He Crashed An $150M Plane! | Joshua Gunderson
The 9941 Podcast
iHeartPodcasts
4.9 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 June 2025
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on the Granger Smith Podcast, Granger sits down with Joshua Gunderson, a former Air Force fighter pilot with an incredible story—from flying F-22 Raptors to patrolling the skies over Alaska and the Middle East. They swap memories about meeting on a USO tour in Anchorage, the wild moments that followed (including a close call with a massive earthquake), and what it’s really like pulling nine G’s at twice the speed of sound.
But it’s more than just “Top Gun” stories. Joshua opens up about the realities of military life: the pressure, the split-second decisions, and how faith, family, and near-miraculous moments shaped his journey both in and out of the cockpit. Granger and Joshua dive deep into life’s big questions, wrestling with the problem of evil, the meaning of legacy, and how faith can hold up—even when life throws the unthinkable your way.
They get honest about loss, gratitude, and what it means to live with purpose—especially for the next generation. Whether you’re into aviation, military stories, or just a good, heartfelt conversation about life, you won’t want to miss this episode.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So Josh, did we meet in Vegas? |
| 0:02.9 | Is that where this all started? |
| 0:04.2 | No, we actually met in Anchorage, Alaska. |
| 0:06.7 | You were up there on the USO tour. |
| 0:08.7 | That's right. |
| 0:09.3 | Vegas was after that. |
| 0:10.3 | Yeah, it was just after that. |
| 0:11.7 | And it was funny. |
| 0:13.8 | You know, this email comes out. |
| 0:15.0 | It's like, hey, we need somebody to volunteer to give some country music artist people a tour, |
| 0:20.9 | that's right. |
| 0:21.5 | And I was like, I love country music. |
| 0:25.9 | Yes, I'll do that. |
| 0:26.9 | I had no idea who it was. |
| 0:28.2 | And they're like, oh, this guy named Granger Smith, he's here for the USO tour. |
| 0:33.0 | I was like, you got to be kidding me. |
| 0:34.2 | You know, so my roommate from the Air Force Academy is from Texas, from Sugarland, Texas, |
| 0:38.9 | and he obviously loves Texas country music, red dirt music, all that stuff. |
| 0:44.4 | So I just kind of got indoctrinated into that in college. |
| 0:47.2 | Yeah. |
| 0:47.5 | And growing up, my first CD that I got as a gift was like a Christmas stocking stuff, |
| 0:52.9 | or it was Clay Walker's like self-titled 1983 album. |
... |
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