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Our guest this time, Dario Valenza, is all that and more. Dario hales from Australia where he grew up and went to high school. He then attended two years of college but then left academia to work on working on designing yachts for, among events, the America's Cup races. Eventually he did return to college to finish his degree. He does tell us that he has a passion for design thinking and designing. As you will discover he has designed yachts, aircraft including innovative drones and even automobiles.   We talk about how his over-arching passion for design thinking also helps him design functioning and successful teams. Dario is a team leader by any standard.   He founded and owns a successful design and implementation company, Carbonix. Much of the work in which he is involved today is around having designed and now manufacturing long-range drones that can stay aloft and travel up to 800 Kilometers before needing refuelling. His products can and are being used for major surveying jobs and other projects that take advantage of the economic enhancements his products bring to the table.   Dario and I discuss leadership and how his design-oriented mindset has helped him be a strong and effective leader. I will leave it to him to describe how he works and how he helps bring out the best in people with whom he works.       About the Guest:   I have a passion for design and design thinking. This is the common thread that has led me to build yachts, planes, and cars - as well as create the teams and company structures to turn visions into reality.   I believe that beautiful design, as well as enabling and inspiring, is inherently valuable. Testing a new design it in the real world, particularly in competition, is a way to interrogate nature and understand the world.   I spent the first decade of my career working on racing yachts as a boatbuilder, designer, construction manager, and campaign manager. My treasured achievements include being part of several America's Cup teams and pioneering full hydrofoiling for World Championship winning boats.   I applied the lessons learned to other fields. This trajectory diversified into aerospace applications including drones.   I work to create products that bring joy by being desirable, aesthetically pleasing, and ergonomically correct, while always adding value through effective and efficient performance. I'm always keen to share my experiences and tackle new challenges with like-minded teams.   Ways to connect Dario:   Main point of contact is LI: https://au.linkedin.com/in/dario-valenza-a7380a23 Carbonix URL: www.carbonix.com.au Personal website: www.dariovalenza.com   About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Hi everyone. This is your host, Michael hingson, and you are listening to another episode of unstoppable mindset. And today our guest is Dario, if I'm pronouncing that right, Valenza, how do i pronounce it? Oh, good. Oh, good. I can sometimes speak the King's English really well. Dario is a person who has a great passion for design, and he's going to tell us about that. He has been involved in designing many things, from yachts to aircraft to other kinds of things, as well as teams in companies, which I think is very fascinating, that make products and bring things about. So we're going to get to all of that. Daro is in Australia, so it's early in the morning. There for you right now. But welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here. Yeah, my pleasure. Glad to be here. So what time is it over there right now? About 11am Yeah, and it's little after three here. So, yep, you're 20 hours ahead   Dario Valenza ** 02:27 of us. No, here, it's Saturday, I assume. There it's Friday. It is to the confusion.   Michael Hingson ** 02:33 So, so, as it's always fun to do, can you tell us about the future over the next 20 hours?   02:40 So, so far so good. Yeah, there you are. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 02:43 thank you for being here and for being a part of unstoppable mindset. Let's start, if you would, by maybe you telling us a little bit about kind of the early Dario, growing up and some of those kinds of things, so that people listening and watching can get to know you a little bit better.   Dario Valenza ** 03:01 Yeah, absolutely. I think the interest in how things worked was there as long as anyone can remember being exposed early on to different mechanical things and from household appliances to looking at trains and busses and cars outside. I think that all piqued my curiosity. But I remember the first time I came across the concept of a sailboat. Something clicked, or something about the way an aerofoil works, the way it can generate motion out of wind, the balance of forces, the structures, the things that all need to work for a sailboat to work. That sort of got me hooked, and then I spent every waking moment I could reading about it, doing research, making models that I'd sail across the pool, getting involved at the local sailing club, and just being hands on. And I think that's really where the passion started. So certainly, there's a general wanting to see how things work, and there's a specific aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, structures, just, I find it endlessly fascinating. And you're always learning, and   Michael Hingson ** 04:10 should always be learning. I think that's one, of course, the real keys is always learning, which some people think they don't do, but and some people try very much not to do, but that's not the way to really progress in the world. So I'm glad that you do that. You've always lived in Australia.   Dario Valenza ** 04:27 No, actually, born in Italy, moved here probably 10 years old, went to high school and uni here.   Michael Hingson ** 04:37 Yeah, you do seem to have a little bit more of an Australian accent than an Italian one?   Dario Valenza ** 04:41 Yeah, I think I was young enough when I moved that I learned the language pretty quickly. I did spend few years in New Zealand and a few years in Europe, so I think my accent is probably a little bit of a hybrid, but mostly Australian. I'd say, do you speak Italian? Yes. Funny, you get rusty at it, though, like when I go back, it probably takes me a few days to get used to speaking it, yeah, but it is in there   Michael Hingson ** 05:08 which, which makes some sense. Well, so you went to high school, and did you go on to college?   Dario Valenza ** 05:15 Did the first couple of years of an engineering degree, dropped out to go and do the America's Cup. Eventually went back and finished it. But really haven't spent more time working than started. Putting it that way, the things I was interested in, particularly the the advent of carbon fiber in in racing yachts, hadn't found its way into any curriculum yet. It was it was happening on the frontier in that environment. And so my judgment was you could learn more by doing it and by going to uni. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 05:49 yeah, on the one hand, with school, to a large degree, it's theory, and putting it into practice is something that always brings you closer to it, which which makes sense. Well, so you, when you went to your first America's Cup, what did you were you just an observer? Were you involved in designing a yacht, or what?   Dario Valenza ** 06:10 I was a boat builder. I was hands on, on the manufacturing, and that was the way in that was the the opportunity I had to actually be part of a team and prove myself over the course of the campaign, I obviously showed an interest in design, and I became more de facto part of the design team. But I really always like to sit at that interface between the designing and the building, so that there's a practical element to yes, there's a theory, yes, there's a design, there's a bunch of analysis you can do having that practical mindset of, is it easy to build? Is it practical? Is it possible to then tune it and modify it and improve it? And that actually led me to a lot of the logistical challenges of, how do you plan a build? How do you allocate time towards the things that make the biggest difference towards performance. So the journey was really from hands on boat builder to sort of logistics, to design   Michael Hingson ** 07:08 well, and design is clearly been your passion overall. So that makes some sense. When did you do your first America's cut?   Dario Valenza ** 07:17 So I was involved in the 2000 event in Auckland, which was the first time the Kiwis defended after winning in 95 right? Then I did 2003 also in Auckland, 2007 in Valencia. And then there was a bit of a hiatus after Valencia, because of the deed of gift match. And I was involved in a couple of teams as that transition happened. And eventually 2012 I peeled off to start my own business.   Michael Hingson ** 07:44 So let's see the New Zealand won in 2000 right?   Dario Valenza ** 07:48 They defended successfully in 2000 so they they won in 95 in San Diego against Dennis Connor, and it took them five years to basically set up a defense. So from 95 to 2000 and then they won, and they rolled straight into 2003 they lost in 2003   Michael Hingson ** 08:05 that was to Italy. Was it to the Swiss or to the Swiss? Right? Okay,   Dario Valenza ** 08:11 even though the core of the sailing team was the former New Zealand team, the basically flag of allegiance, but yeah, the lingua team. Now, Were you successful challenger, which is amazing. Were you   Michael Hingson ** 08:25 living in New Zealand in 2003   Dario Valenza ** 08:29 Yes, yeah. So when you become involved in a team, basically the whole operation camps out at a at a base in the lead up to the event. At the time, the yacht still had to be constructed in country. So in 2003 for example, I was with a Swedish team. I actually spent a little bit of time in Sweden during the construction of the yacht, and then traveled with a yacht to New Zealand, and stayed there for the duration. I asked,   Michael Hingson ** 08:58 because I went to New Zealand in May of 2003 the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind, or of the blind, asked me to come and do some speaking. It was, of course, after September 11, and I was pretty visible, so I went down and actually helped them raise something like close to $300,000 by giving a bunch of speeches around New Zealand, but I remember listening to the radio and hearing all the irate people because New Zealand lost. The government didn't put enough money into it, and we shouldn't have lost it was pretty fascinating to to to hear all of that.   Dario Valenza ** 09:38 There was a campaign called the loyal campaign, just basically trying to reprimand the Kiwi sailors that affected at the end of the day. It's a professional sport. There were nationality rules, but it was really residency, so as long as they signed on with the Swiss team within a certain time. Period, it was like two years or something, and basically set up a residence in Switzerland, and they were eligible to compete. And I think there's been a history of that since the New Zealand government having Lisa supported in New Zealand, because it's certainly an investment in the national industry and tourism, everything that comes with it. And I think they did walk that back, particularly for the last event. And the latest result of that is the Kiwis defended in Spain last time around, which is again, unusual.   Michael Hingson ** 10:35 Well, it was, it was fascinating to watch the races, and we watched them was before I went to New Zealand. But that's why my wife and I watched, because we knew I was going there, and it was, it was all being defended in New Zealand. And of course, they were using sails, and the yachts were just going at normal sailboat type speeds. But I know then later, so much redesign took place, and the boats started traveling significantly faster, right?   Dario Valenza ** 11:08 Yeah, absolutely, there's been a change in that respect, just on the atmosphere in Auckland again, with my perspective, having, as I said, obsessed over sailing, worked my way up, got involved in campaigns, helped to put sponsors together with skippers, to get funding to build boats, and arriving in Auckland with the prospect of trialing with a team, you walk out of the airport and there's the actual boat that won the copy, 95 was sitting in The car park. There are posters. You can really see, like they called it the city of sales. And as I arrived the round the world race was stopping by in Auckland, so there was a sort of festive atmosphere around that. And you could really see people were getting behind it and getting involved. And it felt, you know, they had parades at the beginning of the event. So it was really special to be there at a time when there was maybe 12 teams. It was a big event. And to your point, they were symmetrical ballasted monohulls. So they were fairly conservative, you know, long, narrow, heavy boats. And the competition was really to eke out a one or 2% gain to have better maneuverability for match racing. And it was really down to that kind of refinement. And what happened after 2007 I mentioned a sort of hiatus, basically, two teams took each other to court, and they went back to what they call a deed of gift matches, which is the default terms that they have to abide by if they can't agree to a mutually agreeable protocol. And that deed of gift match ended up being in multi holes. So there was a catamaran and trimaran, and they were big and fast. And I think then, when the Americans won out of that, they they sort of got seduced by, let's make this about the fastest sailors and the faster boat in the fastest boats. So they went to multi holes. The next evolution was hydrofoiling Multi holes. And then once the boats are out of the water, the drag drops dramatically, and now they can go really fast. They ended up narrowly the Kiwis ended up narrowly losing in San Francisco. The Americans then defended Bermuda. The Kiwis eventually won in Bermuda. And then they in in sort of consultation with the challenge of record. That was Italians. They wanted to go back to monohulls, but they wanted them to be fast monohulls, and so they came up with this concept of a hydrofoiling monohull. So the boats now are certainly the fastest they've ever been, and the nature of the racing has changed, where it's more of a drag race than a sort of tactical match race. But it's still fascinating, because it's all about that last bit of technology, and it's all about resource management. You have so much time, you have so much budget, how do you get to the highest performance within that time that you can access, that the Sailors can get the best out of? So it's all a balance of many variables, and it's certainly tactical and strategic and very fascinating, but   Michael Hingson ** 14:18 hasn't a lot of the the tactics, in a sense, gone out of it, because it's now so much, as you put it, a drag race or a speed race, that a lot of the strategies of outmaneuvering your opponents isn't the same as it used to be.   Dario Valenza ** 14:37 Yeah. So if you imagine, the way you think about it is, it's a multi dimensional space. You've got all sorts of values that you can dial in, and the weighting of the values changes depending on the boat and the racing format and the weather so on a traditional monohull maneuvers are relatively cheap because the boat carries momentum. So when you tack you go. Through the eye of the wind, you lose drive for, you know, a second, three seconds, but your speed doesn't drop that much because a boat's heavy and it just powers along. And so if you have a three degree shift in the direction of the wind, it's worth tacking on that, because you'll then get the advantage of having a better angle. Similarly, if you're interacting with another boat, tacking to get out of their dirty air, or tacking to sit on top of them, is worthwhile, and so you get that the incentive is, I can spend some energy on a maneuver, because I'm going to get a gain when you have boats that are extremely fast, and we're talking three, four times faster than the wind, if the wind direction changes by three degrees, it's almost immaterial. And so it's not worth tacking on it. If you go through the dirty air of another boat, you get through it really quickly. And on the other hand, when you maneuver, you're effectively, you go from flying on the hydro force to gliding. You only have, like, a few boat lengths that you can do that for before the hull touches the water, and then you virtually stop. And so basically, the aim is you minimize maneuvers. You roll with the wind shifts. You roll with your opponent. And hence they've had to put boundaries around the course to force the boats back together, because otherwise I'd go out to a corner, do one tack and then go to the top mark. And so it's a different racing. It's still there are tactics involved, but the trade offs are different, that the cost versus reward of different tactical choices is very different.   Michael Hingson ** 16:31 But the race obviously goes with the newer designs, goes a lot faster, and it isn't hours and many hours of racing as it used to be, is that right?   Dario Valenza ** 16:42 It's also shorter course, so the format is kind of optimized for television, really, for, yeah, broadcast. So you have many short races, and it's it does mean that if you have a big disparity, like if one boat makes a mistake and falls a long way behind, it's over pretty quickly, because it did happen in the past where you get a boat that was outmatched or did something wrong and just spend three hours following the leader with no chance of catching up. So there's certainly a merit to having short, sharp races, but I think it's probably more physical and less cerebral, like, if you look at, yeah, the way the old boats worked, you had 17 people on there providing all the mechanical power, maneuvering, putting spinnakers up and down, dip ball driving, moving their weight around the boat. He had a tactician. They would have conversations about what's happening and react, you know, in a matter of seconds, not in a matter of milliseconds. Now you have eight people on the boat, four of them are just pedaling bikes, basically to put pressure into an accumulator to run the hydraulics. You have a helmsman on each side, and you have a trimmer on each side, and they don't cross the boat, because the boats are so fast that it's actually dangerous to get out of the cockpit. So it's very much more, I guess, closer to sort of Formula One in terms of it, you've got you've got speeds, you've got the reaction times are shorter. Everything happens more quickly, and there's certainly less interaction between the boats. Do you have   Michael Hingson ** 18:19 a preference of whether you like more the old way or the newer way of doing the races and the way the boats are designed.   Dario Valenza ** 18:28 If pressed, I would say I'd prefer the old way. But that's probably the bias, because I was involved more back then. Yeah. I think it's equally fascinating. And that sort of brings me to Yeah. So even you know, we'll get into how it applies to business and things like that, and it's the same problem, just with different variables. So my view with the cup was, whatever the rules are, you've got to try and win within them. And so they will change, the boat will change, the venue will change, the weather will change, budget limitations, all these things play into this multi variant problem, and your job is to balance all those variables to get the best   Michael Hingson ** 19:10 outcome right in the rules. Exactly.   Dario Valenza ** 19:12 Yeah. I mean, the teams do have a say. So I was, for example, in the committee that designed the rule for the catamarans that went to San Francisco, having said that what we thought we were encouraging by the rules, and what actually happened was nothing to do with each other, because once you set the rules, then the fascinating thing is how people interpret them, and they'll interpret them in ways that you can't possibly imagine, hence unintended consequences. But yeah, you have a say, but ultimately they are what they are, and the point of competing is to do well within those rules. Having said that, if they get to the point where you're just not interested anymore, then don't compete. But it is what it is. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 19:54 So how long did you do yacht design and so on, dealing. With the cup,   Dario Valenza ** 20:02 probably 15 years altogether, was 12 or so in the actual America's Cup, and a few years before that, working up to it, doing various different projects, and that's sort of in a professional capacity, getting paid before that as a passion. It's pretty much my whole settling my teens, maybe a few years before that as well.   Michael Hingson ** 20:21 So what did you do after that?   20:25 I started my own business.   Michael Hingson ** 20:26 There you go. Well, tell us about the business and what you what you started with.   Dario Valenza ** 20:36 Yeah. So it the the aim was what we call long range aerial data capture. So fancy way of saying drones with a long range that can carry out surveys effectively. So whether it's taking photographs, video, LIDAR scans or combinations thereof, the sort of underlying motivation was the importance of data. So having come out of the America's Cup and seeing the way you develop is you interrogate what's happening with the boat and the boat and the crew and the conditions, and the more channels of information you have, the more informed decisions you can make about improving now, applying that to real world problems, to things like linear infrastructure, to mining to land management. It seemed like to me there's a gap where if you could have better aerial data, you could make better decisions. And I happened to have a tool in the design and manufacturing processes that came out of the America's Cup that would allow me to create a lightweight airframe that would have that efficiency and be able to give that range. And this was at a time when, you know, people were already starting to think of drones as a solution, though there was a lot of hype around them, but it was really all around the electronics, around multi rotors, around things that you could effectively buy and put up in the air and do a short mission wave and then land. The idea of a long range drone, other than in the military, was pretty much unexplored, and I think largely because to make it work commercially financially, you needed the range you need to be able to cover in the order of hundreds of kilometers in one flight, so that you're not having a ground crew, effectively driving the line relocating from point to point as the surveys carried out. So initially it was fairly conservative in the sense that the main focus was to set up that manufacturing capability. So basically, copy or transfer those process out of the America's Cup into a commercial setting. So making molds, curing carbon, the way you document or the way you go about it, that design process, and I was open to doing custom work to subsidize it, basically. So doing stuff again, for for sailboats, for racing, cars, for architecture, just with that composite manufacturing capability as a way to prove it and refine it. And whatever money was coming out of that was going into developing a drone airframe. And then I was fortunate enough to have a collaboration with a former colleague of mine in the cup who set up a business in Spain doing computational fluid dynamics, and he alerted me to a contract over there for a military surveillance research drone. We, by then, had an airframe that more or less we could demonstrate, and we could show that it was lighter and was more efficient, and then fly further and it had a more stable flying path and all of that. So we won that contract, we supplied that, and then out of that came the commercial offering, and it basically grew from there.   Michael Hingson ** 23:50 But when did you start dealing with the drone design, the airframe and so on,   23:57 probably to 2015   Michael Hingson ** 24:00 Okay, yeah, I think I had started hearing about drones by then, and in fact, I know I had by that time, but yeah, they they were still fairly new. So how far would your drone travel?   Dario Valenza ** 24:16 So we have two versions, the old electric one will do a couple of 100 kilometers, the petro hybrid one will do up to 800 and so we're really squarely in the territory of crude helicopter, smaller, small fixed wing planes like Cessnas, and we're really going into that same way of operating. So we're not so much selling the drone to a utility to do their scans. We are providing the data that comes out of the scan, and we're using the drone as our tool to get that data. And by effectively mirroring the model of the traditional sort of legacy aviation, we can offer, obviously, a lower cost, but also better data. Because we fly lower and slower, so we can get a higher resolution and more accuracy, and there's a obviously carbon footprint reduction, because we're burning about 2% of the fuel, and it's quieter and it's safer and all of that stuff. So it's really doing that close in aerial survey work over large distances the way it's currently being done, but with a better tool,   Michael Hingson ** 25:21 the electric drone, you said, only goes a couple 100 kilometers, is that basically because of battery issues,   Dario Valenza ** 25:27 absolutely, especially power density. So not so much energy density, but power density really how much energy you can store in the battery in terms of mass, and obviously the fact that you're not burning it off, so you're carrying the empty battery around with you. Right?   Michael Hingson ** 25:45 Any interest in, or has there been any exploration of making solar powered drones?   Dario Valenza ** 25:52 We've certainly looked into it, and we've developed relationships with suppliers that are developing specialized, conformal, curvy solar panels that form part of the structure of the wing. There are a couple of considerations. Most prominent is the trade off that you're making. Like if you take add solar panels to a wing, even if they're integrated in the structure, and you minimize the structural weight, they will have a mass. So call it an extra kilo. Yeah. Right now, if I were to take that extra kilo and put it in battery or in fuel, I would be better off, so I'd have more energy by doing that than by having the solar panel   Michael Hingson ** 26:36 dealing on efficiency yet, yeah,   Dario Valenza ** 26:37 yeah. So obviously, on a hot day, when you're flying with the sun directly above, you probably would be better. But over the course of the day, different locations, banking, etc, it's just not there yet. Net, net, particularly considering that there'll be a degradation and there'll be a maintenance that's required as the panels deteriorate and the various connections breakdown, etc. So it's not something you'd rule out. Then the secondary consideration is, when you look at our aircraft, it's fairly skinny, long, skinny wings. When you look at the area from above, there's not a lot of projected area, particularly the wings being thin and very high aspect ratio, you wouldn't really be able to fit that much area right when it comes to and then you've got to remember also that if you're generating while you're flying, your electronics have to be very different, because you have to have some way to manage that power, balance it off against the battery itself. The battery is multi cells, 12 S system, so you then have to balance that charging. So there's some complexity involved. There's a weight penalty, potentially a drag penalty. There is a Net Advantage in a very narrow range of conditions. And overall, we're just not there yet in terms of the advantage. And even if it could extend the range by a few minutes, because we have an aircraft that can fly for eight hours, doesn't really matter, yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 28:04 So dealing with an electric drone again, have you ever looked into things like fuel cells as opposed to batteries? Or does it not make we have,   Dario Valenza ** 28:14 and there's a company in France that we've been collaborating with, it's developing a hydrogen fuel cell, yeah?   Michael Hingson ** 28:21 So I was wondering, yeah. And   Dario Valenza ** 28:23 again, this is about, sort of, maybe sounds a bit conservative, but you know, during these lessons from the Americas capitals, talking about being seduced by the latest shiny thing can come at the detriment of achieving what you need to achieve today. So we're very conscious in the business in carbonics, of having this roadmap where there's a lot of nice to haves, there's a lot of capability that we want going forward, and that's everything from the remote one to many operations, detect and avoid fail safes, additional comms, all stuff that will enable us to do what we're doing today, plus x, y, z, but we need to be able to do what we can do what we have to do today. And most of the missions that we're doing, they're over a power line in the middle of nowhere. They're in relatively non congested airspace. The coordination is relatively simple. We have the ability to go beyond visual line of sight. We have the range, so it's really let's use what we have today and put all the other stuff in time and space. As the business grows, the mission grows, the customers get more comfortable, and that's a way to then maintain the advantage. But it's very easy to get sucked into doing cool R and D at the expense of delivering today.   Michael Hingson ** 29:42 Yeah, it's R and D is great, but you still gotta pay the bills. Yeah, so you have worked across several industries. What's kind of the common thread for you, working across and designing in several industries? Yeah. So   Dario Valenza ** 30:00 I think it's a high level problem solving is having an outcome that's very clearly defined and a rule set and a set of constraints. And the challenge is, how do you balance all those elements to deliver the best value? So whether it's, how do you design a boat within a rule to go as fast as possible? How do you develop a drone to fly as long as possible, given a certain time and budget availability? You're always looking at variables that will each have their own pros and cons, and how do you combine them so things like, you know, team size versus burn rate versus how aggressively you go to market, how do you select your missions? How do you decide whether to say yes or no to a customer based on the overall strategy? I see that as you have all these variables that you can tweak, you're trying to get an outcome. How do you balance and weigh them all to get that outcome?   Michael Hingson ** 30:58 Yeah, well, you've I'm sorry, go ahead.   Dario Valenza ** 31:01 I was gonna say, I mean, I have also, like, an interesting motorsport and when you look at a formula, one strategy, same thing, right? Did you carry a fuel load? Do you change tires? Do you optimize your arrow for this? It's a similar type of problem you're saying, I this is my aim. I've got all these variables. How do I set them all in a way that it gives me the best outcome? Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 31:23 and in your design and and as you construct and look at what you're doing, you decide exactly what the parameters are, and you know when you're going to change the tires, or, you know when it's time to put in more fuel or whatever. And then, see, you've got to really know the product very well,   Dario Valenza ** 31:42 absolutely. And again, in the case of salvo racing, it's almost exemplary, because the rules are spelled out, and you have, it's a very artificial set of constraints, and you have a race day, you'll have your budget, and obviously you can work to increase that, but the time is what it is. And then in the rules, you actually get to trade off length versus width, versus mass versus sail area. Do I make my boat more powerful so it goes faster in strong winds, or do I make it skinnier so it goes better in light winds? You look at the history of the weather in the venue, and the teams that win are the ones that get all those mostly, right? So it's not necessarily the latest, fastest, more, most extreme solution, it's the one that best balances all these variables. Yeah, you transfer that into business, and it's a similar thing. You've got, you've got funding, you've got burn rate, you've got people, you've got customers, probably more variables, and it's a little bit more fuzzy in some cases. So you need to work harder to nail these things down. And it's a longer term. It's an open ended prospect. It's not I've just got to race on Sunday, then I can have a break for six months. It's you do it today and tomorrow and tomorrow. So it's going to be sustainable. But I the way you think about it in the abstract, it's the same,   Michael Hingson ** 33:00 and you also have to keep evolving as technology grows, as as the industry grows, as demands change, or maybe better than saying as demands change, as you foresee demands changing, you have to be able to keep up with it. And there's a lot to all that. There's a lot of challenge that that someone like you has to really keep up with. It's   Dario Valenza ** 33:23 a balance between leading and listening. So there's a classic Henry Ford line that if I'd asked the customer what he wanted, he would have told me a faster horse. We've fallen into the trap sometimes of talking to a customer, and they're very set about, you know, we want to use this camera to take these this resolution, at this distance, because that's what we use on a helicopter, because that's what used on a multi rotor. And you have to unpack that and say, Hang on, what data do you actually like? Because we have a different payload. We fly in a different way. So let us tell you how we can give you that solution if you tell us what we want, and I think that applies across various sort of aspects of the business. But to your point about the continuous evolution, one of the most fascinating things out of this experience of almost 10 years of sort of pioneering the drone industry is just how much the ecosystem has evolved. So when we started out, the naive assumption was we're good at making airframes. We can make really good, lightweight, efficient aircraft. We don't necessarily want to be an electronics manufacturer. It's a whole other challenge. Let's buy what we can off the shelf, put it in the aircraft for the command and control and go fly. And we very quickly realized that for the standard that we wanted in terms of being able to satisfy a regulator, that the reliability is at a certain point, having fail safes, having programmability. There was nothing out there when we had to go and design. Avionics, because you could either buy hobby stuff that was inconsistent and of dubious quality, or you had to spend millions of dollars on something out of the military, and then it didn't work commercially. And so we went and looked at cars, and we said, okay, can seems like control area network seems like a good protocol. Let's adopt that. Although some of the peripherals that we buy, like the servos, they don't speak, can so then we have to make a peripheral node that can translate from can to Rs, 232, or whatever. And we went through that process. But over the years, these suppliers that came out of hobby, came out of consumer electronics, came out of the military, very quickly saw the opportunity, and we were one of the companies driving it that hang on. I can make an autopilot module that is ISO certified and has a certain quality assurance that comes with it, and I can make it in a form factor under the price where a commercial drone company can use it. And so it really accelerated the last maybe three, four years. There's a lot of stuff available that's been developed for commercial drones that now gives us a lot more options in terms of what we buy rather than what we make.   Michael Hingson ** 36:13 Well, now I have to ask, since you brought it up, does anybody use Rs 232, anymore? I had to ask. I mean, you know,   Dario Valenza ** 36:21 less and less, yeah, at one point, like we use it for GPS parks, because we didn't have anything that ran on can right slowly we're replacing. So the latest version of the aircraft now is all cap, but it took a while to get there. That's   Michael Hingson ** 36:37 gonna say that's a very long Rs 232, cable you have if you're going to communicate with the aircraft, that'd be I still have here some Rs 232 cables that I remember using them back in the 1980s and into the 1990s but yeah, Rs 232   Dario Valenza ** 36:57 horrendous ones was, there was a, I think it was a light LIDAR altimeter. Someone will correct me, it ran on I squared C, oh, which is the most inappropriate possible thing. And it is what it is. So all we, all we could do is shorten the wire length as much as possible and live with it until we found something better, and   Michael Hingson ** 37:18 then we also had parallel cables. Yes, of course, one connected printers,   Dario Valenza ** 37:26 and we have ethernet on the aircraft for the comms. Well, yeah, there's a lot of translating that we need to do. And again, I'm not an electronic engineer, but I understand enough of it to know what's good and what's not. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 37:38 yeah. The days have gone by with all of the RS, 232, and parallel ports and all that. Now it's all USB and Ethernet and cams and other things like that which making kind of fun. Well, what other industries have you been involved in besides the drone and the boat or yacht world?   Dario Valenza ** 37:56 So I've done a little bit in cinemable Things which was kind of pituitous. The last of the Star Wars prequels was filmed in Sydney, and I happened to be here for a few months between America's Cup campaigns. And there's a few boat builders that were asked to go and do fiberglass work on the set, and they recommended me to do some of the structural design work for some of the sets. I don't think I was credited, but it was fun. Again, not something I planned to do long term. It just happened to come up, and I did it for about three months. As I said, a little bit in motor sport, more as a hobby, but as an interest. But we've made in the early days of carbonics, we made spoilers and wings and bits and pieces for cars when we were getting going, but mainly the sailing of the drones, really, because I've been in the drones now for 10 years. So right?   Michael Hingson ** 38:51 What? Why did you switch? Or maybe, why is it the wrong answer? But what made you switch from doing yachts to drones, and how did the drone story come about?   Dario Valenza ** 39:05 Yeah, so I mentioned the angle of the importance of data, looking for a real world problem where data was going to make a difference, and having the right so that not a solution in search of a problem, but the right solution for this problem, saying, if we can design an airframe that can do this, there's an obvious advantage and an obvious saving that that would make a difference to the world that has a big market. Now that's the theory, then to take the plunge. It was a bit of a combination of things. It was being beholden to the unpredictable movements of the cup, where your career depends on who wins and where it goes, and as a young single man, that's fantastic once you're trying to get married and have a family, becomes a little bit more of a problem. So again, starting your own business doesn't exactly give you stability. Cheap but more stable, I guess. And really that combination of an opportunity, being able to say I can actually see if I can make this work, and see what happens, wanting to be located in one place, I guess, looking for variety as well, and knowing that, you know, I still could have contact with the Americas Cup World, because I said I was doing custom work, and we had people from the cup working in carbonics. But it's really that point where you say, Do I want to keep following the circus around the world, or do you want to try and do my own thing and see how that goes? And I can always go back. And the aim is, you know, once you're committed, then you sort of tend to try and make it work no matter what, and it becomes the new aim, and that's what you put your energy into.   Michael Hingson ** 40:52 I had a guest on unstoppable mindset named Dre Baldwin, and Dre was a professional basketball player for nine years. He went to high school, was on the bench the whole time, went to college, played in college pretty well, but wasn't really noticed until he went to a camp where people could try out and be scouted by professionals who wouldn't come and see you because you weren't famous enough to be seen just by them coming to look for you. But he got a video, and he got some good suggestions, and anyway, he eventually made that into a nine year career. And I asked him, when we talked, why did you end the career? Why did you leave and start a business? And the business he started was up your game LLC, and it's all about helping people up their game in business and so on. And of course, he does it all in the sports environment. But I asked him why he left, and one of the things that he said was it, what people don't know is it's not just the games themselves and the basketball that you play. It's all the other stuff. It's all the fact that if you're going to really do it and be reasonably well, you need to go to the gym a lot, not just when they tell you to practice, but you got to take the initiative and do it on your own. You have to do other things. And he said, I just got to the point where I didn't want to do that, all that invisible part of it anymore. And so he left and started his own business, and has been very successful, but it was an interesting answer. And in a sense, I hear, you know what you're saying. It's really where you're going to go, and what is, what's really going to interest you, which is what has to be part of whatever you do?   Dario Valenza ** 42:34 Yeah, that all makes sense. I think, in my experience, I've never not had an obsession, so to speak. So yeah, with the sailing absolutely like, if you want to be in the America's Cup, it can't be a day job. You have to be committed. You have to be able to concentrate, innovate again, if you're I wasn't an athlete on the boat, so it wasn't necessarily about going to the gym, but certainly doing research, doing testing, working on the boat overnight before I went out the next day. It is a competition, so that the longer, the harder you work, assuming you still keep your performance up, the better you're going to do. So it was an obsession. I accepted that I never it never occurred to me that I don't want to keep doing it right. It was really the logistics. It was thinking, because of the cup had gone to court, we'd had the deed of gift match. Everything had been on hold for a while. It got going again, and the rules changed and there were fewer teams. I'd actually spent a bit of time fundraising for the team that had come out of Valencia to keep it going until the eventual San Francisco cup. So that was interesting as well, saying that, you know, is it getting the reception that I hoped it would, in terms of people investing in it and seeing the value, and kind of looking at it and saying, Okay, now I've got to move to San Francisco the next one, who knows where it's going to be, the format and all those things, you just sort of trade it off and say, Well, if I can make a go of something where I can do it in my hometown, it can be just as interesting, because the technical challenges is just as fascinating. And it's really about, can I create this little environment that I control, where I can do the same fun stuff that I was doing in the cup in terms of tech development, but also make it a business and make a difference to the world and make it commercially viable. And that was really the challenge. And saying that, that was the motivation, to say, if I can take the thing that interests me from the cup and apply it to a commercial technological challenge, then I'll have the best of the best of both worlds.   Michael Hingson ** 44:44 What? What made you really go into doing drones after the yacht stuff?   Dario Valenza ** 44:52 So yeah, certainly that aerial data capture piece, but also the it's very announced. I guess. So most of the work that I was doing in the cup was around aeroelastic optimization, lightweight structures, which really dynamics, yeah. And so, you know, a yacht is a plane with one wing in the water and one wing in the air. It's all fluids. The maths is the same, the physics is the same, the materials are the same. If you do it well in the cup, you win. If you do it well in drones, you win also. But you win by going further and being more efficient and economical at doing these missions. And so it's sort of like having this superpower where you can say, I can make this tool really good that's going to give me an advantage. Let's go and see if that actually makes a difference in the market.   Michael Hingson ** 45:44 Well, I mean, as we know, the only difference really, between water and air is that the molecules are further apart in air than they are in water. So why? It really isn't that much different? He said, being a physicist and picking on chemists, but you know, I do understand what you're saying. So when did you actually start carbonics? Was that when you went into the Drone   Dario Valenza ** 46:05 World? So the business itself early 2012 and as I said, those are a few years there where we're doing custom work. And as it happened, I ended up supplying to New Zealand because we built an A class catamaran, which is effectively a little America's Cup boat for the punters, kind of thing that did well in some regattas. It caught the attention of the team New Zealand guys. They decided to use them as a training platform. We did a world championship where they were skipping the boats the carbonics built did really well in that sort of top five spots got a bunch of commercial orders off the back of that, which then brought some money into subsidize the drones, etc, etc. So by the time we were properly so the first time we flew our airframe would have been, you know, 2015   Michael Hingson ** 46:55 but nobody has created an America's Cup for drones yet. So there's a project for you.   Dario Valenza ** 47:01 They're all sort of drone racing, so I'm not surprised. Yeah, and I think again, it's really interesting. So when you look at motorsport and yacht racing in the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s it really was a test bet, because you had to build something, go compete with it, learn from it, repeat. And you'd get, you know, the case of motorsport, traction control, ABS, all that stuff. In the case of sailing, that the use of, you know, modern fiber materials for ropes and structures, that was really sort of the cauldron where the development happened. And I think that was sort of the result of an analog world, so to speak, where you had to build things to know. I think now, with better compute and a more sophisticated role that simulations can play, it's still there is value in competition, but I think it's done in a different way. You're doing it. The key is to iterate virtually as much as possible before you build something, rather than building as many things as possible and doing the development that way.   Michael Hingson ** 48:13 Well, here's an interesting Oh, go ahead, yeah.   Dario Valenza ** 48:16 So I think that affects, certainly, how sport is seen in terms of there's probably more emphasis on the actual athletic competition, on the technology, because there are just other areas now where that development is happening, and SpaceX drones, there are more commercial places where control systems, electronic structures are really being pushed well before it was mainly in sport.   Michael Hingson ** 48:45 Well, here's a business question for you. How do you identify value that is something that you uniquely can do, that other people can't, and that here's the big part, people will pay for it,   Dario Valenza ** 49:01 cost per kilometer of scan is really my answer in the case of carbonics, saying you want to get a digital twin of a power transmission line over 800 kilometers. You can do that with a helicopter, and it's going to cost 1000s of dollars, and you're going to burn tons of fuel, and you can only get so close, etc. So you can only do it in visual conditions, and that's sort of the current best practice. That's how it's done. You can do it with satellites, but you can't really get in close enough yet in terms of resolution and independent on orbits and weather. You can do it by having someone drive or walk along the line, and that's stupendously inefficient. You can do it with multi rotor drones, and then, yeah, you might be able to do five kilometers at a time, but then you got to land and relocate and launch again, and you end up with this big sort of disparity of data sets that go stitch together by the time you add that all up. It's actually more expensive than a helicopter. Or you could do it with a drone like. Fly for 800 kilometers, which is making it Yes, and making a drone that can fly for 800 kilometers is not trivial, and that's where the unique value sits. And it's not just the airframe that the airframe holds it all up, but you have to have the redundancies to command and control, the engineering certifications, the comms, the stability, the payload triggering and geo tagging. So all of that stuff has to work. And the value of carbonics is, yes, the carbon fiber in the airframe, but also the the team ethos, which, again, comes out of that competition world, to really grab the low hanging fruit, make it all work, get it out there and be flexible, like we've had missions with stuff hasn't gone to plan, and we've fixed it, and we've still delivered the data. So the value is really being able to do something that no one else can do.   Michael Hingson ** 50:54 So I assume that you're still having fun as a founder and the owner of a company,   51:02 sometimes,   Michael Hingson ** 51:05 more often than not, one would hope,   Dario Valenza ** 51:07 Oh, absolutely, yeah. I mean, obviously there's a huge amount of pride in seeing now we're 22 people, some of certainly leaders in the field, some of the best in the world, the fact that they have chosen to back the vision, to spend years of their professional life making it happen, according to the thing that I started, I mean that that's flattering and humbling. There's always a challenge. It's always interesting. Again, having investors and all that you're not it's not all on my shoulders. People that are also invested, literally, who have the same interests and we support each other. But at the same time, it's not exactly certain. In terms of you're always working through prices and looking at what's going to happen in a day a year, six months, but you sort of get used to it and say, Well, I've done this willingly. I know there's a risk, but it's fun and it's worth it, and we'll get there. And so you do it   Michael Hingson ** 52:10 well, you're the you're the visionary, and that that brings excitement to it all. And as long as you can have fun and you can reward yourself by what you're doing. It doesn't get any better than that.   Dario Valenza ** 52:26 So they tell me, yeah, how do you absolutely, how do you   Michael Hingson ** 52:31 create a good, cohesive team?   Dario Valenza ** 52:36 Values, I think, are the base of them would be very clear about what we are and what we aren't. It's really interesting because I've never really spent any time in a corporate environment, nor do I want to. So keeping that informal fun element, where it's fairly egalitarian, it's fairly focused, we're not too worried about saying things how they are and offending people. We know we're all in it together. It's very much that focus and common goal, I think, creates the bond and then communication like being absolutely clear about what are we trying to do? What are the priorities? What are the constraints? And constantly updating each other when, when one department is having an issue and it's going to hold something up, we support each other and we adjust accordingly, and we move resources around. But yeah, I think the short answer is culture you have to have when someone walks in, there's a certain quality to the atmosphere that tells you what this team is about, right? And everyone is on their page, and it's not for everyone. Again, we don't demand that people put in their heart and soul into 24/7 but if you don't, you probably don't want   Michael Hingson ** 53:56 to be there. Yeah, makes sense. So what kind of advice would you give to someone who's starting out in a career or considering what they want to do with their lives?   Dario Valenza ** 54:08 Where do I start? Certainly take, take the risks while you're young and independent, you don't have a lot to lose. Give it a go and be humble. So getting my experience going into the cup like my approach was, I'll clean the floors, I'll be the Gopher, I'll work for free, until you guys see some value, like I'm it's not about what am I going to get out of this? It's how do I get involved, and how do I prove myself? And so being open and learning, being willing to put in the hours. And I think at one point there was a comment during the trial that he doesn't know what he's doing, but he's really keen, and his attitude is good. And I think that's that's how you want to be, because you can learn the thing you. That you need to have the attitude to be involved and have have a go.   Michael Hingson ** 55:05 Have fun. Yeah, you have to decide to have fun.   Dario Valenza ** 55:14 Yeah, absolutely. You have to be interested in what you're doing, because if you're doing it for the money, yes, it's nice when you get the paycheck, but you don't have that passion to really be motivated and put in the time. So right by this is that the Venn diagram right, find something you're interested in, that someone is willing to pay you for, and that you're good at, not easy, but having that openness and the humble and saying, Well, I'm don't try and get to the top straightaway, like get in, prove yourself. Learn, improve, gain skills, and probably, in my case, the value of cross pollination. So rather than sort of going into one discipline and just learning how it's done and only seeing that, look at the analogous stuff out there and see how you can apply it. Yeah. So again, from from boats to drones, from cars to boats, from really racing to business, abstract the problem into what are we trying to solve? What are the variables? How's it been done elsewhere, and really knowing when to think by analogy and when to think from first principles,   Michael Hingson ** 56:23 that makes sense. And with that, I'm going to thank you. We've been doing this for an hour. My gosh, is life fun or what? But I really appreciate it. Well, there you go. I appreciate you being here, and this has been a lot of fun. I hope that all of you out there watching and listening have liked our podcast episode. Please let us know. I'd appreciate it if you'd email me. Michael h i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I B, e.com, or go to our podcast page, which is w, w, w, dot Michael hingson, that's m, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s, O, n.com/podcast, and I would ask you how, how can people reach out to you? If they'd like to reach out to you and maybe learn more about what you do, maybe join the team?   Dario Valenza ** 57:09 Yeah, probably the easiest way would be LinkedIn, just Dario Valencia. Otherwise, my email is just Dario D, A, R, I, o@carbonics.com.au.au,   Michael Hingson ** 57:21 being Australian, and Valenc spelled V, A,   Dario Valenza ** 57:25 l e n z, A, but the email is just dario@carbonics.com.au You don't need to know how to spell my last name, right? Yeah, sorry for the LinkedIn. It'll be Dario Valencia, V A, l e n z A, or look at the carbonics profile on LinkedIn, and I'll be one of the people who works. There you   Michael Hingson ** 57:43 go. Well again, this has been fun, and we appreciate you, and hope that people will reach out and want to learn more. If you know of anybody who might make a good guest, or if any of you watching or listening out there might know of anyone who would be a good guest for unstoppable mindset, I sure would appreciate it if you'd let us know, we really value your help with that. We're always looking for more people to be on the podcast, so please don't hesitate. And also, wherever you're listening or watching, we sure would appreciate it if you give us a five star rating. We really appreciate your views, especially when they're positive, but we like all the comments, so however you're listening and so on, please give us a five star rating and let us know how we can even do better next time. But Dario, again, I want to thank you. Really appreciate you being here with us today. This has been a lot of fun, and I'm glad I learned a lot today. So thank you very much.   58:37 My pleasure. You   **Michael Hingson ** 58:43 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Bush Flying Legends & Survival: Mike Meekin's 50-Year flying JourneyWelcome to the Coffee and a Hangar Podcast! Today, we sit down with Mike Meekin, a bush pilot with over 50 years of experience navigating some of the most challenging terrains in aviation. With 11 TBO'd engines on just one plane, Mike is the definition of experience, skill, and survival in the mountains.From parachute failures and near-crashes to mastering the art of short-field landings, this episode is packed with thrilling stories, hard-earned wisdom, and real talk about what it takes to fly in some of the most treacherous weather and terrain Alaska has to offer. With over 25,000 hours of experience flying Cessnas, PA-18 Super Cubs, and many other bush aircraft, Mike Meekin is a well of knowledge.

The U.S. Senate hearing on airline fees, a Boeing employee surveillance program, the judge rejects the 737 MAX plea deal, Airbus floats a cockpit idea for Extended Minimum Crew Operations (eMCO), and a study will look at how high-G flying might affect Naval fighter pilots. Also, ticket sales for EAA Air Venture Oshkosh and FlightSimExpo, Brian's 2024 travels, fly-by-wire airplanes and smuggling Cessnas into Russia. Airline executives testify at a Senate Subcommittee. (Screen capture courtesy PBS NewsHour.) Aviation News US senators grill airline officials about fees for seats and checked bags The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing on December 4, 2024 about airline fees charged for baggage, seat selection, and other services. Executives representing American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, and Spirit Airlines testified. Testimony included: Airline fees - Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Blumenthal consistently referred to these as “junk fees.” In opening remarks, airlines characterized fees as allowing the consumer to create and pay for the experience they want - unbundling. “Bag bounty” programs - Sen. Hawley was quite antagonistic. Frontier removed their program September 30 that paid gate attendants for checking carry-on bags. Pricing - The Senators wanted to know why personal information is collected before the ticket price is given and the use of dynamic pricing based on the personal data. They also (unsuccessfully) probed the airline executives for the cost of the services covered by fees, assuming that price is related to cost. Family seating - Sen Hassan and others argued for fee-free family seating and sometimes confused a fee and the ability to accommodate.  See the DOT Airline Family Seating Dashboard. DOT Airline Family Seating Dashboard Loyalty programs - Sen Marshall characterized credit card programs as being about “voodoo miles” and the revenue to the airlines as a “kickback.” Competition - Spirit Airlines Matthew Kline was very critical of legacy airlines saying Spirit is at a competitive disadvantage over slots. Also that the majors paid pilots to retire during Covid, then poached Spirit pilots when demand returned. Overall, there was bipartisan demand that the airlines change junk fee practices, and two people should not be charged different prices for the same service on the same flight. It was evident that AI was on the minds of all, with airlines starting to think about applications and Senators afraid of what the technology could do. Speaking for their respective airlines were  Steve Johnson, vice chair and chief strategy officer, American Airlines;  Peter Carter, chief external affairs officer, Delta Air Lines;  Andrew Nocella, EVP and chief commercial officer, United Airlines;  Robert Schroeter, SVP, chief commercial officer, Frontier Airlines;  and Matthew Klein, EVP and chief commercial officer, Spirit Airlines See also Airline executives blasted at Senate hearing over carrier fees Video: Airline executives testify on junk fees before Senate committee https://www.youtube.com/live/jYNbu7E8gj8?si=VygQRsTGV7J-BvLD Boeing cancels its workplace surveillance program, will remove sensors Boeing had started to install sensors “in ceiling tiles above workstations, conference rooms, and common areas.” The sensors included motion detectors, cameras, and light, heat, and noise detectors. Boeing the data on building use for “managing energy and space usage.” According to Boeing, the cameras could take only blurry photos and AI would analyze the occupancy of the space. Only aggregated data would be presented to management. After details of the program appeared in the Seattle Times, Boeing employees reacted as expected. Within a day, a Boeing email stated the program “has been canceled, and we are removing the sensors that have been installed.

Buckle up for a hilarious journey through aviation's most annoying quirks! In this episode, we're dishing out our top flying pet peeves, from unnecessary "with you" radio calls to those infuriating C-17 patterns flown by Cessnas. Listen in as Brian confesses his frustration with people who can't handle airplane doors gently, and stick around for Ben's passionate rant about ancient aviation tech. Our hearts are with everyone affected by Hurricane Helene. Podcast episodes that discuss the response: * Opposing Bases 352: https://opposingbases.libsyn.com/ob352-general-aviations-natural-disaster-response * Aviation NewsTalk 351: https://aviationnewstalk.com/podcast/351-pilots-to-the-rescue-your-stories-of-hurricane-helene-relief-missions/ Mentioned on the show: * 100th episode is coming up! Oct 28, 4G7 Fairmont West Virginia. Not an official meetup, RSVP on Discord is required if you're planning to attend. * West Virginia pepperoni rolls: https://wvtourism.com/state-food-pepperoni-roll/ * Sally Struthers ("for only 70 cents per day"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePENcrE_xcQ#t=80s * Lees-McRae College: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lees%E2%80%93McRae_College * EP84 - Midlife radio tips with RH - reading the room: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/midlifepilotpodcast/episodes/EP84---Midlife-radio-tips-with-RH---reading-the-room-e2m4ite * @CorporatePilotLife, showing good CRM: https://www.youtube.com/@CorporatePilotLife/videos

An owner wants his engine perfect for flying around the world, how to start an airplane with electronic ignition, when to fire your mechanic, and defining approved data are on tap for this episode. Submit your questions to podcasts@aopa.org for a chance to be on the show. Join the world's largest aviation community at aopa.org/join Full show notes below: Ethan is flying a 182 around the world, and he is worried about a CHT imbalance. He's added an electronic ignition, changed some baffling, changed cylinders, and even got a new engine. It also gets worse as he levels off. Paul said Ethan still has a baffling issue, and the first step is to cut slits in the material to make sure it's laying flat. The temperature imbalance changing when leveling off makes sense to Paul because the airflow over the engine changes as the pitch of the airplane changes. Mike said it can be inter-cylinder baffling as well. Even CHTs are impossible, he says. A 50-degree spread is good. Colleen suggests pushing the baffling off the back cylinder by wedging in a spacer between the cylinder and the baffling to create a small gap. Frank just installed an electronic ignition for his 182 and is wondering how to properly start the airplane with a split switch. He has been starting it on battery only, as per the airplane handbook. Paul made the point that older Cessnas didn't have a split switch. Theoretically with the alternator on during the start, you avoid an electrical jolt, although he said he can't say the battery only start is always better. He recommends starting on both mags. Mike said the only time you wouldn't want to turn the alternator on during a start is if you have an almost dead battery. It's more important to avoid the jolt on a gear-driven alternator. Benny is headed for a bread-up with his mechanic. He likes the work the mechanic has done, but in talking to the mechanic about his approach to maintenance, he is concerned they don't agree on tactics. The mechanic doesn't believe in lapping valves, for example, and may have a hard adherence to TBO. Benny wants to know whether to switch now or try to work through the disagreements. Mike thinks it's worth a conversation given how difficult it can be to switch mechanics. Colleen said it's not going to work, and that the mechanic is most likely set in his ways. Paul agrees that getting a mechanic to change his mind is incredibly difficult.  Dwayne is restoring an antique airplane is wondering what constitutes approved data. Xerox copies are acceptable, despite what others have told him. He also wants to know if reverse engineering a part is considered approved data. Dwayne and the hosts discuss the difference between acceptable and approved data. 

This week we discuss this weeks card, Cessnas, and tv shows.contact:theoilcheck@gmail.com

Calling all pilots, dreamers, and changemakers! Tune in for heartwarming stories of daring rescue missions, expert advice for a thriving aviation career, and actionable tips for ANYONE who wants to turn their passion into purpose. Listen to this episode with  David Weeks that'll leave you motivated and ready to make a real difference through charitable flying!   Key takeaways to listen for How to transition from a professional career to meaningful volunteer work Thrilling and touching stories from missions involving rescue dogs and patients Essential tips for aspiring pilots on navigating a successful aviation career The importance of thorough preparation and checklists in ensuring flight safety Memorable highlights and lessons from David's over 45 years of flying experience   Resources Pilots N Paws Liga International ForeFlight   About David Weeks David is a retired 787 Captain from American Airlines with over 45 years of flying experience. Throughout his impressive career, David has flown a wide variety of aircraft, from Cessnas to Learjets, and has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the aviation industry. After taking early retirement, David dedicated his skills to charitable flying, volunteering for organizations like Angel Flight West, Pilots N Paws, and Flying Doctors of Mercy.    Passionate about using his aviation skills to help others, David has completed numerous missions, transporting rescue dogs and patients in need of critical medical care. Now flying a Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet, David continues to make a significant impact through his volunteer work, combining his love for aviation with a deep commitment to service.   Connect with Us Website: Angel Flight West LinkedIn: Alan Underwood  YouTube: Plane Success Instagram: @thealanunderwood Facebook: Alan Underwood

What are some of Micah's icks? Oh.. he'll tell you alright. Once again, we talk about the Spirit furloughs and rumors surrounding the news. Which do you like better the 737 or the A320? Apparently I'm old… which is why I think the 737 is a better looking plane. I encourage my friend Victor to continue on his aviation journey despite his age and I finally reveal the reason Micah is my favorite spotter of all time! This and more in today's episode.  Let's go!About Micah:Micah, a ramp lead for Alaska Airlines in Salt Lake City, UT, caught the aviation bug early on. As a kid in California, he'd gaze up at the sky, dreaming of piloting "family-sized planes" whenever those little Cessnas zoomed overhead. His love for planes soared even higher around 2016 when he discovered flight simulator videos – and let's just say, he hasn't landed since! When Micah got his driver's license, his dad gave him the classic "get a job" talk. So, naturally, Micah took off (pun intended) to the airport for work. Starting off with Prospect, where he rolled with wheelchair service, Micah's journey eventually led him to the Alaska Airlines ramp gig in late 2022. Sure, he's not a big shot mainline employee, but Micah's loving every moment of his job. From wrangling planes to juggling bags, chatting with pilots, and maybe even moving a jet bridge or two, there's never a dull moment. Plus, bonding with coworkers over card games adds an extra bit of fun to his day. Micah's grateful to be living his dream and is always ready to take flight into another awesome workday!Follow Micah!Instagram: kslc_aviatorREACH OUT!Submit your questions or aviation stories to the showContact: mannythecfi@gmail.comInstagram: climbvxBOOK YOUR APPEARANCE ON THE SHOWInterview availability dates 

I had so much fun talking with my friend Micah.  In this first part we catch up, talk about Micah's student pilot journey and the differences between Part 61 and 141 flight training. We also have a little fun with aviation hot takes provided by one of our listeners! About Micah:Micah, a ramp lead for Alaska Airlines in Salt Lake City, UT, caught the aviation bug early on. As a kid in California, he'd gaze up at the sky, dreaming of piloting "family-sized planes" whenever those little Cessnas zoomed overhead. His love for planes soared even higher around 2016 when he discovered flight simulator videos – and let's just say, he hasn't landed since! When Micah got his driver's license, his dad gave him the classic "get a job" talk. So, naturally, Micah took off (pun intended) to the airport for work. Starting off with Prospect, where he rolled with wheelchair service, Micah's journey eventually led him to the Alaska Airlines ramp gig in late 2022. Sure, he's not a big shot mainline employee, but Micah's loving every moment of his job. From wrangling planes to juggling bags, chatting with pilots, and maybe even moving a jet bridge or two, there's never a dull moment. Plus, bonding with coworkers over card games adds an extra bit of fun to his day. Micah's grateful to be living his dream and is always ready to take flight into another awesome workday!Follow Micah!Instagram: kslc_aviatorREACH OUT!Submit your questions or aviation stories to the showContact: mannythecfi@gmail.comInstagram: climbvxBOOK YOUR APPEARANCE ON THE SHOWInterview availability dates 

Join us on a remarkable journey through the skies with Royce Hooker, a distinguished 91-year-old (recorded 2023) aviation pioneer whose career spans the golden era of flight. From his early days as an aircraft mechanic in the RNZAF to his adventures topdressing Cessnas to the iconic FU-24 Fletcher, Royce has witnessed and shaped pivotal moments in aviation history. In this podcast, he shares stories from the industry's infancy, offering a rare glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of those who paved the runway for future generations. Tune in to hear the untold tales of dedication, skill, and passion from a true veteran of the skies. Once again big ups to Chris Hoffman for sponsoring this Episode- You're a legend!

Troutdale Airfield is just 10 miles from Portland International — and built to serve Cessnas, not Boeings. But one dark night in 1962, a jumbo-jet pilot got a little confused .... (Troutdale, Multnomah County; 1960s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1802a.massive-jet-lands-at-tiny-country-airport-by-mistake-481.html)

Just two PLPs approaching their 40s! Party time! Excellent! Connectz and Correctz continue to feature shameless plugs to all the airplane companies out there to let us do ads for them. The question no one but us was asking about Cessnas finally gets answered, and other treats greet you at the top of epersode, especially fanz of Finland! Hot topz have one thing in common - Ireland - we thank the Emerald Isle for giving us the gift of Miss Maloney and a certain Yankee Doodle Dandy. We also spoil basically every musical we have ever seen. We should have charged admission for this one! Ring some bells, dance a jig, and push play! #spoileralert #beebopboopbop #40before40 #takeanairplane #deathdeckquery

In this episode, the gang talks about Cessnas, new products, SEFF and other stuff. E-flite Twin Timber (8:45) OSMW Minuette (17:45) SEFF (27:35) B-17 Gathering (48:00) SAE Aero Design (55:55) AMA NATs (1:10:45) New Creations RC (1:19:00) Eagle 2 Maiden (1:27:15) E-flite Ultra Stick 1.1m (1:33:20) Radiomaster Boxer (1:43:10) E-flite Twin Timber Radiomaster Boxer Eagle 2 Maiden flight Ultra Stick 1.1m New Creations Interview Watch this episode on YouTube New Creations RC 2023 AMA Nats Old School Model Works Minuette SAE Aero Design video Amazing indoor aerobatics

Today's guest is my good friend, Don Fulton who I met in Panama 10 years ago. Don is an Airline Captain with 27 years and over 22,000 hours of flying time in everything from Cessnas and Pipers to high performance aerobatic aircraft to large airliners like the Boeing 747-400 and 737NG.  Don has flown for Northwest Airlines, Air France, Copa in Panama and now is flying cargo to literally every country in the world except Antarctica in a Boeing 747 as a Captain for  National Airlines.  If you ever follow Don on social media you will see that on any given day he is in a random country, doing incredible things with unique people he meets along the way. Don has used his flying to impact others throughout his career providing counseling and teaching in cities around the world as well as starting a movement in 2012 called Refresh International with 150 christian pilots and flight attendants radiating from Panama to equip, help, support and encourage pastors and missionaries in 17 countries throughout Latin America.  Today Refresh International has now expanded to the Middle Asia, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.Don has 5 natural and 2 adopted children. He's been married for 28 years to his wife, Karen and is in the process of creating a sustainable organic farm in Western North Carolina for refugees.  CONNECT WITH DON:LinkedinInstagramProduced by: Northgate Marketing, Inc. Host: David Allen Tracy  CONNECT WITH DAVID:InstagramLinkedin FOLLOW NORTHGATE:LinkedinInstagramFacebookYouTubewww.wearenorthgate.com

You can support me here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/10percenttrue Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/9vJ3hPYFQh00:00:00 Introduction and growing up in West Germany00:06:55 the effects of partition00:10:19 the shadow of WW2 and joining NATO00:14:00 plug for Rolf's book (link in description)00:14:30 East/West connections/issues00:15:58 Navy, Cessnas, F-104s…..00:19:00 Importance of determination 00:21:05 Training begins 00:26:44 the pace of learning, attrition and culture00:35:15 104G for Germany 00:38:04 The Widow-maker, earning its reputation 00:43:10 afterburner t-handle and APC 00:45:10 was the T-38 a good lead in for the -104?00:46:46 introduction to the 104 and selection00:50:40 feeling like a fighter pilot? 00:52:00 F-104G as a weapons system00:55:50 strike training/bad scores00:59:55 intuitive flying vs by the numbersSupport the show

Max and Dylan traveled to Santa Barbara to interview Roger Reaves, one of the most prolific smugglers of all time. Over two days, Roger shared with us his incredible life story, which includes many harrowing adventures smuggling drugs in all sorts of aircraft. From single-engine Cessnas to the iconic DC-3, Roger pushed the limits on his aircraft and his flying skills to deliver his cargo. In the words of Roger, "Let us tell the tales of the past to each other" Click here to buy Roger's book 'Smuggler' Follow Roger Reaves on TikTok Our sponsors: Harvey Watt, offers the only true Loss of Medical License Insurance available to individuals and small groups. Because Harvey Watt manages most airlines' plans, they can assist you in identifying the right coverage to supplement your airline's plan. Many buy coverage to supplement the loss of retirement benefits while grounded. Visit harveywatt.com to learn more! Advanced Aircrew Academy enables flight operations to fulfill their training needs in the most efficient and affordable way—in any location at any time. We do this by providing high-quality professional pilot, flight attendant, flight coordinator, maintenance, and line service training modules delivered via the web using a world-class online aviation training system. Visit aircrewacademy.com to learn more! Tim Pope is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and a pilot. His financial planning practice provides services to aviation professionals and aviation 401k plans. Tim helps clients pursue their financial goals by defining them, organizing & optimizing resources, planning, implementing, and monitoring their financial plan. Visit https://link.21fivepodcast.com/timothy-pope to learn more. Click Here to Schedule a Meeting  Do you have feedback, suggestions, or a great aviation story to share? Email us info@21fivepodcast.com Check out our Instagram feed @21FivePodcast for more great content and to see our collection of aviation license plates. The statements made in this show are our own opinions and do not reflect, nor were they under any direction of any of our employers. 

Making new parts, protecting parts, replacing parts, and identifying bad parts is the theme of this month's episode. Plus, a spirited discussion on fuel selectors. Send your questions to podcasts@aopa.org for a chance to be on the show. Full details below: Greg is building an RV-10, and he's wondering if he should prime all the skins while he builds to ensure there's good protection inside and out. Mike, Paul, and Colleen disagree on what to do. Paul thinks he should skip the priming and instead spray Boeshield or AV-8 because you can spray it on after the airplane is built. It's a one-time application. Mike thinks if Cessnas have lasted for decades without being primed, Greg should be ok as well. And Colleen is on the fence. Bottom line: there's no right answer, just the right answer for each builder. Russ is trying to help a friend. His 182R lower door hinge is cracked and the mechanic isn't any help. Russ owns a machine shop and thinks he can manufacture the part. Mike says that it is important not to create a part that is better than the original. He must create an equal part. Something better would require additional approvals. Paul says it's important to get the mechanic involved early because he will assume the greatest liability, and must be comfortable installing the owner-produced part. And many mechanics aren't comfortable installing something without a part number. All agree that the hardest part of making the part will be figuring out exactly what the original material is and how it was made. Frank wants to use a synthetic oil in his 182 because he's had such good results in his car. Mike makes the point that there's no full synthetic oil on the market. He suggests 15w50, a semi-synthetic, but only because Frank is able to regularly run mogas. Those who only run with 100LL shouldn't use a semi-synthetic, Mike said. Ryan is part of a flying club and they have a Cherokee 140 with an intermittent landing light. He was able to get the light to work regularly by applying a bit of heat to the circuit breaker, which makes him think the breaker is bad. The hosts recommended buying his own breaker and asking the mechanic to replace it. It's a relatively easy fix. They recommend going to a pull breaker instead. Ernest said his mechanic hears a knock, but the hosts all agree that the video clearly sounds like lifter clatter. Mike say to look left, look right, make sure no one is around and pour in some Marvel Mystery Oil, which can reduce lifter clatter. When the lifter doesn't fully lift there is play in the valve train, which makes the noise. Cleaning the lifter is an option, but it is a lot of work. Paul thinks it's possible it only happens at lower oil pressures. With normal oil temperatures he should have 80 psi oil pressure at cruise, and not something lower, like 65. Alex sparked a spirited discussion on pilot technique. He's wondering about how to test fuel flow on the ground. Some airplanes call for changing tanks on the ground, others don't. Colleen thinks it's ill-advised to switch tanks during the run-up. Paul said the fuel bowl on many carbureted engines contain about 30 seconds of fuel at cruise power. He said you'll never run the engine long enough on the second tank to properly test it. This led to a long discussion about Cessna's fuel selector design. Mike said he never moved the fuel selector off of Both in his 182, and furthermore he doesn't understand why Cessna even made it. While the Cardinal will drain from the selected tank, the 182 doesn't work the same way. If you burn off the right tank, for example, the fuel will be replaced with fuel from the left tank, and not air. Paul said he would stay on Both if he could. They then debate whether to use the fuel pump when switching tanks, and for many reasons Paul recommends sticking to the POH.

In this episode, Kevin and Jack ask an important question about the universe: are aliens real? You have to listen to find out what their answers are.https://atozenglishpodcast.com/do-you-believe-in-aliens/Share your answers to the discussion questions in our WhatsApp group chat! https://forms.gle/zKCS8y1t9jwv2KTn7If you could take a minute and complete a short survey about the podcast, we would be very appreciative. You can find the survey here: https://forms.gle/HHNnnqU6U8W3DodK8We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for future episodes.Intro/Outro Music by Eaters: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/eaters/the-astronomers-office/agents-in-coffee-shops/Quick Chat Episode 15: Do you believe in aliens? Full Transcripts, Key Words, and Discussion Questions Kevin: Welcome to an A to Z English Quick Chat where Jack and I are gonna surprise each other with a topic for the day and just see where the conversation goes. Check our site for a study guide with vocabulary notes, discussion questions and more as well as links to our Whatsapp or Facebook pages. And you can join in the conversation there. So Jack what do you want to talk about today?Jack: All right, well I have a good topic for us uh Kevin. I want to ask you a question here: Do you believe in aliens?Kevin: Do I believe in aliens? And when you say let's define this. I think first, what do you mean aliens? Do you mean like bacteria living on another planet or like some creatures that are as smart as us traveling through space and visiting Earth…Jack: Yeah, I'm talking about uh life forms that are much smarter than we are um intel intelligent life forms that are advanced so uh advanced life outside yeah in in another universe or oh sorry in in the universe but in another galaxy um you know.Kevin: So maybe in our galaxy too. Our galaxy could be an argument right? Quite huge um yeah I mean I yes just to just to break it down I think definitely. I think for me I'm a big sci-fi fan. I know you are as well and although I've seen a lot of other science documentaries that talk about this from. Did you ever see the movie contact?Jack: Yes, I love the movie Contact.Kevin: Yeah, it's yeah, it's a really cool one and I think it was in the movie Contact where they looked up at the skies and they said you know is there life out there and they said more or less like if there's not, it's a waste of space.,Jack: True yeah.Kevin: That's a good, there's good, there's so many stars and galaxies and they're discovering more and more planets every day that it seems like how could there not be. I mean there's trillions and trillions and trillions of stars out there. Like it seems uh amazing to think that we're the only one in all of that.Jack: I agree and it's infinite. It goes on, it seems to go on forever and ever like there's, no there's no stop to the expanse of space and so if are you telling me that in all of that area that massive amount of just space, there's nothing, there's not, one of those stars is a sun of another uh you know uh planetary system that there are no planets that can uh sustain life and uh you know it might be there might be some that had like you said before that are just small organisms and it's not advanced life but if they have you know just simple life forms, then there must be planets out there that have advanced life forms are bound to happen.Kevin: If yeah and I think that simple life will have to exist and if simple life exists and eventually it will become not simple life like we are. The difficult or more interesting question is like do you think do you think aliens have ever you know so many people think that aliens have come to planet Earth and like abducted people and things do you think that that's happened do you think we've been contacted by aliens?Jack: Yeah, this is a very popular conspiracy theory in the United States uh the Roswell uh story right?Kevin: Area 51.Jack: Area 51, right, where supposedly an alien spacecraft crash landed uh in that area. Now is that in your, is that in New Mexico? Is that that's next to Arizona right? Yeah Roswell New Mexico okay and so there's also a big a large military installation around there right? I think there's, okay and so supposedly within this military base they have tried to reverse engineer a spaceship that is so far beyond our technological capabilities and so things that we are able to build. Our spacecraft are so much slower and so much less sophisticated than what this machine is and I think although the alien uh craft that crashed in Roswell doesn't work that was able to teach us some very sophisticated and advanced uh technology that we never even thought about using and so some people believe that's what some people believe right and so I'm probably I'm not gonna say I don't believe it and I'm not gonna say I do believe it. I am on the fence as we say in English. I'm on the fence. What about you? where are you?Kevin: I mean yeah, I can't say yes or no for sure on that one. I do think it's I'd say it's unlikely. I don't think aliens have actually come to Earth because if they have, I don't think it would could have remained a secret in the same way like if it happened, people would know about it. This isn't like a superhero movie where aliens come down and somehow no one knows about it for you know hundreds of years. like we would probably know and I do think alien life exists. Intelligent life probably exists somewhere in the universe but the universe is again so big that the odds of them finding us or us finding them are like finding a needle in a haystack. It's tiny that it's a you know 0.0001 chance of finding something because there's just so much out there you know they could point their telescopes like we are we're pointing our telescopes up into the galaxy and we find nothing because there's so much to look for and we're and we're constantly beaming messages out into space to see if we can get some kind of response or some kind of you know that signal will reach some intelligent life and it doesn't seem like we've ever gotten any definitive evidence of it. It's just there's been some strange things that have happened but there hasn't been that contact with an alien life form that would confirm, at least nothing that we know.Jack: Yeah.Kevin: I'm not sure if you've ever seen it. I'll have to try and find the map for you. There's um like you've been talking about, we've been beaming things out into space for 100, so years now with all of our TV and radio, but even all of that compared to the size of our galaxy let alone the universe, it's been going out for 150 years. It's a tiny amount like it's not gone very far right and so if there are aliens out there, unless they're very close to us which is possible, but who knows unless they're very close to us, they haven't noticed it yet you know. It's impossible for them to have seen it because it just doesn't go far enough right, so I think that there's aliens out there. I don't think they've been to Earth yet, and I don't know if they ever will be because it's just so big. it's like yeah trying to find one seashell, one specific seashell in all of the ocean.Jack: Yeah, you know, like I saw this show when I was five. Where did it go, the thing is, the thing I hope for is like just given enough time and enough effort that eventually something will happen where there will be some sort of intersection um or the other the alien species will be so advanced that they'll be able to travel at speeds that we cannot even imagine. Right now, um, you know I mean we've only been you know flight has only been possible for a hundred years. In America, I mean wasn't it the Wright Brothers who invented the airplane only 100 years ago.Kevin: Just over.Jack: Yeah yeah or just over 100 years ago, so the fact that we now have um you know little airplanes like Cessnas that can fly all over the place. We have giant jumbo jets that can transport hundreds of people.Kevin: To the moon.Jack: Yeah, then we can go to the moon. Um, it's really, it's amazing to think about what we've accomplished in just a hundred years so. If I fast forward two or three hundred years um, it makes me wonder if we're not going to, it just seems inevitable to me, like I just think that there will be we will at some point we find out that there is intelligent life but like you said, the ability for us to meet is so difficult because the distances are just, that's so incredible, but it's ridiculous yeah, the fact that space seems to go on infinitely makes me think there just have to be other places that are habitable for either human beings or other species of life form and so that's yeahKevin: There's two interesting thoughts about that that could take us a long time, but let's not do too long. One you said other species, other types of life, that's a very interesting one. Like for what we know, all life needs water for example right? But it's possible that there's some other crazy life that we can't even imagine that doesn't even need water out there, so maybe we're looking in the wrong place. But just to finish up, I've got one final question that to take this assuming that there is intelligent you know super advanced aliens out there Jack and assuming that eventually we will contact them do you think they'll be friendly? Jack: You know that's a good question. Again, I'm on the fence about this one. Uh I'm not sure if they look at what we're doing to our planet, the way we destroy our planet and the way we treat our planet so poorly. I wonder if they you know will look at us and say why are you not taking care of your planet um right? You know or the other side of that issue is maybe they did the same thing to their planet and they want to take our planet and use it for themselves, and so we become a lower species on the uh totem pole uh and so we become kind of working for them. So, it's kind of scary. I don't know what you know in the movies the aliens usually are the bad guys you know. They're coming to take our resources and they're coming to uh you know strip our planet of its of its natural resources and stuff like that and uh I prefer the other uh version where aliens just want to communicate with us and understand us and it's more like a they're just seeking information about the planetary systems and they come across Earth and they see human beings and they appreciate us for what we are you know um so we can we can only hope that they will be friendly because if they're more advanced than us, then if they're not friendly, we're in trouble.Kevin: Exactly, exactly. That's right, that's right all right well, yeah, I hope that they're friendly and let's see what happens. At least we do have some friendly people that we talk to in our chat room every day so have we got any listener mail.Jack: Um, yes, we want to talk to you today. We have some listener mail and I would like to talk about uh phobias. S, this one is from, let me see here, Layla. And Layla was talking about her phobias and she has a phobia of escalators which is interesting um and she says as soon as she, yeah, she says as soon as she thinks about escalators, her heart starts beating so fast And she says uh fortunately she has outgrown this phobia. Or at least she has tried to, I think. She's still, there's still a little bit of the phobia there, and uh she says in Dubai there are a number uh a big number of malls and they all have escalators and uh so she uses the stairs to go to the next floor the first floor the second floor and so uh or sometimes she says her sister-in-law will help her by holding her hands so that's the uh that's uh Layla's phobia. Yeah, so thanks for thank you for sharing that Layla.Kevin: Cool, all right well thanks everybody for listening, and we'll come back and talk to you more about aliens next time. Remember to check our webpage and our Whatsapp group for you to join in the discussion all right.Jack: Bye, bye.  Key Words:  Universe: all existing matter and space considered as a whole; the cosmos Bacteria: Microscopic single-celled organisms Expanse: the distance to which something expands or can be expanded. Sustain: support physically Intelligent life: beings that can learn and understand things Finding a needle in a haystack: The act of trying to find something very small in a very large area Infinitely: without limits; forever Discussion Questions:1. Do you believe in aliens?2. Do you think aliens have visited Earth?3. Do you want aliens to exist, or would you prefer humans to be alone in the universe?Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-a-to-z-english-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Troutdale Airfield is just 10 miles from Portland International — and built to serve Cessnas, not 747s. But one dark night in 1962, a DC-8 pilot got a little confused .... (Troutdale, Multnomah County; 1960s) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/1802a.massive-jet-lands-at-tiny-country-airport-by-mistake-481.html)

WBZ's Jordan Rich recounts the story of one flight that almost ended poorly.

Ian Brubaker started his aviation journey in 2006, first flying powered in Cessnas, then sailplanes, and then moving on to hang gliders. Hang gliding has been his primary form of aviation for the past several years and he has been teaching it since 2015, holding a basic instructor and tandem rating. Ian also holds a B.S. in Space Physics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Ian's passion and expertise is to make flying easy to understand and fun to learn by leveraging both his practical and theoretical background of aviation. Ian Joins our Producer Mitch to chat about his adventures flying Sailplanes, Hang Gliders and what he enjoys about each one and what we can learn from flying different types of aircraft.  Later on the podcast our friend Sergio, The Soaring Master brings us another segment and this one talks about the 5 ways we can improve our soaring. Join us now for episode 114 of Soaring The Sky, a glider pilot's podcast.  www.soaringthesky.com www.patreon.com/soaringthesky  

T Today we have got a great guest on the podcast. I am happy to introduce you guys all to Dave Kalahar. Dave is not only a full-time RV, but he is also a retired commander in the Civil Air Patrol or CAP in the United States. Dave spent about 45 years in broadcasting and you are all in for a great podcast episode.   What You Need To Know Like many people, Dave's interest in radio started with a small handheld crystal control. It was a RadioShack or realistic scanner. But today, he could not even count the number of scanners he has had over the years or two-way radios that do scanning CAP or Civil Air Patrol is a civilian auxiliary of the United States Airforce. It came to action 80 years ago during World War II. Following WWII, congress decided to enact a separate service branch called the Air Force The Air Force Auxillary is CAP. The money that is provided to Civil Air Patrol comes from the United States Air Force budget. The CAP as a volunteer is a terrific option to utilize the talents you have come across with CB radio, amateur radio, scanning, and GMRS. If you are a hobbyist interested in those areas, Civil Air Patrol will allow you to take that interest in that knowledge. The emergency response part of CAP is where the communications part comes in. There are 728 VHF FM repeaters that are P25 type dual-mode analog repeaters are available all across the country. In addition, we have more than 2000 HF stations operating at CAP. There is an awful lot of assets available for use in the missions that we do, and CAP also has the largest fleet of Cessna aircraft in the world, and the last count is 560 single-engine aircraft. Every CAP member is an airman, just like a member that serves in the actual Air Force. We are the public face to the Air Force, and we do localized activities, says Dave. We have an extensive system that has been in place to do work remotely, and a digital system will be in place for all those repeaters so that you can listen to any of our repeaters from a centralized location at any time you want, says Dave. CAP has an airborne camera and many different systems attached to our aircraft that do specialized photography to FEMA. That photography can help FEMA figure out how big the disaster is. CAP also flies his cadets and calls them orientation flights. So every one of our cadets is entitled to five one-hour flights in our aircraft. They don't take off or land, but they fly the aircraft for five hours at their airport, and there are different profiles. Learning to become a better leader is something we all could use, and CAP has developed a fantastic program based on Air Force training. It is all run from Air University, and they modified the program here a couple of years ago. So it has become a world-class training program for all CAP members. The entire flying fleet and planes used by volunteers for the missions are provided by CAP. Way back, the Air Force started buying the Cessnas, providing those to squadrons, and now it's all provided by CAP. All the aircraft now worked with an ATSP. Those aircraft have the G1000 glass panels and have all the advanced equipment, but the FAA calls the sign for camp aircraft is CAP. The VHF system is just for CAP, but our base stations and aircraft have AM. So we can hear our aircraft when they're talking to air traffic control, and there are times that we will talk to them on AM radio if we need to. CAP has simplex frequencies, so air to the ground will often be simplex. CAP also has a set of tactical frequencies called secret squirrel frequencies because our airplane will always have one radio set to that frequency at all times. CAP will begin to use some digital communications to send messages in the future. The HF system used to be a primary military system. Our communications and the Air Force had an extensive HF network at one point, especially with all of the missions and tactical operations. But they let that network kind of fall apart over the end of the world War, and over some time, they concentrated on satellite communications. There are more than 2000 HF stations across North America, and 5 to 600 of those are probably doing ALE all the time, and that is a pretty good beacon that helps us to know when and how a message is going to get through.   ====================================

Over the past 100 years, the technology inside airplanes has become more and more advanced from jumbo jets to smaller Cessnas. Some see the next step to full automation as removing the pilot completely. Reliable Robotics and Xwing are two Bay Area start-ups working on doing just that. Rather than build new aircraft, both companies have retrofitted Cessna Grand Caravans. The planes can fly autonomously with a remote operator who monitors the flight and can take control if needed. Both companies are working with the FAA on getting approval.

Hey y'all Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.  Let's talk about qualifying leads in your business.  In an article written in Business News Daily, Max Freedman writes, “Lead generation is important, but qualifying your leads to determine which ones are worth pursuing can save you time and money.” Now I don't know about you, but saving time and money when it comes to your business should be a priority as an owner. I spent over a year working outside sales for a company that sells aviation wiring and cables. We sold to the military, major airlines,  mom and pop hangers that flew Cessnas... if you have a vehicle that flew, we sold to you. I got to go to some pretty cool places over that year... Space X out in California, American Airlines HQ in Texas, Salt Lake City to see some guys who are doing amazing work on developing defense technology for the airforce. Literally, we went all over.  Now, we would usually plan a trip around 1-2 of our biggest customers or suppliers in that area we were traveling to. But we couldn't go anywhere unless we had 9-10 visits set up for that week. But even a step furthers, my direct boss would make us submit our visits a few weeks in advance, so he could make sure... you guessed it. These were qualified leads. He didn't want us traveling week in and week out if we weren't coming back with something that benefited the company. A new supplier, a new customer, a new point of contact at a company that we were trying to crack. Our trips were all justified because we had the take the time to qualify our leads. In his book, Business Made Simple, Donald Miller notes that a qualified lead meets the following three criteria…   They have a problem your product or service will solve They are able to afford your product or service They have the authority to buy your product or service Let me read those again…   They have a problem your product or service will solve They are able to afford your product or service They have the authority to buy your product or service So the question is, are you qualifying the leads in your business? If not, you may be wasting some of your time, energy, and money chasing down any lead that pops up.  Miller goes on to write,  “Create a list of criteria that qualifies leads so you can move them into a story that solves their problem and changes their lives.” If your business already has a list of criteria, great! I would say make sure you are reviewing that list once a quarter or so to make sure you are up to date. If you currently don't have that list readily available for yourself or your employees, that's a good place to start. Let's make sure we are going after the right people. A little work on the front end will save your time, energy, and money in the long run.  Thanks for listening.  If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.

Hey y'all Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.  Let's talk about qualifying leads in your business.  In an article written in Business News Daily, Max Freedman writes, “Lead generation is important, but qualifying your leads to determine which ones are worth pursuing can save you time and money.” Now I don't know about you, but saving time and money when it comes to your business should be a priority as an owner. I spent over a year working outside sales for a company that sells aviation wiring and cables. We sold to the military, major airlines,  mom and pop hangers that flew Cessnas... if you have a vehicle that flew, we sold to you. I got to go to some pretty cool places over that year... Space X out in California, American Airlines HQ in Texas, Salt Lake City to see some guys who are doing amazing work on developing defense technology for the airforce. Literally, we went all over.  Now, we would usually plan a trip around 1-2 of our biggest customers or suppliers in that area we were traveling to. But we couldn't go anywhere unless we had 9-10 visits set up for that week. But even a step furthers, my direct boss would make us submit our visits a few weeks in advance, so he could make sure... you guessed it. These were qualified leads. He didn't want us traveling week in and week out if we weren't coming back with something that benefited the company. A new supplier, a new customer, a new point of contact at a company that we were trying to crack. Our trips were all justified because we had the take the time to qualify our leads. In his book, Business Made Simple, Donald Miller notes that a qualified lead meets the following three criteria…   They have a problem your product or service will solve They are able to afford your product or service They have the authority to buy your product or service Let me read those again…   They have a problem your product or service will solve They are able to afford your product or service They have the authority to buy your product or service So the question is, are you qualifying the leads in your business? If not, you may be wasting some of your time, energy, and money chasing down any lead that pops up.  Miller goes on to write,  “Create a list of criteria that qualifies leads so you can move them into a story that solves their problem and changes their lives.” If your business already has a list of criteria, great! I would say make sure you are reviewing that list once a quarter or so to make sure you are up to date. If you currently don't have that list readily available for yourself or your employees, that's a good place to start. Let's make sure we are going after the right people. A little work on the front end will save your time, energy, and money in the long run.  Thanks for listening.  If you haven't done so already, subscribe to our Podcast, and/or our YouTube channel.

Over the past 100 years, the technology inside airplanes has become more and more advanced from jumbo jets to smaller Cessnas. Some see the next step to full automation as removing the pilot completely. Reliable Robotics and Xwing are two Bay Area start-ups working on doing just that. Rather than build new aircraft, both companies have retrofitted Cessna Grand Caravans. The planes can fly autonomously with a remote operator who monitors the flight and can take control if needed. Both companies are working with the FAA on getting approval. Get the latest news: https://anchor.fm/world-of-relaxation

Heart Aerospace gets a 200 plane order from United and Mesa Airlines, a regional partner. Richard Branson reaches space with Virgin Galactic--what's the significance of this milestone? Reliable Robotics is working on automating Cessna flight--will we have automated, remote cargo flight sooner than later? Plus, FAA fines, EVTOL news and more. Learn more about Weather Guard StrikeTape segmented lightning diverters and aircraft lightning protection consulting services. Follow the show on YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit us on the web. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Transcript of EP62 - Heart Aerospace Order with United; Richard Branson Takes Flight; Reliable Robotics work with Cessnas

Jason Zilberbrand is the President of VREF Aircraft Value Reference & Appraisal Services. He is an Accredited Senior Aircraft Appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers (ASA), and an Accredited Member of the Appraisers National Association (ANA), and he is also an Accredited Member of the International Society of Appraisers (ISA), Expert Witness, broker, inventorying dealer, acquisition agent, aircraft owner, aircraft operator, contract negotiator, consultant, teacher, conference speaker, and author. Jason spent over 15 years as an inventory aircraft dealer with a $300-million-dollar credit facility, and over $4.5 billion in completed aircraft transactions.   Most passionate about I help buyers and sellers of airplanes, ranging from small little piston aircraft like Cessnas to commercial aircraft, like you would fly on an airline. Most of my clients are either financial institutions that provide loans for this type of equipment or individual buyers of these aircraft who are looking to deal with some sort of estate planning or refinancing. My firm is the largest aircraft appraisal firm in the world. We do a couple thousand desktop appraisals a year. If you're familiar with Kelley Blue Book for cars, we manage a similar software platform for aircraft values. Jason's career and story I started off in a family business: an aviation insurance company. So, right out of college, I worked for the family business. I did that for a decade. It was all business jets. I cut my teeth in the industry, working with what are today considered the classic business jets. These were airplanes that were used by Fortune 500 companies and high-net-worth individuals. They were flying them globally. My father's company provided coverage for maintenance. I started getting requests from clients to assist them in buying airplanes. That was really when the light bulb started to go off that there were things that I could do in aviation that weren't necessarily tied to the family's business. I left the insurance company and started an inventory dealership—like a car dealership, except we had planes and cars. I did that full-time through 2013. When the recession hit in 2008, I started to appraise more airplanes. I think it just was a natural progression of my career. Best advice for entrepreneurs Some of the tricks that I use are to try and create obtainable goals and set those goals every day so that eventually I hit the big goal, but I'm not taking on such a massive project. One of the ways to do that is to look inward and see what your strengths are, then try and bring in other people who can bridge the gap of your weaknesses. You have to trust those whom you delegate work to, which is another big challenge for entrepreneurs. So, you have to trust the people whom you hire; otherwise, don't hire them. The biggest, most critical failure with customers I think that one of the biggest failures that anybody can have is assuming that the other person or the customer sees things from your perspective. When you're young, or at least when I was young, I tended to explode on people who were looking for help and who might not have done it in such a respectful way. So, my biggest failure, unfortunately, was burning bridges with some potentially really important customers because I didn't care to engage with them the way that they wanted to engage with me. Biggest success with customers My base success, I think, comes with the new business, and that is trusting the fact that the customer base would be able to adapt to change. My biggest success today is asking permission before I go down a path, including when it's personal, with my wife. I talk about things instead of making decisions in my own little world. I think that is really demonstrated not only to the industry but to our client base, that we're dedicated to them and that we're here to assist them with complex problems and be somebody they can trust to solve those...

Kathy Mexted with true stories of extraordinary Australian women compelled to take to the skies in Spitfires, Tiger Moths, Cessnas and fighter jets

Kathy Mexted with true stories of extraordinary Australian women compelled to take to the skies in Spitfires, Tiger Moths, Cessnas and fighter jets

Maria, a younger millennial asks what it was like to hear about the death of Kurt Cobain from a gen-x’er then in his teens and an older millennial then 10 yrs old. It was an interesting question, because it was both guys’ first time really being encountered with suicide. (Yes, we are aware of the potential murder scenario but at the time suicide was the predominant theory).   Both guys remembered when they heard it, remembered the impact that the music and the videos had on them at the time and drew some parallels between themselves and peers. Conversation, of course moves on to Cessnas and other small aircraft. Eric can understand the desire to fly these, not the willingness to be a passenger. Horrible idea and has previously and will continue to refuse all opportunities to be one. And you should too. The more you know...

People have been playing flight sims for decades. For those without the means to fly the real deal flight simulators are the best way to get that feeling of taking to the air and cover all sorts of aviation from the smallest Cessnas, the fastest fighters to the biggest Antonovs. It's long been a very niche genre of video gaming and at the most-in-depth end an expensive hobby as well, but the new Microsoft Flight Simulator has taken the world by storm and opened it up to a huge, new audience. Nick and Sam have been playing it a fair bit since release and give their review of it (spoiler - we love it), and we also chat with Dan about the flight sim world in general. To read our reports, features and interviews now that airshows are a thing again, head to https://www.airshows.co.uk If you want to join the discussion, you can head to our forums at https://forums.airshows.co.uk

Recorded on 17th of July, 2020 On episode 49 of Squawk Ident Captain Roger and I have the honor of speaking with a pair of aviators that both have an impressive international footprint in aviation. They both started their aviation careers in Iceland and eventually came to America to build flight time in Cessnas and Pipers at a little flight school named Tailwind Flight Centre, LLC, in Chandler, Arizona. Their journeys have since allowed them to build upon impressive resumes of flying positions around the world. They have flown with operators based in Austria, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, and Iceland. They share their accomplishments in aviation and what the future holds for them in the wake of this global pandemic with us. Join Captain Roger and me as we speak with some true Icelandic Vikings Sigurbjörn (Sibbi) Ragnarsson & Rúnar Ingi Ásgeirsson on this fantastic episode of Squawk Ident. reference: Euro Vison Song Contest IMDb: Eurovison Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020) Slátur chapters: [04:10] Flying Vikings [07:50] Tailwind & Time Building [21:30] How JAA pilots licenses convert into FAA PPLs [42:20] Legacy Iceland and Furloughs [53:50] Hurtles to Overcome [1:01:30] Favorite Overnights [1:15:10] The Backup Plan [1:22:10] Slátur! [1:26:10] Eurovision and Those Elves Thank You for Listening! Don't forget to Subscribe, Like, Support, and Share Please visit Av8rtony.com for all show audio, cover art, Squawk Ident gear, leave audio feedback, and more. Intro and transition music & cover art by Av8rTony and produced at Av8r Sound Studios of Southern California cover art background image of Seljalandsfoss Waterfall courtesy https://fshoq.com You can also follow Av8rTony and Squawk Ident Podcast on Twitter & YouTube. Facebook and Instagram user search @Squawk Ident Podcast Squawk Ident can now be heard on iHeart Radio, Spotify, Anchor.FM, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, PocketCasts, RadioPublic, and more. Copyright © Squawk Ident 2020, All Rights Reserved Copyright © Av8r Sound Studios 2020, All Rights Reserved Squawk Ident by Av8rTony is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - 4.0 International License --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/squawkident/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/squawkident/support

Father and son team, the Duanes are the founders of Air Chathams Air Chathams is not your typical airline.This family-owned airline is the only operator in the world that would give you the chance to fly a regular flight on a 1950s, Convair 580 aircraft. And, as it if this was not enough, you can round-up the experience by visiting one of the most remote inhabited outposts in the planet: the Chatham Islands, a tiny archipelago (pop.400) several hundred miles off the east coast of New Zealand. The Convair 580, a rare 1950s airliner that Air Chathams still operates on regular services….but not for long! Think that New Zealand is at the edge of the World? You can actually go a bit further and reach the Chatham Islands, some 400 miles off the east coast of New Zealand, where the South Pacific meets the Antarctic Ocean But Air Chathams has also an eclectic fleet that combines vintage aircraft, such as the Convairs and a WW2-era DC-3 that is used on charter flights, with a modern fleet of turboprops for different sorts of air services in and around New Zealand (they also fly to another fascinating remote outpost Norfolk Island!).I called Duane Emeny, the current Chief Operating Officer at Air Chathams and second-generation of the founding family, all the way across 12 time zones in order to talk about this rather unique airline business, about the Chatham Islands and, more generally, about what it takes to run an airline that operates 19140s and 1950s aircraft.Check it out! Download this episode on:Apple Podcasts / iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or StitcherThings we talk about in this episode:The fascinating story of Air ChathamsWhere are the Chatham Islands and how are they likeOperating a vintage airliner: the Convair 580 and the DC-3Air Chathams modern fleet: ATR-72, Saab 340, Fairchild MetrolineAir Chathams airline venture in the Kingdom of TongaAir Chathams flights within New Zealand and to Norfolk IslandHow to book a flight on a Convair 580The future of the Convair vintage fleetResourcesAir Chathams website, in case you wish to book your Convair 580 flight!My article on CNN about vintage airliners you can still fly, featuring Air Chathams’ Convair 580The Chatham IslandsNorfolk Island Convair 580Douglas DC-3 The cabin interior of the Air Chathams DC-3 One of Air Chathams Fairchild Metroliners Podcast Music: Five Armies by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3762-five-armiesLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Interview Transcript (please note that, although we strive to make it as close as possible to the original recording, the transcript may not be 100% accurate)Hello and welcome to the Allplane Podcast, where, every week, we explore different aspects of the aviation industry in the company of some of its most experienced, knowledgeable professionalsIn order to record this episode I had to wake up way earlier than usual, since there was a twelve hour time difference with the time zone where today’s guest is based, but I think it was well worth it...Because, today on the show, we are joined by the manager of a very, very unique airline…Air Chathams is a unique airline, both because of the composition of its fleet and its networkIt is the only airline left in the world to operate a fleet of 1950s Convair 580 aircraft on regular commercial services.It is also unique because they act as a lifeline and link to the rest of the world, for one of the most remote and isolated communities anywhere in this planet, the Chathams Islands, a tiny archipelago several hundred miles off the coast of New Zealand, located right in the middle of the so called “roaring forties” where the South Pacific and Antarctic Ocean meet. But also, because Air Chathams is a family affair that has grown organically over the last three decades to cover a network of very interesting destinations in and around New ZealandDuane Emeny, our guest today, is the second generation at the helm of Air Chathams.We are going to talk about what it takes to build an airline in this part of the world, the story of its vintage fleet, which includes also a WW2-era DC-3, as well as the modern part of its fleet and the plans he holds for the future of this airline and, more generally, about the uniqueness of the destinations they fly to.Without further ado, let me welcome Duane to the podcast!-Hello, Duane! how are you? -Very good. How are you? -Very good. So you are joining us today from literally the other side of the world, from Auckland, New Zealand-Auckland, New Zealand.-Although you are additionally a while your company is originally based in an archipelago, it's even more remote than New Zealand and it's called the Chatham Islands and it’s 400 miles east of New Zealand's East Coast, right?-That is correct. It's a very isolated island population 400 nautical miles off the east coast of mainland New Zealand place called the Chatham Islands and yeah, it's an island population that really has a very strong fishing and agricultural industry, so to predominantly export export products into mainland New Zealand and internationally. So it's a small island A small population that it actually has a very large GDP per capita based on the products that are harvested.-And I guess your airline plays a role in this export activity, because you basically and that's the reason we have you here is that you operate the local airline in the islands. And that's an airline that caught my eye. A couple of years ago when I was writing an article for CNN about vintage airliners that are still operating. And I came across this airline called air chasms that you're still operating one of the few if not the only one. The only Convair 580 that is still operational, right. So that's a 1950s aircraft. You also have a DC-3 and then you have some other more modern aircraft like an ATR and I think some sign up turboprops as well. So can you please tell us a little bit about this airline and how it started and the type of very original unique fleet that you have.-Yeah, absolutely no problem. So, yeah, it is. It is a very unique year line that we operate. The airline started in 1984 is my father Craig that started the company. He was actually living on the Chatham Islands. He was working for another very small airline at the time, and providing a service between the islands there's a main island, which is called Chatham, and then there's another small island called Pitt Island, and there are fishing communities on both of those islands. So his job at the time was making sure that the islands were connected and could go backwards and forwards using a Cessna 185, a very small airplane. And he would land on all sorts of grassy strips on both islands and transport cargo and yeah, as I say, people and everything you can imagine actually. So, you know, he spent a lot of time on the Chatham Islands and he got to know the people and he could see that there were some real issues getting produce into the mainland of New Zealand. The service at the time was very unreliable. It was subsidized by the government, but it was quite infrequent. And as I say, the reliability was affected for a number of reasons...weather...it was difficult getting to the Chatham Islands, because of its remoteness. And also, ultimately, because it was a subsidized service. the priorities of the airline providing that service was really elsewhere in their own network. -So can I stop you here for a second, because I wanted to ask you about the islands as I checked a little bit about how they are. Do you have about 600 people living there? Something like that?-Yeah, that's right. So the resident population currently is 600.-It’s 6-0-0, not 600,000...-Yeah. So that's to give an idea to our audience of how such a, this is such a, it's not just remote, but it's also kind of a small place. So it's, it's just like a village in many ways, right?-Absolutely, it's a community where everyone knows everyone. You know, it's made up of a number of large family groups really, and and you know, those those family groups held back to the first settlers of the island in the US Like 100 sites, it is a very small community, very close community and I'm very proud community-And how are the islands? Like, what sort of environment there is a lot? -It's very rugged, very rugged landscape. It's part of the, what we call the roaring 40s. So it's 40 degrees latitude. And, and that brings some reasonably strong weather. We have, you know, very strong winds. The temperatures do get very cold, although we don't really have anything in the way of like heavy snow or frost. But it is quite cold with the Windchill, the windchill factor from the south is very cold because basically there's no there's no there's nothing between Antarctica and us when it comes to the wind. So it does play some challenges living on the island and it certainly poses some challenges operating aeroplanes. -Mm hmm. Interesting. So I'm gonna post the link. Well, a few links if I can find some and transcript on the, on the show notes so that people can see how they look like I just had a look on on the internet earlier. And I found it really, really interesting. I really have a thing for this sort of unique remote, places. So that's something definitely to check out. But I interrupted you when you were explaining the story of the airline. So basically, your father realized that there was a market gap, or there was a need in the islands for better connections to the New Zealand mainland, right. -Correct. And that's what he said. Yeah, he found that. Yeah, yeah. The, you know, with the help of the, the Chatham Islands people and some of the you know, He developed a relationship with during his time there, he was able to invest in a very small aircraft It was a Cessna 337 so they had a nickname called a push me pull you there was a centerline thrust the aircraft with one engine at the back and one in the front. So effectively It was a multi engine aircraft but on a single line thrust and any use any aircraft between Chatham Islands and pit Island but he also started flying Chad up into mainland New Zealand to a place called De Guzman and in Napier, which is on the Hawke's Bay and the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand.-Hmm, I'm just checking now these aircraft Cessna 337. That's quite an interesting configuration, as you said, when you went into the front, one at the back-That's right. So yeah, well, it's sort of they work at the same time both engines are. Okay, now they always had one And I guess if one stopped then you, you know, you still had one left, but I don't think it would get you very far.-Interesting. I'm gonna post the link as well on the show notes. -So, then you said that the small airline was a one aircraft airline. And I'm from there he kept growing it...-Yeah, basically the demand for products of the island grew and, then, as it grew...And ultimately, you know, that takes us through to 1996. When we purchased our first Convair 580. And that was when we introduced that airplane into our fleet.-And what did you get this Convair aircraft because that was already by the late 90s. That was already kind of vintage. I mean, that aircraft was flying already for 50 years, since the 50s and we could say it's one of the last large piston engine aircraft, right? -Yeah, well, I mean, they all came out originally as piston radial aircraft. The one that we purchased in 1996 for the Chatham Islands was actually a Convair 340 variant with the piston radial engines. And then in the, I think it was throughout the mid 60s, that's when Convair started to retrofit the aircraft, with the Ellison propeller engines and that's really what, you know, ultimately was making those aircraft so popular with a lot of regional airlines throughout the United States and actually through Europe as well. So and, and you know, I mean, you're quite right, I mean to be introducing an aircraft like that in 1996...it certainly already had quite a life. I'm not I'm not entirely up to date with the full history of the aircraft we now call ZK-CIB, which is New Zealand registration. But it certainly did have an exciting life and had just one, one little mishap, I believe it was on takeoff where the aircraft was was departing on quite an icy runway and it actually came off the runway and the propeller went through the side fuselage, I think was a left hand prop detach and went through the side fuselage and almost right the aircraft off. So, you know, it was salvaged from the air and carried on flying and eventually ended up on, you know, one of the remotest islands in the world...-And how did you procure this aircraft? Where did you find it? -Yeah, it was a little bit before me, but Well, I mean, I was around, quite a bit younger, but my father went over to Canada, there's a place called Kelowna and they were actually retrofitting these aircraft. So they were buying existing hulls and they were converting them into these combi aircraft. So, effectively a combination of passenger and freight and, and also installing a large hydraulic cargo door on the rear side of the fuselage. So it could actually take a pelletized loading system using tag ons and flat pellets with straps in it so that that's really the key to it was that it allowed for the Chatham Island service you could run as a you know, it could be a full passenger aircraft carrying 39 people or it could be converted within one hour to a full freight aircraft and carry, you know, just under seven ton or you could decide to have it multiple configurations of, you know, 21 passengers with four and a half ton of freight, or a 31 passenger combination with around about two and a half ton of freight. So, it was a very versatile aircraft. And that's why it was so effective on the Chatham Islands.-And right now you operate it in which configuration? Or you're also changing all the time?-Yeah, all the time. We're changing it. Yeah. So depending on what the demand is, if it's a larger group that wants to come out to visit the island, and we get that quite a bit during the summer, then we'll run it as a full freight aircraft. Or if it's, you know...if the fish factories on the Chatham Islands have got a lot of product that they need to export quickly, they'll contact us and we'll fly it out as a full full freighter, so it's constantly being moved between configurations. -So you're flying it regularly. And you could actually book it as a regular flight with any...-Absolutely! All the flights to and from the Chatham Islands are still serviced 100% by Convair aircraft and they run on a schedule we operate. Currently it's on a very reduced period post COVID-19. But we're still operating three return flights from the Chatham Islands to the three main ports and New Zealand which is Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. And you know, as we get closer to our summer, your winter, we will start to increase the schedule so to cater for the increase in passenger traffic demand and also a lot more fishing goes on because the weather starts to improve so the fishing boats can get out on the water and catch rock lobster and other fish species which they export.-Wow, it must be quite an experience to fly such an aircraft. -Yeah, we've had people from all over the world come and book on our airline, because they just love these airplanes and all they want to do is travel to the Chatahmas on a Convair and then fly again, so it is quite unique...-And that's not the only vintage aircraft that you have in your fleet because you also have...you used to have a Douglas DC-3, right? -Yeah, we still have a Douglas DC-3. It's a beautiful airplane. It's got a, you know, like all Douglas DC-3s that are still flying, it's got an amazing history. It came off the production line the day the the Russians invaded Berlin during WW2 so obviously at that stage the demand for aircraft going into Europe was less and so that particular plane was actually part of a number that was donated or gifted to the New Zealand Air Force and then they were used as trainers and they also saw some active duty. This particular one was on active duty in the Malayan crisis. When it came back to New Zealand it was sold what ultimately became Air New Zealand, but at the time it was called National Airways Corporation. And they were flown all around New Zealand. So initially, it was actually two airlines in New Zealand that were flying DC-3 and National Airways Corporation were actually in quite a heated competition environment so they upgraded the aircraft they implemented the what they called the skyline and mod so you know, it was soundproofing and improved cabin interiors in larger windows. So that's the shape that the aircraft is currently. From there, it went on leasing, it did some flying for an airline in Samoa, which is in the South Pacific, a South Pacific Island, from there it came back to New Zealand where it was used. Initially the plan was to use it to fly tourists around the country, but then it was actually converted to an agricultural aircraft. So it was spraying fertilizer on the farms around New Zealand, on certain parts of New Zealand. After that, it was a freighter, they pulled all the hopper equipment out for the fertilizing work and they turned it into a freighter. And it was flying between the two islands, so the North Island and the South Island of New Zealand, then it was reconverted back into a passenger aircraft. The intention was to use it on tours around the country again. But that never happened. And it found its way to the kingdom of Tonga where it was actually purchased by the Crown Prince, they have a monarchy in Tonga. And they actually had an airline up there and started operating two DC-3s. All through the Kingdom of Tonga. So they did that for quite some time. And that's really how we came to, to get our hands on the aircraft is that we took over the air service and Tonga, as we called it Chathams Pacific. It was a subsidiary of our mainline. And we purchased a hangar so that we could do our own airline maintenance at the hangar in Tongatapu, it’s an airport, which is their international airport, it connects the kingdom with New Zealand and other countries, Australia and through the Pacific. And there at the hangar was the Douglas DC-3 and my father is quite a passionate aviator. So he didn't want to see that aircraft turned into scrap. So we started a project, we got some help from Air New Zealand and some very experienced aircraft engineers that had worked on and flew the Douglas DC-3s in the past. And we slowly, but surely brought it back to life. Once we had it serviceable and certified, we actually decided to operate it ourselves. So we started flying passengers with that aircraft between Tongatapu and the Ha’apai Island group and also up into the Vava’u Island group, which is in the kingdom of Tonga. And it was actually very successful and was hands down one of the more reliable airplanes that we had because they were just so simple. They were built that way. So if you know you needed to change a cylinder, you could do that within a matter of hours. So they are very, very effective airplanes. We made the decision to exit that market, because there was at the time quite a large influence through government to accept an offer from the Chinese government for some MA-60 aircraft, and a whole aviation package around that so we just felt that it probably wasn't going to be a very fair environment to operate in and we decided that we would move out that part of our operation back to New Zealand and we took the DC-3s with us and since it got back into New Zealand we've been using it for predominantly for scenic flying and air shows so we take it to all the main shows around New Zealand and also it's based 24/7 these days in port city called Tauranga and that's on the western Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand and we've paired up with a company down there called Classic Fliers. So on the weekends and summer we take our DC-3 out for...I think, it's only 99 New Zealand dollars. I'm not sure what that is in euro...it's probably about 30 euro...we fly that aircraft for 30 minutes around the city as a sightseeing tour. It's very popular.-Wow, that's quite a story. I'm trying to picture now this DC-3 flying in the South Pacific and then in the beautiful landscape of New Zealand that must be really, really an amazing experience. So that's only for on.demand panoramic flights. It's not on, let's say, on regular airline service, this DC-3...-Yeah, that's right it's a line schedule days are well and truly over, but we do still use it on the on theme tours and and we do go to the shows and things like that as well. So it's beautiful. Everywhere it goes, it draws attention. And, you know, our goal now, because we are a family airline and we are very passionate about aviation, we want to make sure that people get to experience it here. -I see some pictures online, you have it painted in a sort of retro livery…-Yeah, so we've actually taken it back to its original paint scheme when it first started with a National Airways Corporation. And, and it was named “Pouwhaitere”, which is a Maori word for a yellow crested parakeet. And so that's the paint scheme that we've taken it back to.-I can see you also have other aircraft in your fleet. I mean, I don't want the audience to have the impression that you are like a flying museum! I mean, you have some modern aircraft as well. You have an ATR 72, you have some SAAB 340s, Fairchild Metros...Cessnas...Can you tell us a bit more about the rest of the fleet, the modern part of the fleet?-Yeah, no problem. So I guess it’s like anything...as an airline grows. You've got to move with the times and because we are family owned, we are limited by basically what we can afford as a family to operate. But as the airline has grown larger, we've been in a position to take advantage of some opportunities that have come our way. So we've expanded our domestic network within the North Island of New Zealand. We took over some flight routes that were previously operated by a New Zealand national carrier. And we implemented aircraft like the Metroliners...we bought into the Saab 340, which has been an extremely effective aircraft for our airline. And in more recent times, we have contracted with a company based in the United States to provide an aircraft for Tauck Tours, they are an international travel company that has guided itineraries throughout the world, including Australia and New Zealand. So we operate the New Zealand component of that with our ATR 72. So We're in a transitional state at the moment, we think we'll be retiring the Convairs within the next 12 months.-One question, I didn't fully understand what last thing you said about the ATR 72. So that's it’s flying itineraries for groups, is it?-Yes. So there's...if you google search...it's a company called Tauck, T-a-u-c-k, and they're an international travel company that does very high end fully guided tours all around the world. And they have an Australia and New Zealand component. So we operate the itineraries for New Zealand. So that aircraft, that ATR aircraft we purchased from Air New Zealand, we use it specifically on those charter services.-Okay, interesting. And from what you said, you also operate on the New Zealand mainland so your route network is not only flying between the Chatham Islands and New Zealand but also inside New Zealand. And I think you also have a flight to the Norfolk island. Is this right?-That's correct, yeah, we love flying to Norfolk Island!-Just for the audience: it's an island, a small island, that is literally between Australia and New Zealand and it's got, from what I heard, a very unique environment and landscape.-Right yeah! very similar to the Chathams except the temperatures are significantly better, it's a much warmer place, it's subtropical. They don't have any industry there, the only industry is tourism. So visitors from Australia and New Zealand predominantly, but in recent years, mainly from Australia. And, yes, we operate the Convair 580 from Auckland to Norfolk. So, interestingly, that's exactly the same distances as the flight from Auckland to Chatham Islands. And even more interestingly, if you flew directly from the Chatham Islands to Auckland and you carried on flying for another 580 nautical miles, you would land in Norfolk Island. So, go figure! We decided that was a route that was purpose-built for the Convair.-So your airline should be on the agenda of pretty much everyone that is interested in these remote out spots in the south.-Yeah, I think so-A very unique destination network...-Yeah. So it's probably for at least the next six months you can operate on, you know, fly on a very unique airplane to a very unique place. -How is it like to operate such a diverse and unique fleet? I guess when you're flying a Convair 580, a 1950s Convair, a 1940s, DC-3...then you have some other aircraft...all the maintenance and all the other MRO stuff that goes around those airplanes. It must be quite complex to run an airline like that. I'm just thinking specifically about the Convair and the DC-3, they might require some maintenance work. And I don't know how easy it is to source spares and components that you might need eventually…-Yeah, you're right. It is it is challenging and I think in the early days, you know, the mid 90s when my father first bought the Convairs, yeah, they had a lot of they had a lot of issues with just getting to grips with the aircraft, actually, because it is very complex and it's a beautifully designed airplane. Just like the DC-3, actually, it was so far ahead of its time. But it is very complex and there are a lot of systems And there are a lot of moving parts. And so, yeah, they had some interesting times. But I think, you know, having operated the aircraft for as long as we have, you know, 24 years, really then you see a lot of things and, and also in that time, we were able to build up a very good stock of space. So, we have the operating knowledge now, we have in the last decade the space to back that up. So, that actually became an extremely reliable airplane for us and they continue to be very reliable.The DC-3, it's similar, I mean, there is still a number of Douglas DC-3s around the world and there are a number of manufacturers that will provide overhaul and parts that the aircraft is obviously supported by Boeing. So, you know, all in all, it's, it is a challenge and like everything in aviation is very expensive, but yeah, it's still possible!-What about the pilots? Do you need pilots with some specific training to fly the Convairs and the DC-3s?-Yeah, absolutely! So we operate in accordance with our regulators. So that's the New Zealand Civil Aviation. And most of the framework of those rules come from ICAO and the FAA. So, it's very similar worldwide, with a lot of Western countries in terms of how those aviation industries are regulated. So we operate...they call it part one two five the Douglas DC-3, because that's the category that aircraft fits into, less than 30 seats. So that is operated to a very high standard of training. To give you an example, like anything if you want to fly that airplane, you have to do a ground school, you have to complete that then you have to type rating which consists of around about five hours of flying in the actual airplane that's running through a whole scenario of emergency and abnormal events. And then you have to go into line training, which, depending on whether it's an initial or upgrade training can be anywhere from sort of 10 to 15 hours online, so that's under Part one two five then with a Convairs, it's even, it's even more thorough with the Part 121, which is your larger aircraft category, over 30 seats and pilot and greater than 3.4 ton. So it's a ground school that consists of around two weeks in class. Then you go into simulators, we have one of only two fixed base Convair simulators in the world that's based on Chatham Islands. So you end up as a pilot, you'll spend probably about two weeks in the simulator, doing exercises then you'll get into the airplane itself. Complete your type rating because there's some things you can't do in a fixed base simulators, you complete your type writing in the airplane. And then you go online training for, you know, 100 hours 100 flight hours or 75 flight cycles. And then at the end of that if you've completed all your exercises, you make the grade that you'll be signed out to fly with on a regular lineup, so it's very thorough and terms of our training standards and has to be because, you know, you've got a lot of responsibility.-Yes. Well, I guess there's not that many pilots out there that have followed this procedure. It's a pretty exclusive club.-Yeah, yes. I mean, my father and I both fly the Convair and we both fly the Douglas DC-3. He still flies it, I haven't flown the DC-3 for a couple of years now...But, but yeah, they are complex airplanes, but they're great fun. The Convair 580 is still my favorite airplane to fly out of everything and I've flown you know, Metroliners and Saabs, as well, so yeah…! -Wow. So they can find you out at the rudder when people come onboard! Very good and just one question that is inevitable these days: is about...well...the pandemic. You are in one of those parts of the world that have, let's say, they have best managed the whole situation. And so I guess you are now getting to normal almost close to normal?-Yeah, it's getting normal in terms of our domestic environment. We have a level scale so it goes from level one to level four. Level four was locked down. Level three was not much different than lockdown. Level two was when a lot of those restrictions were lifted. We were in that environment for a number of weeks. And then we've just in the last two weeks transitioned back to level one, which is basically life as normal in New Zealand, but we still have very heavy restrictions on international travel into our country. So from a domestic point of view, it just feels like everything's normal again, we can go to sporting matches with stadiums full of people. You know, we can obviously get public transport...there's no restrictions on that. There's no social distancing mandated on the aircraft. So from a business point of view, it makes it a little bit easier to get things back on track, but I think it's going to take a very, very long time, and I think that the economic impact of, of COVID on our domestic market and also the global markets will be huge and is going to be realized over the next six to 12 months. - Did the virus reach the Chatham Islands? -No! didn't reach the Chathams and it didn't reach Norfolk Island. So yeah, that's another reason to travel there. Yeah!-Yeah, definitely! So just for the people that might be interested in flying your airline, they should go and book on the website, right, AirChathams.co.nz and what other ways…? you also offer some tools, panoramic flights, etc. So everything is bookable there?-Yeah, I mean, if you want to just have a look, an understanding of what we do and what aircraft we fly, just go to AirChathams.co.nz. Have a look. And if you want to book a flight, you can do that from the website. We are also on a lot of aggregators throughout the world that actually sell our products. So you can look on Skyscanner and things like that. Believe it or not, you can book a flight on a 1960s Convair via a modern platform. So it's quite quite unique. -Yes, indeed. And I'm going to post a link on the show notes. So it's airchathams.co dot as I said. Great! So it's been so interesting to have this conversation. It's definitely a very unique airline, very unique fleet and very unique network that you are operating. So I guess that's going to be quite interesting. Too many of our listeners a derivation enthusiast and...who knows you might get some of them soon onboard your Convair or your DC-3 or your other aircraft…-It's a very unique family and business and yeah, we're proud of what we've managed to achieve over the years since 1984. And of course you know, the future is going to be interesting as well as we unfortunately have to transition away from Convairs. It'll be a very sad day for us when we have to do that, but we're gonna move into operating more Saabs and potentially more ATRs and...just see where that takes us.-Do you have already a calendar for the retirement of the Convairs? -Yeah, it's been slowly been worked out. We're currently operating three Convairs. One's a a freight craft. So, that one does the flight between, predominantly, Auckland and Christchurch, which are two major cities and New Zealand. And then we have two passenger aircraft, the combis that I've spoken about mainly, and also another aircraft which we purchased from an airline called Era Aviation which were based in Alaska, that was a 50 seat on the air and it was passenger only, but you know, we called key Kiwi ingenuity and we installed seat backs. And we've actually managed to make that aircraft quite effective at carrying both passengers and freight. What we think will happen as towards the latter part of this year, will reduce our fleet to two Convairs and by around mid next year, we'll probably retire both of the Convairs, so we won't be operating anymore and our fleet. Yeah, things can change, but we're currently looking at programs to have our Saab and ATR aircraft upgraded to fly the oceanic routes out to Chatham Islands and Norfolk Island so that they can start to operate on those predominantly Convair sectors.-Ok, so aviation enthusiasts that wish to fly the Convairs have a sort of narrow window of opportunity to do so, provided the travel restrictions are lifted, they will need to hurry up to experience these aircraft before they are gone. Good, thank you very much Duane!, it's been pleasure talking with you and learning about your very unique airline. I will post all the links and information on the show notes so that people can have a look. Thank you very much and have a great week!-Thanks, Miquel!

This episode is our first featuring content from Grant's trip to Oshkosh 2019, including a discussion with staff from Textron regarding their latest developments. The guests are:Martin Tuck, Textron's Technical Marketing Advisor, who talks about Cessna's new aircraft currently in development. These are the Denali (pressurised single-engine turboprop) and Skycourier (twin turboprop utility) aircraft.Brian Rohloff, Textron's VIce President of Sales, who talks about the range of Textron's aviation brands.--Presented by Steve Visscher & Grant McHerronProduction by Southern Skies Online MediaAviation Trader - 2020

This episode is our first featuring content from Grant's trip to Oshkosh 2019, including a discussion with staff from Textron regarding their latest developments. The guests are:Martin Tuck, Textron's Technical Marketing Advisor, who talks about Cessna's new aircraft currently in development. These are the Denali (pressurised single-engine turboprop) and Skycourier (twin turboprop utility) aircraft.Brian Rohloff, Textron's VIce President of Sales, who talks about the range of Textron's aviation brands.You can find more information about this and other topics in the Aviation Trader website's Premium Content section. It doesn't cost you anything, you just have to sign up for a free profile on the Premium Section at: https://aviationtrader.com.au/premium-members/Airwaves is the official podcast of Aviation Trader - Your total aviation marketplaceFind us online at http://aviationtrader.com.au--Presented by Steve Visscher & Grant McHerronProduction by Southern Skies Online MediaAviation Trader - 2020

Mooney shutters the factory. What does that mean for owners? We test fly a new Bose headset. Cessnas and Cherokees to the rescue in rural Mexico.

On this VERY special Episode we are covering the crazy, infamous Barefoot Bandit. As well as welcoming on guest Kevin McMullen Director of the new heist film Low Tide (out October 4th.)  Colton Harris Moore AKA The Barefoot Bandit, was famous for dodging the police, FBI, bounty hunters, and even Homeland Security for years by joyriding cars, hiding in the woods and most importantly stealing planes and flying them without a single lesson. All in his teens. www.heistpodcast.com

In our fifth episode Queen ShanShan was honored to chat with Robin “R.D.” Kardon and spills the tea about her new exciting novel “FLYGIRL.” Queen ShanShan personally knows Robin from traveling to Australia and Costa Rica together and they share some fun experiences in their recent travels. Now that R.D. has this new book, Queen ShanShan wanted to chat about her motivation on how she was able to write this savory story about pilot Tris Miles and her climb to the top to be Captain. This is a timely story of being accepted in a predominately male industry where sexual harassment and sometimes a rough working environment prevailed. R.D. was a former corporate and airline pilot with an Airline Transport Pilot certificate and three Captain qualifications.  She had a 12 year flying career that took her all over the world in every type of airplane from small single-engine Cessnas to the Boening 737.   So have a sip wine, get your cup of hot java and listen to R.D. and Queen ShanShan snap about FLYGIRL.   Tighten up your seat belts and sit in with A BROAD.

Topics for discussion: * “SpaceX says its BFR will fly someone around the Moon” *https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/09/spacex-says-its-bfr-will-fly-someone-around-the-moon-we-have-questions * Japanese probe * Long March 5 * Sony’s walled garden cracks open: Cross-console play comes to PS4 *https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/09/sonys-walled-garden-cracks-open-cross-console-play-comes-to-ps4/ * iPhone XS impressions * Maniacs on Netflix

Commercial pilot Kevin Gordon returns in this episode to answer listener questions about all things aviation: what it takes to become a pilot, the difference between Navy and Air Force pilots, and explains the infamous “blue juice” of plane bathrooms. Gordon explains the two routes to becoming a pilot—military and civilian—and shares his own story of flight, from getting a private pilot’s license to getting a helicopter license. Gordon also acknowledges some of the funnier moments he’s had teaching Navy pilots how to fly Cessnas, and the unique landing styles he’s had to help them correct. If you are interested in becoming a pilot, check out our Aeronautical Science Pathway program! Host: Sean Mobley Producer: Keny Dutton Web Master: Layne Benofsky Content Marketing Manager: Irene Jagla

Yep, when we get into a bind at the Hangar 49 studios, we start to babble, and the show starts to crash, we just reach for the handle and pull the chute.  Easy, right?  Maybe.  In this show we talk about a flight where they, "pulled the chute," right in our own backyard.  Plus, another incident that "impacted" one of Al's favorite rental Cessnas.  Climb aboard...it's fate...and we have that movie, too.  Plus, we check our speed at nearly 2,000 nautical miles per hour. Movie: Fate is the Hunter Sound/Comedy: Major Brian Shul, USAF (Ret.) SR71 Blackbird Speed check Book: Sled Driver by Brian Shul   Song: David Usher-Airplane  

Air Canada flight 759 had a near miss last week, when it inadvertently lined up to land on a taxiway instead of on the runway. The FlightAware online tracking service showed the Air Canada Airbus 320 dropping to as low as 175 feet before increasing altitude above Taxiway C, flying over three fully loaded United Airlines and one Philippine Airlines airliners. At 11:55 p.m., the time of the incident, Runway 28L was closed with its lights dark, according to the FAA. It’s possible that shifted the Air Canada pilot’s orientation to the right, leading him to think that Taxiway C was actually runway 28R. We talk about the key reason that a disaster was narrowly averted, and how that applies to pilots flying general aviation aircraft. We also talk about the poorly understood squelch controls on radios and intercoms and how to set them properly. And about how to operate the switches on older audio panels found in 1960s through 1980s Cessnas and Pipers. Plus listener questions: Should you Dive and Drive on an instrument approach? How should a future CFI learn to land from the right seat? What should you do if you violate the minimum altitudes over a wildlife or marine sanctuary? Click here for the survey. Tell us which plane you fly most often. Please visit my new Patreon page and help me with my goal of funding the creation of two apps for my show, one for Apple and one for Google Play, so that non-techie pilots can find the show in the app store. You can Dictate a listener question from your phone and I’ll try to answer it on a future show, or send an email. News Stories Air Canada Near Miss a near disaster at SFO FAA Opens Short Window For ATC Hiring Armed Man Shot and Killed after Failed Helicopter Theft Privatization Update Volvo parent company in China acquires flying-car maker Terrafugia You can now buy the Moller Skycar Van's New Secret Project FAA TO ACTIVATE TEMPORARY RESTRICTED AREAS DESPITE OBJECTIONS Canadian heavy lift Solar Ship has Fossil Fuel Free Flight 1,500th PC-12 Delivered To Royal Flying Doctor Service Of Australia Teachers field test aviation curriculum

In this podcast with talk landings with Qantas airlines Captain, David Jacobson, developer of the Jacobson Flare. Capt. Jacobson has developed a scientific and practical technique that allows you to accurately determine the flare height for any aircraft from Cessnas to Boeings. Please enjoy The Finer Points!   Fly Your Best, Jason

Dual Electronics Corporation, a manufacturer of aviation GPS and ADS-B receivers, is working with Arclarity LLC, a developer of 3D augmented reality aviation systems, to develop a sense-and-avoid solution for autonomously flying drones operating in the US airspace. Guests Greg Lukins, Vice President, Business Development, Dual Electronics Corp. An engineer by training and an entrepreneur at heart, Greg pairs technologies with business opportunities, and has a 20-year track record of successfully bringing ideas, technologies and products to market globally. Greg is VP of Business Development at Dual Electronics and also manages Dual's market leading GPS product line. He holds an MSEE, is a licensed pilot, and lives in Florida where the weather is always perfect for flying Cessnas and drones. Brian J. Scott, Founder and Principal, Arclarity Brian is an aviator and an engineer with experience in modeling/simulation and flight simulator projects. He is committed to applying his experience and expertise to bring enhanced situational awareness and navigation to aviation. Brian holds a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Central Florida and is an instrument rated private pilot with experience in both piston and turbine aircraft. Dual Electronics Corporation is a subsidiary of the Namsung Corporation, and is based in Heathrow, Florida. Dual offers a wide selection of mobile electronics, marine electronics, and portable GPS and ADS-B receivers for aviation. For more information, visit www.GPS.dualav.com. Arclarity LLC is based in Orlando, Florida and provides aerial navigation solutions centered on increased situational awareness and collision avoidance.  For further information, visit www.arclarity.com. News Amazon Gets Experimental Airworthiness Certificate The FAA issued an experimental airworthiness certificate to an Amazon Logistics, Inc. unmanned aircraft (UAS) design that the company will use for research and development and crew training. The FAA typically issues experimental certificates to manufacturers and technology developers to operate a UAS that does not have a type certificate. The FAA Says You Can't Post Drone Videos on YouTube An aviation safety inspector in the FAA's Tampa office seems to believe that posting video from a drone on YouTube constitutes "commercial use" because the popular video site has advertisements. The FAA inspector was responding to a complaint. Video of the Week Sheer cliffs, dense jungle and its own climate: Mesmerising drone footage captures haunting beauty of the world's largest cave Spectacular video of Vietnam's Hang Son Doong cave, which is also the subject of some controversy concerning a construction project (Stop the Construction: Save the Son Doong Cave!).

Marshall Pruett and Sam Collins on why Daytona Prototypes are more like Cessnas than bumble bees, Eve Hewitt has a Mallory Park update, Martin Haven talks at length about a support race to the Macau GP, and Nick, John and Graham make their nominations for the 2013 Man of the Year.  .