"There I was..." An Aviation Podcast
Jun 16, 2026 · 39 min · 13 segments
Coast Guard helicopter pilot Rick Kenin recalls a Christmas Eve rescue flight that nearly became an emergency of its own.
Rick KeninGuest
David O'LearyHost
... 'cause at the same time they had launched us, they had launched a rescue boat to try to find them, and sure enough, the rescue boat found them, uh, and brought them to shore that night.
Um, the things that I learned from this flight, well, the obvious, uh, error, error aviation things I learned about dropping breadcrumbs.
I don't think I went on another search and rescue flight after that, that I didn't drop breadcrumbs along the way.
Learning about icing conditions and, uh, and the impact of icing conditions on a rotorcraft, I learned from that.
The decision-making and ignoring the signs that something was going wrong because of mission focus, I use that in my safety talks and in trying to create that safety culture of making the right decision and not having your decisions clouded by things going on around you.
... 'cause at the same time they had launched us, they had launched a rescue boat to try to find them, and sure enough, the rescue boat found them, uh, and brought them to shore that night.
Um, the things that I learned from this flight, well, the obvious, uh, error, error aviation things I learned about dropping breadcrumbs.
I don't think I went on another search and rescue flight after that, that I didn't drop breadcrumbs along the way.
Learning about icing conditions and, uh, and the impact of icing conditions on a rotorcraft, I learned from that.
The decision-making and ignoring the signs that something was going wrong because of mission focus, I use that in my safety talks and in trying to create that safety culture of making the right decision and not having your decisions clouded by things going on around you.
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