Episode
The Engine EXPLODED at 36,000 Feet — Here's How He Saved 381 Lives | Captain Christopher Behnam
- Podcast
- The Flight Club Podcast
- Published
- Apr 24, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 6199
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://share.transistor.fm/s/fe3baa9a
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-flight-club-podcast-6869702/episodes/the-engine-exploded-at-36-000-feet-here-s-how-he-saved-381-lives-captain-christopher-behnam/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-flight-club-podcast-6869702/the-engine-exploded-at-36-000-feet-here-s-how-he-saved-381-lives-captain-christopher-behnam.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Captain Christopher Behnam saved 381 lives on United Flight 1175 when his Boeing 777 suffered catastrophic engine failure over the Pacific - an incident so severe simulators couldn't replicate it without breaking. From arriving in the U.S. with $200 in his pocket to becoming United's youngest 747 captain at 28, Christopher's story is one of resilience, precision, and the immigrant dream. In this conversation, he walks us through every second of that harrowing 40-minute descent into Honolulu, hand-flying with no autopilot, full asymmetric thrust, and a stall at 242 knots in IMC. He shares the five miracles that allowed him to land safely, the one decision that saved everyone on board: "Today's not the day we're going to die”. And how his father's 18 years of torture in an Iranian prison gave him the strength to refuse to give up. Christopher is now building Flying Lion Aviation Group to train the next generation of aviators with retired airline captains, Top Gun instructors, and Blue Angels, proving once again that impossible is nothing.