S1 · E236
Thursday · 1 hr 34 min
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So There I Was
Chuck Newton and Pete Harmon
So There I Was” is a weekly aviation podcast and YouTube show featuring true pilot stories from fighter pilots, airline captains, helicopter pilots, and other military and civilian aviators. “So – There I was.” It’s how ALL great aviation tales begin! Join hosts Fig and Repete as they bring in some great aviation raconteurs to relate the glamorous, hilarious, poignant, tragic, and incredible tales of aviation. Fig and Repete met more than 30 years ago as Marine Attack pilots in Marine Attack Squadron VMA‑223 flying the AV‑8B Harrier II. Both have since gone on to careers in the majors. Realizing that they are around the most accomplished professionals in aviation with amazing stories to tell, they decided these stories are too good to be kept quiet. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll laugh until you cry, but you’ll never be bored!
- 34 episodes
- weekly
- Avg 1 hr 13 min
- English
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October 22 · 1 hr 30 minWhy Smart Pilots Do Dumb Things Episode 235
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. CJ “Heater” Heatley is back! We promoted him to four-star admiral on the spot. The check is in the mail. So there he was, in a MiG-21 at the end of the runway at Groom Lake. Off his left side sat the weirdest-shaped thing he’d ever seen. Then the tower called: “Bandit 8, taxi back to the hangar immediately.” He had just seen “Have Blue,” the precursor to stealth. Not even the vice president was briefed in. Consequently, Heater spent quality time in a pitch-black room inside a room, grilled by four men with no names. First, though, Heater honors his lifelong friend Sam Young. As kids in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, they built rock cockpits on a red rock hill and flew imaginary fighters. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, Heater couldn’t throw rocks right-handed without clocking Sam. So he threw lefty for years and became a southpaw pitcher. That’s where his call sign came from. Sam became a Marine gunnery sergeant, and his Purple Heart story from LZ Russell will stop you cold. Furthermore, Heater closes the loop on a Sidewinder with locked fins that turned on his F-14. The admiral was in the back seat. He also tours Rosie’s Tomcat Ready Room in WaKeeney, Kansas. Its diorama is so detailed people think it’s a photo. Why Smart Pilots Do Dumb Things: Inside the Red Eagles Flying the MiG smelled like hydraulic fluid and an electrical fire. The gauges were Russian, except the altimeter and airspeed. The checkout took minutes, and there was no NATOPS. Actually, the MiG-17 couldn’t even taxi like a normal jet. Its pneumatic differential brakes sent first-timers nose-first into the hangar. After the program lost Hugh, the brass talked about shutting it down. Heater’s paper made the case to the general. TOPGUN’s best were dying in their first MiG engagements, distracted by the “gee whiz” factor. After debriefs and formation looks, they went home killing MiGs. The program survived. Heater also shares a sobering tally: 348 of 512 Red Eagles have died. Plus: his lost Pentagon slides, his rejects on book covers, and 40 years of reader letters. Screenshot Stay Connected Watch the live stream photos on YouTube Leave us a five-star rating. Fig says we’re trainable. Support the show at sothereiwas.us/donate, or Venmo @So-There-I-Was. Thanks to our sponsor, DCArtworks.net. Use code STIW for 20% off. It stacks with sales and never expires. … #SoThereIWas #AviationPodcast #RedEagles #HaveBlue #GroomLake #Area51 #MiG21 #MiG17 #F14Tomcat #TOPGUN #NavalAviation #Sidewinder #FighterPilot #Stealth #DCArtworks
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October 15 · 1 hr 44 minClara Ship! Episode 234
“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. Duker went from zero stick time to Navy jets through ROTC at USC. In flight school, food poisoning hit so hard his instructors debated flying him home in a baggage pod. Actually, he survived, then tail-slid an A-4 he was never supposed to tail-slide. In the A-6, Duker and his bombardier-navigator got in a fist fight over a paper chart. However, they still hit the target on time. He also explains how six Intruders’ bombs registered on seismic instruments in Colorado. How Clara Ship Became Duker’s Favorite Sea Story As a landing signal officer, Duker graded every landing he waved. He breaks down hook slaps, the barricade, and why LSOs are called paddles. Furthermore, VA-176 was told the war would start when they arrived. Later, General Zinni sent them over northern Iraq with an unforgettable ROE brief. Then comes a Case III night recovery to the JFK, southeast of Puerto Rico, in a downpour. The wind was so far out of limits the Intruder weathervaned left. He kicked in rudder, the bottom fell out, and he still caught an OK one wire. Consequently, it took him 20 minutes to climb out of the cockpit. Stay Connected Duker’s company, Flight Training International, does ATPs and type ratings at FTIRatings.com, and you can use the GI Bill. Our sponsor, veteran-owned DC Artworks, makes laser-cut steel art at dcartworks.net. Use code STIW for 20% off. Grab merch at sothereiwas.us/merch and leave five stars at sothereiwas.us/rate. View from cockpit at 3/4 mi Jeff Horneff at 40’ Section approach (me) in the goo El Centro Weps Det … #SoThereIWas #ClaraShip #A6Intruder #NavalAviation #LSO #CarrierLanding #NightTrap #NavyPilot #AviationPodcast #AviationStories #VA176 #MilitaryAviation #FlightSchool #VeteranStories #CaseIII
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S1 · E233October 8 · 1 hr 36 minUnbreakable Wings Episode 233
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.
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S1 · E232October 1 · 1 hr 52 minIf You're Gonna Blow Up Episode 232
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.
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S1 · E231September 24 · 1 hr 22 minGuns Are Where It's At Episode 231
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.
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S1 · E230September 17 · 1 hr 28 minRope Trick Episode 230
Vietnam-era Huey pilot RoadRunner joins RePete and Kemo for combat missions, near-disasters, and the Rope Trick — a Thailand R&R story he never fully explains.
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S1 · E229September 10 · 40 minA Thousandth of an Inch of Trouble Episode 229
This week's episode is a lighter one. It's just Fig and RePete, no guest, trading stories while juggling schedules and a certain eye surgery on the calendar. Before the flying talk starts, Fig recaps a fundraiser for YL-37, the effort to keep a UH-34 Marine helicopter flying as a living memorial. Vietnam-era crew chiefs, dubbed "Ugly Angels," turned up to honor thirty-three squadron mates lost in the war. It was, by Fig's account, truly spectacular.
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S1 · E228September 3 · 1 hr 9 minSemper Gumby: Remembering Sticks Episode 228
This week's episode honors Coast Guard rescue pilot John "Sticks" Hall with his brother-in-law's eulogy and son Tyler's letter, plus a night-divert tale from Stretch off the USS Midway.
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S1 · E227August 27 · 1 hr 37 minI Never Exceeded 5' Episode 227
5 Feet — that’s the altitude Roadrunner held on a self-appointed decoy mission in Vietnam, and it’s the heart of Episode 227. It’s also the reason he walked away with a Bronze Star. This week, RePete and Fig welcome Chuck Howard, callsign Roadrunner. He flew with the 175th Assault Helicopter Company, earning two Bronze Stars and 25 Air Medals for valor. Roadrunner’s path started on a Jersey City hammock, watching jets land at Newark. Actually, he almost became a commercial artist before the Army got him first. He walks us through flight school and a co-pilot who froze on short final. Then there’s the Cessna climb to twelve thousand feet that ate an entire afternoon. Consequently, we get one of the funniest bike-to-the-airport stories in show history. [Set the following as an actual Heading 2 block, not bold text:] I Never Exceeded 5 Feet: The Decoy Mission The Bronze Star story is the centerpiece. Roadrunner grew tired of rules of engagement that only let him fire after getting shot at first. So he built his own workaround. He stripped down a demilitarized Huey and lit it up like a Christmas tree. Then he flew it straight at the tree line at night. He hovered along the perimeter at an altitude he never exceeded, five feet, daring Charlie to take the bait. However, the story doesn’t stop there. Roadrunner later flew Port Authority helicopters and was first on scene for Sully’s Hudson River landing. He also worked the water recovery after TWA 800, marking wreckage while FBI agents jumped aboard his aircraft mid-hover. Furthermore, he shares two separate tail rotor failures. In one, he saved a multi-million dollar helicopter by nursing it into a drainage ditch. His book, Tales from the Cockpit, covers even more of this. This episode is also brought to you by DC Artworks. The veteran-owned laser-cut steel shop is keeping gift-buyers out of the doghouse this season. Vinh Long Airfield Huey Gunship in the River Huey Gunship in the River Spraying Agent Orange Link Flight Trainer Chuck Howard in Vietnam Newark Airport Stay Connected Got a So There I Was story of your own? We want to hear it. Follow the show, leave a review, and tell your hangar buddies. … #SoThereIWas #AviationPodcast #VietnamVeteran #HueyPilot #BronzeStar #AirMedal #USArmyAviation #PortAuthority #SullyHudsonLanding #TWA800 #TailRotorFailure #WarStories #MilitaryAviation #HelicopterPilot #VeteranStories
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S1 · E226August 21 · 13 minSemper Paratus, Farewell Sticks Episode 226
Farewell Sticks is the hardest episode we've ever had to record. On August 20th, we lost our friend, producer, and co-host John "Sticks" Hall in a small plane crash near Bristol, Maine. His son Tyler was flying with him and survived with minor injuries. We're not speculating on cause. Actually, we're not speculating on anything about that day. What we can tell you: it was a Diamond DA20, Sticks bought it last spring, and that's where the facts stop for now. Farewell Sticks: The Man Behind the Mic Sticks was a true unrestricted aviator, qualified in both fixed wing and rotary wing. Furthermore, when the Coast Guard tried to send him fixed wing in flight school, he threatened to drop on request unless they let him fly helicopters instead. That stubbornness paid off. He spent his career as a Coast Guard rescue pilot, flying a hundred feet off the water, a hundred miles out, at night, in weather nobody sane would choose. Consequently, he pulled people off sinking ships when it mattered most. Sticks was also a nurse practitioner who prided himself on being an outstanding diagnostician. He didn't clock out when he left the office, either. Friends of the show can tell you he talked them through injuries and health scares more than once. He met RePete years ago as his son's Boy Scout troop leader. All three of his sons, Noah, Jack, and Tyler, became Eagle Scouts under his mentorship. Sticks first joined the show in Episode 30, "Are You Sure It's Mine," discussing 9/11. He came back most recently to co-host Episode 223, "Coasties in Space." However, his fingerprints are on this show in quieter ways too. He designed the logo, hiding a goat at a 120-degree angle of bank for anyone who looks closely enough. He recruited guests, hauled gear from New Hampshire to North Carolina for the Harrier sundown, and finally met the whole crew in person this past June. His son Tyler appeared on Episode 176, "Don't Be Afraid to Use the E-Word," and is heading into his senior year at Embry-Riddle. We're praying for Sticks and his entire family. Semper Paratus, Sticks. Always ready, right to the end. Here's a link to the news report of the mishap. Stay Connected Send condolences to repete@sothereiwas.us with "Condolences" in the subject line. We'll forward every message to his family. #SoThereIWas #FarewellSticks #SemperParatus #CoastGuardAviation #RescueHelicopterPilot #NursePractitioner #EagleScout #AviationCommunity #GeneralAviation #NavalAviators #PodcastCommunity #InMemoriam #AviationPodcast Drawing by Pat Dowden, USCG Retired.
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S1 · E225August 20 · 1 hr 35 minFlight Path: He Who Dies with the Most Laugh Wrinkles Wins Episode 225
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.
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August 13 · 1 hr 33 minRace to the Shear Switch Episode 224
Race to the Shear Switch is exactly what it sounds like. You either cut the cable, or the cable decides your night for you. On Episode 224, retired Coast Guard helicopter pilot Larry Hall makes that call for real. Actually, this episode opens rough. Co-host Fig joins fresh off a highway wreck, rear-ended by a Peterbilt into another rig. However, he's already cracking jokes about mistaking himself for Captain Kirk on the anesthesia. Furthermore, guest Larry Hall isn't new to chaos. The retired Coast Guard aviator flew H-52s off cutters, once herding a boat home with rotor wash. He calls it the Border Collie technique, and it's exactly as wild as it sounds. Race to the Shear Switch: Inside Episode 224 Consequently, the real drama shows up at 2 a.m. Larry is flying a night check ride with a young JG named Charlie Ray. They're trying to pump out a sinking trawler offshore. The hoist cable snags on the boat's outrigger, and it turns into a straight-up race to the shear switch. Both pilots reach for it at once. Once you shear the cable, the helicopter turns back into a slow, sad observation platform that can't do much. Luckily, a Coast Guard boat crew from Station Tybee reaches the trawler first, and everyone gets to go home. Years later, Larry runs into Charlie again, only now Charlie's a four-star admiral who remembers every second of that night, calling it the only shear of his entire career. Not a bad story to swap with the Vice Commandant. Larry also digs into Coast Guard history between stories. He's a volunteer at the service's historian's office, and he name-drops everything from the Cuban boat lift to Douglas Munro's Medal of Honor at Guadalcanal. It's a deep well, and he knows exactly where the good stuff is buried. And that race to the shear switch from decades ago still comes up whenever these two cross paths. Stay Connected📺 YouTube📸 Instagram📘 Facebook🎧 Apple / Spotify
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Coasties in Space Episode 223
This week's Coast Guard aviation stories come courtesy of a special guest co-host: Deuce, a newly retired Coast Guard aviator (and, briefly, the service's senior space attorney). Sticks and Bago hold down the fort while Deuce walks through the Coast Guard's oddball, everything-service mission set — including how commercial space launches are about to become a Coast Guard headache. From there it's classic So There I Was territory: sleeping inside a helicopter to escape a snoring ops officer, a Katrina-era rescue that saved six sailors drifting toward Morocco, and the almost-unbelievable ditching of a Pan Am Clipper next to the Cutter Pontchartrain. Deuce also breaks down why the Coast Guard is quietly building out a drone rating for search and rescue. Big thanks to DC Artworks for sponsoring the show — go check out dcartworks.net for genuinely one-of-a-kind aviation art.
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S1 · E222July 30 · 1 hr 26 minSeeing it Through Episode 222
An update on Fig's serious crash and injuries and an AMAZING story of heroism under fire in Vietnam!
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July 23 · 38 minLt. Jones Needs a Ride Episode 221
RePete opens the show and a call with Sticks about buying an airplane. Apparently, Sticks needed an airplane-shaped hole in his finances! Before that, two quick health check-ins: Fig is nursing an eye injury (prescription: beach time, not flight time). Meanwhile, Bago is recovering from a pathologic knee fracture, mistaken for arthritis for weeks. Good news — the lesion's benign, and he'll be back producing the show soon. Then things get properly ridiculous. Naval aviator "Vegas" (aka Lieutenant Jones) joins the show. First there's a reference to a sword salute in his Dress Blues behind a hangar... the full story about that can be heard in our "Blues Brothers Episode 90" then takes the opportunity to relive his Harrier ejection over the Neuse River. During a training hop at VMAT-203, an electronic fuel control failure sparked two engine fires on approach. Buck's play-by-play ("Vegas, you're on fire, eject, eject...") barely finished before Vegas was through the canopy. He landed on a golf course, no green fees required. Finally, Porky swings by to reminisce about the last public USMC Harrier demo. The guys wrap up with "Get Better Fig." Thanks to One Skin and DC Artworks for keeping the lights (and occasionally the jets) on.
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S8 · E2026July 18 · 7 minFig's Health Update
Fig was involved in a serious crash on Thursday - 16 July. A Short update on his condition.
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S1 · E220July 16 · 32 minPutty, Lawman, Gallo and Candyman Episode 220
Putty talks Camp Bastion Attack in Sept of 2012, Lawman describes the most legitimate ejection ever made and Candyman talks traffic tickets in a war zone!
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S1 · E219July 9 · 1 hr 39 minPut a Booger on the Winshield Episode 219
Marine Corps aviator Maui (call sign Cobra-31) joins RePete and Fig for stories spanning three decades of naval aviation: serving under Colonel Don Conroy — the real-life inspiration for The Great Santini — flying Huey gunships out of Marble Mountain, a hair-raising New Year's Eve medevac, training Iranian pilots before the Tehran evacuation, and flying CH-46s in Desert Storm.
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Harrier Sundown: Monster and Rizzo’s Stories Episode 218
In Episode 218 of So There I Was, Fig & RePete bring listeners two stories recorded live at the Harrier Sundown gathering in North Carolina. First up is "Monster," one of the earliest Marine aviators selected for the AV-8B Harrier program back in 1984. He recounts the chaos of being handed the first-ever heavyweight VSTOL launch off an LPH — no computers, no test pilot, just a junior lieutenant, a hazy horizon, and a velocity vector that refused to move. Monster also shares the bookend of his career: selected first to fly the Harrier, and years later, the Marine to retire the Corps' last A-4. Next, "Rizzo" takes listeners to Fallujah and Al-Amariyah during the height of the Iraq War. What started as a routine night of illumination runs turned into a low-altitude gun run that blew straight through the 2,000-foot floor — down to 60 feet, right in the alley. The story closes two decades later, when one of the kids who scavenged his spent shell casings tracked him down on Facebook and sent them back as shot glasses. Two pilots, two eras, one wild ride!