"There I was..." An Aviation Podcast
Aug 19, 2026 · 49 min · 12 segments
Sport pilot Ken Luna and his former instructor Toto Marchand discuss an emergency Ken experienced while flying home from a short lunch trip with his son. At about 2,000 feet, his light sport aircraft…
Ken LunaGuest
David O'LearyHost
Toto MarchandGuest
I'm, I'm, uh, watching you, uh, Toto, as you, as you hear this account, which is, I'm sure, an account you've heard before, but do, do you like what you're hearing in terms of, uh, how, how Ken responded to the emergency?
I, and we are of course supremely disappointed that he did not touch down at 38 knots, but at 100 knots.
First, obviously, amazing job, right? The, the resource management, and I think we'll go into the, the effect and the use of the transponder a little bit later as well.
When he says he hears my voice, again, that's always a compliment, and I, I hear my instructors' voices in my head still to this day.
The flaps is an interesting comment, 'cause as we've discussed, Ken, in the past, flaps are committeL.
When you have such a short field to deal with and you have a lot of excess energy, just by nature of the, of the situation, if you will, and there being so little time, that's a conundrum.
We've, we all read Wolfgang Langewiesche's Stick and Rudder, right? You can stretch your glide.
And to this day, some of that feels counterintuitive to me, but it's all true.
So I think given the cards Ken was dealt, especially once he was more than committed to putting it on the ground, ducking under power lines five feet over a field, I, I think it, it is evidence of, of great skill and airmanship that he managed to-
I'm, I'm, uh, watching you, uh, Toto, as you, as you hear this account, which is, I'm sure, an account you've heard before, but do, do you like what you're hearing in terms of, uh, how, how Ken responded to the emergency?
I, and we are of course supremely disappointed that he did not touch down at 38 knots, but at 100 knots.
First, obviously, amazing job, right? The, the resource management, and I think we'll go into the, the effect and the use of the transponder a little bit later as well.
When he says he hears my voice, again, that's always a compliment, and I, I hear my instructors' voices in my head still to this day.
The flaps is an interesting comment, 'cause as we've discussed, Ken, in the past, flaps are committeL.
When you have such a short field to deal with and you have a lot of excess energy, just by nature of the, of the situation, if you will, and there being so little time, that's a conundrum.
We've, we all read Wolfgang Langewiesche's Stick and Rudder, right? You can stretch your glide.
And to this day, some of that feels counterintuitive to me, but it's all true.
So I think given the cards Ken was dealt, especially once he was more than committed to putting it on the ground, ducking under power lines five feet over a field, I, I think it, it is evidence of, of great skill and airmanship that he managed to-
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