The Reider Report

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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CFI Dan Bass is today's guest as he relates how he almost lost his life because carbon monoxide poisoning rendered him unconscious as he was returning home from a day-long business trip. He also recounts an engine failure at 14,500 feet, and what he did right—and wrong—in handling this emergency. Both incidents resulted in good outcomes and provide valuable lessons to learn.

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A pleasure flight with co-owners of a Piper Arrow nearly turned deadly when the pilot realized he was too low to make a safe landing on an old grass field. But when he initiated the go-around, he heard a loud thump. He looked out at the left wing and the left flap was up! Asymmetrical flaps and a mangled left main gear made the plane nearly impossible to control. Guests Andrew Levison and John Garry share how they dealt with the problem.

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Twenty-one year-old Mason Rowe is the guest on this episode. He’s a flight instructor, has about 300 hours in Cessna Citations, and will soon join a major cargo airline to be type-rated in the Boeing 737. He recounts 2 stories of engine issues in a small plane that has caused him to reconsider how much to “trust” any airplane. The lessons learned include a warning about complacency when flying a single engine piston aircraft — or any plane.

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