137. Electrical Failure Above the Clouds

Carl Valeri (0:09)

Imagine flying at night above a solid cloud deck near a freezing level. When you smell smoke and your electrical system begins shutting down, no visible horizon, no clear view of what lies below. And every decision from turning off the master switch to choosing where and when to descend could determine whether you make it home.

That's what Eric Crump had to contend with on that fateful night.

Hi, my name is Carl Valeri, and welcome to I Learned About Flying From That, episode 137, sponsored by Evemco Insurance, the only direct aircraft insurance underwriter in the United States. I am so excited to have Eric Crump on this show because of the fact that he has had so many really interesting stories on various podcasts. But today we're going to learn something really interesting that I didn't even get to hear this story, and we've been friends for years. Welcome to the show, Eric.

Eric Crump (1:00)

It probably means I made it up, right? You haven't heard it already. So now I'm glad to be here. Thanks for the invitation. And I've loved this series, but long before it was a podcast. So I've learned a lot from this series over the years through my journey as a pilot and a flight instructor. So it is oddly fortuitous to be a guest. I feel honored. So thanks for having me.

Carl Valeri (1:22)

Well, it's an honor to have you, Eric Crump, actually, who and we'll get into your background there in a second. But I really want to start with your journey to the flight deck and then talk about that incident because it's always fun to hear how people got into aviation and then tell us what you're doing now because you really have come a long way.

Eric Crump (1:43)

Sure. Weirdly, I'm right back where I started, which is just kind of one of those great aviation stories in and of itself. I grew up in a small town in Alabama, which is basically every town in Alabama that's not Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, or Montgomery, or Mobile. But other than that, I always loved airplanes, but the idea of flying an airplane seemed literally and figuratively out of reach just like there's no way that's ever going to happen. Nobody in my family was a pilot, knew anything about aviation, but we took a family trip when I was five years old. I got on a Delta 727 and was just stunned when I passed by the flight deck and saw what was happening up there. The captain happened to notice that I was peering in, so he welcomed me up on the flight deck, put me in his lap, and then let me push all the fire alarm bells, which were really cool. I thought that was neat. People in the back probably didn't like it very much. But it was really fun. I remember everything about it. He put his hat on me and I got my picture made, that picture is still on my desk at home. But it was very much one of those early points where I realized, maybe I could actually do this.

And so fast forward, I was not a super big fan of school, not a great student, got in trouble all the time, kind of a C and D student with a discipline problem. But I liked airplanes. So my family was like, hey, listen, if you could make the AB honor roll for one quarter and stay in the principal's office, we'll buy you a flight and an airplane. And I accepted that challenge and two amazing things happened. So I made the straight A honor roll that semester and realized that I actually wasn't stupid. I was just unmotivated. And then I took my first flight the day after my 13th birthday and everything in my life changed as a result of that. I still remember everything about it.

Literally, I feel like I'm still doing it every day.

But at that point, I knew that whatever it took, I was going to find a way to do this with my life. So I did. I said a little my 16th birthday. I finished my private certificate three days before I moved to college. I was the first person in my family to go to college, graduate from college, went to Middleton State University and finished up all the rest of my flight training there, became an instructor and realized that the only thing I liked more than flying airplanes was teaching people how to fly airplanes, which is a little ironic that the kid voted most likely to flunk sixth grade would find his life's passion in teaching. But I did, and so I worked at MTSU as a Chief Ground Instructor and also taught there for a while. And then I realized I've got to go do this aviation job. So I went out and started doing the corporate aviation thing out of Atlanta. Loved that. I worked seven days a week for three years. That was rough, but it was also rewarding in its way. And then found my way back into training, moved to Florida to run the aviation content side of Glom Publications in Gainesville. And then had the awesome opportunity to meet you in person at Sun and Fun many, many years ago.