It’s the time-honored opening phrase used by pilots the world over to indicate a whopper of a story is about to be unleashed. Some are apocryphal. Far-fetched, hard to believe, and possibly expanded upon until the truth of the matter is little more than a small nugget of fact hidden in an otherwise fanciful tale.
Those stories aren’t my style. I like a good yarn, but when it comes to aviation, the real story is often far more compelling than a fictional version could hope to be.
I share this thought because the COVID-19 quarantine has made so many of us the entertainment connoisseurs we thought we would never be. Netflix, Apple TV, HBO, Showtime, and YouTube fill the days and nights of people who now have nowhere to go and little to do. After all, you can only mop the kitchen floor so many times.
In my own search for entertainment and enlightenment I’ve stumbled upon a podcast. The title “There I was…” suggests at least the possibility that it has an aeronautical component to it. The producer of the program, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s Air Safety Institute, nails that suspicion. I guessed it was worth a listen and I was right.
I think I’ve found my new favorite podcast.
Five years ago when I went to work for AOPA, I had only the vaguest idea what AOPA actually did. I knew about the legislative advocacy, the magazine, and its national expos, of course. But I didn’t know about the smaller, less obvious work going on behind the scenes. Work I would come to be a part of and a contributor to.
I have no direct connection to There I was… In fact, I don’t work on the Air Safety Institute side of things. I’ve just become a massive fan of what it does. And what is does is, in a word, impressive.
At the time of this writing there are 20 episodes in the can, awaiting your ears. Patty Wagstaff is featured in two episodes. In the first she relates a tale that involves VFR into IMC in a C-185 flying above Alaska. In another episode she relates how she and another pilot left the runway in her Bonanza, tumbled tail over nose, and lived to fly another day.
It’s great programming. In the era of radio this would have been a big hit, I have no doubt. The emotion is real, the scenarios are verifiable, the stories are told with great detail, and the interviewer is a master at pulling specifics out of his subjects, yet he knows how to stay out of the way when they are on a roll.
That interviewer is ASI’s Executive Director Richard McSpadden. Richard is a general aviation pilot from way back. He comes from an aeronautical family. As a host his manner is easy but serious. No doubt he leans on his own considerable experience as a civilian pilot, as well as his 20 years with the US Air Force, where he wrapped up his career as Thunderbird Number 1.
Yeah, he’s pretty good.
Aside from Patty Wagstaff, there are other aeronautical luminaries to listen to like Julie Clark, Aaron Tippin, Michael Goulian, Sean D. Tucker, and Kenny G. All have fascinating stories to tell of a flight that didn’t go quite the way they’d planned it.
The issues these pilots encounter are the types of problems that can happen to any of us. Which is exactly what makes these stories so compelling to listen to. They handle their emergencies well. They survive. And in sharing their stories with us, we have the potential to become better, safer, more capable pilots.
Not all of Richard’s guests are famous, of course. Some are just regular Joes, like you and me. Dan Bass tells of experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning while flying a Mooney. Devin Miller relates what it’s like to have the throttle cable break on a Piper Arrow, which by design pushes the engine up to full power. Being airborne with a surging engine is one thing. Having your family in the aircraft with you adds additional drama to the situation.
Gabrielle Palmas had the bad luck to experience a mid-air collision with another aircraft while flying under the hood. Yet her luck turned to the point she and her instructor pilot were able to get the airplane back on the ground — almost in one piece. Jeff King lost the engine in a Cherokee Six, at night, in a densely populated area.
No pressure.
If all that isn’t enough to grab your attention, perhaps you’ll be as amazed as I was to hear Chuck Cook tell the story of how his T-28 erupted into a blowtorch of a cockpit fire while just seconds from landing.
The stories are true. The survival of the pilot telling the tale can be almost unbelievable. Each situation is one we hope we never experience in person. But these folks dealt with the challenges they faced, came out on top, and have advice for the rest of us that just might make the difference should we ever find ourselves in a similar position.
There I was…listening to a podcast that opened my imagination to all sorts of possibilities, and I think I’m better for it.
Hey, you’re home not doing much anyway. Why not listen in? You might find these episodes to be as valuable as I did. Consider me a permanent listener from now on. They’re that good.
