass carry the Steve checked stamp.
Updates
When a Tier A source or two independent Tier B sources revise a locked fact — injury counts, an operator statement, a preliminary report — we append an Update on the card with a date, type, and citation. The original Known facts stay; we do not silently rewrite history. Cards with updates show an Updated badge on the board.
Corrections
Corrections are labeled as such in the Updates stream and timestamped on the entry. Status labels can move up or down. Mistakes happen; burying them doesn't.