Landing — Blind

Imagine sitting in the cockpit of a 1920s biplane. The fog is so thick you cannot see the nose of your own aircraft, let alone the ground. For the first few decades of flight, bad weather didn't just cause delays—it was an absolute death sentence.

Created by Ari Saperstein, the podcast takes its name from a literal and metaphorical disaster at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. During the women's gymnastics all-around final, a piece of equipment—the vault—was accidentally set two inches too low. blind landing

That is the core question behind the award-winning documentary podcast, . A Defining Mistake Imagine sitting in the cockpit of a 1920s biplane

In the early days of aviation, pilots navigated purely by sight. They followed roads, rivers, and bonfires. When a heavy fog rolled in, flying became a guessing game. Pilots spoke of "flying by the seat of their pants," relying on the physical sensations of their bodies to tell them if they were level or turning. Spoiler alert: the human inner ear is terrible at this, often leading to fatal crashes. Created by Ari Saperstein, the podcast takes its

Doolittle’s experiment paved the way for the modern . Today, when you are on a commercial flight descending through a thick blanket of gray clouds and safely touch down on the tarmac, you are experiencing the direct evolution of that 1929 experiment.

The blind landing took aviation from a daring, fair-weather stunt to the incredibly safe, all-weather global network we rely on today. 🎧 Option 2: Arts & Culture (Podcast Review/Feature)