"There I was..." An Aviation Podcast

"There I was..." An Aviation Podcast

There I was…, presented by the AOPA Air Safety Institute, invites you into the cockpit with pilots across the aviation community. We fly with them as they encounter unpredictable scenarios and we learn from the knowledge and skills they utilize to fly safely out of them. This podcast honors the tradition and heritage in aviation to leverage “hangar flying” as an avenue to pass along knowledge and experience.

Episodes

Episode 89: Gear-Up Landing

November 18, 2025 • 46 mins
Tony Williams and Ben Taylor prepare to ferry a Cessna 401 that’s been resurrected after almost 25 years in storage. Despite meticulous planning, high-speed taxi tests, and pattern work, a loud bang on downwind reveals a left-gear failure. With support from ATC, the pilots plan a deliberate gear-up landing on a foamed runway.
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Episode 88: Bouncing on Empty

October 14, 2025 • 32 mins
During a mountain flying trip in a Cessna 172, Doug Tilghman and two companions become dangerously close to fuel exhaustion.
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Episode 87: Safety Pilot

September 16, 2025 • 35 mins
Bob Thomason recounts a tense IMC approach as safety pilot for a friend facing a cancer diagnosis. When his friend panics and fights the autopilot, Bob must intervene to stabilize the aircraft.
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Episode 86: Engine Failure Over New Mexico

August 12, 2025 • 41 mins
Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sergeant Justin Lillie shares the story of an engine failure in his Mooney during an IFR cross-country flight with his family.
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Episode 85: Three Greens

July 15, 2025 • 42 mins
Mark Sellers shares the story of a nighttime overwater flight in his Bellanca Viking where a landing gear issue arose during approach.
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Episode 84: Missing Prop

June 17, 2025 • 37 mins
Mel Rushton recounts a harrowing nighttime IFR flight when the propeller of his Piper Comanche separated mid-flight over Florida.
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Episode 83: Stuck Controls

May 13, 2025 • 56 mins
While departing Tampa Executive Airport in his Thorp S-18, Mujahid Abdulrahim finds himself dealing with severely limited motion in his control stick.
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Episode 82: Icing in a Baron

April 15, 2025 • 34 mins
Scott Wright shares the story of a flight he made as a corporate pilot in a B58 Baron with five passengers, during which he had an encounter with icing.
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Episode 81: Hard Landing

March 18, 2025 • 37 mins
Erick Mahle tells the story of a night flight in his flying club’s Bonanza with his family on board that included a memorable landing and some lessons learned.
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Episode 80: A Clever Workaround

February 18, 2025 • 26 mins
While flying in his 1966 Cessna 150F over Arizona, Chris Smith and his father must resort to some creative thinking to breathe life into a sputtering engine.
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Episode 79: Lost Comms

January 14, 2025 • 32 mins
As a newly minted private pilot, Sara Gagné takes her mother on a sunset flight around the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Not expecting any adverse issues during her very first flight with a passenger, Sara finds herself unable to establish radio communication. NOTE: We realized we omitted a key detail in this episode. When the guest discusses the remedy of shining a phone flashlight against the radio panel to make the display brighter, ...
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Episode 78: "What's That Sound?"

December 17, 2024 • 51 mins
Peter Danzig hears a disturbing banging sound while flying his Bonanza A36 near Paso Robles, CA, and decides to make a precautionary landing at a small private airport. After landing, he must contend with less than ideal conditions in which to depart again.
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Episode 77: Cow Pasture Landing

November 26, 2024 • 51 mins
While flying in his Piper Saratoga over the Mark Twain National Forest en route to Northeast Arkansas, Brent Reddick notices a subtle but disturbing drop in RPM, followed by a complete engine failure.
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Episode 76: Eerie Encounter

October 22, 2024 • 30 mins
GA pilot Claudia Gibson recalls a flight on a late October night in Indiana, during her student pilot days. While on an extensive night training flight with multiple stops, Claudia and her instructor have an eerie encounter in the form of an unwanted guest on the runway.
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Episode 75: Landing Gear Failure

September 17, 2024 • 47 mins
While shooting an IFR practice approach in his Twin Comanche, retired Air Canada pilot Marc Arsenault loses electrical power to his landing gear system. After realizing that a manual gear extension will not work, Marc must resort to creative thinking – and the help of a Swiss Army knife – to get the gear down.
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Episode 74: Losing Altitude

August 13, 2024 • 41 mins
On the final leg of a cross-country flight from Mississippi to California, flight test engineer Joey Brown finds himself unable to maintain altitude in his 1967 Cessna 150G.
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Episode 73: Icing in an RV

July 15, 2024 • 43 mins
Climbing through 6,000 feet after departing Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, pilot and aircraft builder Steve Gross encounters severe icing in his RV-9. With his indicated airspeed falling to 60 knots and his climb rate dropping to zero, Steve must take quick action.
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Episode 72: Laser Strike

June 18, 2024 • 40 mins
GA pilot Jonathan Fay experiences a laser strike while in the traffic pattern for a night landing. He tells the story of what happened, and how he was able to track down the perpetrator afterward.
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Episode 71: Engine Failure at Night

May 14, 2024 • 39 mins
On a night flight to Grand Strand Airport in Myrtle Beach, SC, pilot Greg Duckworth experiences an engine failure in his Rutan Long-EZ. With a sea of city lights below, Greg must resort to quick thinking and help from ATC to find a place to land.
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Episode 70: Ferry Flight

April 16, 2024 • 55 mins
AOPA Western Pacific Regional Manager Jared Yoshiki recounts the story of purchasing his first airplane - a Cherokee 180. While ferrying it from Indiana to his home airport in California, things went awry.
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