"There I was..." An Aviation Podcast
Oct 7, 2026 · 37 min · 10 segments
Flight instructor and airline flight attendant Travasha Runyon recounts a harrowing engine failure that struck during the final leg of the all-women’s Air Race Classic. Just 100 miles from the finish…
David O'LearyHost
The flight that we're gonna hear about today took place during The Air Race Classic.
I- t- tell us what is The Air Race Classic, a little bit about the event, who participates, how many aircraft, that kind of thing.
Pioneers like Amelia Earhart were in some of the earlier competitions, and it's just a really cool opportunity to test your skills, grow your, your skills, and just celebrate women in aviation.
And I will say that there're collegiate racers that participate as well as non-collegiate racers, and I was in the competition, and my team was in a competition as a non-collegiate entry.
So you have a team of three, a crew of three who are gonna compete in this, participate in this, and the other...
Tell us a little bit about the other two partners who you were, you were flying with.
You weren't assigned to each other, but did each of you have kind of a skill set that you brought to the crew?
crew?Yeah, I think, um, we all had different skills that overlapped well and worked really, really well together.
And they were actually going to do the race together, however, they really wanted someone with more experience to fly with them.
One is checkride ready for her instrument checkride, and poor thing, she kept getting it canceled over and over again, weather or just different things.
The flight that we're gonna hear about today took place during The Air Race Classic.
I- t- tell us what is The Air Race Classic, a little bit about the event, who participates, how many aircraft, that kind of thing.
Pioneers like Amelia Earhart were in some of the earlier competitions, and it's just a really cool opportunity to test your skills, grow your, your skills, and just celebrate women in aviation.
And I will say that there're collegiate racers that participate as well as non-collegiate racers, and I was in the competition, and my team was in a competition as a non-collegiate entry.
So you have a team of three, a crew of three who are gonna compete in this, participate in this, and the other...
Tell us a little bit about the other two partners who you were, you were flying with.
You weren't assigned to each other, but did each of you have kind of a skill set that you brought to the crew?
crew?Yeah, I think, um, we all had different skills that overlapped well and worked really, really well together.
And they were actually going to do the race together, however, they really wanted someone with more experience to fly with them.
One is checkride ready for her instrument checkride, and poor thing, she kept getting it canceled over and over again, weather or just different things.
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