Podcasts about faa

FAA reorganization and shutdown prep, Airbus A220 stretch, certification as a trade tool, UPS MD‑11 retirement, 777X engine snag, fatal Challenger crash, iconic aircraft, new NASM galleries, aviation career issues, aviation-themed music, and a future DC‑3/CH‑47 fly‑in. Aviation News FAA Adds Departments, Shuffles Roles The new FAA reorganization differs from the previous structure mainly by centralizing safety oversight, creating new modernization and advanced technology offices, and consolidating internal support functions under new top-level offices. A new, agency‑wide Aviation Safety Management System (SMS) Organization implements a single safety system and risk-management strategy across all FAA lines of business, rather than having safety functions and metrics siloed in multiple offices as before. An Airspace Modernization Office is dedicated to rolling out the “brand‑new air traffic control system” and overseeing broader NAS modernization, which previously was handled within the Air Traffic Organization and other units rather than a single, focused office. An Office of Advanced Aviation Technologies integrates UAS, eVTOL, AAM, electric, and supersonic aircraft into the NAS. These functions were formerly spread among UAS integration, NextGen, and various certification/AVS branches. A new Administration and Finance Office consolidates the functions of finance, information technology, and human resources. Previously, they were distributed across multiple lines of business and staff offices. A Policy and Legal Office pulls together policy, legal, stakeholder engagement, financial assistance, and the agency's rulemaking/regulatory office. Previously, rulemaking and policy lived mainly within Aviation Safety and other distinct policy offices. The Administration and Finance Office, Policy and Legal Office, Air Traffic Organization, and the new safety and modernization offices all report to the Administrator. Shutdown Plan for FAA Involves 10K Furloughs The FAA's plan for the short-lived partial government shutdown was to furlough more than 10,000 FAA workers and withhold pay for 13,835 air traffic controllers. Exclusive: Airbus to kickstart pre-sales for a larger A220 jet, sources say Airbus is considering launching an A220 stretch – the A220-500 with around 180 seats. This is a “simple stretch,” meaning the same wings, the same engines, and a longer fuselage. The Airbus Board approval is required before the A220-500 can be formally launched. Trade War Skies: Understanding Trump's 2026 Decertification Order on Canadian Aircraft In a January 30, 2026, social media post, President Donald Trump announced the “decertification” of all Canadian-manufactured aircraft if Gulfstream aircraft were not certified by Canada. The President alleged that Canada has “wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly” refused to certify U.S.-made G500, G600, G700, and G800 jets. If Transport Canada did not act immediately, a 50% tariff would be implemented. Over 5,400 Canadian-built planes are registered in the U.S. This sent shockwaves, if not panic, throughout the industry. With time, clarification has come: The order would apply to new aircraft airworthiness certificates and wouldn't ground the fleet. The IAM (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) urged a separation of safety regulation and political grievances. “You can't weaponize the certification process,” said union leaders, emphasizing that aviation safety should remain an independent pillar of global travel. Some feel Transport Canada is holding off on certifying the G700 and G800 mainly because they are not willing to mirror the FAA's temporary fuel‑icing exemption. The Canadian regulator wants the full cold‑weather and icing compliance demonstrated first. UPS won't resurrect MD-11 fleet after deadly crash, takes $137M charge UPS is retiring its fleet of 27 MD-11 aircraft and, in the process, writing off $137 million after-tax. The MD-11s will be replaced with twin-engine Boeing 767-300 cargo jets. In response to the grounding of the MD-11 fleet, UPS repositioned some aircraft from outside the US, expanded transportation by truck, and leased planes from partner airlines. During an earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes said, “Over the next fifteen months, we expect to take delivery of 18 new Boeing 767 aircraft, with 15 expected to deliver this year. As new aircraft join our fleet, we will step down the leased aircraft and associated expenses. We believe these actions are consistent with building a more efficient global network positioned for growth, flexibility and profitability.” Boeing's certification ‘hangover' drags on with new 777X issue Also, Boeing has identified an engine durability issue with the General Electric GE9X engines that power the 777X, although CEO Kelly Ortberg says this will not impact the first 777X delivery in 2027. Also, Ortberg signalled to investors that the company plans to increase 737 MAX production this year to 47 from 42 planes per month. Boeing has been preparing a fourth MAX production line in Everett to produce 737 MAX 10s, although the aircraft has yet to receive certification. Boeing posted job openings for the line, and the tooling is complete. Tracing the hours after a fatal plane crash in Bangor The Bombardier Challenger 600‑series business jet crashed during takeoff from Bangor International Airport in a snowstorm, killing all six people on board and triggering a complex, weather‑hampered investigation. The business jet was operating a private flight from Bangor to Europe with two crew and four passengers from the Houston area. The plane had been deiced and was cleared for takeoff on runway 33 around 7:40–7:45 p.m., in heavy snow, with visibility down to about three‑quarters of a mile and several inches of snow on the ground. Within roughly a minute of takeoff clearance, controllers halted all traffic after the aircraft crashed on or near the runway, coming to rest inverted and on fire. Possible lines of inquiry include: Wing contamination and ice buildup are known risk factors that have contributed to past Challenger‑series accidents. Aircraft performance and whether the wing stalled on takeoff. Deicing procedures and timing relative to takeoff, including whether holdover times were exceeded. Crew qualifications, training, and recent duty history. Mechanical condition of the aircraft and any anomalies captured on the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, which have been sent to the NTSB in Washington. Mentioned National Air and Space Museum Announces Plans To Celebrate 50 Years The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum opened on July 1, 1976, as a gift to the nation for the U.S. bicentennial. Five new galleries will open to the public on the museum's 50th anniversary, July 1, 2026, and in time for the nation's 250th anniversary.  Galleries opening July 1, 2026: Flight and the Arts Center Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air U.S. National Science Foundation Discovering Our Universe RTX Living in the Space Age Textron How Things Fly Galleries opening in the autum 2026: At Home in Space (Oct. 30) Modern Military Aviation (Veteran's Day, Nov. 11) This completes the museum's multi-year renovation. Soar Together Family Day at Innovations in Flight: World War II on the Homefront Check this site for information about the National Air & Space Museum’s annual Innovations in Flight event. The DC-3 Society is planning an inaugural DC-3 Society DC-3 Fly-In. Date and location TBD. See the January 2026 Newsletter. Video: 737 St. Erasmus’ Airshow, Full Music Album, by SPEED BRAKE ARMED https://youtu.be/lcY3uU8uG2E Video: 737 Airshow America, by SPEED BRAKE ARMED. https://youtu.be/-Sl5WvWRhWo Video: HARS CONNIE – The Years Fly Past – Wings Over Illawarra 2016 https://youtu.be/duSOTbanz-8?si=13bcDNa5Sfv9JgPq Music In a blast from the AGP past, Brother Love provides opening and closing music from the Album Of The Year CD. (On Facebook.) Hosts this Episode Max Flight, our Main(e) Man Micah, and Rob Mark.

On Fox Across America, Jimmy tells Billie Eilish it's time to hand over her mansion since it's on stolen land! Badass Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin is back on FAA to tell us why he will not be watching the Super Bowl. Zohran Mamdani is stuck in the snow and trash. And our favorite NYC Representative Nicole Malliotakis explains how she is fighting to keep her Congressional seat from getting stolen. [00:00:00] Celebrity Hypocrisy [00:40:00] Kimmel / Lemon nonsense [00:58:15] Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) [01:16:20] Mamdani Already Messing Up [01:35:00] Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of the Federal Help Center Podcast, Eric Coffey explains why winning contracts isn't about showing up when the bid is posted — it's about being discovered before the solicitation ever hits the street. Eric shares how relationship-building helped his team win a $2 million university Job Order Contract (JOC) by staying close to the project manager, showing up at events, and learning exactly what needed to be in the proposal long before submission day. Eric also breaks down the unfair advantage of engaging early: contracting personnel can talk to you freely before the RFQ drops — but once it's released, communication stops. From maintaining long-term relationships with FAA decision-makers to leveraging forecasts and pre-solicitations, Eric reinforces the core lesson: complex contracts aren't won last-minute. They're won through upfront strategy, visibility, and consistent conversations. Key Takeaways: Contractors who build relationships early get found before bids go public Pre-solicitations and forecasting are where the real advantage begins Long-term agency connections (like FAA) can open doors for years to come If you want to learn more about the community and to join the webinars go to: https://federalhelpcenter.com/  Website: https://govcongiants.org/  Connect with Encore Funding: http://govcongiants.org/funding Join 2026 Surge Bootcamp Starting January 31: https://govcongiants.org/surge

In this episode, Gabe Hanohano takes us on his inspiring journey of building a successful drone business in Hawaii. Starting with a deep-rooted passion for photography and technology, Gabe navigates the intricate world of drones, sharing the highs and lows of his entrepreneurial path. He underscores the critical role of networking in Hawaii's relationship-driven market and the importance of adapting business strategies, including rebranding for better market positioning. Gabe also delves into the power of leveraging technology, such as AI, to enhance business operations and the necessity of a strong online presence for client attraction. His story is a testament to the value of continuous learning, resilience, and maintaining relationships in a rapidly evolving industry. Aspiring drone entrepreneurs will find Gabe's insights on exploring new opportunities, the potential of NSF grants for research and development, and the importance of staying grounded in reality both enlightening and motivating. Join us as Gabe shares his wisdom on thriving in the drone industry amidst challenges and uncertainties. Want to Make Money Flying Drones? DroneU gives you the blueprint to start and grow a real drone business: FAA Part 107 prep 40+ courses on flight skills, real estate, mapping, and business Pricing guides, client acquisition, and weekly coaching Supportive community of top-tier drone pros Start here https://www.thedroneu.com Know someone ready to take the leap? Share this episode with them !! Stuck between a safe job and chasing your drone dream? Download our FREE Drone Pilot Starter Kit   Includes: FAA checklist, pricing template, and plug-and-play proposal to help you land your first client with confidence.  https://learn.thedroneu.com/bundles/drone-pilot-starter-kit  Timestamps [02:49] - Gabe's Journey into Drones [05:59] - First Paid Jobs and Learning Experiences [09:06] - Building a Drone Business in Hawaii [12:04] - The Importance of Networking and Relationships [15:04] - Adapting Business Strategies and Name Changes [18:04] - Navigating the First Year of Business [20:46] - Acquiring Contracts and Client Relationships [23:54] - Leveraging Technology for Business Growth [26:58] - SEO and Online Presence [30:06] - The Role of AI in Business Development [33:01] - Long-Term Business Strategies and Mindset [36:07] - Future of Drone Business and Industry Changes [39:21] - Navigating Uncertainties in the Drone Industry [42:05] - Adapting to Market Changes and Client Needs [44:50] - Exploring New Opportunities and Innovations [46:26] - Reality Checks for Drone Business Owners [51:09] - Resilience and Perseverance in Challenging Times [54:50] - Networking and Collaboration for Growth [01:00:49] - Research and Development: NSF Grant Insights [01:06:08]  - Future Aspirations and Scaling the Business [01:08:55] - Lessons Learned and Best Practices

The Department of Homeland Security is actively working on 200-plus artificial intelligence use cases, a nearly 37% increase compared to July 2025, according to its latest AI inventory posted Wednesday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a driving force behind the growth. ICE added 25 AI use cases since its disclosure last summer, including to process tips, review mobile device data relevant to investigations, confirm identities of individuals via biometric data and detect intentional misidentification. Of the newly added uses at ICE, three are products from Palantir, which has been a notable — and at times controversial — technology partner for the U.S. government under the Trump administration. Quinn Anex-Ries, a senior policy analyst focused on equity and civic tech at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a nonprofit technology policy organization, told FedScoop: “This inventory is coming out at a moment where there are significant, widespread questions about the legality of actions being taken by DHS and their potential infringement on the civil liberties and privacy of millions of people across the country.” Anex-Ries added: “There are some initial indications that the inventory leaves us wanting for more.” The annual inventory process stems from a 2020 executive order during the first Trump administration that was later enshrined into federal statute. The Department of Transportation is reopening a request for information that centered around the Federal Aviation Administration's handling of unmanned aircraft systems. In this extended, two-week comment period, the FAA is seeking additional insights on aircraft location-tracking devices, detection technologies and safety standards as it looks to finalize the drone-related rules. The FAA has already received around 3,100 comments and hosted two listening sessions with relevant stakeholders, according to the extension announcement scheduled to be published Wednesday on the Federal Register. Still, the FAA wants to “ensure that it fully understands” comments surrounding its proposed policies for location-tracking, data-sharing and detection technologies. The initial inquiry was set in motion by President Donald Trump's June executive order, called “Unleashing American Drone Dominance.” The president directed the FAA to publish a final rule that would enable drone-based Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations for commercial and public safety purposes within 240 days, which would be Feb. 1. The original RFI had a broader scope and concluded in October despite receiving two requests for an extension. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

President Trump takes his economic message to Iowa, trying to refocus on affordability after weeks of distractions ranging from Greenland to Venezuela and fallout from federal shootings in Minnesota.Nearly a year after a deadly midair collision near Washington, D.C., investigators say deep, systemic failures at the FAA allowed known risks to go unaddressed until it was too late.And NPR has obtained documents showing the Trump administration quietly loosened nuclear safety and environmental rules to fast-track new reactors, raising concerns about oversight and public trust.Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rebekah Metzler, Russell Lewis, Brett Neely, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, Ava Pukatch and Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Stacey Abbott.Our Supervising Producer is HJ Mai.(0:00) Introduction(01:55) Trump Economic Message(05:43) DC Helicopter Crash Report(10:02) New Nuclear RegulationLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Pilot Nicki returns to describe her 1948 Globe Swift and explain her plans to make a mid-life career change and become a professional pilot. In the news, the FAA Administrator says what to expect from the “brand new air traffic control system,” a bill to address ADS-B “misuse,” navigating around the debris field after a rocket failure, accelerating the MV-75 Tiltrotor program, flying the Qatari 747 as Air Force One, reduced security restrictions at Heathrow, and a private jet crash in Maine. Guest Nicki Hovanec just reached her goal of 1500 flight hours and now plans to make a mid-life career change and become a professional pilot. She fell in love with aviation at an early age and attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for Aviation at Daytona Beach, Florida. But 911 impacted Nicki's career trajectory and took her away from aviation. However, with encouragement from her spouse, she returned to aviation, obtained her pilot’s license, and will soon look to be hired by an airline. Nicki trained through independent flight schools and completed her solo in 2017, receiving her initial pilot’s certificate. She continued her training and completed additional certifications on various aircraft while progressing towards her goal of 1500+ flight hours. Nicki saved and borrowed funds to purchase a Cessna 152. Eventually selling that plane, she bought a 1948 Globe Swift tail-dragger, her current airplane. With 1,500 flight hours completed, Nicki now begins the job search for a professional pilot position, starting with the NGPA job fair. We’ll continue to follow her progress. A little history: In May 2017, Nicki sought our advice about starting flying lessons and making a career change to become a professional pilot. We encouraged her to keep us informed about her progress, and Nicki did so by sending us over a dozen recordings documenting her journey getting a pilot's license. We were happy to include those in our podcast episodes. Nicki and her 1948 Globe Swift. See: A Short History of the Swift Wikipedia: Globe GC-1 Swift 2026 NGPA Industry Expo, presented by United Airlines, February 5-6, 2026. FAPA.aero (Future & Active Pilots Alliance) Aviation News FAA's Bedford Provides Glimpse into U.S. ATC's Future At the monthly Aero Club of Washington, D.C. luncheon, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford talked about the “brand new air traffic control system.” He described: “Greater precision about… flight trajectories… [while] navigating through the airspace.” Many fewer handoffs flying through the system. A cultural shift away from focusing on takeoff to when a pilot wants to land.  Changing the innovation cycle to be more like Apple or Tesla. AOPA urges members to contact their representatives in Congress AOPA issued a call to action asking its 300,000 members to contact their senators and representatives in Congress and urge them to cosponsor the Pilot and Aircraft Privacy Act (PAPA). AOPA President Darren Pleasance said, “When the ADS-B mandate went into effect in 2020, the FAA said this important technology would only be used for safety and airspace efficiency. Instead, we're now seeing it used in ways that discourage adoption…The misuse of ADS-B is a step backward for aviation safety and erodes trust in our aviation system.” If passed, PAPA would prohibit the use of ADS-B data to assist in the collection of fees from pilots or aircraft owners and clarify that ADS-B data may only be used for its intended purposes of air traffic safety and efficiency. PAPA was introduced in 2025 by Rep. Bob Onder (R-Mo.) as H.R.4146 and Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) as S.2175. “We're Too Close to the Debris” On January 16, 2026, ATC instructed Caribbean flights to avoid the FAA's debris zone after a SpaceX Starship rocket exploded. Dozens of planes made sharp turns to avoid the danger zone, which was closed for 86 minutes. ProPublica says this made “pilots and passengers unwitting participants in SpaceX's test of the most powerful rocket ever built.” Army Punches Its MV-75 Tiltrotor Program Into Overdrive The Army wants to see the MV-25 testing this year and in service in 2027. Just twelve months ago, the Army targeted 2030. At the 2022 competition, service was expected in the mid-2030s. The MV-75 is the designation given to the U.S. Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) tiltrotor. The design is based on the Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor and will replace many of the H-60 Black Hawk helicopters. The V-280 demonstrator has flown, but not the MV-75 configuration. Qatari 747 to fly as Trump's Air Force One this summer In May 2025, the US government accepted the 747 jetliner donated by the Qatari government to serve as a new Air Force One. Modifications began in September. An Air Force spokesperson said in a statement that delivery of the aircraft is anticipated no later than summer 2026. Calling it a “VC-25 bridge aircraft,” the Trump administration intends this plane to serve as an interim Air Force One while waiting for the two 747s currently being modified by Boeing. The Air Force is expecting the first Boeing-modified 747 to be handed over in “mid-2028,” a delay of roughly four years. London’s Heathrow eases liquid and laptop rules after £1 billion security upgrade The airport completed a £1bn CT scanner upgrade across all four Heathrow terminals. This allows passengers to carry liquid containers up to two liters, and the removal of laptops from bags is no longer required. 7 dead, 1 seriously injured in plane crash at airport in Bangor, Maine, FAA says A Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger 650 veered off the runway on takeoff and crashed at Bangor International Airport in Maine. There was snow at the time of the plane crash due to a large winter storm. See also: Private jet carrying 8 crashes at Maine airport, FAA says. Hosts this Episode Max Flight, our Main(e) Man Micah, Rob Mark, and Brian Coleman.

FAA data shows a steady decrease in U.S. accident rates for general aviation in recent years. But the data may not show an accurate story.Todd Curtis and John Goglia take a deeper dive into the data. Comparing the FAA rates to a NTSB table listing accidents in general aviation shows that the NTSB data implies that general aviation aircraft crashed roughly 50 times more frequently than airlines and other air carrier flights.Pilots should check out the website for the General Aviation Joint Safety Committee (GAJSC), an organization that partners with the FAA and other aviation organizations to provide useful safety information. This organization provides information about key aviation safety risks and offers many additional resources.Pilots and others involved in aviation should to take advantage of this and other aviation educational resources. Don't miss what's to come from the Flight Safety Detectives - subscribe to the Flight Safety Detectives YouTube channel, listen at your favorite podcast service and visit the Flight Safety Detectives website. Want to go deeper with the Flight Safety Detectives? Join our YouTube Membership program for exclusive perks like members-only live streams and Q&As and early access to episodes. Your membership support directly helps John, Greg and Todd to deliver expert insights into aviation safety.Interested in partnering with us? Sponsorship opportunities are available—brand mentions, episode integrations, and dedicated segments are just a few of the options. Flight Safety Detectives offers a direct connection with an engaged audience passionate about aviation and safety. Reach out to fsdsponsors@gmail.com. Music: “Inspirational Sports” license ASLC-22B89B29-052322DDB8 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Allen, Joel, and Yolanda discuss Siemens Energy’s decision to keep their wind business despite pressure from hedge funds, with the CEO projecting profitability by 2026. They cover the company’s 21 megawatt offshore turbine now in testing and why it could be a game changer. Plus, Danish startup Quali Drone demonstrates thermal imaging of spinning blades at an offshore wind farm, and Alliant Energy moves forward with a 270 MW wind project in Wisconsin using next-generation Nordex turbines. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast brought to you by Strike Tape, protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit strike tape.com. And now your hosts, Alan Hall, Rosemary Barnes, Joel Saxon, and Yolanda Padron. Welcome to the  Allen Hall: Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I’m your host, Alan Hall. I’m here with Yolanda Padron and Joel Saxon. Rosemary Burns is climbing the Himalayas this week, and our top story is Semen’s Energy is rejecting the sail of their wind business, which is a very interesting take because obviously Siemens CESA has struggled. Recently due to some quality issues a couple of years ago, and, and back in 2024 to 25, that fiscal year, they lost a little over 1 billion euros. But the CEO of Siemens energy says they’re gonna stick with the business and that they’re getting a lot of pressure, obviously, from hedge funds to do something with that business to, to raise the [00:01:00] valuations of Siemens energy. But, uh, the CEO is saying, uh, that. They’re not gonna spin it off and that would not solve any of the problems. And they’re, they’re going to, uh, remain with the technology, uh, for the time being. And they think right now that Siemens Gomesa will be profitable in 2026. That’s an interesting take, uh, Joel, because we haven’t seen a lot of sales onshore or offshore from Siemens lately.  Joel Saxum: I think they’re crazy to lose. I don’t wanna put this in US dollars ’cause it resonates with my mind more, but 1.36 billion euros is probably what, 1.8 million or 1.8. Billion dollars.  Allen Hall: Yeah. It’s, it’s about that. Yeah.  Joel Saxum: Yeah. So, so it’s compounding issues. We see this with a lot of the OEMs and blade manufacturers and stuff, right? They, they didn’t do any sales of their four x five x platform for like a year while they’re trying to reset the issues they had there. And now we know that they’re in the midst of some blade issues where they’re swapping blades at certain wind farms and those kind of things.[00:02:00] But when they went to basically say, Hey, we’re back in the market, restarting, uh, sales. Yolanda, have you heard from any of your blade network of people buying those turbines?  Yolanda Padron: No, and I think, I mean, we’ve seen with other OEMs when they try to go back into getting more sales, they focus a lot on making their current customers happy, and I’m not sure that I’ve seen that with the, this group. So it’s, it’s just a little bit of lose lose on both sides.  Joel Saxum: Yeah. And if you’re, if you’re trying to, if you’re having to go back and basically patch up relationships to make them happy. Uh, that four x five x was quite the flop, uh, I would say, uh, with the issues that it had. So, um, there’s, that’d be a lot of, a lot of, a lot of nice dinners and a lot of hand kissing and, and all kinds of stuff to make those relationships back to what they were. Allen Hall: But at the time, Joel, that turbine fit a specific set of the marketplace, they had basically complete control of that when the four x five [00:03:00] x. Was an option and and early on it did seem to have pretty wide adoption. They were making good progress and then the quality issues popped up. What have we seen since and more recently in terms of. The way that, uh, Siemens Ga Mesa has restructured their business. What have we heard?  Joel Saxum: Well, they, they leaned more and pointed more towards offshore, right? They wanted to be healthy in, they had offshore realm and make sales there. Um, and that portion, because it was a completely different turbine model, that portion went, went along well, but in the meantime, right, they fit that four x five x and when I say four x five x, of course, I mean four megawatt, five megawatt slot, right? And if you look at, uh, the models that are out there for the onshore side of things. That, that’s kind of how they all fit. There was like, you know, GE was in that two x and, and, uh, uh, you know, mid two X range investors had the two point ohs, and there’s more turbine models coming into that space. And in the US when you go above basically 500 foot [00:04:00] above ground level, right? So if your elevation is a thousand, once you hit 1500 for tip height on a turbine, you get into the next category of FAA, uh, airplane problems. So if you’re going to put in a. If you were gonna put in a four x or five x machine and you’re gonna have to deal with those problems anyways, why not put a five and a half, a six, a 6.8, which we’ve been seeing, right? So the GE Cypress at 6.8, um, we’re hearing of um, not necessarily the United States, but envision putting in some seven, uh, plus megawatt machines out there on shore. So I think that people are making the leap past. Two x three x, and they’re saying like, oh, we could do a four x or five x, but if we’re gonna do that, why don’t we just put a six x in? Allen Hall: Well, Siemens has set itself apart now with a 21 megawatt, uh, offshore turbine, which is in trials at the moment. That could be a real game changer, particularly because the amount of offshore wind that’ll happen around Europe. Does that then if you’re looking at the [00:05:00] order book for Siemens, when you saw a 21 Mega Hut turbine, that’s a lot of euros per turbine. Somebody’s projecting within Siemens, uh, that they’re gonna break even in 2026. I think the way that they do that, it has to be some really nice offshore sales. Isn’t that the pathway?  Joel Saxum: Yeah. You look at the megawatt class and what happened there, right? So what was it two years ago? Vestas? Chief said, we are not building anything past the 15 megawatt right now. So they have their, their V 2 36 15 megawatt dark drive model that they’re selling into the market, that they’re kind of like, this is the cap, like we’re working on this one now we’re gonna get this right. Which to be honest with you, that’s an approach that I like. Um, and then you have the ge So in this market, right, the, the big megawatt offshore ones for the Western OEMs, you have the GE 15 megawatt, Hayley IX, and GE. ISS not selling more of those right now. So you have Vestas sitting at 15, GE at 15, but not doing anymore. [00:06:00] And GE was looking at developing an 18, but they have recently said we are not doing the 18 anymore. So now from western OEMs, the only big dog offshore turbine there is, is a 21. And again, if you were now that now this is working out opposite inverse in their favor, if you were going to put a 15 in, it’s not that much of a stretch engineering wise to put a 21 in right When it comes to. The geotechnical investigations and how we need to make the foundations and the shipping and the this and the, that, 15 to 21, not that big of a deal, but 21 makes you that much, uh, more attractive, uh, offshore.  Allen Hall: Sure if fewer cables, fewer mono piles, everything gets a little bit simpler. Maybe that’s where Siemens sees the future. That would, to me, is the only slot where Siemens can really gain ground quickly. Onshore is still gonna be a battle. It always is. Offshore is a little more, uh, difficult space, obviously, just because it’s really [00:07:00] Chinese turbines offshore, big Chinese turbines, 25 plus megawatt is what we’re talking about coming outta China or something. European, 21 megawatt from Siemens.  Joel Saxum: Do the math right? That, uh, if, if you have, if you have won an offshore auction and you need to backfill into a megawatts or gigawatts of. Of demand for every three turbines that you would build at 15 or every four turbines you build at 15, you only need three at 21. Right? And you’re still a little bit above capacity. So the big, one of the big cost drivers we know offshore is cables. You hit it on the head when you’re like, cables, cables, cables, inter array cables are freaking expensive. They’re not only expensive to build and lay, they’re expensive to ensure, they’re expensive to maintain. There’s a lot of things here, so. When you talk about saving costs offshore, if you look at any of those cool models in the startup companies that are optimizing layouts and all these great things, a lot of [00:08:00] them are focusing on reducing cables because that’s a big, huge cost saver. Um, I, I think that’s, I mean, if I was building one and, and had the option right now, that’s where I would stare at offshore. Allen Hall: Does anybody know when that Siemens 21 megawatt machine, which is being evaluated at a test site right now, when that will wrap up testing, is it gonna be in the next couple of months?  Joel Saxum: I think it’s at Estro.  Allen Hall: Yeah, it is, but I don’t remember when it was started. It was sometime during the fall of last year, so it’s probably been operational three, four months at this point. Something like that.  Joel Saxum: If you trust Google, it says full commercial availability towards the end, uh, of 28.  Allen Hall: 28. Do you think that the, uh, that Siemens internally is trying to push that to the left on the schedule, bringing from 2028 back into maybe early 27? Remember, AR seven, uh, for the uk the auction round?[00:09:00] Just happened, and that’s 8.4 gigawatts of offshore wind. You think Siemens is gonna make a big push to get into that, uh, into the water there for, for that auction, which is mostly RWE.  Joel Saxum: Yeah, so the prototype’s been installed for, since April 2nd, 2025. So it’s only been in there in the, and it’s only been flying for eight months. Um, but yeah, I mean, RWE being a big German company, Siemens, ESA being a big German company. Uh, of course you would think they would want to go to the hometown and and get it out there, but will it be ready? I don’t know. I don’t know. I, I personally don’t know. And there’s probably people that are listening right now that do have this information. If this turbine model has been specked in any of the pre-feed documentation or preferred turbine suppliers, I, I don’t know. Um, of course we, I’m sure someone does. It’s listening. Uh, reach out, shoot us at LinkedIn or something like that. Let us know, but. Uh, yeah, I mean, uh, [00:10:00] Yolanda, so, so from a Blades perspective, of course you’re our local, one of our local blade experts here. It’s difficult to work, it’s gonna be difficult to work on these blades. It’s a 276 meter rotor, right? So it’s 135 meter blade. Is it worth it to go to that and install less of them than work on something a little bit smaller?  Yolanda Padron: I think it’s a, it’s a personal preference. I like the idea of having something that’s been done. So if it’s something that I know or something that I, I know someone who’s worked with them, so there’s at least a colleague or something that I, I know that if there’s something off happening with the blade, I can talk to someone about it. Right? We can validate data with each other because love the OEMs, but they’re very, it’s very typical that they’ll say that anything is, you know. Anything is, is not a serial defect and anything is force majeure and wow, this is the first time I’m seeing this in your [00:11:00] blade. Uh, so if it’s a new technology versus old technology, I’d rather have the old one just so I, I at least know what I’m dealing with. Uh, so I guess that answers the question as far as like these new experimental lights, right? As far as. Whether I would rather have less blades to deal with. Yes, I’d rather have less bilities to, to deal with it. They were all, you know, known technologies and one was just larger than the other one.  Joel Saxum: Maybe it boils down to a CapEx question, right? So dollar per megawatt. What’s gonna be the cost of these things be? Because we know right now could, yeah, kudos to Siemens CESA for actually putting this turbine out at atrial, or, I can’t remember if it’s Australia or if it’s Keyside somewhere. We know that the test blades are serial number 0 0 0 1 and zero two. Right. And we also know that when there’s a prototype blade being built, all of the, well, not all, but you know, the majority of the engineers that [00:12:00] have designed it are more than likely gonna be at the factory. Like there’s gonna be heavy control on QA, QEC, like that. Those blades are gonna be built probably the best that you can build them to the design spec, right? They’re not big time serial production, yada, yada, yada. When this thing sits and cooks for a year, two years, and depending on what kind of blade issues we may see out of it, that comes with a caveat, right? And that caveat being that that is basically prototype blade production and it has a lot of QC QA QC methodologies to it. And when we get to the point where now we’re taking that and going to serial blade production. That brings in some difficulties, or not difficulties, but like different qa, qc methodologies, um, and control over the end product. So I like to see that they’re get letting this thing cook. I know GE did that with their, their new quote unquote workhorse, 6.8 cypress or whatever it is. That’s fantastic. Um, but knowing that these are prototype [00:13:00] machines, when we get into serial production. It kind of rears its head, right? You don’t know what issues might pop up. Speaker 5: Australia’s wind farms are growing fast, but are your operations keeping up? Join us February 17th and 18th at Melbourne’s Pullman on the park for Wind energy ONM Australia 2026, where you’ll connect with the experts solving real problems in maintenance asset management and OEM relations. Walk away with practical strategies to cut costs and boost uptime that you can use the moment you’re back on site. Register now at WM a 2020 six.com. Wind Energy o and m Australia is created by wind professionals for wind professionals because this industry needs solutions, not speeches.  Allen Hall: While conventional blade inspections requires shutting down the turbine. And that costs money. Danish Startup, Qualy Drone has demonstrated a different approach [00:14:00] at the. Ruan to Wind Farm in Danish waters. Working with RDBE, stack Craft Total Energies and DTU. The company flew a drone equipped with thermal cameras and artificial intelligence to inspect blades while they were still spinning. Uh, this is a pretty revolutionary concept being put into action right now ’cause I think everybody has talked about. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could keep the turbines running and, and get blade inspections done? Well, it looks like quality drone has done it. Uh, the system identifies surface defects and potential internal damage in real time and without any fiscal contact, of course, and without interrupting power generations. So as the technology is described, the drone just sits there. Steady as the blades rotate around. Uh, the technology comes from the Aquatic GO Project, uh, funded by Denmark’s, EUDP program. RDBE has [00:15:00] confirmed plans to expand use of the technology and quality. Drone says it has commercial solutions ready for the market. Now we have all have questions about this. I think Joel, the first time I heard about this was probably a year and a half ago, two years ago in Amsterdam at one of the Blade conferences. And I said at the time, no way, but they, they do have a, a lot of data that’s available online. I, I’ve downloaded it and it’s being the engineer and looked at some of the videos and images they have produced. They from what is available and what I saw, there’s a couple of turbines at DTU, some smaller turbines. Have you ever been to Rust, Gilda and been to DTU? They have a couple of turbines on site, so what it looked like they were using one of these smaller turbines, megawatt or maybe smaller turbine. Uh, to do this, uh, trial on, but they had thermal movie images and standard, you know, video images from a drone. They were using [00:16:00] DGI and Maverick drones. Uh, pretty standard stuff, but I think the key comes in and the artificial intelligence bit. As you sit there and watch these blades go around, you gotta figure out where you are and what blades you’re looking at and try to splice these images together that I guess, conceptually would work. But there’s a lot of. Hurdles here still, right?  Joel Saxum: Yeah. You have to go, go back from data analysis and data capture and all this stuff just to the basics of the sensor technology. You immediately will run into some sensor problems. Sensor problems being, if you’re trying to capture an image or video with RGB as a turbine is moving. There’s just like you, you want to have bright light, a huge sensor to be able to capture things with super fast shutter speed. And you need a global shutter versus a rolling shutter to avoid some more of that motion blur. So there’s like, you start stepping up big time in the cost of the sensors and you have to have a really good RGB camera. And then you go to thermal. So now thermal to have to capture good [00:17:00]quality thermal images of a wind turbine blade, you need backwards conditions than that. You need cloudy day. You don’t want to have shine sheen bright sunlight because you’re changing the heat signature of the blade. You are getting, uh, reflectance, reflectance messes with thermal imagery, imaging sensors. So the ideal conditions are if you can get out there first thing in the morning when the sun is just coming up, but the sun’s kind of covered by clouds, um, that’s where you want to be. But then you say you take a pic or image and you do this of the front side of the blade, and then you go down to the backside. Now you have different conditions because there’s, it’s been. Shaded there, but the reason that you need to have the turbine in motion to have thermal data make sense is you need the friction, right? So you need a crack to sit there and kind of vibrate amongst itself and create a localized heat signature. Otherwise, the thermal [00:18:00] imagery doesn’t. Give you what you want unless you’re under the perfect conditions. Or you might be able to see, you know, like balsa core versus foam core versus a different resin layup and those kind of things that absorb heat at different rates. So you, you, you really need some specialist specialist knowledge to be able to assess this data as well. Allen Hall: Well, Yolanda, from the asset management side, how much money would you generate by keeping the turbines running versus turning them off for a standard? Drone inspection. What does that cost look like for a, an American wind farm, a hundred turbines, something like that. What is that costing in terms of power? Yolanda Padron: I mean, these turbines are small, right? So it’s not a lot to just turn it off for a second and, and be able to inspect it, right? Especially if you’re getting high quality images. I think my issues, a lot of this, this sounds like a really great project. It’s just. A lot of the current drone [00:19:00] inspections, you have them go through an AI filter, but you still, to be able to get a good quality analysis, you have to get a person to go through it. Right. And I think there’s a lot more people in the industry, and correct me if I’m wrong, that have been trained and can look through an external drone inspection and just look at the images and say, okay, this is what this is Then. People who are trained to look at the thermal imaging pictures and say, okay, this is a crack, or this is, you know, you have lightning damage or this broke right there. Uh, so you’d have to get a lot more specialized people to be able to do that. You can’t just, I mean, I wouldn’t trust AI right now to to be the sole. Thing going through that data. So you also have to get some sort of drone inspection, external drone inspection to be able to, [00:20:00] to quantify what exactly is real and what’s not. And then, you know, Joel, you alluded to it earlier, but you don’t have high quality images right now. Right? Because you have to do the thermal sensing. So if you’re. If you’re, if you don’t have the high quality images that you need to be able to go back, if, if, if you have an issue to send a team or to talk to your OE em or something, you, you’re missing out on a lot of information, so, so I think maybe it would be a good, right now as it stands, it would be a good, it, it’d be complimentary to doing the external drone inspections. I don’t think that they could fully replace them. Now.  Joel Saxum: Yeah, I think like going to your AI comment like that makes absolute sense because I mean, we’ve been doing external drone inspections for what, since 2016 and Yeah. And, and implementing AI and think about the data sets that, that [00:21:00] AI is trained on and it still makes mistakes regularly and it doesn’t matter, you know, like what provider you use. All of those things need a human in the loop. So think about the, the what exists for the data set of thermal imagery of blades. There isn’t one. And then you still have to have the therm, the human in the loop. And when we talk to like our, our buddy Jeremy Hanks over at C-I-C-N-D-T, when you start getting into NDT specialists, because that’s what this is, is a form of NDT thermal is when you start getting into specialist, specialist, specialist, specialist, they become more expensive, more specialized. It’s harder to do. Like, I just don’t think, and if you do the math on this, it’s like. They did this project for two years and spent 2 million US dollars per year for like 4 million US dollars total. I don’t think that’s the best use of $4 million right now. Wind,  Allen Hall: it’s a drop in the bucket. I think in terms of what the spend is over in Europe to make technologies better. Offshore wind is the first thought because it is expensive to turn off a 15 or 20 megawatt turbine. You don’t want to do that [00:22:00] and be, because there’s fewer turbines when you turn one off, it does matter all of a sudden in, in terms of the grid, uh, stability, you would think so you, you just a loss of revenue too. You don’t want to shut that thing down. But I go, I go back. To what I remember from a year and a half ago, two years ago, about the thermal imaging and, and seeing some things early on. Yeah, it can kind of see inside the blade, which is interesting to me. The one thing I thought was really more valuable was you could actually see turbulence on the blade. You can get a sense of how the blade is performing because you can in certain, uh, aspect angles and certain temp, certain temperature ranges. You can see where friction builds up via turbulence, and you can see where you have problems on the blade. But I, I, I think as we were learning about. Blade problems, aerodynamic problems, your losses are going to be in the realm of a percent, maybe 2%. So do you even care at that point? It, it must just come down then to being able to [00:23:00] keep a 15 megawatt turbine running. Okay, great. Uh, but I still think they’re gonna have some issues with the technology. But back to your point, Joel, the camera has to be either super, uh, sensitive. With high shutter speeds and the, and the right kind of light, because the tiff speeds are so high on a tiff speed on an offshore turbine, what a V 2 36 is like 103 meters per second. That’s about two hundred and twenty two hundred thirty miles per hour. You’re talking about a race car and trying to capture that requires a lot of camera power. I’m interested about what Quality Drone is doing. I went to that website. There’s not a lot of information there yet. Hopefully there will be a lot more because if the technology proves out, if they can actually pull this off where the turbines are running. Uh, I don’t know if to stop ’em. I think they have a lot of customers [00:24:00]offshore immediately, but also onshore. Yeah, onshore. I think it’s, it’s doable  Joel Saxum: just because you can. I’m gonna play devil’s advocate on this one because on the commercial side, because it took forever for us to even get. Like it took 3, 4, 5, 6 years for us to get to the point where you’re having a hundred percent coverage of autonomous drones. And that was only because they only need to shut a turbine down for 20 minutes now. Right. The speed’s up way up. Yeah. And, and now we’re, we’re trying to get internals and a lot of people won’t even do internals. I’ve been to turbines where the hatches haven’t been open on the blades since installation, and they’re 13 years, 14 years old. Right. So trying to get people just to do freaking internals is difficult. And then if they do, they’re like, ah, 10% of the fleet. You know, you have very rare, or you know, a or an identified serial of defect where people actually do internal inspections regularly. Um, and then, so, and, and if you talk about advanced inspection techniques, advanced inspection techniques are great for specific problems. That’s the only thing they’re being [00:25:00] accepted for right now. Like NDT on route bushing pullouts, right? They, that’s the only way that you can really get into those and understand them. So specific specialty inspection techniques are being used in certain ways, but it’s very, very, very limited. Um, and talk to anybody that does NDT around the wind industry and they’ll tell you that. So this to me, being a, another kind of niche inspection technology that I don’t know if it’s has the quality that it is need to. To dismount the incumbent, I guess is what I’m trying to say. Allen Hall: Delamination and bond line failures and blades are difficult problems to detect early. These hidden issues can cost you millions in repairs and lost energy production. C-I-C-N-D-T are specialists to detect these critical flaws before they become a. Expensive burdens. Their non-destructive test technology penetrates deep to blade materials to find voids and cracks. Traditional inspections [00:26:00] completely. Miss C-I-C-N-D-T Maps. Every critical defect delivers actionable reports and provides support to get your blades back in service. So visit cic ndt.com because catching blade problems early will save you millions. After five years of development, Alliant Energy is ready to build one of Wisconsin’s largest wind farms. The Columbia Wind Project in Columbia County would put more than 40 turbines across rural farmland generating about 270 megawatts of power for about 100,000 homes. The price tag is roughly $730 million for the project. The more than 300 landowners have signed lease agreements already, and the company says these are next generation turbines. We’re not sure which ones yet, we’re gonna talk about that, that are taller and larger than older models. Uh, they’ll have to be, [00:27:00] uh, Alliant estimates the project will save customers about $450 million over the 35 years by avoiding volatile fuel costs and. We’ll generate more than $100 million in local tax revenue. Now, Joel, I think everybody in Europe, when I talk to them ask me the the same thing. Is there anything happening onshore in the US for wind? And the answer is yes all the time. Onshore wind may not be as prolific as it was a a year or two ago, but there’s still a lot of new projects, big projects going to happen here. Joel Saxum: Yeah. If you’ve been following the news here with Alliant Energy, and Alliant operates in that kind of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, that upper. Part of the Midwest, if you have watched a or listened to Alliant in the news lately, they recently signed a letter of intent for one gigawatt worth of turbines from Nordex.[00:28:00] And, uh, before the episode here, we’re doing a little digging to try to figure out what they’re gonna do with this wind farm. And if you start doing some math, you see 277 megawatts, only 40 turbines. Well, that means that they’ve gotta be big, right? We’re looking at six plus megawatt turbines here, and I did a little bit deeper digging, um, in the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s paperwork. Uh, the docket for this wind farm explicitly says they will be nordex turbines. So to me, that speaks to an N 1 63 possibly going up. Um, and that goes along too. Earlier in the episode we talked about should you use larger turbines and less of them. I think that that’s a way to appease local landowners. That’s my opinion. I don’t know if that’s the, you know, landman style sales tactic they used publicly, but to only put 40 wind turbines out. Whereas in the past, a 280 megawatt wind farm would’ve been a hundred hundred, [00:29:00]20, 140 turbine farm. I think that’s a lot easier to swallow as a, as a, as a local public. Right. But to what you said, Alan. Yeah, absolutely. When farms are going forward, this one’s gonna be in central Wisconsin, not too far from Wisconsin Dells, if you know where that is and, uh, you know, the, the math works out. Alliant is, uh, a hell of a developer. They’ve been doing a lot of big things for a lot of long, long time, and, uh, they’re moving into Wisconsin here on this one. Allen Hall: What are gonna be some of the challenges, Yolanda being up in Wisconsin because it does get really cold and others. Icing systems that need to be a applied to these blades because of the cold and the snow. As Joel mentioned, there’s always like 4, 5, 6 meters of snow in Wisconsin during January, February. That’s not an easy environment for a blade or or turbine to operate in.  Yolanda Padron: I think they definitely will. Um, I’m. Not as well versed as Rosie as [00:30:00] in the Canadian and colder region icing practices. But I mean, something that’s great for, for people in Wisconsin is, is Canada who has a lot of wind resources and they, I mean, a lot of the things have been tried, tested, and true, right? So it’s not like it’s a, it’s a novel technology in a novel place necessarily because. On the cold side, you have things that have been a lot worse, really close, and you have on the warm side, I mean just in Texas, everything’s a lot warmer than there. Um, I think something that’s really exciting for the landowners and the just in general there. I know sometimes there’s agreements that have, you know, you get a percentage of the earnings depending on like how many. Megawatts are generated on your land or something. So that will be so great for that community to be able [00:31:00] to, I mean, you have bigger turbines on your land, so you have probably a lot more money coming into the community than just to, to alliance. So that’s, that’s a really exciting thing to hear.  Allen Hall: That wraps up another episode of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. If today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us on LinkedIn and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you found value in today’s discussion, please leave us a review. It really helps other wind energy professionals discover the show For Rosie, Yolanda and Joel, I’m Allen Hall and we’ll see you next time on the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.

Stay up to date with the biggest Elon Musk news in this weekly update (January 24, 2026). In this episode, we break down the latest headlines across Tesla, SpaceX, Starship, X (Twitter), xAI, Neuralink, and The Boring Company, plus what the newest developments could mean next week.If you want a single, fast briefing that covers the most important Elon Musk updates, you're in the right place.Tesla news: deliveries, FSD updates, pricing, and product rumorsSpaceX news: Starship progress, launch timeline chatter, FAA-related developments, and infrastructure updatesX (Twitter) news: platform changes, creator monetization, and major announcementsxAI and Grok news: model updates, product shifts, partnerships, and competitive movesNeuralink news: clinical milestones, approvals, and engineering updatesThe Boring Company: project updates and expansion signalsElon Musk's companies move fast. This weekly roundup is built to help you track the stories that actually impact Tesla investors, SpaceX watchers, and anyone following AI industry news.If you like weekly coverage like this, check out the rest of the channel for:Starship updatesTesla FSD breakdownsxAI and AI industry explainersElon Musk news recapsNew videos every week covering Elon Musk, Tesla, SpaceX, Starship, X, and xAI. Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss the next update.

In Episode 14 of Cockpit2Cowl, Jeff and Brian talk all about the NEW MOSAIC FAA Ruling. From Sport Pilot, to Light Sport Aircraft...Let the fun begin!“Cockpit 2 Cowl” with Brian Schiff and Jeff Simon is a program that explores General Aviation safety topics from the combined perspective of Flight Instructors, Pilots and Mechanics, exploring both man & machine to make aviation safer and more enjoyable. Brian Schiff (flight instructor & professional pilot) and Jeff Simon (pilot, mechanic & FAA authorized aircraft inspector) are highly regarded educators that take a thoughtful, entertaining, and often humorous approach to exploring topics relevant to anyone interested in aviation. Register at Cockpit2Cowl.com to join the live broadcast (be sure to join early because attendance is limited for the live broadcasts). More events like this on SocialFlight.com and TheProficientPilot.com SocialFlight Partners: Avemco Insurance www.avemco.com/socialflight Aspen Avionics www.aspenavionics.com Avidyne www.avidyne.com Continental Aerospace Technologies www.continental.aero EarthX Batteries www.earthxbatteries.com Hartzell Engine Technology www.hartzell.aero Hartzell Propellers https://hartzellprop.com/ Lightspeed Aviation www.lightspeedaviation.com Michelin Aircraft https://aircraft.michelin.com/ Phillips 66 Lubricants https://phillips66lubricants.com/industries/aviation/ Tempest Aero www.tempestaero.com Trio Avionics www.trioavionics.com uAvionix www.uavionix.com Wipaire www.wipaire.com

Is getting your FAA Part 107 certificate all you need to be competitive in today's drone industry—or is that just the starting line? In this episode of Your Drone Questions. Answered, host Chris Breedlove digs into what actually makes drone pilots employable and future-proof in a fast-changing tech landscape.Chris is joined by Eric Richard, President of Drone Sports Inc., who brings a deep K–12 and drone education perspective shaped by more than a decade in the industry. Together, they unpack how the role of the drone pilot is evolving, why industry knowledge is becoming just as important as flight skills, and how curiosity—not just certifications—may be the most valuable skill of all.https://www.dronesports.us/eric@dronesports.us 

The Americas Aviation Lead for PA Consulting discusses key priorities for the U.S. aviation industry, including investing in airport infrastructure and addressing the industry’s labor shortage. In the news, a bill to pay controllers during a shutdown, why ATC modernization has failed, the FAA’s unleaded avgas transition plan, similarities between the UPS crash and a previous problem with bearings, and the FAA’s decision to deregister hundreds of aircraft. Also, a new studio album from an airline pilot, visiting the USS Midway Museum in Southern California, and listener feedback on attractive airplanes. Guest Carlos Ozores is the Americas Aviation Lead for PA Consulting, a global firm that focuses on technology and innovation. Carlos addresses the key priorities for the U.S. aviation industry in 2026, including investing in airport infrastructure and addressing the industry labor shortage. He explains that U.S. airports have an estimated $170B capital requirement over the next five years to address airport infrastructure needs. Carlos tells us about the traditional sources to fund such projects, and what other sources could make up the shortfall. We look at public-private partnerships, the Passenger Facility Charge, and monetization of airport assets such as terminal concessions, car parking, and real estate development. Also, utilizing data collected about passengers and the importance of airport stakeholder engagement. Carlos tells us how the aging workforce is contributing to an industry labor shortage and leading to the loss of institutional knowledge. We talk about promoting the industry to the young generations, and issues such as pay, training, documented and repeatable work, quality of life, and labor relations. Before joining PA Consulting, Carlos served as Vice President and Managing Director, Head of Aviation, Americas, for ICF, a global solutions and technology provider. Before that, he spent time at American Airlines and Air France. He just returned from the American Association of Airport Executives Aviation Issues Conference in Hawaii, and we hear his observations from that event. PA aviation clients include SkyTeam and its member airlines on sustainability issues, Heathrow Airport on on-time performance and passenger experience projects, Etihad Airways on decision-support for engine fleet management, and DFW on airport operations. Other clients have included Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Aer Lingus, and multiple SkyTeam member airlines through SkyTeam's sustainability program. See: Airport Improvement Program Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) program Airports Council International American Association of Airport Executives Jacobs to Acquire Remaining Stake in PA Consulting Aviation News Update: Air Traffic Controller Pay During Shutdowns Meets Resistance The House Transportation Committee advanced a bipartisan bill (H.R.6086 – Aviation Funding Solvency Act) which “provides continuing appropriations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) if (1) an appropriations bill for the FAA has not been enacted before a fiscal year begins, or (2) a law making continuing appropriations for the FAA is not in effect.”  The “bill provides appropriations from the Aviation Insurance Revolving Fund at the rate of operations that was provided for the prior fiscal year to continue programs, projects, and activities that were funded in the preceding fiscal year. The FAA may use the balance of the fund, minus $1 billion. If the FAA determines that the amounts from the fund are insufficient to continue all programs, projects, or activities, then the FAA must prioritize compensation payments for employees of the Air Traffic Organization (e.g., air traffic controllers).” However, Steve Womack (R-Ark.), chair of the House Appropriations Committee's transportation panel, is critical of the legislation. The Aviation Insurance Revolving Fund exists to cover war‑risk insurance claims for airlines participating in government programs such as the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF), when commercial insurance is unavailable or withdrawn. The balance was originally built up from premiums paid by airlines, but that premium program authority expired in 2014. Because the fund has been largely unused for claims, investment earnings have grown it to roughly more than 2.6 billion dollars, significantly above what has historically been needed for CRAF-related claims. The Abundance Problem: Why the FAA Has Spent 40 Years Modernizing Air Traffic Control—and Still Isn't Done Vincent E. Bianco III, an FAA Veteran and Senior Aviation Safety Consultant, describes why presidential administrations and Congresses have failed to adequately fund the FAA and modernize the ATC system. He draws on a concept from the March 2025 book Abundance: What America Gets Wrong About Capitalism and What We Can Do to Fix It, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Those authors describe how an institution, like the FAA, can become paralyzed by process, where well-intentioned rules accumulate. Each rule is logical by itself, but taken together, they end up stifling progress. FAA Publishes Unleaded Avgas Transition Plan Daft Section 827 of the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act directs the FAA to facilitate a safe, timely, and orderly transition to unleaded alternatives while maintaining operational efficiency. The FAA released a Draft Transition Plan to Unleaded Aviation Gasoline – For Public Comment (January 2026, Version 1.0, 77 pages), which phases out 100LL fuel by 2030 in the contiguous United States, and by 2032 in Alaska. The FAA is seeking feedback from aviation professionals, specifically aircraft owners, pilots, and aviation stakeholders. Boeing warned 15 years ago about a part problem at the center of UPS crash The Air Current reports that in an investigation update, the NTSB noted “that cracking discovered in a spherical bearing assembly from the accident aircraft ‘appears consistent' with an issue identified by Boeing almost 15 years ago.” The bearing assembly is part of the pylon aft mount bulkhead. That mount, and the forward mount bulkhead and thrust link assembly, attach the engine pylon to the wing. “The NTSB's preliminary report on the accident, released Nov. 20, revealed that on the left pylon aft mount bulkhead, the forward and aft lugs that house the spherical bearing assembly had fractured and separated. The spherical bearing's outer race, which contains the ball bearing and allows it to move independently of the surrounding parts, had also fractured around its circumference.” The 2011 Boeing service letter informed operators of bearing race failures on three different airplanes. A visual inspection of the part was added to the regular 60-month maintenance cycle. Also, Boeing recommended (but did not require) installing a new part design. Boeing determined that failure of the bearing race would “not result in a safety of flight condition.” The NTSB is not saying this is the conclusive cause of the accident. Hundreds of Aircraft Deregistered in FAA Move Against Trust Company About 800 aircraft registered through U.K.-based Southern Aircraft Consultancy have been grounded after the FAA informed the company it did not meet U.S. citizenship requirements.  Those requirements allow a trustee firm to register aircraft in the US. Southern Aircraft Consultancy's registration service allows non-American owners to maintain N-registrations on their planes. Southern Aircraft Consultancy says it intends to transfer its business to a U.S.-based company. See: Aircraft Trusts/Voting Trusts NBAA: FAA Aircraft Groundings Over Trustee Violations Show Need for Operator Diligence 737 Diversion Music artist, airline pilot, author, and piano technician Peter Buffington has released his second new studio album, 737 – Diversion by Speed Brake Armed. “Recorded between late-night flights, hotel rooms, and restless studio time, 737 – Diversion captures the raw energy of sleepless nights, long-haul journeys, and the electric haze of life lived at 37,000 feet experienced by pilots. The 15-track project blends classic pop, worldly electronic, country, classic rock, and piano solo with introspective lyricism that pushes aviation-themed music into new territory. The music is family-friendly, yet captures the intensity of airline flying.” 737 Diversion on Apple Music Mentioned California dreamin’! New nonstop service coming to Maine airport Photographs by Listener Steve: Pratt & Whitney 747SP test aircraft at EAA Airventure Oshkosh. A340 on takeoff. A340 in flight. Hosts this Episode Max Flight, our Main(e) Man Micah, and Rob Mark.

In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: New warnings that Russia may be preparing to strike the power lines feeding Europe's largest nuclear plant, a move that could threaten reactor cooling systems and raise fears of a potential meltdown. New reporting reveals the United States was quietly in talks with Venezuela's hardline interior minister months before the raid that removed Nicolás Maduro. The FAA issues new warnings urging caution for flights over parts of Latin America, citing potential military activity in the region. And in today's Back of the Brief—Tehran faces diplomatic fallout as the World Economic Forum revokes its invitation to Iran's foreign minister following a deadly crackdown on protesters. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President's Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief American Financing: Call American Financing today to find out how customers are saving an avg of $800/mo. NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.196% for well qualified borrowers. Call 866-885-1881 for details about credit costs and terms. Visit http://www.AmericanFinancing.net/PDB.  QUO: Make this the year where no opportunity slips away. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to https://Quo.com/PDB  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Headlines: Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado visited the White House and handed Donald Trump a symbolic Nobel Peace Prize — only to walk away with Trump merch, zero U.S. backing, and confirmation that the administration will continue supporting remnants of the Maduro regime. The Nobel Foundation quickly clarified that Nobel Prizes can't be transferred, even symbolically. Trump then escalated his Greenland fixation, announcing new tariffs on European countries that don't support a U.S. takeover and threatening steeper penalties by summer. He later claimed Norway owed him a Nobel Prize and suggested U.S. control of Greenland is essential for global security, prompting Canada to warn that any U.S. military action would trigger NATO obligations. Meanwhile, Canada and the EU are rapidly reshuffling trade alliances away from the U.S. This week, former DOJ special counsel Jack Smith will testify to Congress as Trump heads to Davos to unveil his self-appointed “Board of Peace,” tasked with overseeing Gaza's future. Trump plans to chair the board, charge countries $1 billion to participate, and has invited members ranging from U.S. allies to Russia and Belarus. In Iran, mass protests continue amid a near-total internet blackout, with reports estimating more than 13,000 deaths in recent days. Iranian state TV was briefly hacked to air messages urging revolt, while the FAA warned airlines to prepare for possible military activity affecting flights across parts of Latin America and the Pacific. Back in the U.S., Trump declined — for now — to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, while placing 1,500 troops on standby and opening investigations into Minnesota's governor and Minneapolis's mayor. He also floated plans to sue JPMorgan Chase over alleged political “debanking.” Finally, Virginia lawmakers moved to redraw congressional maps ahead of the midterms, opening yet another front in the rapidly escalating gerrymandering wars. Resources/Articles mentioned in this episode: The New Republic: Trump Snubs Machado After Explaining Why He Took Her Nobel Prize Newsweek: Nobel Foundation Speaks Out After Machado Gifts Trump Peace Prize NYT: Trump Links His Push for Greenland to Not Winning Nobel Peace Prize BBC: Trump says he will '100%' carry out Greenland tariffs threat, as EU vows to protect its interests Politico: Carney to Trump: Back off on Greenland ABC News: Trump's protectionist trade policies allow China to swoop in NYT: Gaza's Board of Peace: What to Know Reuters: Iran to consider lifting internet ban; state TV hacked Bloomberg: US Warns Airlines About Military Activity in Parts of Latin America WaPo: 1,500 troops prepare to possibly deploy to Minnesota, officials say CBS News: DOJ investigating Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over alleged conspiracy to impede immigration agents CNBC: Trump threatens to sue JPMorgan Chase for 'debanking' him NYT: Trump Sets Fraudster Free From Prison for a Second Time NBC News: Virginia lawmakers pass redistricting amendment, sending it to voters for approval Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to the article with analysis from the author:  In an effort to quell concerns that US bombs would soon be falling on Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum said she received assurance from Washington that there would be no military flights over Mexico. On Monday, Sheinbaum explained she had received “written” assurance from the US that no military flights would take place over Mexico. She added that Washington pledged to inform Mexico City of any military operations before they take place. Sheinbaum's remarks followed warnings from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to civilian aircraft to watch for military flights over Mexico and parts of Central and South America. The FAA issued a similar advisory before the US attacked Venezuela and kidnapped President Nicolas Maduro. President Donald Trump has pressed Sheinbaul to allow the US to conduct military operations against cartels in Mexico. She has repeatedly refused to permit any foreign ministry actions inside Mexico. Multiple outlets have reported that the US is preparing to conduct military operations inside of Mexico, including strikes on suspected drug labs and raids targeting cartels. Under Trump, the US has designated several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. The White House justified its strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean by arguing the vessels were operated by cartels designated as a narco-terrorist group. First Published at Antiwar.com

How long does it really take to become a designated pilot examiner? In this episode of More Right Rudder, Sarah Staudt welcomes Lex Crosett to walk step-by-step through his 18-month path to DPE authorization. From initial application and FAA interviews to Oklahoma City training and observed checkrides, Crosett offers a transparent look at each phase of the process—and explains why patience, professionalism, and preparation are essential. The conversation also sheds light on how DPE availability, geography, and FAA workload affect examiner capacity nationwide. An informative episode for instructors, applicants, and anyone interested in the future of flight training. If you aren't already a NAFI member, join us today at https://nafimentor.org. Use code PODSAVE5 to save $5 on your NAFI membership. Thank you to Pilot Institute for sponsoring this episode. 

Send us a textDrew flew to SFO for happy hour and Doug did AF mission planning which didn't go as planned. We discuss:Iran AirspaceOur 2026 predictionsAircraft emergency FAA tower alertsDelta finally orders the 787Allegiant merges with Sun Country Africa's biggest airport begins constructionListener comments2026 Next Trip PredictionsDoug:Geopolitical issues/airspace closures become the normBig E2 orders. (Maybe United)Alliance changes (does EK finally join)Airbus hints at a new plane ahead of Boeing Drew More 787-10s. American and United increase orders Indigo recovers from crew scheduling and expands internationallySouthwest orders 787s for international flights. BWI-LHR, OAKHND797 is introduced….mini 787United makes good on A350 order with 50 -1000sLinks from the show - Drew's recommendation for Peking duck in San Francisco:Z and Y Peking DuckJoin the Network! https://www.nexttripnetwork.com/

In Episode 13 of Cockpit2Cowl, Jeff and Brian talk all about EVALUATING YOUR AVIATION EXPERTS, including your CFI, Mechanic & More. Let the fun begin! SPECIAL PROMOTION: Get a 5% discount on Avemco Insurance by mentioning "SocialFlight" when you call! (contact Avemco for terms and conditions) “Cockpit 2 Cowl” with Brian Schiff and Jeff Simon is a program that explores General Aviation safety topics from the combined perspective of Flight Instructors, Pilots and Mechanics, exploring both man & machine to make aviation safer and more enjoyable. Brian Schiff (flight instructor & professional pilot) and Jeff Simon (pilot, mechanic & FAA authorized aircraft inspector) are highly regarded educators that take a thoughtful, entertaining, and often humorous approach to exploring topics relevant to anyone interested in aviation. Register at Cockpit2Cowl.com to join the live broadcast (be sure to join early because attendance is limited for the live broadcasts). More events like this on SocialFlight.com and TheProficientPilot.com SocialFlight Partners: Avemco Insurance www.avemco.com/socialflight Aspen Avionics www.aspenavionics.com Avidyne www.avidyne.com Continental Aerospace Technologies www.continental.aero EarthX Batteries www.earthxbatteries.com Hartzell Engine Technology www.hartzell.aero Hartzell Propellers https://hartzellprop.com/ Lightspeed Aviation www.lightspeedaviation.com Michelin Aircraft https://aircraft.michelin.com/ Phillips 66 Lubricants https://phillips66lubricants.com/industries/aviation/ Tempest Aero www.tempestaero.com Trio Avionics www.trioavionics.com uAvionix www.uavionix.com Wipaire www.wipaire.com

This week the JPR crew talk about the latest news from the FAA and their plans for converting to unleaded fuel for aircraft. The post Just Plane Radio 1-17-26 appeared first on Just Plane Radio.

Sheinbaum promete hospital y más apoyos sociales en Edomex  Sin acuerdos termina reunión entre campesinos y la Sader  Venezuela firma su primer contrato para exportar gas LPMás información en nuestro podcast

With more and more aircraft flying through local skies, the FAA may institute tighter restrictions to make sure everyone stays safe. Plus the local news for January 15, 2026 and a taste of what it is to ride through a Boring Company tunnel. Credits: This is a production of Nashville Public RadioHost/producer: Nina CardonaEditor: LaTonya TurnerAdditional support: Mack Linebaugh, Tony Gonzalez, Megan Jones and the staff of WPLN and WNXP

The next phase of Boeing’s 737 Max 10 certification, Alaska Airlines’ purchase of Boeing jets, the effects of sanctions on airlines, the discontinuation of Avelo Airlines’ deportation flights, and the acquisition of Sun Country Airlines by Allegiant. Boeing 737 Max 10, courtesy Boeing. Aviation News Boeing advances 737 Max 10 into next phase of FAA flight testing Boeing's 737 Max 10 has entered the second major phase of FAA flight testing, Type Inspection Authorization (TIA). An outstanding design change for the Max 7 and Max 10 engine anti‑ice system has led to certification delays. The core issue is an engine anti-ice design that can overheat and damage the composite engine inlet structure if left on for too long in non-icing conditions. Regulators consider this an unacceptable hazard. The problem affects all Max variants, but it is being treated as a hard certification gate for the Max 7 and 10. Alaska Airlines to buy more than 100 Boeing jets in carrier's biggest order ever Alaska Airlines is ordering 105 more Boeing 737 Max 10 jets (53 new orders, and 52 exercised options) and exercising options for five 787-10 Dreamliners. This reserves production slots for future airline expansion. Alaska Airlines expects FAA certification of the Max 10 this year, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2027. The new order includes options for 35 more 737 Max 10s. How sanctions turned Iran into a refuge for the world's rarest passenger aircraft A sanctioned country like Iran can't buy new aircraft, engines, or OEM spare parts and components. Keeping the fleet flying, or just keeping a fleet, becomes difficult. Reportedly, more than half of Iran's estimated 330 commercial aircraft are grounded. The Iranian fleet is composed of old airframes and supported by scavenged aircraft, parts, engines, and avionics smuggled into the country. Avelo Airlines to end ICE deportation charters as it cuts commercial flights, jobs The airline says it will stop flying deportation flights for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a letter to employees, CEO Andrew Levy said, “We moved a portion of our fleet into a government program which promised more financial stability but placed us in the center of a political controversy. The program provided short-term benefits but ultimately did not deliver enough consistent and predictable revenue to overcome its operational complexity and costs.” Avelo is returning six of its Boeing 737-700 airplanes (they have 8) to focus on the more efficient 737-800 airplanes (they have 14) and said it will close bases at North Carolina's Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Wilmington International Airport, though it will continue to serve those cities. Avelo closes three crew bases and removes six 737-700s following recapitalisation Avelo chief executive Andrew Levy told FlightGlobal in September that the airline plans to receive its first E195-E2 in early 2027 and for deliveries to continue into 2032. It considers the incoming E-Jets well-suited for smaller, niche markets that major US carriers avoid. Allegiant to buy rival budget airline Sun Country in $1.5 billion cash and stock deal Low-cost leisure airline Allegiant announced it will acquire Sun Country Airlines in a deal that values the stock and cash transaction at approximately $1.5 billion, including $400 million of Sun Country’s net debt. The Allegiant brand would continue, with the two carriers operating separately until obtaining a single operating certificate. See: Sun Country + Allegiant Merger FAQs Mentioned The Aircraft Carrier Midway Is San Diego's Biggest Tourist Attraction, According To Tripadvisor Aviation Masters podcast. Video version: George Braly on Lean-of-Peak, G100UL, Certification Battles, and Why Aviation Myths Die Hard https://youtu.be/0WWmSy4aNng?si=JwbjrL91fUeqD5DT Check out the LEO JetBike – a personal propeller-free eVTOL that anyone can fly LEO Flight The JetBike, courtesy LEO Flight. Hosts this Episode Max Flight, our Main(e) Man Micah, and Brian Coleman.

Even after losing his sight, this visionary still paints a vivid mental picture for every project he touches.In this episode of The Mark Haney Show, James Kubel, founder of JK Engineering and Electric, explains his unique approach to design — from “graphic design” and product design to complex electronics — guided not by sight, but by imagination, structure, and timeless design principles. His story proves that creativity doesn't depend on vision, and that innovation has no bounds.James is an accomplished electrical engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur who lost his vision due to diabetes in his 20s — but never lost his drive to build. From rebuilding a car at 15, to designing speech-synthesizer technology used by the blind community and organizations like the FAA and Lockheed Martin, James has spent decades turning challenges into breakthroughs.In this conversation, James shares how he designs technology by “painting the picture in his mind,” why he refuses to accept the word can't, and how accessibility-driven inventions often lead to unexpected real-world impact far beyond their original purpose.This episode dives into:• Designing electronics and products without sight• Using imagination and design principles to solve complex problems• Assistive technology, accessibility, and innovation• Entrepreneurship, resilience, and overcoming bias• How AI and emerging tech can empower people with disabilitiesWhether you're an entrepreneur, engineer, creative, or someone facing obstacles of your own, this episode will challenge how you think about design, ability, and what's truly possible.

Guest Co-Host Maya Leibman, Guest: Don Carty, Chairman, Porter Airlines. Also: The Allegiant- Sun Country deal; Is Frontier-Spirit now more likely? Altimeter conflict - FAA putting out 5G plan for public comment; Airport debt increase rises; Expansion at (AUS) Austin, TX; SWA transformation progress; Listener input on baggage fee structure and an alternative method.

How can we manage hazardous attitudes in ourselves and others?The FAA in the US has identified five hazardous attitudes that are present in human caused airline crashes. These five attitudes are anti-authority, impulsivity, invulnerability, macho and resignation. These attitudes can negatively impact judgment in any risk-taking situation.In this episode Geoff Powter shares how we can manage these hazardous attitudes in ourselves and others.Geoff Powter is a retired psychologist, an experienced climber, writer, and adventurer from the Canadian Rockies. He served as editor of the Canadian Alpine Journal for 13 years and has won 9 National Magazine Awards.Geoff has authored several books, including Strange and Dangerous Dreams, which won the Jury Prize at the 2006 Banff Mountain Book Festival and was adapted into a radio series. His second most recent book, Inner Ranges, won the Climbing Literature Prize at the Banff Festival in 2019 and the National Outdoor Book Award in the USA. His most recent book Survival Is Not Assured: The Life of Climber Jim Donini, is the Winner of National Outdoor Book Award in the USA.This is the second episode of two where Geoff, Jordy and Chris explore the five hazardous attitudes that can impact decision making and risk taking.Key TakeawaysHow to manage hazardous attitudes in ourselves and others:Anti-authority: Is the “do not tell me what to do,” mindset.To manage this, recognize that rules, guidelines and best practices exist to help us and follow them! To manage it in others, explain the reason why rules exist, give people control when you can, and involve people in decision making as much as possible.Impulsivity: Is the “do it quickly,” mindset.To manage this, be methodical, follow all the steps, and slow things down when we feel the need to rush into things.Also, make others aware of the risk of rushing into things and encourage them to follow systems and processes without skipping steps. This reduces the chance of errors and missing information. It also ensures everyone knows what to do.Invulnerability: Is the “It won't happen to me,” mindsetTo manage this, remind yourself that bad outcomes can happen to anyone. For others, try to personalize the fact that bad outcomes can happen to anyone by highlighting mishaps that have happened to people they may know. This can include sharing your own stories of misadventure involving negative outcomes. This can help to make things more real.Macho: This is the “I can do it,” mindsetTo manage this, look for signs of overconfidence. Celebrate humility and model an objective approach to decision making that involves accepting that some things may be beyond our capabilities and that's normal.Resignation: This is the “what's the use,” mindset.To manage this, believe that you have the power to change or influence the situation you are in. Involve everyone in decision making and ensure everyone is heard. Acting on concerns or suggestions can also demonstrate to others that they do have the power to change their situation.Guest BioGeoff is a retired psychologist, an experienced climber, writer, and adventurer from the Canadian Rockies. He served as editor of the Canadian Alpine Journal for 13 years and has won 9 National Magazine Awards.Geoff has authored several books, including Strange and Dangerous Dreams, which won the Jury Prize at the 2006 Banff Mountain Book Festival and was adapted into a radio series. His second most recent book, Inner Ranges, won the Climbing Literature Prize at the Banff Festival in 2019 and the National Outdoor Book Award in the USA. His most recent book Survival Is Not Assured: The Life of Climber Jim Donini, is the Winner of National Outdoor Book Award in the USA.In 2012 Geoff was the recipient of the Summit

Allen, Joel, Rosemary, and Yolanda discuss the ongoing federal halt on US offshore wind projects and mounting lawsuits from Equinor, Ørsted, and Dominion Energy. Plus Japan’s Goto floating wind farm begins commercial operation with eight Hitachi turbines on hybrid SPAR-type foundations, and Finnish investigators seize a vessel suspected of severing Baltic Sea cables. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast brought to you by Strike Tape, protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit striketape.com. And now your hosts, Allen Hall, Rosemary Barnes, Joel Saxum and Yolanda Padron. Welcome to the  Allen Hall: Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I’m your host, Alan Hall. I’m here with Rosie Barnes, Joel Saxum, and Yolanda Padron. Many things on the docket this week. The, the big one is the five US offshore wind projects that are facing cancellation after the federal halt. And on December 22nd, as we all know, the US Department of Interior ordered construction halted on every offshore wind project in American waters. Uh, the recent given and still given is national security. Uh, developers see it way differently and they’ve been going to court to try to. Get this issue resolved. Ecuador, Ted and Dominion Energy have all filed lawsuits at this point. EOR says [00:01:00] a 90 day pause, which is what this is right now, will likely mean cancellation of their empire. Project Dominion is losing more than about $5 million a day, and everybody is watching to see what happens. Orton’s also talking about taking some action here. Uh, there’s a, a lot of moving pieces. Essentially, as it stands right now, a lot of lawsuits, nothing happening in the water, and now talks mostly Ecuador of just completely canceling the project. That will have big implications to US. Electricity along the east coast,  Joel Saxum: right Joel? Yeah. We need it. Right? So I, I hate to beat a dead horse here because we’ve been talking about this for so long. Um, but. We’ve got energy demand growth, right? We’re sitting at three to 5% year on year demand growth in the United States, uh, which is unprecedented. Since, since, and this is a crazy thing. Since air [00:02:00] conditioning was invented for residential homes, we have not had this much demand for electricity growth. We’ve been pretty flat for the last 20 years. Uh, so we need it, right? We wanna be the AI data center superpower. We wanna do all this stuff. So we need electrons. Uh, these electrons are literally the quickest thing gonna be on the grid. Uh, up and down that whole eastern seaboard, which is a massive population center, a massive industrial and commercial center of the United States, and now we’re cutting the cord on ’em. Uh, so it is going to drive prices up for all consumers. That is a reality, right? Um, so we, we hear campaign promises up and down the things about making life more affordable for the. Joe Schmo on the street. Um, this is gonna hurt that big time. We’re already seeing. I think it was, um, we, Alan, you and I talked with some people from PGM not too long ago, and they were saying 20 to 30% increases already early this year. Allen Hall: Yeah. The, the increases in electricity rates are not being driven by [00:03:00] offshore wind. You see that in the press constantly or in commentary. The reason electricity rates are going up along the east coast is because they’re paying for. The early shutdown of cold fire generation, older generation, uh, petroleum based, uh, dirty, what I’ll call dirty electricity generation, they’re paying to shut those sites down early. So that’s why your rates are going up. Putting offshore wind into the equation will help lower some of those costs, and onshore wind and solar will help lower those costs. But. The East Coast, especially the Northeast, doesn’t have a lot of that to speak of at the minute. So, uh, Joel, my question is right now, what do you think the likelihood is of the lawsuits that are being filed moving within the next 90 days? Joel Saxum: I mean, it takes a long time to put anything through any kind of, um, judicial process in the United States, however. There’s enough money, power [00:04:00] in play here that what I see this as is just like the last time we saw an injunction happen like this is, it’s more of a posturing move. I have the power to do this, or we have the power to do this. It’s, it’s, uh, the, it’s to get power. Over some kind of decision making process. So once, once people come to the table and start talking, I think these things will be let, let back loose. Uh, I don’t, I don’t think it will go all the way to, we need to have lawsuits and stuff. It’ll just be the threat of lawsuits. There’ll be a little bit of arbitration. They’ll go back to work. Um, the problem that I see. One of the problems, I guess, is if we get to the point where people, companies start saying like, you know what, we can’t do this anymore. Like, we can’t keep having these breaks, these pauses, these, this, you know, if it’s 90 days at $5 million a day, I mean that’s 450 million bucks. That’s crazy. But that nobody, nobody could absorb that.  Allen Hall: Will they leave the mono piles and transition pieces and some [00:05:00] towers just sitting in the water. That’s what  Joel Saxum: I was gonna say next is. What happens to all of the assets, all of the steel that’s in the water, all the, all the, if there’s cable, it lays if there’s been rock dumps or the companies liable to go pick them up. I don’t know what the contracts look like, right? I don’t know what the Boem leases say. I don’t know about those kind of things, but most of that stuff is because they go back to the oil field side of things, right? You have a 20 year lease at the end of your 20 year lease. You gotta clean it up. So if you put the things in the water, do they have 20 years to leave ’em out there before they plan on how they’re gonna pull ’em out or they gotta pull ’em out now? I don’t know.  Allen Hall: Would just bankrupt the LLCs that they formed to create these, uh, wind  Joel Saxum: farms. That’s how the oil field does it bankrupt. The LC move on. You’ve, you’ve more than likely paid a bond when you, you signed that lease and that, but that bond in like in a lot of. Things is not enough. Right. A bond to pull mono piles out would have to be, [00:06:00] I mean, you’re already at billions of dollars there, right? So, and, and if you look again to the oil and gas world, which is our nearest mirror to what happens here, when you go and decommission an old oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, you don’t pull the mono piles out. You go down to as close to the sea floor as you can get, and you just cut ’em off with a diamond saw. So it’s just like a big clamp that goes around. It’s like a big band saw. And you cut the foundations off and then pull the steel back to shore, so that can be done. Um, it’s not cheap.  Allen Hall: You know what I would, what I would do is the model piles are in, the towers are up, and depending on what’s on top of them, whether it’s in the cell or whatever, I would sure as hell put the red flashing lights on top and I would turn those things on and let ’em run just so everybody along the East coast would know that there could be power coming out of these things. But there’s not. So if you’re gonna look at their red flashy lights, you might as well get some, uh, megawatts out of them. That’s what I would do.  Joel Saxum: You’d have to wonder if the contracts, what, what, what it says in the contracts about. [00:07:00] Uh, utilization of this stuff, right? So if there’s something out there, does the FAA say, if you got a tower out there, it’s gotta have a light on it anyways. Allen Hall: It has to or a certain height. So where’s the power coming from? I don’t know. Solar panel. Solar panel. That’s what it have to be, right? Yeah. This is ridiculous. But this is the world we live in today.  Speaker 4: Australia’s wind farms are growing fast, but are your operations keeping up? Join us February 17th and 18th at Melbourne’s Pullman on the park for Wind energy o and M Australia 2026, where you’ll connect with the experts solving real problems in maintenance asset management. And OEM relations. Walk away with practical strategies to cut costs and boost uptime that you can use the moment you’re back on site. Register now at W OM a 2020 six.com. Wind Energy o and m Australia is created by wind professionals for wind professionals. Because this industry needs solutions, not speeches, [00:08:00] Allen Hall: the dominoes keep falling. In American offshore wind, last year it was construction halts this year, contract delays. Massachusetts has pushed back the signing of two offshore wind agreements that were supposed to be done. Months ago, ocean Winds and Berroa won their bids in September of 2024. The paperwork is still unsigned more than a year later, a year and a half later. State officials blame Federal uncertainty. Uh, the new target is June and offshore wind for these delays are really becoming a huge problem, especially if you don’t have an offtake agreements signed, Joel.  Joel Saxum: I don’t see how the, I mean, again, I’m not sitting in those rooms. I’m not a fly on the wall there, but I don’t see how you can have something sitting out there for, it’s just say September 24. Yeah. Yeah. You’re at 18 months now, right? 17, 18 months without an agreement signed. Why is, why is Massachusetts doing this? What’s, what’s the, what’s the thing there? I mean, you’re an, [00:09:00] you are, uh, an ex Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Ian, is that what it’s called?  Allen Hall: Yeah. I, I think they would like to be able to change the pricing for the offtake is most likely what is happening as, uh, the Trump administration changes the agreements or trying to change the agreements, uh, the price can go up or down. So maybe the thing to do is to not sign it and wait this out to see what the courts say. Maybe something will happen in your favor. That’s a real shame. Right. Uh, there’s thousands of employees that have been sidelined. Uh, the last number I saw was around 4,000. That seems on the low end.  Joel Saxum: Yeah. I think about, um, the, the vessels too. Like you’re the, like the Eco Edison that was just built last year. I think it’s upwards of 500 million bucks or something to build that thing down in Louisiana, being sent up there. And you have all these other specialized, uh, vessels coming over from Europe to do all this construction. Um, you know. Of course if they’re coming over from Europe, those are being hot bunked and being paid standby rates, which [00:10:00] is crazy ’cause the standby rates are insane. Uh, ’cause you still gotta run fuel, you still gotta keep the thing running. You still gotta cook food. You still have all those things that have to happen on that offshore vessel. Uh, but they’re just gonna be sitting out there on DP doing nothing.  Yolanda Padron: You have the vessels, you have people’s jobs. You have. Regular people who are unrelated to energy at all suffering because of their prices going up for energy and just their cost of living overall going up. All because they don’t look pretty.  Joel Saxum: Yeah. The entire, that entire supply chain is suffering. I mean, Yolanda, you’re, you, you used to work with a company involved in offshore wind. How many people have, um, you know, have we seen across LinkedIn losing their jobs? Hey, we’re pivoting away from this. I gotta go find something else. And with that. In the United States, if you’re not from the States, you don’t know this, but there’s not that much wind, onshore wind on the East coast. So many of those families had to relocate out there, uproot your family, go out to Massachusetts, New Jersey, [00:11:00] Virginia, wherever, put roots back down and now you’re what? What happens? You gotta move back.  Yolanda Padron: Good luck to you. Especially, I mean, you know, it’s, it’s a lot of projects, right? So it’s not like you can just move on to the next wind farm. It’s a really unfortunate situation.  Allen Hall: Well, for years the promise of floating wind turbines has dangled just out of reach and the technology works, and the engineers have been saying for quite a while. We just needed someone to prove it at scale. Well, Japan just did the go-to floating wind farm began commercial operation this past week. Eight turbines on hybrid spar foundations anchored in water is too deep for anything fixed. Bottom, uh, it’s the first. Wind farm of his kind in Japan and signals to the rest of Asia that floating wind is possible. Now, uh, Rosemary, their turbines that are being used are Hitachi turbines, 2.1 megawatt machines. I don’t know a lot about this hybrid spark [00:12:00] type floater technology, which looks to be relatively new in terms of application. Is this gonna open up a large part of the Japanese shoreline to offshore wind? Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, I mean, at the first glance it’s like two megawatt turbine turbines. That’s micro, even for onshore these days, that’s a really small turbine. Um, and for offshore, you know, usually when you hear about offshore announcements, it’s like 20 megawatt, 40 megawatt monstrosities. However, I, I think that if you just look at the size of it, then it really underestimates the significance of it, especially for Japan. Because they, one, don’t have a lot of great space to put turbines on shore or solar power on shore. Um, and two, they don’t have any, any good, um, locations for fixed bottom offshore. So this is not like this floating offshore wind farm. It’s not competing against many onshore um, options at all. For Japan, it’s competing against energy imports. I’m really happy to see [00:13:00] a proper wind farm. Um, in Japan and they’ll learn a lot from this. And I hope that it goes smoothly and that, you know, the next one can be bigger and better. And then it’s also, you know, Japan traditionally has been a really great manufacturing country and not so much with wind energy, but this could be their chance. If they’re the country that’s really on scale developing the floating offshore industry, they will necessarily, you know, like just naturally as a byproduct of that, they’re gonna develop manufacturing, at least supporting manufacturing and probably. Some major components and then bring down the cost. You know, the more that, um, these early projects might start out expensive, but get cheaper, fast. That’s how we hope it’ll go. And then they’ll push out into other areas that could benefit from offshore wind, but um, not at the cost. Somewhere like California, you know, they have the ability to have onshore wind. They’d really like some offshore wind, some floating offshore wind. But it is a hard sell there at the moment because it is so much more expensive. But if it gets cheaper because, you know, projects like [00:14:00] this help push the price down, then I think it will open things up a lot. So yeah, I am, I’m quite excited to see this project.  Allen Hall: Will it get cheaper at the two to six megawatt range instead of the 15 to 20 megawatt range?  Joel Saxum: That’s what I was gonna comment on. Like there’s, there’s a, there’s a key here that the general public misses. For a floating offshore wind farm. So if you’re gonna do this cost effectively, that’s why they did it with the 2.1 megawatts ones because with a, with the spar product that they’re using basically. And, and I was sourcing this off at my desk, so here you go,  Rosemary Barnes: Joel. We need a closed caption version for those listening on the podcast and not watching on YouTube. Joel’s holding like a foam, a foam model of a wind turbine. Looks like it’s got a stubby, stubby holder on the bottom.  Joel Saxum: This is. Turbine. Steel. Steel to a transition piece and then concrete, right? So this is basically a concrete tube like, um, with, with, uh, structural members on the inside of it. And you can float this thing or you can drag these, you can float ’em key side and then drag ’em out, and [00:15:00] then it just fill ’em halfway or three quarters away with ballast sea seawater. So you just open a valve, fill the thing up to three quarters of the way with seawater, and it sinks it down into the water a little bit. Water level sits about. Right at the transition piece and then it’s stable. And that’s a hybrid. Spar product is very simple. So to make this a easy demonstrate project, keyside facility is the key, is the big thing. So your Keyside facility, and you need a deep water keyside facility to make this easy. So if you go up to Alan, like you said, a two to six, to eight to 10 to 15 megawatt machine. You may have to go and take, you may have to barge the spars out and then dump ’em off the spar and then bring the turbines out and put ’em on. That’s not ideal. Right? But if you can do this all keyside, if you can have a crane on shore and you can float the spars and then put the, build the whole turbine, and then drag that out as it sits, that’s a huge cost reduction in the installation operations. So it, it’s all about how big is the subsea portion of the spar? How? How deep is your [00:16:00] deep water keyside port? To make it efficient to build. Right. So they’re looking at 10 gigawatts of floating offshore wind by 2030. Now it’s 2026. That’s only four years away, so 10 gigawatts. You’re gonna have to scale up the size of the turbines. It’ll be interesting how they do it, right? Because to me, flipping spars off of a barge is not that hard. That’s how jackets and spars have been installed in the past. Um, for, um, many industries, construction industries, whether it’s oil and gas or just maritime, construction can be done. Not a problem. Um, it’s just not as efficient. So we’ll see what, we’ll see what they do.  Allen Hall: You would need 5,000 turbines at two megawatts to get to 10 gigawatts, 5,000 turbines. They make 5,000 cars in a day. The, the Japanese manufacturing is really efficient. I wouldn’t put anything by the Japanese capabilities there.  Joel Saxum: The problem with that is the cost of the, the inter array cables and [00:17:00] export cables for 5,000 turbines is extreme. Allen Hall: We also know that. Some of the best technology has come out of Japan for the last 50 years, and then maybe there’s a solution to it. I, I’m really curious to see where this goes, because it’s a Hitachi turbine. It’s a 2.1 megawatt turbine, as Rosemary’s pointed out. That’s really old technology, but it is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to move around. Has benefits.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. It also means like they, they’re not gonna be surprised with like, you know, all of. When you make a 20 megawatt offshore wind turbine, you’re not only in the offshore environment, you’re also dealing with, you know, all your blade issues from a blade that long and 2.1 megawatt turbine has blades of the size that, you know, just so mature, reliable, robust. They can at least rule those headaches out of their, um, you know, out of their. Development phase and focus on the, the new stuff.  Joel Saxum: Does anybody know who [00:18:00] makes blades for Hitachi?  Allen Hall: Rosie? Was it lm? I, I, I know we have on a number of Hitachi turbines over time, but I don’t know who makes the blades.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, I don’t know. But I mean, also it’s like, um, it doesn’t mean that they’re locked into 2.1 megawatts for forever, right? So, um, if the economics suggest that it is be beneficial to scale up. Presumably there will be a lot that they have learned from the smaller scale that will be de-risking the, the bigger ones as well. So, you know, um, it’s, there’s advantages to doing it both ways. It’s probably a slower, more steady progress from starting small and incrementally increasing compared to the, you know, like big, um, fail fast kind of, um, approach where you just do a big, big, huge turbine and just find out everything wrong with it all at once. Um, but. You know, pros and cons to both.  Allen Hall: Hitachi buys TPI. They got the money. They got the money, and they got the brain power. [00:19:00] Delamination and bottom line. Failures and blades are difficult problems to detect early. These hidden issues can cost you millions in repairs and lost energy production. C-I-C-N-D-T are specialists to detect these critical flaws before they become expensive burdens. Their non-destructive test technology penetrates deep to blade materials to find voids and cracks. Traditional inspections completely. Miss C-I-C-N-D-T Maps. Every critical defect delivers actionable reports and provides support to get your blades back in service. So visit cic ndt.com because catching blade problems early will save you millions. The Baltic Sea has become a chessboard under sea. Cables carry data. Pipelines carry energy as we’ve all seen and someone keeps cutting them. Finnish investigators are now saying a cargo ship dragged its anchor [00:20:00] across the seabed for tens of kilometers before severing a telecommunications cable. On New Year’s Eve, special forces seize the vessel. Four crew members are detained, but the questions still remain. Who or what is trying to cut cables and pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.  Joel Saxum: It’s not accidents like it happened on New Year’s Eve and it was, and you drug an anchor for tens of kilometers. That’s on purpose. There’s, there’s no way that this is someone, oh, we forgot to pull the anchor up. You know how much more throttle you have to put on one of these? Have you seen an anchor for an offshore vessel? They’re the size of a fricking house,  Allen Hall: so they’re investigating it right now. And four, the 14 crew members are under detention. Travel restrictions, we’ll see how long that lasts. Crew includes nationals from of all places, Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan. So there is a, a Russian element to this. [00:21:00] I don’t know if you were all watching, I don’t know, a week or two ago when there’s a YouTube video from and oral, which makes undersea. Equipment and defense, uh, related, uh, products. And Palmer Lucky who runs that company basically said, there are microphones all over the bottom of the ocean, all around the world. Everything is monitored. There’s no way you can drag an anchor for a kilometer without somebody knowing. So I’m a little surprised this took so long to grab hold of, but. Maybe the New Year’s Eve, uh, was a good time to pick because everybody is kind of relaxed and not thinking about a ship, dragging an anchor and breaking telecommunication cables, wind turbines have to be really careful about this. There, there have to be some sort of monitoring, installation sensors that are going on around the, all the wind power that exists up in that region and all [00:22:00] the way down in, in the North Sea. To prevent this from happening, the sabotage is ridiculous. At this point,  Joel Saxum: yeah. I mean, even, even with mattresses over the export cables, or the inter array cables or, or rock bags or rock dumps or, or burials, these anchors are big enough to, to cut those, to drag and cut ’em like it, it’s just a, it’s a reality. It’s a risk. But someone needs to be monitoring these things closer if they’re not yet. ’cause you are a hundred percent correct. There’s, so, there’s, there’s private, there’s public sides of the acoustic monitoring, right? So like the United States military monitors, there’s, there’s acoustic monitoring all up and down. I can’t actually never, I looked into it quite a while ago. There’s a name for the whole system. It’s called the blah, blah, blah, and it monitors our coastline. Like ev, there’s a sensor. Every man, it’s a couple miles. Like all, all around the EEZ of the United States. And that exists everywhere. So like you think like in international waters, guarantee that the United States has got microphones out listening to, [00:23:00] right. So, but if you’re in the Baltic Sea, it’s a little bit different of an, of a confined space. But you have Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, all along the southern and eastern coast and the, and Russia. And then you have the Fins, Swedes, Norwegian, Denmark, Germany. Everybody is Poland. Everybody’s monitoring that for sure. It’s just like a postmortem investigation is, is doable.  Allen Hall: Yolanda, how are they gonna stop this? Should they board the ships, pull the people off and sink them? What is it gonna take for this to end?  Yolanda Padron: I don’t know. In the meantime, I think Joel has a movie going on in his head about how exactly he’s gonna portray this. Um, yeah, it’s. I mean, I’d say better monitoring, but I, I’m not sure. I guess keep a closer eye on it next time. I mean, I really hope it’s, there’s not a next time, but there seems to be a pattern developing. Right.  Allen Hall: I forgot how many of those happened.  Joel Saxum: Yeah. The maritime, this is a, this is a tough reality about the maritime world. [00:24:00] ’cause I, I’ve done some work done in Africa and down there it’s specifically the same thing. There’s say there’s a vessel. Okay, so a vessel is flagged from. S Cy Malta, a lot of vessels are flagged Malta or Cyprus, right? Because of the laws. The local laws there that Cyprus flagged vessel may be owned by a company based in, um, Bermuda that’s owned by a company based in Russia that’s owned by a company based in India. All of these things are this way. There’s shell companies and hidden that you don’t know who owns vessels unless they’re even, even the specific ones. Like if you go to a Maersk vessel. And you’re like, oh, that’s Maersk, they’re Danish. Nope. That thing will be, that thing will be flagged somewhere else, hidden somewhere else. And it’s all about what port you go to and how much taxes you can hide from, and you’ll never be able to chase down the actual parties that own these vessels and that are responsible you, you, it, it’s so [00:25:00] difficult. You’re literally just going to have to deal with the people on board, and you can try to chase the channels to who owns that boat, but you’ll never find them. That’s the, that’s the trouble with it.  Allen Hall: It does seem like a Jean Claude Van Dam situation will need to happen pretty soon. Maybe as Steven Segal, something has to happen. It can’t continue to go on it over the next couple of months with as much attention as being paid to international waters and. Everything that’s happening around the world, you’d think that, uh, ships Defense Department ships from Denmark, Finland, Germany. We will all be watching this really closely UK be watching this and trying to stop these things before they really even happened. Interesting times. That wraps up another episode of the Uptime Wind Energy Podcasts. If today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas. We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us on LinkedIn and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. [00:26:00] And if you found value in today’s conversation, please leave us a review. It really helps other wind energy professionals discover the show for Rosie, Yolanda and Joel. I’m Alan Hall and we’ll catch you next week on the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.

Jamail Larkins plans an AI-driven career and scholarship site to boost aviation pathways; plus 2026 GA predictions from AOPA Hangar Talk co-hosts David Tulis and Alicia Herron, as well as news discussion on the King Air Garmin Autoland save, a MOSAIC award for the FAA, and ATC radar updates.

Going camping is an incredible way to experience Australia's great outdoors whilst also taking a break from technology and daily routines. We unpack the benefits of camping, the preparation required, the equipment you should consider taking, and how to be a considerate camper. - Laga bilaabo xeebaha illaa dhulka baadiyaha ah ee outback-ga la yiraahdo, , Camping-ku waa hab sahlan oo raqiis ah, oo looga nasto cadaadiska nololeed, laguna raaxaysto quruxda dabiiciga ah ee Australia. Faa'iidadiisa, qalabka la sii diyaarsado iyo macluumaadka muhiimka ah ee la sii ogaado ayaanu kuu qeexaynaa.

On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper (later known as D.B. Cooper) boarded a Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle. He told the flight attendant that he had a bomb and demanded $200,000 in cash and 4 parachutes. His demands were met. Over a dense forest in a rainstorm, he parachuted out of the plane with the money, was never seen again, and became a legend. 

Getting stuck in the FAA medical process is one of the most frustrating—and least talked about—parts of becoming a pilot. In this episode, Tyler shares what it was really like having his medical deferred, waiting nearly a year with no clear timeline, and pushing through the uncertainty without quitting. We talk about what happens when your paperwork is “just sitting in line,” how medical delays affect motivation, and why patience becomes part of the pilot journey whether you expect it or not.

When Veronica Leacock moved from Panama to the U.S., she wasn't just changing countries. She was rebuilding her entire career—new language, new system, and a licensing process that nearly shut her out. She went hangar to hangar asking for a chance, trained without pay, and kept pushing until an FAA office in Oregon agreed to review her case and sign her paperwork. In this conversation, Shaesta and Veronica walk through the real path: becoming a mechanic young, having a baby during training, immigrating, studying alone at night, and grinding through the FAA written, oral, and practical exams. Veronica shares what it feels like to fail a portion of the test, come back, and finish anyway—because quitting wasn't an option. They also get blunt about the culture in maintenance: the “sink or swim” mindset, the double standard women face in leadership, and why recruiting women is easier than keeping them. Veronica explains how small signals (like not even having women's uniforms) send a bigger message: “this wasn't built for you.” The episode closes with her leadership “identity shift”—moving from proving herself to leading with purpose, integrity, and care for people. Her goal is simple: build others so well that they feel like they can achieve anything when they're next to her. CHAPTERS (00:00) From proving to purpose (01:41) Meet Veronica + the shortage (04:37) Panama: first spark in a hangar (10:09) U.S. reset: language + studying (16:44) Oregon board signs her 8610s (20:03) A&P O&P: fail, retest, win (24:39) What mechanics really do (29:25) AI, drones, predictive maintenance (40:43) Fixing “sink or swim” culture (55:40) Leading with values and care SPONSOR ⁠⁠⁠⁠Atlantic Aviation⁠ | ⁠atlanticaviation.com⁠ WORK WITH SHAESTA For bookings and inquiries, visit:⁠ ⁠⁠https://shaestawaiz.com/book⁠ MORE ABOUT VERONICA LEACOCK BORCHARDT⁠LinkedIn: Veronica Leacock Borchardt MORE ABOUT SHAESTA WAIZ  Website: ⁠shaestawaiz.com⁠  Instagram: ⁠@shaesta.waiz⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠Shaesta Waiz⁠ YouTube: ⁠www.youtube.com/@aviateplatform⁠ TikTok: ⁠@shaestawaiz⁠ Threads: ⁠@shaesta.waiz⁠ Production, Distribution, and Marketing By Massif & Kroo Website:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MassifKroo.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For inquiries/sponsoring: email hello@MassifKroo.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode: The first real-world activation of the Garmin Autoland system, the E‑7 Wedgetail networked airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform, the flu season impact on crews, an airline captain stands up for exhausted flight attendants, and airlines with the largest fleets. Additionally, airport modernization and the Dulles people movers, the infrastructure needed to support the growth of personal air vehicles, and containment systems for lithium battery thermal runaway. Aviation News Autoland Saves King Air, Everyone Safe, FAA, NTSB Launch Probes On December 20, 2025, a Super King Air (N479BR) operated by Buffalo River Aviation experienced an in-flight emergency after departing from Aspen, Colorado (KASE) on a FAR Part 91 reposition flight. No passengers were on board. Climbing through 23,000ft MSL, the aircraft experienced a rapid, uncommanded loss of pressurization. The aircraft was equipped with Garmin Aviation’s latest Emergency Descent Mode (EDM) and Autoland systems, automatically engaged when the cabin altitude exceeded the prescribed safe levels. The system selected a suitable airport per Garmin criteria (KBJC, Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport), navigated to it, and landed safely. See: NTSB News Talk Episode 20: Garmin Autoland Emergency Landing: First King Air Save Buffalo River Aviation Statement Regarding Colorado Emergency Landing Image courtesy Garmin. Boeing's $724 million radar plane lives on, despite Pentagon efforts to kill it The E‑7 Wedgetail program is designed to replace the legacy E‑3 Sentry/AWACS-type aircraft (Airborne Warning And Control System) with a modern, networked airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform. The E-7 is designed to provide long-range, 360° air and maritime surveillance using an electronically scanned array radar mounted on a Boeing 737 airframe. It's intended to serve as an airborne battle management node, coordinating fighters, surface units, and ground-based air defenses. The Pentagon wants to cancel the purchase of two prototype E-7 Wedgetail jets, but Congress refuses to do so. In fact, Congress provided $847 million in additional funding for the two prototypes. Major Radio Failure Paralyzes Greek Airspace A major failure of aviation radio communications across Greece led to a temporary shutdown of Greek airspace, grounding or diverting flights nationwide for several hours and causing knock-on disruption across Europe. The collapse of radio frequencies in the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) forced authorities to halt departures and arrivals until communications were partially restored. Travelers stranded in Caribbean as US military operation sends airlines scrambling to add flights A US military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro led to a temporary FAA closure of Caribbean airspace, causing more than 425 flight cancellations and stranding thousands of travelers across islands including Puerto Rico, Anguilla, St. Maarten, and Aruba. Airlines are now restoring service and adding extra capacity, with most commercial restrictions lifted and operations gradually normalizing. Alaska Airlines Captain Sues Boeing Over 737Max Door Plug Incident Alaska Airlines captain Brandon Fisher has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Boeing and subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems, alleging they tried to make him a scapegoat for the January 5, 2024, mid‑air door plug blowout on Flight 1282. He claims Boeing falsely suggested the incident was due to maintenance or crew error, despite later NTSB findings that pointed to Boeing's inadequate training, guidance, and oversight in its manufacturing processes. Fisher says he has suffered “profound physical and mental repercussions” since the blowout, describing ongoing deterioration linked to emotional injury. Alaska Airlines Hits New All Time Record of 540+ Flight Attendants Going Sick With Carrier Struggling to Operate Full Schedule Flight attendants and pilots are calling out sick in great numbers as the flu season takes hold. Alaska Airlines reports that 540 flight attendants are out. Meanwhile, Frontier, JetBlue, and Spirit have activated contingency plans. In an internal memo, Spirit Airlines said, “Our reserve levels are virtually the same as they have been since 2023, but during this holiday, our sick calls have exceeded previous periods by nearly 250% on some days.” Weather delays and ATC shortages have compounded the problem. A memo reviewed by PYOK explained that nearly 20% of the airline's flight attendants called out sick just before the New Year. My Crew Is Done: United Airlines Captain Refuses to Push Tired Flight Attendants And One Passenger Thanks Him For The Delay FAA regulations generally limit a flight attendant's maximum scheduled duty day to 14 hours on domestic flights. With an augmented crew (adding additional flight attendants), duty can be scheduled beyond 14 hours but is capped at 20 hours. This PYOK article relates the observations of a passenger who saw a United Airlines Captain refuse the attempts of the ground crew to keep the timed-out flight attendants on the boarded plane while another cabin crew could be found. With the FAs exiting the plane, the passengers would have to deplane. Top 10 airlines with the biggest fleets in 2026 United Airlines has the largest fleet with 1,050 single-aisle and widebody aircraft. American Airlines follows with 1,023 aircraft, then Delta Airlines (989), Southwest Airlines (810), China Southern Airlines (708), China Eastern Airlines (679), Skywest Airlines (600), Air China (531), Turkish Airlines (399), and Ryanair (349). The data comes from Planespotters.net and individual airlines. It is current as of December 2025. Mentioned Micah was a guest on WBZ, AM Radio 1030 in Boston with Bradley Jay. He spent an hour talking about all sorts of different aviation and travel things: Ready for Take Off! Dulles Airport Modernization: Dulles mobile lounges could last another two decades, airport officials say 18 people sent to the hospital after mobile lounge crashes at Washington D.C.-area airport Trump's Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Launches New Initiative to Revitalize Dulles Airport into The International Gateway Our Nation's Capital Deserves Plane Mate mobile lounge. Newer model. Jetson ONE Jetson ONE. Lithium-ion battery containment: Lithium Fire Guard Lithium Battery Air Safety Advisory Committee FAA testing videos: Competitor 1, Competitor 2, Competitor 3, Competitor 4, and PG100. Hosts this Episode Max Flight, Rob Mark, and our Main(e) Man Micah.

On this episode of The Difference Makers Podcast, Dr. Joseph Ramos and Director of Aviation Joseph LoRusso sit down with Austin O'Boyle, VP of Advocacy at Aristotle International and a key leader behind the Pilot Mental Health Campaign (PMHC), to break down the real-world impact of FAA mental health policy and the path forward through the Mental Health in Aviation Act.We discuss why pilots and air traffic controllers often feel forced to “white-knuckle” depression, anxiety, PTSD, and major life stressors out of fear of losing their medical certificate, and how that fear creates both personal harm and aviation safety risks.Austin walks us through the Mental Health in Aviation Act: where it stands after clearing the House, what's happening in the Senate, why this bill is moving at an unprecedented pace, and what still needs to happen before it reaches the President's desk.We also dig into the Aviation Medication Transparency Act because right now, pilots are navigating a system where even physicians struggle to confirm what medications are FAA-approved. (Yes—pilots have literally called from pre-op with an anesthesiologist on the line asking if a medication is allowed.)In this episode, we cover:- Why FAA mental health policy discourages pilots from seeking care- The “mental health vs public safety” misconception—and how it's addressed- How the Mental Health in Aviation Act moves through Congress- House vs Senate differences and what happens next- Unanimous consent vs floor vote explained- VA record-sharing issues impacting veteran pilots- Why medication transparency is currently a “guessing game”- How pilots, families, unions, and aviation groups can help right now- PMHC's DC advocacy efforts and why constituent stories matterHelpful links:- Pilot Mental Health Campaign (PMHC): https://www.pmhc.org/about_pmhc- Mental Health in Aviation Act overview: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2591/text- Ramos Aviation Law: https://www.ramoslaw.com/aviation-law/

The Department of Defense and the unifromed military services are undertaking a massive acquisition overhaul prioritizing speed and rapid innovation. One of the services leading the way on that journey is the Department of the Navy. Last month at DefenseTalks, CTO Justin Fanelli delivered a dynamic keynote sharing how the sea service is going about its technology-enabling acquisition transformation. Kirsten Davies has been formally sworn in as chief information officer at the Defense Department where she'll oversee a “broad portfolio” of important programs, the Pentagon announced. Davies took the reins shortly before the Christmas holiday, according to officials, less than a week after she was confirmed by the Senate. “She brings to the Department two decades of transforming organizations for the digital age, building cyber defenses, tackling tech debt, and innovating at scale,” officials wrote in a post on the Office of the CIO's LinkedIn page, noting her private sector experience working in top leadership roles for major companies such as Unilever, Estee Lauder Companies, Barclays (Africa Group), Hewlett Packard Enterprises, and Siemens AG. Her extensive IT and cybersecurity background was previously touted by experts who wrote a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee in support of her nomination for Pentagon CIO. In social media posts, DOD officials noted that Davies will be serving under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth while leading digital modernization efforts and “overseeing for him the information enterprise, cybersecurity, technology innovation, and a broad portfolio of national security programs.” Davies took the helm from Katie Arrington, who has launched and shepherded major initiatives while performing the duties of DOD CIO in a non-Senate-confirmed capacity. The Federal Aviation Administration is taking another step toward its goal of modernizing systems and processes by picking two partners to help replace more than 600 radars. The agency said Virginia-based RTX and Spanish firm Indra Sistemas will come onboard the FAA's air traffic control overhaul, marked by high stakes, tight timelines and billions of dollars in funding. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in the Monday announcement.“Most of our radars date back to the 1980s. It's unacceptable.” The radar replacement will kick off this quarter, with a finish line of June 2028 as the goal. The contracts will be paid for by the initial funds allocated in the One Big Beautiful Bill, which earmarked $12.5 billion for the air traffic control modernization project. The radar overhaul is much needed and critical to ensuring safety and efficiency, according to DOT officials. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement. “Many of the units have exceeded their intended service life, making them increasingly expensive to maintain and difficult to support. We are buying radar systems that will bring production back to the U.S. and provide a vital surveillance backbone to the National Airspace System.” Also in this episode, Salesforce EVP Paul Tatum joins SNG host Wyatt Kash in a sponsored podcast discussion on how Agentic AI is accelerating decision-making and enhancing readiness across the defense and intelligence communities. This segment was sponsored by Salesforce. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

In this episode of Elevating Drone Life, host Rob Burdick sits down with Teej Ragsdale, the visionary co-founder and CEO of RAAD, an innovative aerial intelligence network. Teej's journey from finance and crypto to renewable energy has uniquely positioned him to tackle the challenges in the drone services market. Together, we explore the significant frictions faced by drone pilots and how RAAD is revolutionizing the industry by prioritizing fair compensation, quality control, and trust-building with pilots. Discover how RAAD is preparing for the future of drone services, including adapting to regulatory changes and embracing new technologies. Teej shares his insights on the exciting opportunities ahead for pilots and the industry, emphasizing the importance of seamless client and pilot experiences. Tune in to learn about RAAD's unique approach to pilot engagement, the importance of quality control, and the future of drone operations. Want to Make Money Flying Drones? DroneU gives you the blueprint to start and grow a real drone business: FAA Part 107 prep 40+ courses on flight skills, real estate, mapping, and business Pricing guides, client acquisition, and weekly coaching Supportive community of top-tier drone pros Start here https://www.thedroneu.com Know someone ready to take the leap? Share this episode with them !! Stuck between a safe job and chasing your drone dream? Download our FREE Drone Pilot Starter Kit   Includes: FAA checklist, pricing template, and plug-and-play proposal to help you land your first client with confidence.  https://learn.thedroneu.com/bundles/drone-pilot-starter-kit  Timestamps [00:00] Introduction to RAAD and Teej Ragsdale [02:57] The Journey to Founding RAAD [05:52] Understanding the Drone Services Market [09:02] RAAD's Unique Approach to Pilot Engagement [12:00] Building Trust with Pilots and Clients [14:58] The Importance of Quality Control [18:07] Pilot Onboarding and Reputation Management [21:02] The Future of RAAD and Pilot Opportunities [27:59] Client Expectations and Data Delivery [30:55] Pilot Quality and Feedback Mechanisms [32:46] Upskilling and Training for Pilots [35:27] Pilot Requirements and Insurance [37:55] Compensation Models for Pilots [39:48] Market Demand and Sector Insights [40:42] Emerging Technologies and Future Opportunities [42:50] Creative Opportunities in Drone Operations [45:44] Processing Data and Quality Control [49:38] The Joy of Drone Flying [51:01] Client Success Stories and Operational Excellence [54:20] Adapting to Market Demands and Technology Changes [58:01] Navigating Regulatory Challenges [01:04:02] Future Opportunities in the Drone Industry

We're back from vacation and kicking off the new year with a packed show. Today, we're talking football, politics, and more. We've got the latest on the FAA's decision to resume flights after the Venezuelan president's capture, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's priorities for her second term. Plus, we're breaking down the Patriots' playoff schedule and catching up on local sports news. From the Patriots' win over the Dolphins to the latest on the Bulls' game tonight, we're covering it all.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The markets reacted to the military action in Venezuela and that kicks off our newscast this evening. This is the Business News Headlines for Monday the 5th day of January, thanks for listening. In other news, a major tax break for multi-national companies made the news. The FAA announced it is replacing radar programs that date back to the 1980's. West Virginia residents have seen massive increases in their electric rates and we'll share why. We've got a story of some very expensive fish out of Tokyo. We'll check the numbers in The Wall Street Report and yet another check on oil from Venezuela.  For the conversation you'll meet musician Wade Krieg from The Sons of Gladys Kravitz that recently were inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  But first the news. Thanks for listening! The award winning Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday business news podcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and some local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday. You can subscribe on  PlayerFM, Podbean, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or TuneIn Radio. And you can catch The Business News Hour Week in Review each Sunday Noon Central on News/Talk 1540 KXEL. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour...and on Threads @Insight_On_Business.

On Fox Across America, Paul Mauro guest hosts and discusses in the beginning of the Zohran Mamdani Era in NYC. Republican NY Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis joins the show to tell us how she plans on keeping the new mayor in check. Dem strategist Julian Epstein is back on the show to explain why socialism is not a great idea for the Democratic party. Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Carrie Filipetti makes her FAA debut to discuss Venezuela and other foreign policy. FAA bestie and rugged individual Brianna Lyman stops by to tell everybody how dumb communism is. PLUS President of Accuracy in Media Adam Guillette tells us who he caught on camera telling lies.   [00:00:00] Zohran Mamdani Era Begins [00:19:00] NY Rep. Nicole Malliotakis [00:38:00] Julian Epstein [00:56:00] Carrie Filipetti [01:14:30] Brianna Lyman [01:33:00] Adam Guillette Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Track everything happening ahead of SpaceX Starship Flight 12 in one place. This live Starship Tracker follows the real-world milestones from Starbase as they happen, including vehicle status, test campaign progress, schedule signals, and any official updates that move the launch closer.What you will see on this tracker:Current readiness status and major pre-flight milestonesStarbase activity updates and test operations timelineShip and Booster progress checkpoints (as reported by credible sources)Launch window signals, delays, and what they likely meanFlight 12 news recaps when meaningful updates breakSources referenced may include: SpaceX statements, FAA notices, public filings, on-site reporting, and reputable spaceflight outlets. This is an independent tracker and is not affiliated with SpaceX.If you want more Starship coverage, subscribe and turn on notifications so you do not miss key Flight 12 developments.#SpaceX #Starship #Starbase #Flight12 #SpaceNews

This episode discusses the benefits of drone as first responder (DFR) programs for police departments and public safety offices. Guest Biographies Officer J. "Matt" Rowland is a 20-year veteran of the Fort Wayne Police Department (FWPD) located in Fort Wayne, IN. He was a founding member of the FWPD Air Support Unit (ASU) in 2017. He spent 15 years in the Operations division and served 6 years during that time as a hostage negotiator. He is a certified instructor both in the classroom and emergency vehicle driving. Todd Withers is a 34-year veteran of law enforcement with the last 28 years at the Beverly Hills Police Department. He is currently a Lieutenant in charge of the Real Time Watch Center and UAS/ Drone program. He holds a Master of Science Degree from California State University, Long Beach in Emergency Services Administration and is a certified FAA Part 107 UAS Pilot. Don Redmond is a retired Chula Vista Police Captain with over 25 years in law enforcement and now serves as Vice President of Drone as First Responder (DFR) at BRINC Drones. He works with public safety agencies to advance drone technology, improve response times, and save lives. During his career, he was instrumental in developing Chula Vista PD's pioneering Drone as First Responder program, which has become a national model. Dr. Tom Christoff is a Senior Research Scientist with CNA where he is responsible for leading projects involving local assessments, research, and developing technical assistance for agencies nationwide.  Dr. Christoff recently served as a Project Director on a COPS Office project where he oversaw the development of a technology implementation guide and six case studies highlighting agencies using technology in innovative ways.

In this episode, Julia brings together ten women from across the world who each share one word from their own language that sits at the heart of how they lead. Each woman offers her word as a gift: a word that captures how she leads, shaped by where she comes from and what she has lived. As each woman explains why she chose her word, we begin to see how language shapes leading and how it influences the way trust is built, care is expressed, decisions are made, and responsibility is carried. Taken together, the words reveal a wide spectrum of how women lead: with love, joy, service, curiosity, humility, humanity, empathy, trust, integrity, and wisdom. This episode is a reminder that leading is deeply personal and that sometimes, the words we lead with say more than any framework ever could. About the Guests: Maryam Pasha is a Storytelling strategist, producer and curator. She is co-founder of XEQUALS Studio, a creative studio dedicated to telling stories that can create a just, sustainable and joyful future. Projects include TEDxLondon, the Climate Curious Podcast and THE HERDS London. Anna Kalmár is a social entrepreneur and mental health professional, the founder of the Budapest based mental health initiative, AdniJóga. She holds a Master's degree in Social Innovation from the University of Cambridge and currently serves on the board of the Hungarian Coalition of Social Enterprises. Isata Kabia is the Founding Director of Voice of Women Africa, an organization focused on empowering women in Sierra Leone. Sheila Gujrathi, MD is a biotech entrepreneur and executive, healthcare investor, drug developer, and speaker with over 25 years of experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Dr Mai Chen (LLB(Hons)(Otago), (LLM(Harvard),HonLLD(Otago), CMInstD), is a top barrister in NZ and President of NZ Asian Lawyers. Chadia El Meouchi is the Managing Partner at Badri and Salim El Meouchi Law Firm Sonia Adell Valen is a scientific communication and training specialist whose work sits at the intersection of medical education, evidence, and clear, human-centred communication. Manuela Algañaraz works in commercial roles within social enterprises, focused on building partnerships and revenue models that support social impact at Bemtevi Negócios Sociais. Unjela Kaleem is a communications and public affairs leader with over two decades of global experience helping organisations protect reputation, influence policy, and build trust across complex, high-stakes environments. Saki Chen is an attorney licensed to practice in both New York and China, and a certified FAA private pilot with ratings for fixed wing land and sea, instrument flying, high performance, and complex aircraft. She serves as the China Governor for The Ninety-Nines, Inc., the international organisation of women pilots. In 2016, Saki flew around the world in a small single-engine aircraft, an extraordinary journey that combined precision, perseverance, and a pioneering spirit.

On Fox Across America, guest host Rich Zeoli says Minnesota Governor Tim Walz' political career is about to end following all the fraud that has been uncovered in his state. Great friend of the program Lydia Moynihan shares her plans for New Year's. The NJ Zeoli/Piro tag-team is reunited as Todd calls in to talk 2026 predictions. Co-host of the Big Money Show Taylor Riggs joins us in studio to chat about school choice and online child safety. PLUS Emily Sturge is back on FAA to tell us what Trump should do next to improve higher education across the country.   [00:00:00] Walz Political Career Is Toast [00:38:00] Lydia Moynihan [00:56:00] Todd Piro [01:14:00] Taylor Riggs [01:33:00] Emily Sturge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode overview Season 10 opens with a live conversation setting the intellectual frame for a new series built around Contemplating Catastrophe, an edited collection of short essays engaging thinkers outside conventional disaster studies. The episode reflects on why reading beyond the field matters, how theory reshapes practice, and why eclectic, critical scholarship is essential for the future of disaster research. Hosts Jason von Meding Ksenia Chmutina Guests A.J. Faas — anthropologist and disaster scholar J.C. Gaillard — geographer and disaster researcher Key themes Why disaster studies must continually read beyond itself Theory as a way to unsettle settled ideas, not as abstraction for its own sake Eclecticism, curiosity, and “thinking with” rather than “thinking about” communities The limits of normative frameworks (e.g., vulnerability, “no natural disasters”) How critical theory informs practice, not just scholarship The importance of non-Anglophone, non-Western, and untranslated bodies of thought Creating intellectual space for early-career researchers to take theoretical risks Core discussion highlights Introduction to Contemplating Catastrophe, a collection of short essays on thinkers who shape disaster thinking indirectly—philosophers, artists, theorists, and writers outside the field. A.J. Faas discusses reading across philosophy, literature, anthropology, and history to keep thought “lively,” and reflects on how Gramsci and Santiago Castro-Gómez help disaster scholars rethink power, hegemony, and relationality. J.C. Gaillard reflects on frustration with disaster practice as a driver for engaging critical theory, particularly Foucault, and argues that theory liberates practice rather than distracting from it. Shared concern that dominant concepts can silence alternative ontologies and lived realities if left unexamined. A collective call to broaden disaster scholarship beyond Euro-American traditions and to value thinkers writing in other languages and contexts. Season 10 structure Live episodes recorded through 2025, archived on our Youtube channel! Thematic episodes planned on feminism, urbanism, anarchism, Black power, Latin American and Caribbean thought, East and Southeast Asian intellectual traditions, and Eastern philosophies.  

Santa is not the only thing watching you from the darkness this time of year... enjoy our frightful 2025 holiday special and have a merry Christmas and happy holidays! Season 20 Episode 21 of Monsters Among Us Podcast, true paranormal stories of ghosts, cryptids, UFOs and more, told by the witnesses themselves. SHOW NOTES:  Support the show! Get ad-free, extended & bonus episodes (and more) on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/monstersamonguspodcast Tonight's Sponsor - Lumi Gummies THC & CBD gummies - Feel good, not stoned. Get 30% off your order with code MAU at LumiGummies.com Tonight's Sponsor - Upwork - Post a job today and hire tomorrow with Upwork. Right now when you spent $1,000 on Upwork Business Plus you'll get $500 in credit, visit Upwork.com/save to claim this offer before 12/31/25. MAU Merch Shop - https://www.monstersamonguspodcast.com/shop MAU Discord - https://discord.gg/2EaBq7f9JQ Watch FREE - Shadows in the Desert: High Strangeness in the Borrego Triangle  - https://www.borregotriangle.com/ Monsters Among Us Junior on Apple Podcasts  - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/monsters-among-us-junior/id1764989478 Monsters Among Us Junior on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1bh5mWa4lDSqeMMX1mYxDZ?si=9ec6f4f74d61498b Jaxious Music - https://www.youtube.com/@Jaxius/featured Furby Commercial - https://www.reddit.com/r/Millennials/comments/1otxygk/how_many_of_you_had_a_furby_in_the_late_90s/ Furby and the FAA - https://www.faa.gov/media/19696 History of the Christmas Tree - https://www.history.com/articles/history-of-christmas-trees Santa Robs Bank - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7HwHuVUpDk Santa Robber strikes again - https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2014/9/19/bad_santa_sentenced?utm_source=chatgpt.com Cat's Eye (Movie) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcNEU6d5DqA Kallikantzaroi - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYCjxLK_gkg Piebald Deer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOOV-IT9ji4 The Mothman Prophecies (Movie) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt42df3AscE Gremlins (Movie) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeNVftiefOE Music from tonight's episode: Music by Iron Cthulhu Apocalypse - https://www.youtube.com/c/IronCthulhuApocalypse CO.AG Music - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcavSftXHgxLBWwLDm_bNvA Myuu - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiSKnkKCKAQVxMUWpZQobuQ Music By Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio - https://www.youtube.com/@WhiteBatAudio White Bat Audio Songs: Miami Justice Trapped in the Simulation

In this captivating episode of "Elevating Drone Life," we journey with Graham Heinrich, a seasoned expert in the drone industry, as he shares his remarkable transition from traditional golf course management to the innovative world of drone technology. With over 23 years of experience in professional golf, Graham offers a unique perspective on how drones have revolutionized mapping and data collection, particularly in the realm of golf course management. Graham's story begins with his early days as a caddy, where he developed a deep understanding of the intricacies of golf. This foundation paved the way for his pioneering work in using drones to enhance golf course operations. He discusses the significant shift from manual methods to advanced drone technology, highlighting the efficiency and precision that drones bring to the table. Throughout the episode, Graham delves into the operational differences between Europe and the USA, shedding light on how varying regulations impact drone usage. He emphasizes the importance of understanding client needs and building strong relationships within the golf industry, which have been key to his success. Gain valuable insights into the diverse deliverables Graham provides to golf courses, from 3D mapping and visualization to solving complex drainage issues. He shares his experiences working with prestigious golf courses, including the iconic St. Andrews, and how his work has been instrumental in enhancing the golfing experience. Graham also offers practical advice for aspiring drone operators, encouraging them to stay positive, persistent, and continuously learn. He highlights the potential for growth in the drone industry and the endless opportunities it presents for those willing to embrace change and innovation. Join us for an inspiring conversation that not only explores the technical aspects of drone technology but also celebrates the passion and dedication required to succeed in this dynamic field. Whether you're a drone enthusiast or a golf aficionado, this episode promises to deliver a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. Want to Make Money Flying Drones? DroneU gives you the blueprint to start and grow a real drone business: FAA Part 107 prep 40+ courses on flight skills, real estate, mapping, and business Pricing guides, client acquisition, and weekly coaching Supportive community of top-tier drone pros Start here https://www.thedroneu.com Know someone ready to take the leap? Share this episode with them !! Stuck between a safe job and chasing your drone dream? Download our FREE Drone Pilot Starter Kit   Includes: FAA checklist, pricing template, and plug-and-play proposal to help you land your first client with confidence.  https://learn.thedroneu.com/bundles/drone-pilot-starter-kit  Timestamps [00:00] Introduction to Graham Heinrich and His Journey [11:36] Transitioning to Drone Technology in Golf [24:15] Differences in Drone Operations: Europe vs. USA [33:38] Deliverables for Golf Courses and Client Relationships [42:23] 3D Mapping and Visualization in Golf [55:26] Challenges and Opportunities in the Drone Industry [01:08:34] Advice for Aspiring Drone Operators

The FAA just announced a $12 billion overhaul of America's air traffic control system, the largest aviation infrastructure upgrade in decades. In this episode of Morning Wire, Airlines for America CEO Chris Sununu explains what's driving the changes, how outdated technology has strained the system, and what travelers can expect as modernization efforts roll out across the U.S. Get the facts first with Morning Wire. - - - Ep. 2549 - - - Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 - - - Hello Fresh: Go to https://HelloFresh.com/MORNINGWIRE10FM now to get 10 free meals + a free breakfast for life! - - - Privacy Policy: https://www.dailywire.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Leaked transcripts of a call between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and an advisor of Russian President Vladimir Putin detail how President Trump's 28-point peace proposal came about. The president dismisses the leak, saying it shows standard negotiating tactics. Trump, who once campaigned on ending the war within 24 hours, is now thought to care more about reaching a deal than what's in it.And millions of Americans will take to the skies this week. The FAA says this year's Thanksgiving could be the busiest in more than a decade.Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Kate Bartlett, Rebekah Metzler, Russell Lewis, HJ Mai and Alice Woelfle.It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Zo van Ginhoven. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Our Supervising Producer is Michael Lipkin.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy