Saratoga Surprise

Engine failures are statistically rare, though they do occur. Today’s episode is the fourth in what has become a “series” on engine failures. Host Rob Reider welcomes a pilot who was conducting a flight for a Tuskegee Airmen program to give two young kids a taste of aviation when, just after takeoff, the engine stopped. How all three walked away from the forced landing was partially due to the V-speed the pilot chose on takeoff. Was it Vx or Vy?Sponsored by Avemco

Retired air show performer Bill Leff experienced an engine failure on his T-6 Texan just a few miles from Oshkosh. Though he was close to another airport, he had to make a difficult decision: land on Highway 41 or stretch the glide and attempt to land at Fond-Du-Lac. Rob Reider drove to Dayton, Ohio and visited Bill in his hangar to learn the whole story. There’s a YouTube video that shows what happened. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn3i6yo2C4g.Sponsored by Avemco

Guest Brian Norris joins host Rob Reider and talks about having an engine failure while ferrying the aerobatic biplane of one of most famous - and greatest - aerobatic air show performers of the last 50 years, Sean D. Tucker. His options were few. Fortunately he was wearing a parachute. But he was flying a one-of-a-kind airplane that was worth saving. Brian shares what happened and what he learned from the incident.Sponsored by Avemco

A pilot had just launched from Lake Hood, Alaska when, only a few hundred feet above the surface, the engine malfunctioned. He couldn’t land straight ahead because of the frigid Alaskan waters. Further compounding his plight, he was squeezed between Anchorage International and Elmendorf Air Force Base, leaving him no options but to attempt the impossible turn. Jim Gibertoni shares his story with host Rob Reider and explains what happened.Sponsored by Avemco

You might have the latest and greatest in equipment in your airplane but if you can’t transmit audio to ATC, all that cool stuff isn’t particularly useful. It’s what happened to an instrument-rated pilot and his instrument instructor on a cross-country flight. The checklist told them what to do but what if all comms were lost on the reset? Larry Noe describes this dilemma — to reboot or not to reboot. That’s the question.

An in-flight fire in a part of a Beech Baron where one would least expect it and the part that a key fob played in the total loss of avionics in a Cirrus SR22 are the stories related in this episode by flight instructor Elliot Danner. He also shares some very valuable lessons to all pilots - whether they’ve got a Baron or a Cirrus.Sponsored by Avemco

Test pilot, retired rocket scientist, and award-winning air show performer Bob Carlton recounts the unforeseen travails of a cross-country ferry flight that brought to life lessons he’d only learned about in ground school. What should have been a leisurely 3-day trip turned into a 2-week odyssey due to severe icing — in VMC, ground fog, and the need for a sick sack.Sponsored by Avemco

A newly-minted, Atlanta-based instrument pilot on a business trip to northern Ohio encountered weather that included unexpected ice accumulation. It caused a loss of control that could have killed him and the five others aboard his Piper Saratoga. Doug Armstrong joins host Rob Reider to share what happened, why it happened, and what he learned from this event.Sponsored by Avemco Insurance

A pilot took off in his Columbia 400 and noticed that the airspeed and altitude numbers looked a little off. He managed to handle the discrepancy during the cruise portion of his flight but when he began his descent, the airspeed indicator said he was in excess of Vne. Things felt right but reconciling the differences were causing some problems. What did he miss?Sponsored by Avemco

It doesn’t matter how many hours you’ve logged — there’s still more aviation you haven’t seen or experienced. Join host Rob Reider and his guest, Mark Blois-Brooke, as Mark tells about a downwind landing attempt, a serious maintenance faux-pas in a Beech Baron, a student who messed up an engine failure test on takeoff nearly killing both aboard, and almost snap-rolling a Lear 45. Still learning after all these years.Sponsored by Avemco