Episode 339 of the pilot to Pilot Podcast takes off Now.
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Speaker BI am Leah Frolick and I am mostly a flight instructor.
Speaker AAV Nation what is going on?
Speaker AAnd welcome back to the Pilot the Pilot podcast.
Speaker AMy name is Justin Seams and I am your host.
Speaker AToday's episode is with Leah.
Speaker ALeah is a CFI and you've probably seen her pop up on your Instagram for you page or homepage, explore page, whatever Instagram calls it.
Speaker AI don't have TikTok should probably get on it might help out a little bit.
Speaker ABut anyways Leah comes on the podcast and she just talks about her journey, her love of aviation, how she has some doubts about if she could even do this in the beginning and how she overcame those doubts.
Speaker AAvia Nation I really hope you enjoy this episode.
Speaker AIt was a lot of fun to record with her.
Speaker AI really love her style, I love how she's going about filming for aviation and doing her content.
Speaker ASo check her out on Instagram, should be a link down below or you can find a tag that I do on Instagram as well.
Speaker ABut it's a great episode, I really hope you enjoy it.
Speaker APlease, please, please.
Speaker AWe are 11 reviews away on Spotify for 1000 reviews, which is absolutely insane.
Speaker ASo please leave a review if you haven't already and if you already have, maybe leave another one if you're allowed to, I don't know but grab your dad's phone, grab your mom's phone and leave a review.
Speaker APreferably five stars but you know if you got some criticism let me know.
Speaker AMaybe in an email, not in a review, but Heavy Nation.
Speaker AI hope you're having a great day.
Speaker AAnd without any further ado, here's Leah.
Speaker ALeah, what's going on?
Speaker AWelcome to the Pilot to Pilot podcast.
Speaker BThanks for having me.
Speaker BWe finally made it work.
Speaker AFinally.
Speaker AIt's been a minute, but this is usually how it goes.
Speaker AI mean, I'll.
Speaker AI'll DM someone and like, six months later, it's like, all right, we're finally doing it.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BI mean, you probably have two pilot schedules, and it's just, like, impossible.
Speaker AIt is not the easiest, that's for sure.
Speaker ABut I'm very intrigued about your story, especially how you started off by saying mostly a cfi.
Speaker ASo I look forward to getting any of that, kind of figuring out everything that you do in aviation.
Speaker ABut.
Speaker ABut I always want to start at the beginning.
Speaker AI always want to start about the why.
Speaker ASo why did you even want to become a pilot in the first place?
Speaker BYou know, it's so crazy.
Speaker BPilot wasn't even on my radar at all.
Speaker BI was always very much, like, on a path of, okay, fitness, physical therapy.
Speaker BLike, that's what I'm doing.
Speaker BAnd I was actually in the.
Speaker BI was in a physical therapy program, and my mom had remarried a pilot, and so he had a plane, and he took me up and, like, I was hooked.
Speaker BThat was the instant I was hooked.
Speaker BSo I was like, whoa, this is crazy.
Speaker BI was like, this is so fun.
Speaker BAnd then, you know, my mom was like, why don't you do it?
Speaker BAnd I was like, what?
Speaker BAnd she's like, yeah, why don't you become a pilot?
Speaker BYou know?
Speaker BAnd he was kind of in my ear, too, because that's been his passion.
Speaker BAnd so he was sharing his passion and, you know, trying to get me to go and start pilot training.
Speaker BSo that's.
Speaker BThat's really how it happened.
Speaker BAnd then, you know, I finished my program just for a backup plan, you know, in case the pilot stuff didn't work out.
Speaker BBut I really haven't looked back since I started training, and I was doing my physical therapy stuff in between, and then I just, you know, I was working in an office.
Speaker BAnd, I mean, I do.
Speaker BI do love helping people, genuinely, but it was like going into the office every day, and you don't get to see the sun, really, unless it's through a window.
Speaker BAnd I was like, this is not.
Speaker BThis is not for me.
Speaker BI can't do this anymore.
Speaker BSo, yeah, just like, full throttle, you know, I left that behind and just got right into all of the training and everything.
Speaker AIsn't it crazy how things work?
Speaker ABecause, like, if it wasn't for him, there's probably no way you would have ever gone in a small airplane, ever taken flight, ever started recording yourself flying.
Speaker ALike, this would have never happened if it wasn't just for kind of that one interaction.
Speaker AI was like, you know, you could also be a pilot.
Speaker ASo kudos to him.
Speaker AI mean, it's awesome for just being able to share it and be like, look, no, I think you'd be great at this.
Speaker AGo for it.
Speaker BYeah, for sure.
Speaker BI mean, I think about that sometimes, you know, I'd probably still be in a physical therapy office, which.
Speaker BNothing wrong with physical therapy.
Speaker BIt's an amazing.
Speaker BIt's amazing.
Speaker BAnd I still do love, you know, that side of things, but that just wasn't fulfilling me, really.
Speaker BIt just wasn't enriching.
Speaker BAnd so, yeah, he really came out of nowhere.
Speaker BAnd for real, I didn't think it was even.
Speaker BIt wasn't even my realm.
Speaker BI didn't even think it was a possibility.
Speaker BNobody in my family was flying.
Speaker BI just wasn't around it.
Speaker BBut, yeah, it's been the best thing that has happened, for sure.
Speaker ATalk about.
Speaker AA lot of people think it's really hard to get into aviation, right?
Speaker AThey think they have to be really smart with math.
Speaker AI think they just have to be this really, really smart person.
Speaker AAnd you and I both know that we have probably either trained or flown with people that you're like, wow, they really shouldn't be pilots.
Speaker AIt's like, it's not that hard, right?
Speaker AObviously it takes some skill.
Speaker AObviously it takes some training and a lot of money, but anyone can truly do this.
Speaker AWas there a period where you were just like, that's not for me.
Speaker ALike, I can't be a pilot?
Speaker BNo.
Speaker BI wouldn't say I never had a moment where I was like, I cannot be a pilot.
Speaker BThere were moments of doubt of more of like a confidence issue.
Speaker BCan I.
Speaker BCan I fly by myself?
Speaker BCan I be a CFI and teach other people?
Speaker BYou know, do I have what it takes there?
Speaker BI never really doubted myself in training as far as can I be a pilot?
Speaker BBut it was.
Speaker BI had to work through some confidence issues for sure to get pretty comfortable with flying and being able to be like, yeah, I freaking got this airplane.
Speaker BLike, if it's going down, I'm going to handle it, you know?
Speaker BOr if a student tries to kill us, like, I got it, you know, anything like that.
Speaker AWhich students never try to kill their CFIs, right?
Speaker AThat's never Happened?
Speaker BNo, not intentionally anyways.
Speaker BWell, hopefully, yeah, maybe.
Speaker AYou mentioned confidence.
Speaker AIs there like a specific.
Speaker AI can't talk.
Speaker AIs there a specific story that you have at all or like a.
Speaker AJust when you look back, is there like a specific moment where you're like, all right, this is where I truly just didn't think that I could do this or just lack the confidence, I should say.
Speaker BYeah, you know, let's see, I'm trying to think of like a specific moment.
Speaker BI would say early on when I had gotten, let's see, I had gotten my private pilot license.
Speaker BAnd after that, you know, and I always make this comment, people who have their private pilot license know nothing, you know?
Speaker BYou know nothing.
Speaker BIt's actually pretty crazy if you think about what it takes to get that license and then you're able to just go fly out in the world, you know?
Speaker BYeah, you're like, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker BSo I think it was right after I got my license, you know, and I was like, okay, I need to like, go out there and I need to start flying.
Speaker BAnd that's probably one of the first moments I've really started to doubt myself.
Speaker BAnd I was like, I don't know, can I, can I do this?
Speaker BShould I have my license?
Speaker BA lot of self doubt kind of crept in there and I, I had to work through it.
Speaker BI just had to force myself to go up and to work through it.
Speaker BAnd it, it took a minute, honestly, to.
Speaker BTo get through that, but I would say that was probably my first really big moment of, of doubt.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AHow did you come over it?
Speaker AHow did you overcome it?
Speaker AWas it just through trial and not surprise?
Speaker AWas it just through you flying a lot?
Speaker AWas it kind of just talk about what you did to overcome it?
Speaker BYeah, you know, I think it was a few things.
Speaker BI definitely had to really.
Speaker BIt was more of like a mind game, I think I was playing with myself and I just had to kind of break it down within myself and be like, okay, what's the issue?
Speaker BWhy, why are you doubting yourself?
Speaker BYou did get your license.
Speaker BYou did really well in training.
Speaker BYou know, you're, you're onto this other training.
Speaker BAnd I just thought about, okay, I think I'm just psyching myself out.
Speaker BSo it was a lot of mental back and forth, just like fighting with myself.
Speaker BAnd then, you know, another thing is I've had some really great mentors.
Speaker BAnd then of course, you know, my, my stepdad being one, you know, and it's, it's funny because he.
Speaker BAnd I think this is very Common with more male pilots is a lot of them don't have that fear.
Speaker BAnd if they do have that fear, they're not going to show.
Speaker BI just hit that.
Speaker BThey're not going to show that they have that fear.
Speaker BYou know, it's kind of like, not.
Speaker BI'm good.
Speaker BYou know, they're.
Speaker BThey are not going to show it.
Speaker BAnd so when I came to him and I was all, hey, I'm kind of like, doubting myself a little bit.
Speaker BAnd I think at first he was like, huh.
Speaker BYou know, because he was like, he would go out in anything, you know, when he was younger, and, you know, he grew up flying, so he kind of grew up around it.
Speaker BAnd he just.
Speaker BHe had, like, no fear.
Speaker BHe still has no fear, I swear.
Speaker BBut at first it was weird for him to hear that from me.
Speaker BAnd then, you know, he came around and he was like, yeah, okay.
Speaker BI think it helped that my mom was like, okay, you guys are different.
Speaker BYou know, you grew around it.
Speaker BShe didn't.
Speaker BYou know, she's.
Speaker BShe's just doubting herself.
Speaker BSo anyways, he then was like, he just kind of worked with me and worked through that, and he was like, well, hey, let's go up together.
Speaker BAnd you tell me, you know, what's kind of.
Speaker BWhat's kind of what's stopping you?
Speaker BWhat's.
Speaker BWhat's getting in your head?
Speaker BAnd so when we would go up together, you know, I would fly and, you know, everything was fine.
Speaker BEverything was perfect.
Speaker BI was fine.
Speaker BThere was never anything wrong or sketchy.
Speaker BI wasn't flying bad.
Speaker BIt was literally just all in my head.
Speaker BSo, you know, it helped going up with him and him probably just, you know, reaffirming, hey, you're solid.
Speaker BYou're good.
Speaker BYou know, and then I think the biggest turning point for me was actually when I became a CFI and I had to be the one in charge.
Speaker BI was no longer having these mentors or whatever.
Speaker BIt was flying with me or, you know, me flying alone and figuring out it was more, okay, you're in charge of two lives right now, yourself and the student, and, like, they can really screw it up for you, and you guys could go down.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker BForced me to just, like, abandon all of that, and it just.
Speaker BIt clicked.
Speaker BAnd I was like, oh, shoot, I can do this.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BI was like, yeah, what?
Speaker BWhy was I in my head so much?
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BSo, yeah, that.
Speaker BThat really, I would say was the biggest turning moment for me is when I had to.
Speaker BWas forced to get out of my comfort zone.
Speaker AYou know, I think There.
Speaker AThere's something to that, though.
Speaker AI think I would rather have a private pilot that is a little bit hesitant, only because I think overconfidence is a real thing.
Speaker ALike you talked about when you just get your license, when you're going out there, you're just like, I can do it.
Speaker AI can do it.
Speaker AI can do it.
Speaker AYou know, and you just like, if you don't have any kind of.
Speaker AJust not, not.
Speaker AI don't think doubt's the right word, but just like, hesitation.
Speaker AAnd when I say hesitation, I mean, like, reaching out to people.
Speaker ASo, like, hey, I want to do this.
Speaker AAnd then you go to your mentors.
Speaker ASo you did the good part of reaching out to your mentors, not trying to push through the fear on your own.
Speaker AIt's good to go talk to someone.
Speaker ATalk to someone that you trust, talk to someone that you kind of see as a mentor and be like, hey, like, these are just kind of things.
Speaker AI'm thinking, like, I have some confidence issues here.
Speaker ALike, can I go up with you so we can do this?
Speaker AAnd this is what you do when you're cfi, when you have someone that's getting ready to solo, right?
Speaker AIt's like, you're not just going to go send them loose.
Speaker AYou're going to be.
Speaker AYou're going to continue to work through their fears.
Speaker AYou can continue to help them and show them that one, you can do this.
Speaker AYou have the ability to do this.
Speaker AAnd I.
Speaker AWe're going to work on it until you feel comfortable to do it.
Speaker AAnd the second thing on that is watching your videos as a cfi, I would have never doubted that you were doubting your confidence.
Speaker AYou look very confident when you're in your videos, so you're doing great.
Speaker BI am more confident now for sure.
Speaker BBut yeah, you know, it was a blessing in disguise to kind of go through those struggles because it's really helped me relate to my students a lot better.
Speaker BAnd.
Speaker BAnd you.
Speaker BYou are totally correct.
Speaker BThere are a lot of students that do kind of have that overconfidence issue, and they freak me out.
Speaker BI'm like, you got it?
Speaker BYou know, and maybe they are.
Speaker BMaybe it is pretending because they don't want to show that vulnerability.
Speaker BBut, like, a really big thing that I try to do with my students is show, like, I want them to feel comfortable.
Speaker BHey, I'm not judging you.
Speaker BThis is very normal to feel some type of way.
Speaker BAnd like you said, you should.
Speaker BYou should have some type of, hey, something crazy could happen.
Speaker BYou know, I should be prepared.
Speaker BI shouldn't just go up and be like, I'm good.
Speaker BI can handle anything.
Speaker BNothing's gonna happen.
Speaker BYou know, and then that's, you know, when something happens.
Speaker BSo, yeah, that's.
Speaker BIt's definitely been a blessing to go through that.
Speaker BI'm glad that went through that, and I'm glad that I'm over it, because it was also very annoying to just go through that, like, mental battle back and forth.
Speaker AAbsolutely.
Speaker AI mean, yeah, it's something that you want to.
Speaker ATo get past eventually.
Speaker AAnd I remember my mentor, he told me, he's like, hey, dude, how many hours you had?
Speaker AI'm like, oh, like, 700.
Speaker AHe's like, dude, be careful, because 700 hours is where you start to feel like you're.
Speaker AYou can do anything and you really don't know anything.
Speaker AI'm like, dude, I have 700 hours.
Speaker ALike, I know a lot.
Speaker AAnd sure enough, I just started flying freight after that, and I was like, I know nothing.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker AHe was right.
Speaker ABut that always stuck back of my mind.
Speaker AIt's like, all right, just be humble.
Speaker AJust approach this with as much humility as you can and ask questions, and don't be afraid to reach out to people.
Speaker ANow, there are some people you could ask, and they might make you feel stupid, but you just know that, and you just go ask the right person.
Speaker AYou just find out, like, all right, they're not the person to talk to.
Speaker AI need to go find someone else.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BI mean, oh, that's so real, you know, And I. I think being, like, when I was at my flight school, I was probably.
Speaker BActually, I think at the time, I think I was the only female CFI at my flight school.
Speaker BAnd I remember kind of going through, like, some doubts and feeling like I cannot show that, you know, I'm feeling any type of way around these guys because, you know, they're all handling it, and then they're just gonna be like, oh, she's a girl.
Speaker BYou know, she.
Speaker BGirls shouldn't be flying, because this is why.
Speaker BYou know what I mean?
Speaker BAnd I definitely.
Speaker BSome of it was in my head for sure, because I have some.
Speaker BActually, most of my mentors are amazing, supportive men.
Speaker BAmazing.
Speaker BBut I definitely did have some men that were boys.
Speaker BI don't know what you want to call it.
Speaker BThat would kind of make me feel inferior for kind of feeling that way.
Speaker BAnd so I kind of just bottled that up.
Speaker BAnd then, yeah, I would.
Speaker BI would go to my mentors, and luckily I had them, honestly.
Speaker BBut I think it's a. I think it's a Real thing.
Speaker BI remember talking to one female CFI that I worked with later down the road, and there was something janky going on with the airplane.
Speaker BAnd I was like, dude, I was like, this is not normal.
Speaker BLike, the sound of it is not normal.
Speaker BYou feel this, like, grinding, and you hear this grinding, and you're like, like, that's not normal.
Speaker BAnd I remember talking to her about it, and she was all, yeah.
Speaker BShe was like, but if we don't go up, you know, all those guys in there that have been going up in this janky airplane with this sound, they're totally going to give us crap.
Speaker BAnd I was kind of like, who cares?
Speaker BYou know, I was at a point where I was like, screw that.
Speaker BThey can judge me.
Speaker BThey can do whatever.
Speaker BI'm not going up in that plane.
Speaker BAnd then we found out that the.
Speaker BWhat was it?
Speaker BThe.
Speaker BIt was grinding the.
Speaker BIn the propeller hub.
Speaker BI don't know why I'm blinking.
Speaker BOn.
Speaker BOn what?
Speaker BThe alternator belt.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BThe gears there were grinding and shaving off metal pieces, and that's what we were hearing.
Speaker BAnd the mechanic was like, yeah, don't go up in this.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BSo it was like.
Speaker BIt was good to get to that point where I was like, screw it.
Speaker BBut it.
Speaker BIt took some time.
Speaker ADefinitely trust your instincts, right?
Speaker AThere might be a time where you make the wrong call, but at the end of the day, if you don't feel safe flying it, if you don't feel safe going up.
Speaker AAnd that's also how you learn.
Speaker AYou know, you learn by recognizing sounds, by feeling vibrations, kind of listening to the aircraft.
Speaker AAnd if you think something's wrong, just go talk to the mechanic.
Speaker AThe mechanic will be like, oh, that's actually okay.
Speaker AThis can do this.
Speaker ABut you really want to look out for this noise instead of, you know, they have a kind of like the insider's knowledge or the insider trick.
Speaker AAnd every plane is different, too.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker ABut just.
Speaker AJust.
Speaker AIt's important that you feel comfortable enough and confident enough to make those decisions.
Speaker AAnd definitely don't let some boys, as you said, make you feel like that you are inferior because you can do this as well.
Speaker AAnd you're probably doing it better than them.
Speaker AAnd they're probably turning around like, oh, my gosh, I am inferior.
Speaker BI don't deserve to be.
Speaker BYeah, right.
Speaker BNo, no, Yeah.
Speaker BI do like what you said, though, about.
Speaker BAbout being humble.
Speaker BI truly do feel like the best pilots I have ever met, the most skilled pilots, the most advanced in their training, everything.
Speaker BThey are so humble, you know?
Speaker BAnd I will you know, I had a student one time, and, you know, he was doing really good.
Speaker BHe was excelling.
Speaker BAnd I don't know if I made the mistake of giving him too much praise, but I was like, you're doing really good.
Speaker BYou're catching on really good.
Speaker BAnd then I don't know if it went to his head or what it, what it did, but he kind of, you know, he started not overly confident, and then he got to that point, and now he's kind of going through the world in that way.
Speaker BAnd, you know, and I'm like, don't do that.
Speaker BYou know, and all other pilots that I've met, they're just like, you know, I'm the.
Speaker BI don't want to cuss on your podcast, you know, Crap.
Speaker BYeah, they are the ones that are usually like, you know, the, not the best pilots and are making some really questionable calls, you know, but, yeah, the best pilots I have met that are doing the coolest things are so, so humble.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo I, I, I know that I always want to maintain that, you know, and I don't think that I'm out here better than the boys or whatever it is, but, but I will always try to make the safe call, for sure.
Speaker AWe're all just trying to be the best pilots we can, right?
Speaker AWe're all just trying to learn.
Speaker AWe're all just trying to honestly go home at the end of the day, see our loved ones before flight.
Speaker AI'm like, look, I don't want to fill out paperwork and I want to see my kid when I go home.
Speaker ASo, like, let's just make sure we can do that and follow us, appease and be good to go.
Speaker BYeah, for sure.
Speaker AIt's funny when you talk about praising your, your student kind of similar story to me, but not.
Speaker AI didn't take it to the point where I got, like, overconfident, but anytime I got praise, we would do something again and I would totally mess it up.
Speaker ASo my flight check is like, I'm just never going to tell.
Speaker AYou did a good job.
Speaker APlease don't.
Speaker AYeah, just tell me how bad I am and that works.
Speaker AAnd maybe I played football my whole life and in a college and it's all kind of.
Speaker ACoaches are kind of negative sometimes.
Speaker ASo maybe I thrive off of people being negative so it works out.
Speaker BThat's hilarious.
Speaker BYou're like, I need that negative feedback.
Speaker BYou know, Some students do, though.
Speaker BI have noticed that some need that, like, negative feedback.
Speaker BIt's pretty funny.
Speaker BIt makes them just work harder.
Speaker AYeah, criticism.
Speaker AIt works Sometimes criticism.
Speaker ABut if you tell me I'm doing good, it's like, dang it, all right, I suck.
Speaker BCan you please be an ass?
Speaker BAnd I will respond better.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ALet's go back to your training.
Speaker AFor someone that had.
Speaker AI mean, you had your stepfather, but for someone that didn't really have any experience in deviation, were you overwhelmed with the idea of, like, how do I start training?
Speaker AHow do I go to the flight school?
Speaker AWas he like, look, you're going to go to this day, you're going to meet my buddy here.
Speaker AHe's going to be your cf.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BI was so fortunate that I had him because I. I did not know where to start.
Speaker BYou know, when I went from the moment of taking the flight with him and then talking to him and my mom and then being like, you should do it, and deciding to do it, I was like, okay, what do I do?
Speaker BYou know?
Speaker BAnd.
Speaker BAnd I wouldn't have known.
Speaker BHonestly, I wouldn't have known.
Speaker BI would have had to get on Google and where do I start?
Speaker BBut luckily, yes, he was like, okay, go get your medical.
Speaker BAnd then this is where you schedule it.
Speaker BAnd then you're going to go to this flight school.
Speaker BI will go in with you to make sure it's a good cfi, you know, and so that was nice.
Speaker BAnd so, yeah, I guess you could say you kind of held my hand in the beginning, through it on, okay, this is where you start.
Speaker BThis is how you do it.
Speaker BAnd then from there, you know, he just let me go.
Speaker BAnd it was up to the CFIs in the flight school.
Speaker BBut I wouldn't have known.
Speaker BI wouldn't have known, like, hey, I need to go get a medical.
Speaker BI need to find a flight school.
Speaker BWhat type of flight school?
Speaker B141.
Speaker BLike, what's the difference?
Speaker BYou know, those types of things.
Speaker BWhat do I need to look for in a flight school?
Speaker BWhat do I need to look for in a C5?
Speaker BAll those things I would have not known.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo much so.
Speaker BI definitely feel for the students that come in and they're like, I want to fly, but I know nothing.
Speaker AWhat do you recommend to someone that comes to you like that?
Speaker AI'm sure you get DMs all the time, like, hey, I want to be a pilot just like you.
Speaker AWhat's like, your go to?
Speaker ALike, ba, ba ba.
Speaker ALike your go to answer.
Speaker AWhat do you say?
Speaker BOh, man.
Speaker BI mean, it's never a short answer, unfortunately.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ABecause everyone's different, right?
Speaker BYeah, I. I wish there was just like, you know, one site Well, I could always be like, oh, go to aopa, you know, plug aopa.
Speaker BBut I know we got it.
Speaker BYeah, we can't do it.
Speaker BSorry, you guys.
Speaker BI'm kidding, I'm kidding.
Speaker BI'm just kidding.
Speaker AI love him.
Speaker BPlease don't fire me.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker BSo anyways, yeah, no, I. I just kind of try to tell him, okay, you have to consider, you know, do you want 141?
Speaker BYou want 61?
Speaker BDo you need a more flexible schedule or do you need like a routine?
Speaker BBoom, boom, boom, get me through.
Speaker BYou know what?
Speaker BHow are you going to pay for it?
Speaker BSome people are, like, getting loans.
Speaker BSome people are fortunate and they have all the money in the world.
Speaker BAnd, you know, and some people, most people are paying as they go, you know, and that's, that's the roughest.
Speaker BSo I kind of have them consider that, you know, okay, this is what you're going to get with.
Speaker BIf you go this route versus this route.
Speaker BAnd then, you know, those.
Speaker BI would say that's probably the main thing that I tell them because I know that once they get their foot into a flight school, that they can kind of take it from there.
Speaker BYou know, there has been times where people have been like, you know, I'm trying to pick a flight school.
Speaker BWhat should I look for in a flight school?
Speaker BAnd I'm like, oh, man, that's like a whole other topic.
Speaker AYeah, like, I can't tell you what flight school to go to.
Speaker ALike, I don't know if you're a 141 person, a 61 person.
Speaker ALike, I don't know if you can fly.
Speaker ASerious, you have the money for that?
Speaker AGo do it.
Speaker AIf not, go, go fly.
Speaker A152.
Speaker AI don't know, like, I can't.
Speaker BRight, Right.
Speaker AMy recommendations is always get a first class medical to rule out the fact if you want to do this for a career to make sure you can do it and then also go take an intro flight.
Speaker ABecause what if you don't like it?
Speaker AWhat if you start throwing up everywhere and you're like, all right, I tried.
Speaker AI don't want to do that.
Speaker BWell, that's true.
Speaker BI didn't think of the intro flight thing.
Speaker BI think I'm used to people being like, I've gone up.
Speaker BI want to train.
Speaker BHow do I do it?
Speaker BBut yes, if no one has ever gone up, oh, my gosh, take an intro flight.
Speaker APlease take an intro.
Speaker ALet you fly.
Speaker AThey will literally be like, all right, you're playing.
Speaker AYou're like, what?
Speaker ASome CFIs might make.
Speaker ALet you do the takeoff too.
Speaker AYou know, they're on the rudders.
Speaker AYou're just pulling back.
Speaker AIt's like, it's a very valuable 45 minutes or 30 minute flight.
Speaker ASo highly recommend it.
Speaker BTotally.
Speaker BAnd you know, I would add to that because I think some intro flights are in like the morning or in the evening, you know, and it's all nice and smooth and you're like, man, this is amazing.
Speaker BTake your intro flight in the middle of the day when it's hot and maybe some winds.
Speaker BIt doesn't have to be crazy winds.
Speaker AGet the thunderstorms.
Speaker A15 knots.
Speaker BGo right through a thunderstorm.
Speaker BNo, but seriously, I mean, that's.
Speaker BI think what a lot of people don't realize is, you know, you might go up when it's really, really nice, or you go up with a friend, you know, and they have their ppl and they're like, they know when it's nice.
Speaker BThey're gonna take you up when it's nice.
Speaker ARight?
Speaker BAnd then you go out and you start your training and it's in the afternoon and you got the thermals and you got the winds and all these things and you're getting just rocked and you're like, I didn't know that this was a thing.
Speaker BAnd then they start getting sick, things like that.
Speaker BSo that I would say would be a really good recommendation.
Speaker ALike, agreed.
Speaker BThat's more of what piloting is.
Speaker BYou're gonna have more bumpy days than smooth days.
Speaker AOh, 100.
Speaker AAnd everyone loves a sunset flight, right?
Speaker ALike, I go to my wife right now and she'd be like, I want to be a pilot too.
Speaker AIt's like, all right, well, let me take you up a couple days later.
Speaker ALike, I don't want to do this.
Speaker BYeah, there's a thunderstorm.
Speaker BLet me take you up.
Speaker AYeah, let's.
Speaker BLet's do that.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AIFR pop up.
Speaker AIfr, please.
Speaker BI know.
Speaker ALet's take a break from today's podcast to hear from our sponsor, raa.
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Speaker AWhen you first decided to be a pilot, was this a full on career?
Speaker AWas this I'm going to be an airline pilot or was your kind of idea just to see where it goes and see where it takes you?
Speaker BYeah, when I decided to be a pilot I was like, okay, I'm going airlines.
Speaker BYou know, that was the, I think when you start that's really the only path you think of.
Speaker BTruly, unless you know someone in aviation that's like, you have this, you can do this, you can do this, you can do this.
Speaker BSo yeah, that was it.
Speaker BWhen I decided to start training, I was like, okay, I'm going airlines.
Speaker BAs I've, you know, grown the social media and flown and got more experience and met amazing people, you know, I've realized there is a whole aviation world out there full of all these different career paths.
Speaker BAnd so, you know, I mean the airlines is still very, very appealing to me because of cool, you can make this money and once you put in this many years, you're basically making that money and not doing anything and then you can have your side hustle, you know, which I'm all about.
Speaker BYou know, I'm not one person who can like do the same thing every day.
Speaker BLike I have to do something, whether it's creative or whatever, I have to do something else.
Speaker BSo that's still very, very appealing to me.
Speaker BBut I, I wouldn't say that I know for sure what I'm going to do.
Speaker AYeah, I think it's healthy though because I think if you're just set on one option, you're going to say no to so many opportunities that might take you off the path that you want to go on.
Speaker ASo I think you should usually say yes to most opportunities you have in aviation and if it's safe.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker ALike, should I make sure the planes are going to fall the sky?
Speaker AAsk some people if it's a good job.
Speaker AAsk mentorship.
Speaker ABecause if you get in a bad spot with bad chief pilot, you know, could kind of ruin your love for aviation.
Speaker ABut I think just listening to the opportunities and not being afraid to take them, I started flying, I Thought I was me, a CFI that was going to the regionals.
Speaker AI thought I was going to go to the majors.
Speaker AI did aerial survey.
Speaker AI flew single pilot freight, I flew fractional, and now I'm at the airlines.
Speaker ASo my path is not a very traditional path.
Speaker AThere are different ways to do it.
Speaker AAnd the only reason why that happened was because I just kept an open mind.
Speaker AMy buddies are like, hey, I am actually starting at the zero survey place.
Speaker ALike, oh, that sounds cool.
Speaker ALet me try that.
Speaker ASo I left CFI training and I went to, I got a job and went to do that and kind of fell in love with general general aviation.
Speaker AAnd then I realized that maybe the majors was the place to be.
Speaker AAnd like you said, flying an airline, as an airline pilot, the more time off you get, the more money you make.
Speaker AAnd I mean, those aren't always together, but when you get senior, you can make more money and not do much.
Speaker AAnd that is very appealing to me.
Speaker AIt's also nice, the fact that you can kind of drop your schedule and really not make any money.
Speaker ABut it lets me do this more.
Speaker ASo I can make money off this.
Speaker AI can supplement it with creativity or I can kind of make my own schedule and I can either decide to make money or not make money and stay home.
Speaker ASo it kind of works out, right?
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd that's, that's what's been so appealing is, is that part of, of the airlines.
Speaker BBut, you know, I, I do like that you say you, you, you know, I thought I was going to do this, this, this, you know, the.
Speaker BYou do your training, you become a CF hours.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BTime build and then you start at the airlines.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BJust.
Speaker BThat's how you do it.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd I think that is like the traditional route, but there's nothing wrong with that route.
Speaker AIt's a great.
Speaker BNothing.
Speaker BYeah, yeah, nothing wrong with that.
Speaker BI will say I have, you know, I became a cfi, but I started, I started my Instagram solely just to be able to connect to other aviation people, you know, other people in the world because, like, social media makes the world, you know, this small.
Speaker BSo I was like, okay, I just want to meet people.
Speaker BAnd then it, it blew up.
Speaker BMy intention was never to build a presence or anything, but what I will say is it has created opportunities for me to meet other people and kind of do these other side jobs and flying instead of just, you know, and I've gotten flack for this from other flight schools and things.
Speaker BNot where I'm at now, but they're like, ah, you're not.
Speaker BWhy aren't you coming in every day, flying your eight hours and get through and get to the airlines?
Speaker BIt's like, yeah, I mean, I guess that's the quickest way to get to the airlines, but there's so much to experience and, and see.
Speaker BAnd it's really made me fall in love with aviation even more.
Speaker BSo I've just been enjoying the process and enjoying being a CFI and enjoying doing these side things and meeting all these people.
Speaker BAnd so I've.
Speaker BI think it's really valuable for some people to kind of look at like, hey, there's more than just become a CFI time build.
Speaker BYour students are hours.
Speaker BYou know, I.
Speaker BThat's a whole other thing we could talk about.
Speaker BI don't like that.
Speaker BBut like, get out there, meet the people, do these other things, like say yes to other things, just like you said, you know?
Speaker AAbsolutely.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI mean, it's hard not to get caught up in like, I gotta get hours, I gotta get hours.
Speaker ABut you're eventually going to get burned out.
Speaker AIt might not be in cfi.
Speaker AIt may be.
Speaker AAnd when you become a regional pilot, maybe further down the line, as you're going to be a major pilot and what it can do, it can kind of harden you towards, you know, aviation again and make you never want to do it again.
Speaker AAnd you're just going to fly 121.
Speaker AAnd so many pilots that I fly with don't fly general aviation.
Speaker AThis could be the last time you ever fly small planes, which is kind of crazy to think about because it's just like wrapped in your mind like that's all you can fly right now.
Speaker ABut there's so many pilots that just fly their 737.
Speaker AThey're 330, they're 380, 780, whatever it is.
Speaker AAnd they don't do anything else.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ASo enjoy it while you can.
Speaker ASo it's a good way to look at it.
Speaker BYeah, totally.
Speaker BI didn't think about that.
Speaker BI've always been like, if I fly airlines, I'm 100% buying an airplane.
Speaker BLike, I have to be able.
Speaker BI have to be able to keep general aviation.
Speaker BI feel like that's where truly the love of aviation is.
Speaker BThat's where everybody falls in love with it initially, you know, and yeah, the bigger, faster airplanes, so fun, so cool.
Speaker BBut after doing them for a while, you know, it's like, okay, I'm used to this.
Speaker BAnd then people go back to that, you know, whatever little general aviation airplane, and they're like, I love aviation again.
Speaker BYou know, I think that's really where like the love of aviation lies is in the general aviation, small planes.
Speaker AAgreed.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker AYou also start like the burnout starts hitting and the last thing you want to do after you just flew for seven days is want to go back and fly another airplane.
Speaker AAnd then on the unfortunate side of being a pilot is eventually you're going to run into someone, you know, either dying an accident or getting, getting really hurt in an accident, and you just kind of think it's unsafe.
Speaker AAnd there are times when it can be unsafe.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker ABut it's up to you as the pilot in command to make those decisions.
Speaker AAnd if you come at it in a humble way that we talked about and not afraid to cancel flight, no pressure things, and hopefully everything will turn out right.
Speaker ABut there is kind of the being afraid that that could happen to you.
Speaker AAnd I have a family, you know, you got people look out for and sometimes going to single engine propeller and there's or even a turbine, you're kind of like, ah, maybe I won't do it today.
Speaker BYeah, you know, that's, that's so funny.
Speaker BAs a CFI who's mainly just flying a single engine propeller, it's funny to talk to, you know, people like you or other people in airlines that are flying, you know, the 737s or whatever.
Speaker BSo they have these multi engines, you know, turbine, and they're like, I will never get in a single engine prop again.
Speaker BIt's so unsafe.
Speaker BAnd I'm like, man, I never really thought of it like that.
Speaker BYou get comfortable with everything that, you know, those big airplanes give you those big jets and then you're like, single engine propeller.
Speaker BThat's so unsafe.
Speaker BYeah, so it is, it is funny to, to think about that.
Speaker BAnd it's like, yeah, but we spent like what, like 1500 hours doing it.
Speaker AI know, right?
Speaker BBut it totally makes sense.
Speaker BAnd yes, I, I totally agree with you.
Speaker BLike being able to be pic and say, nope, not comfortable with that, or, you know, I'm just gonna keep it safe.
Speaker BI have a family.
Speaker BAll these things, things like that.
Speaker BNothing wrong with that.
Speaker BAbsolutely nothing.
Speaker AYeah, yeah, no, nothing at all.
Speaker ALet's talk a little bit about Instagram.
Speaker AWhat made you.
Speaker AI mean, you kind of mentioned a little bit.
Speaker AYou kind of want to make sure that you're loving what you're doing.
Speaker ARight?
Speaker AYou want the creative outlet and you don't want to enter the rat race and do eight hours every single day.
Speaker ASo talk about why you started the Instagram and I guess a later question, but I'll ask it now.
Speaker AWas there any kind of hesitancy of the flight school that you're at when you started it, or kind of putting this information out there on the Internet?
Speaker ABecause we all know some people get weird with videos and aviation.
Speaker ASo I'm really interested to see kind of when it started, how it started and what the reaction was like, yeah.
Speaker BSo I actually started recording back when I was training.
Speaker BSo I would just, I would record when I was training for.
Speaker BI think it was like, I think it was when I was starting my commercial or maybe it was my CFI training.
Speaker BAnyways, that's how I started it.
Speaker BAnd I solely started it to meet other aviation people in the world, in the country, you know, I.
Speaker BThis little town of Idaho.
Speaker BAnd I'm like, there's gotta be more people, right?
Speaker BAnd so that's, that's initially why I started it.
Speaker BAnd then once I became a cfi, you know, I was like, well, let's see if I can, you know, record me and the student as flying and see how that turns out, you know.
Speaker BAnd I remember recording the first one and going through it and I was like, oh, man, it's so cool, you know.
Speaker BAnd so I posted that and I think it was like my first CFI video and it kind of just like blew up and I was like, whoa.
Speaker BPeople really like this?
Speaker BThey're really relating to it, you know, I think it was nice for people, maybe other student pilots or low time pilots to.
Speaker BI don't know if you hear my dog.
Speaker AI did.
Speaker AIt's all good.
Speaker AIt's all good.
Speaker BYou know, I was like, you're little steps right now.
Speaker AYeah, no, you can.
Speaker BThey were locked up, but let's see where I was at.
Speaker BSorry, I lost my train of thought.
Speaker BOh, when I posted that first CFI video, people started to relate to.
Speaker BThey're like, oh, man, this is so motivating.
Speaker BIt's really cool to see, you know, that this is a possibility for me.
Speaker BOr, you know, people were like, oh, I've been struggling with this part of my training.
Speaker BThis really, really helps.
Speaker BAnd so I was like, oh, this is really cool.
Speaker BI can, can.
Speaker BI can make a difference.
Speaker BAnd it kind of went back to.
Speaker BI've always really loved to help people.
Speaker BAnd so I was like, oh, this is amazing.
Speaker BAnd so I just kind of went from there and started really putting my energy into creating these CFI videos.
Speaker BAnd it.
Speaker BAnd it wasn't like I had them pre planned.
Speaker BI'll literally just put the camera up and forget it's there and just instruct my student.
Speaker BAnd if something in that training session turns out cool, I'll, like, put it on the.
Speaker BYou know, Instagram, social media, whatever it is.
Speaker BOn the other hand, I have had students who are, like, so focused on the camera, and I'm like, okay, we have to take this down.
Speaker BYou cannot be.
Speaker ANo, no, no.
Speaker BYeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker BI'm all, engine failure.
Speaker BThey're like, what?
Speaker BJust looking at the camera.
Speaker BNo.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BYou're like, does my hair look good?
Speaker BSo, yeah, there was some of that.
Speaker BBut for the most part, people are.
Speaker BMy students have been pretty good about.
Speaker BOkay, just forget about.
Speaker BIt's there.
Speaker BWe're training.
Speaker BThis is a normal training session.
Speaker BAnd then I've been pretty fortunate with schools actually being okay with it.
Speaker BThe very first flight school I was at, you know, I don't know if I even asked permission.
Speaker BI think I just, like, put it up.
Speaker BBut, you know, guy was chill, and he was, like.
Speaker BDidn't really care, you know, and so it was more me just making sure the students were okay.
Speaker BI don't film every single student.
Speaker BSometimes because of that, they're distracted, or sometimes it's a privacy issue, things like that.
Speaker BAnd I'm like, that's totally fine.
Speaker BLike, I'm here to instruct you first.
Speaker BYou know, it's just.
Speaker BIt's cool to be able to record it when I can.
Speaker BAnd then, you know, other flight schools that I.
Speaker BWhen I started to really build, I guess you could say, a presence on.
Speaker BOn social media.
Speaker BIt's always so dumb to say that, but I'm like, I'm such a prison.
Speaker BThe one thing I do hate is when people are like, you're famous.
Speaker BAnd I was like, come on, don't do that.
Speaker BThat feels weird.
Speaker BDon't do that.
Speaker ALike social anxiety.
Speaker AIt's like, I don't want to see anyone.
Speaker BExactly.
Speaker AI'm like, hi, to the garment booth at oshk.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BWere you at oshkosh?
Speaker AI was, Yeah.
Speaker AI was there for three days.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BOh, dang.
Speaker BWe missed each other.
Speaker AI was hiding.
Speaker BYeah, you were.
Speaker BYou were hiding.
Speaker BSo when I would.
Speaker BWhen I switched to another flight school and I guess had more of a following, then I did bring it up in the interview, and I was all, hey, this is something that's kind of fun that I like to do.
Speaker BAre you guys okay with it?
Speaker BAnd luckily, you know, every flight school I've been at has been totally fine with it.
Speaker BAnd now, I think now, especially since it's becoming more popular it wasn't as popular when I started, but now that it is, I think people are getting used to it and they're like, yeah, fine.
Speaker BYou know, as long as it's safe is the biggest thing.
Speaker APlease don't make us look bad, too.
Speaker BYeah, this flight school sucks.
Speaker BNo, I'm just kidding.
Speaker APlease don't make us look good.
Speaker AYeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker ANo, I guess my next question was, when you do record something, do you actually go back and watch the whole thing or do you just kind of count on your memory?
Speaker ABe like, all right, well, there was two or three good moments that might be good clips or you actually watching the whole thing?
Speaker BYeah, that's funny that you even thought to ask that.
Speaker BI usually will remember.
Speaker BOh, that might have been a good little clip.
Speaker BBecause I'm like, I don't want to watch this whole freaking thing, you know?
Speaker BYou know?
Speaker BOr I'll wait and I'll.
Speaker BI'll kind of remember our first flight training and.
Speaker BYeah, there's a lot of moments in flight training that maybe people that aren't flying training yet don't realize that it is silence and, you know, you are just paying attention.
Speaker BAnd it's not something that someone's going to post because it's boring to watch, but it's very much flight training.
Speaker BYou guys are both focused.
Speaker BI'm not posting that.
Speaker BSo, yeah, there are a lot of moments like that.
Speaker AYeah, that.
Speaker BThat I know.
Speaker BOkay, I'm gonna just, like, skip past this and go to where maybe we were talking about a maneuver, teaching a maneuver, or, you know, oh, that was a really good landing.
Speaker BOr something like that.
Speaker BI can kind of pinpoint.
Speaker BOkay, I'm gonna go to, like, this section.
Speaker BI will never.
Speaker BI don't think I have the patience to sit down and, like, watch the whole thing, so.
Speaker AMissing the content.
Speaker AYou never know.
Speaker BI know.
Speaker BThat's true.
Speaker BI know.
Speaker BSometimes I probably should.
Speaker BDo you watch everything?
Speaker ANo.
Speaker AI send this to an editor, and I will never watch it again.
Speaker BNo way.
Speaker BYou do.
Speaker ASo if there's any issues with it, it's not my fault.
Speaker AIt's my editor's fault.
Speaker AHe's watching this right now, like, what the heck, dude?
Speaker AThrow me to the bus.
Speaker AHe's great.
Speaker ANick's the man.
Speaker AI appreciate him, but.
Speaker AYeah, I just kind of just trust it, which maybe will get me in trouble one day, but, you know, it is.
Speaker AI, I.
Speaker AFor the first four or five years, I edited this forever.
Speaker AAnd then I got another editor, Kevin, and he did it for me for a while.
Speaker AHe started flying too much and then.
Speaker AOr not flying too much, but his flying career started taking off.
Speaker ANo pun intended.
Speaker AAnd then.
Speaker AYeah, I know.
Speaker ARude.
Speaker ANo, Kevin's great.
Speaker AAnd then I reached out to my other buddy and I just put on Instagram.
Speaker AI was like, hey, does anyone have any experience editing?
Speaker AAnd he's like, I do.
Speaker AI was like, sweet, you're hired.
Speaker BThat's actually a really good idea.
Speaker BYeah, I never thought about.
Speaker BI know, I know.
Speaker BI should.
Speaker BHonestly, I do like some of the editing.
Speaker BBut, yeah, sometimes it's like I don't have time.
Speaker BI feel like I have so much content that I have not gone through.
Speaker BAnd, I mean, sometimes they'll be like, oh, gosh, I haven't posted in weeks.
Speaker BAnd it's not because I don't have content, but it's like, I don't have time to sit down and edit as much as I actually do like to edit.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker ASo I think for anyone that's just getting started with content, and don't go higher right away, you need to figure out the story you want to tell or how you want to be perceived, and you need to figure out what you want.
Speaker AAnd then you can go to an editor and you can show them, this is what I want.
Speaker AAnd then don't be like me.
Speaker AMake sure you watch it.
Speaker AMake sure it's good.
Speaker ADon't just blindly trust someone.
Speaker ABut, you know it works out.
Speaker BYou, like, pissed them off that day and they ed you and made you, like, look stupid.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd you're like, maybe it'd be good for clicks.
Speaker AI don't know.
Speaker AMaybe.
Speaker BHey, maybe.
Speaker ACan you give me a day in the life of what it looks like to be a cfi?
Speaker BYeah, the day in the life.
Speaker BSo it's kind of dependent, I would say, on the flight school that you're at.
Speaker BKind of how they like things done.
Speaker BI would say that at the flight school that I'm at right now, and I really, really enjoy it, they are very, very big on ground school.
Speaker BAnd, you know, in the past, it would kind of look like people.
Speaker BOther flight schools would be like, the, like, don't waste your time on ground school.
Speaker BIt's wasting their money.
Speaker BIt's wasting their time.
Speaker BJust go and fly.
Speaker BAnd I was like, okay, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker BAnd then I started to realize, well, this is like, not the way, you know.
Speaker BAnd so my day, typically in a cfi looks like, okay, we go in, we're going to sit down, we're going to do some ground, we're going to brief on what we're doing.
Speaker BThat Day what the maneuvers look like, you know, and usually if I've taught the maneuvers already and I'm like, okay, we're gonna do this maneuver.
Speaker BRun me through what it looks like before we get up there.
Speaker BAnd you're like, wait, what is it again?
Speaker BAnd I have to teach you in there.
Speaker BSo it's a lot of that running through that, or they'll run me through it and I'll make sure it's correct.
Speaker BAnd then, you know, once we brief and we're established and we're both on the same page, okay, this is, is what we're doing that day and we get in the airplane, you know, obviously pre flight, all that go out fly, you know, probably it's, it's usually like a 1.5-ish, you know, flight session.
Speaker BPretty much the max that their brain can handle, you know, because as you know, flight training is just so much task saturation in the beginning.
Speaker BSo we'll do that.
Speaker BThen we'll park, come back and debrief a little bit.
Speaker BYou know, just on maybe what I saw that they need to work on on or what they did really, really good on.
Speaker BAnd then obviously if they have any questions, we go through that.
Speaker BIf it's someone closer to like a check ride or in the very, very beginning where they don't know anything, we do spend time on.
Speaker BOkay, let's go through the acs.
Speaker BThis is how you're going to get tested because these are the knowledge areas that we really need to go through.
Speaker BSo I will introduce that to them.
Speaker BUnless they're like, hey, I have a program that I'm doing at home.
Speaker BThen I'm like, cool, keep doing that.
Speaker BBut if you have questions, let me know.
Speaker BSo I really make sure they have like the basic ground knowledge.
Speaker BAnd then of course, during checkride, it's a lot more ground prep.
Speaker BLike, okay, I'm going to pretend to be the DPE and I'm going to ask you these crazy questions, you know, so that's typically what it looks like.
Speaker BAnd then, yeah, they, they go.
Speaker BAnd then it's the next student and it's kind of over again.
Speaker BThat's, I would say the, the day in the life of a cfi, you know, very glamorous.
Speaker BYeah, it's, it's, it's pretty good.
Speaker BPretty.
Speaker BIt's like red carpet everything, right?
Speaker AYeah, exactly.
Speaker AWhat would you say is something that surprised you about being a cfi?
Speaker AAnd you can say one good thing and one bad thing.
Speaker BOne good thing.
Speaker BWe'll start with good thing.
Speaker BThat surprised me I guess would just be how probably the connections that you build with your students.
Speaker BYou know, I figured, you know, you're training all these different students.
Speaker BThere's no way you can, you know, have friendships or whatever with them, but you do.
Speaker BYou really start to build these really good friendships and connections, and even when they go down the road, they can always come back to you, and you kind of.
Speaker BOf become a mentor to them.
Speaker BAnd that's really, really cool.
Speaker BAnd I never really thought of that, even though I had went through training, and of course, that's how I treated my cfi.
Speaker BBut that's been really cool.
Speaker BAnd just the reward of seeing them go from, you know, not knowing a lot and then just being able to handle everything in the airplane and they're passing their checkride, you know, and they feel so great, and it just makes.
Speaker BMakes you feel so good.
Speaker BLike, I'm so proud of you.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker BI would say that that's like the best and then the worst other than.
Speaker BWell, let's see.
Speaker BThat's not shocking.
Speaker BYou're expected to almost die every day.
Speaker BI would say a shocking thing would probably be the amount of.
Speaker BOf pressure you can feel from either a flight school or a student or a student's parent about, hey, we need to cancel today because of a thunderstorm or something like that.
Speaker BYou know, I've been at flight schools where they're like, why aren't you out there?
Speaker BAnd I'm like, you.
Speaker BThe.
Speaker BDo you see the thunderstorm out there?
Speaker BYou know, something like that?
Speaker BOr the student.
Speaker BYeah, exactly.
Speaker BOr the student being like, oh, I really want to fly.
Speaker BI just want to get my.
Speaker BMy license.
Speaker BAnd I'm like, ye, for sure.
Speaker BBut we can't, because the plane is down, or we can't because, you know, It's.
Speaker BIt's gusting 30, and you have two hours of experience, and that's just me flying out there, you know, something like that.
Speaker BYeah, exactly.
Speaker BSo I would say that would probably be the biggest thing, is just feeling all the external pressures from those areas.
Speaker BAnd as a cfi, it is.
Speaker BIt really is up to you to make that safety call.
Speaker BAnd you can't let schools or students or parents or whatever it is, you know, sway you to make a bad call.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker BAnd I didn't realize how much responsibility and pressure that that would be.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd that is something you're gonna face your whole career, so you're gonna get pressure from everyone.
Speaker AOne, when you start moving up and you start flying cargo or you start flying for people, you're always gonna have the pressure of making sure you do the fight, and people will push you as far as they possibly can.
Speaker AAnd I always say, learning how to say no is one of the most important things you'll ever do in this career.
Speaker ANow, there is obviously a time you can say no, and obviously time where maybe you shouldn't say no because it is safe.
Speaker AYou just, like we talked about earlier, don't have the confidence to do it.
Speaker ABut that leads to another conversation that you can have with either your mentor or even your.
Speaker AYour chief pilot, if you trust them.
Speaker AI want to obviously go up to someone that you don't trust and tell them some concerns, because they'll be like, why did I hire you?
Speaker ASo, yeah, you're always gonna have that pressure.
Speaker AThere's always pressure in aviation, which is just.
Speaker AI mean, pressure in everything, right?
Speaker AYou want to be the best.
Speaker AYou want to make sure you do it.
Speaker APilots want to make sure they complete the job, complete the task.
Speaker AAnd you feel bad if you.
Speaker AIf you let someone down or kind of don't want to do the job.
Speaker ASo.
Speaker BYeah, totally.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd I've.
Speaker BI've definitely heard some stories from people higher up about that pressure that you can feel then.
Speaker BAnd I think it.
Speaker BI think it was my.
Speaker BMy stepdad who was like, you know, who may feel this.
Speaker BYou know, he flew.
Speaker BHe flew a lot of, like, private jets, things like that.
Speaker BAnd, you know, he would feel it from his clients.
Speaker BHey, I need to get there.
Speaker BAnd he's like, no.
Speaker BAnd they're like, well, you're fired.
Speaker BHe's like, well, I'm not gonna die for it, you know, so it's.
Speaker BIt's good to know that that's a real thing.
Speaker BAnd, you know, you should say no.
Speaker BIf.
Speaker BJust like you said, if it is a real situation where you shouldn't say no, or.
Speaker BYeah, if it's a confidence issue.
Speaker ABut absolutely.
Speaker ATrying to think of the next question.
Speaker AI was trying to look for my rapid fire section because someone just called me out on my last.
Speaker AOn a Spotify comment, like, why don't you do rapid fire anymore?
Speaker AIt's like, I don't know.
Speaker AThat's a great.
Speaker BThat's so funny.
Speaker BI was thinking, was it yesterday?
Speaker BI was like, I wonder if he's gonna do rapid fire.
Speaker AI'm trying to find them again.
Speaker AApparently, I'm logged out of my Evernote, so I don't have the ability to do it right this second.
Speaker ABut if you see me looking down, because I'm trying to figure this out, I don't know why?
Speaker AThis is a terrible.
Speaker AI can't get out of the screen.
Speaker AIt's just like playing this, like, Evernote.
Speaker AWhat are we doing here?
Speaker AI can't hit continue.
Speaker BOh, man.
Speaker BPlease don't ask me about technology.
Speaker AIf Evernote's listening to this podcast, I need to leave.
Speaker AAll right.
Speaker AAnyways, it looks like it's not going to work, but right now, if you had a kind of a Magic 8 ball and you could predict kind of anything that you.
Speaker AYou would get this job, you get that job, what would you think, or what would be your perf path right now for what you want out of aviation?
Speaker BOh, that's such a hard question, man.
Speaker BI don't know.
Speaker BIt's hard because I would say a perfect path would be a aviation career that, you know, popped up out of nowhere, and they're all, hey, we got this opportunity, and it is rewarding, fulfilling, pays well, you know.
Speaker BRight, right, right.
Speaker BPays well.
Speaker BAnd I know I gotta buy my plane somehow and, you know, gives a great schedule, but to be honest, that's such.
Speaker BThat's a hard question.
Speaker BThat's a stumper.
Speaker BHonestly, it is.
Speaker AThat's what I'm here for.
Speaker AIt's hard to predict.
Speaker AI have clicked, all right?
Speaker AI finally found them, and I've clicked a million.
Speaker ASorry if you were distracted by me being distracted by clicking these, but distracted by check.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker ABut yes, it is.
Speaker AIs a hard question, because I think it's important to always be open to what's going on.
Speaker AI think it's good to have goals, but don't be afraid to take a different opportunity or take a different path to get to that goal.
Speaker ABecause who's to say you start saying yes stuff, you don't end up at the original goal, you just skip the other two steps.
Speaker ACould happen.
Speaker BTotally.
Speaker BTotally.
Speaker AAnother question before we get to rapid fire is if you had kids, your kids or friends, kids, whatever, you know, they find your videos in 50 years.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AWho knows however they're watching it?
Speaker ABut what would you want to be remembered by?
Speaker AOr what would you want them to, like, kind of say and be inspired by your content and what you're doing?
Speaker BI guess I would want them to maybe see that I was making a difference, maybe see that I was inspiring or motivational for people that needed it.
Speaker BYeah, I would like that to come across.
Speaker BIt would be cool for them to be like, wow, I can.
Speaker BI can really see how you probably motivated a lot of people who maybe have been struggling in that area, something like that.
Speaker BI think that would be the most rewarding thing to hear for them.
Speaker BAnd then that my hair looked good.
Speaker BI'm just kidding.
Speaker AI love it.
Speaker AYou're like, dang.
Speaker BI have my hair.
Speaker BThat's crazy.
Speaker AThat's really funny.
Speaker AI have found my rapid fire questions.
Speaker AWe are doing them.
Speaker ALet me know when you're ready to go.
Speaker BLet's do it.
Speaker AAll right.
Speaker ANo pauses, no anything.
Speaker AFirst thing comes your mind.
Speaker AAre you ready?
Speaker BI think so.
Speaker AThe answer is yes.
Speaker AWhat's your favorite airplane ever made?
Speaker BOh, no, this is too hard right now.
Speaker BThe Marquette S211.
Speaker BJust because I flew it.
Speaker AWhat about a corporate jet?
Speaker BOh, this is really hard to do.
Speaker BFast.
Speaker BWe're gonna say The King Air 350.
Speaker AAll right.
Speaker AWhat about an airliner?
Speaker BAirliner, like company?
Speaker ANo, just like, yeah, don't sing a lot of company because then you won't get hired by them.
Speaker ABut let's just do.
Speaker ALet's do like 737.
Speaker A757.
Speaker AA380.
Speaker AWhatever.
Speaker AYou kind of your ideal airplane to five were going to the airlines.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker BWell, I have no clue because I've never flown them, but I'm going to say the A380.
Speaker AAll right.
Speaker AThere you go.
Speaker AWhat's the ugliest airplane you've ever seen?
Speaker BUgliest airplane.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AIf you don't have one, the answer is the pio.
Speaker AThey are not.
Speaker BI don't know.
Speaker APiaggios are really ugly.
Speaker AAnd the shorts is really ugly.
Speaker AIf you haven't seen the shorts, you should look it up when we're done and record your reaction.
Speaker AIt's pretty bad.
Speaker BOkay, I'm going to.
Speaker AWhat's something you wish you knew before you became an airplane or.
Speaker AWow.
Speaker ABefore you became a pilot?
Speaker AAll right, let me say that again.
Speaker BI do want to become an airplane.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker AWhat's something you wish you knew before becoming a pilot?
Speaker BThese are hard to do.
Speaker BRapid.
Speaker BI'm not good at rapid.
Speaker AA lot of pressure.
Speaker BSomething that I wish I knew before becoming a pilot is how expensive it is.
Speaker AWho in the industry would you like to meet most?
Speaker BOh, gosh, I'm so lucky that I've met a lot of people that I've wanted to meet in this industry.
Speaker BAviation industry.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ASomeone that's famous and die.
Speaker ALike Amelia Earhart.
Speaker AIt could be someone.
Speaker BOh, come on.
Speaker BI didn't know it was like that.
Speaker BSomeone who died.
Speaker BAmelia Earhart for sure.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker AThere we go.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker AWhat's your favorite thing about aviation?
Speaker BThe.
Speaker BJust the freedom.
Speaker BLiterally the freedom.
Speaker AFavorite airport you've ever landed at.
Speaker BHas to be right now, it's actually no.
Speaker BI would say Kavanaugh Bay.
Speaker ALeast favorite airport.
Speaker BOh, no.
Speaker BThey're going to hate me if I say that sucks.
Speaker BYeah, it's.
Speaker BSorry.
Speaker BOnly because it's kind of boring.
Speaker BI would say probably say Pendleton.
Speaker AOkay, what ifr?
Speaker AVfr?
Speaker BOh, depends on what mood I'm in for.
Speaker BIf I want to challenge ifr.
Speaker BIf I want to just be bop around.
Speaker BBfr.
Speaker AFavorite airport Food.
Speaker BAirport food.
Speaker BCookie.
Speaker AAll right, would you rather fly over the mountains, the beach, or city?
Speaker BOoh, how about mountains and beach?
Speaker AOkay, fair enough.
Speaker ALong trips or short trips?
Speaker ASo I'll rephrase it as as many touch and goes as you can do in an hour or hour and a half flight, or the longest kind of flight you can do in a 172.
Speaker BLongest in a 1 72.
Speaker BI do 1 million touches.
Speaker AWhat's the hardest checkride you've ever taken?
Speaker BCFI.
Speaker ABiggest regret in your career so far if you have one.
Speaker BTrusting the wrong people.
Speaker ABiggest win in your career.
Speaker BTrusting the right people.
Speaker AWhat's the hardest flight you've ever flown?
Speaker BFlying.
Speaker BDodging a thunderstorm.
Speaker AWhat's your favorite flight you've ever flown?
Speaker BKavanaugh.
Speaker BKavanaugh Bay.
Speaker BLanding at Kavanaugh Bay.
Speaker AAnd last one, would you do.
Speaker AWould you recommend 141 or 61?
Speaker AI know you get this question all the time.
Speaker BWhat's your go to?
Speaker BI would say 61.
Speaker AAll right.
Speaker AThere you go.
Speaker AWell, that's all I have for the podcast.
Speaker AI appreciate you coming on.
Speaker AThank you so much.
Speaker AI think it's gonna be very beneficial.
Speaker ALove your Instagram.
Speaker AIf you want to go and plug your Instagram and what you're doing so people can follow you if they don't already.
Speaker AHere's your time.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BInstagram is Leo in flight.
Speaker BI think Leo underscore in flight and mostly CFI stuff, but I'll sprinkle some random other aviation experiences in there.
Speaker APerfect.
Speaker AWell, thank you so much for going on.
Speaker AI appreciate it.
Speaker BYeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker BIt was good meeting you.
Speaker AYeah, likewise.
Speaker AThat's a wrap on today's podcast.
Speaker AThank you so much for listening.
Speaker ALike I said earlier, please leave us review on Spotify as we are 11 away from 1,000 reviews, which is insane.
Speaker AAbsolutely insane.
Speaker A1,000 people taking.
Speaker AWell, technically, 989 people have taken the time out of their day to leave a review, so really cool.
Speaker AI really appreciate it.
Speaker AWouldn't be here without any of you guys.
Speaker ASo thank you so much.
Speaker AI hope everyone's having a great day.
Speaker AAnd as always, happy Flying Pilot Pilot LLC is compensated to make recommendations to his or her followers regarding the services of RAA or Allworth Airline Advisors, companies of all with Financial LP or Allworth.
Speaker APromoter is not an employee or investment advisor Representative of All Worth.
Speaker APromoter is a current client of All Worth All We're Worth based promoter fee of $4,000 a month for sponsorship of the Pilot Pilot Podcast.
Speaker ADue to the compensation arrangement between All Works and Promoter, Promoter has an incentive to recommend Allworth resulting in material conflict of interest.
Speaker APromoter's role on behalf of Allworth is limited strictly to making recommendations regarding the services of Alworth, introducing or referring prospective clients to Allworth.
Speaker APromoter has no responsibility with respect to Alworth's Investment Advisor or other advisory services.