I Learned About Flying From That

In Episode 131 of I Learned About Flying From That, host Carl Valeri sits down with Leslie Cobble, a seasoned flight instructor and owner of flight schools in Arkansas and Hawaii. What was supposed to be a routine engine break-in flight over the beautiful shores of Maui quickly turned into a terrifying fight for control.

A “time-saver” offered by ATC might not have been a good idea for the pilot and his wife en route to the Bahamas, putting them farther over water than they’d like and into weather they didn’t expect. Instrument-rated private pilot Kevin Reick shares that story with host, Rob Reider, and another from his instrument instruction when the cockpit got as dark as the night sky they were flying in. Sponsored by Avemco

As pilots, we’re taught to trust our instruments - trusting our feelings can lead to problems. But in an airplane you know very well, if there’s a strange sound or vibration, trusting your feelings might be the right thing to do. One pilot, experiencing this situation, convinced an A&P mechanic to double check a recently completed repair. What he found was a botched job that could have resulted in a catastrophic situation. Sponsored by Avemco Insurance

Join Rob Reider on episode 113 of Flying Magazine's I Learned About Flying from That podcast as we meet a pilot who, fresh off earning his commercial certificate, accepted his very first flight for hire: ferrying an early, "very ragged" Cessna 150 from Connecticut to Florida. What seemed like a straightforward job quickly devolved into a tale of significant lapses in aeronautical decision-making. Bob Kamm shares just how ragged the plane was, what he had to overcome to make the flight, and what he learned about ADM!

Join host Rob Reider in Episode 111 of I Learned About Flying From That, featuring acclaimed air show pilot Anna Serbinenko, the "sky dancer". Anna recounts a harrowing incident during her Canadian Arctic Aviation Tour in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. After a successful performance, her routine post-landing 360-degree bow with air show smoke turned into an "oh sh*t moment" due to gusty, shifting winds. Anna shares the critical lessons learned, including the importance of never relaxing too soon and the need for counterintuitive control inputs in unexpected situations. This episode is sponsored by Avemco Insurance.

In I Learned About Flying from That, Episode 109, host Rob Ryder features experienced pilot Mark Brooke, who recounts a harrowing incident from August 1979 during his air taxi days, when a seemingly easy flight from a grass field near London to Leeds became a "nailbiter". Mark, then an instructor building hours for his commercial license, faced a series of converging "holes in the Swiss cheese lined up scenarios". His predicament stemmed from fuel mismanagement – opting not to take on more fuel initially and later skipping refueling at Leeds due to cost and a belief he had enough for the return trip. This was compounded by deteriorating weather, including a warm front with a dropping cloud base and persistent rain that Mark initially underestimated, changing winds that created a strong headwind on the return flight, and a late departure causing darkness to set in quicker than expected. Low on fuel, in worsening weather, and unable to get radar assistance from a closed air force base, Mark found himself "boxed in" with no easy diversion options, lacking an "out". The tense situation culminated in an emergency landing at White Waltham Field, a World War II-era grass airfield with no lighting, where a dedicated club member, Paul, arranged for cars to light the runway with their headlights. Mark's critical takeaways from this experience include the importance of never passing on an opportunity to take on fuel ("with fuel you got time and with time you got options"), being aware of the "dangerous time" for PPL accidents around 500 hours where pilots can become overconfident, always respecting the weather, and crucially, always leaving yourself an out in airmanship. This episode is sponsored by Avemco Insurance

In this episode of Flying Magazine's I learned about flying from that podcast, host Rob Reider speaks with Tom Bevard about a terrifying in-flight incident in his Cessna 140, which had been modified with Cessna 150 seats. Tom recounts how his adjustable pilot's seat, despite a pre-flight check, slid to the full aft position during takeoff just as he was about to rotate, causing the aircraft to shoot up at a high angle of attack and low speed, rapidly approaching a stall. Fortunately, his vernier throttle remained at full power. With the seat all the way back, Tom could no longer reach the rudder pedals, a critical issue, especially in a taildragger. Rather than attempting a ground loop with limited control due to a slight crosswind, he made the quick decision to continue the flight, get to a safe altitude, and then unbuckle, slide over, and re-buckle his seatbelt in the co-pilot's side. Being comfortable flying from the right seat, he was able to safely land the plane. This near-disastrous routine flight underscored the importance of a very good and thorough pre-flight inspection, particularly checking the seat by moving it front-to-back, side-to-side, and up-and-down to ensure the clips are properly over the rail's lip; conducting a solo local flight after any maintenance work before taking passengers or going cross-country; being proficient at flying from both seats (left, right, or tandem) as a crucial skill set in unexpected situations; and understanding Airworthiness Directives (ADs) related to seat rails, given the potential for catastrophic results if seats fail at critical phases of flight.