So There I Was

Flight Path: He Who Dies with the Most Laugh Wrinkles Wins Episode 225

So There I Was

Show Notes

Retired C-141 pilot and author Chill-Rob McD joins Fig and RePete for a night of Starlifter chaos: a Dutch roll at 35,000 feet, a mid-air fight with a runaway yaw damper, and a landing that ends in blown tires and a fifty-foot wall of flame. Add a gunpoint landing fee off the coast of Africa, a loadmaster who nearly ate an elevator cable, and the story behind his book Flight Path: An Irreverent Aviation Tale — this one earns the title He Who Dies with the Most Laugh Wrinkles Wins.

More from So There I Was

Oct 22, 2026

Why Smart Pilots Do Dumb Things is the title of Heater’s paper. It helped save the Red Eagles. However, this episode opens with a different lesson: never look at your ten o’clock at Groom Lake.

Oct 15, 2026

“Clara Ship” is what A-6 Intruder pilot Duker radioed when he couldn’t even see the carrier. Forget the ball. He couldn’t find the boat.

Oct 8, 2026

Navy P-3 pilot Derek "DA" Adametz beat a collapsed lung and Hodgkin's lymphoma, then fought the waiver board all the way to squadron command.

Oct 1, 2026

F-100 pilot Ike flew 195 combat missions with an iron sight and nerves of steel. He takes us from night close air support to a 50-pound-fuel landing to the 1986 Libya raid.

Sep 24, 2026

Retired Marine Lt. Col. Tim "Monk" Miller nearly punched out mid-nap over Ramadi, then built the Strike Fighter League, where guns are where it's at.

See all episodes →