Race to the Shear Switch Episode 224

About this episode

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 t