540 Miles From Land: A Solo Pilot’s Nightmare and Miracle Rescue
Published: June 23, 2026
Duration: 1:05:02
Aviation survival often focuses on standard checklists and technical execution, but what happens when you face every pilot's ultimate nightmare an engine failure in a single-engine aircraft hundreds of miles out at sea, compounded by a childhood fear of drowning?
In this episode of The Naval Aviation Ready Room Podcast, host Ryan Keys welcomes Heidi Porch, whose extraordinary 35-plus year career spans from towing gliders and ferrying light aircraft across the ocean to captaining wide-body commercial airliners like the Boeing 747 and Airbus A330. Heidi deep-dives into the harrowing events of her tenth transpacific delivery flight in 1984. She...