Tag Archives: career

AirplaneGeeks 306 – Make a Plan and Become a Pilot

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (38.8MB)

Delta B757 N698DL

New ATP written exam requirements going into effect, a Boeing 757 successor, NTSB investigation of the TWA Flight 800 accident, the AOPA Rusty Pilot program, and what you need to do to become a professional pilot.

Guest

Guest Kevin Garrison is a CFI, journalist, and author with many articles in prominent aviation publications. He’s flown the MD-88, DC-9, 727, 757, 767, and 777. He’s currently working on a series of inexpensive “CEO of the Cockpit” guidebooks about getting into the professional flying business. Kevin also provides services to medium-sized companies through Aerospace Media Partners.

Kevin’s website is Kevin Creates, and his new site called CEOoftheCockpit.com is under development. You can also find Kevin on Facebook.

News

ATP Written Prerequisites About to Change Drastically

Effective August 1, 2014, those who wish to take the ATP written exam must have completed an FAA-approved “airline transport pilot certification training program.”

Boeing Advancing on Successor to 757 Jet, Air Astana Says

The President of Air Astana, the flag carrier of Kazakhstan, says he talked to Boeing at the IATA annual meeting in Doha, saying that a new plane would be announced soon.

NTSB Will Not Reopen TWA Flight 800 Investigation

A group called “The TWA 800 Project” petitioned the NTSB to reconsider and modify the findings and determination of probable cause for the TWA Flight 800 accident.

An NTSB team of investigators not previously associated with the original investigation concluded that the NTSB’s earlier determination of probable cause was not wrong.

Two arguments theorizing a missile strike were advanced by the petitioners. The NTSB says:

“…the petitioners relied on a subset of previously available radar evidence organized around their alternative explanation of the crash. However, this analysis, upon review, was flawed.”

and

“…the petitioners introduced witness summaries obtained from the FBI that we treated as new evidence. But the witness summaries did not differ substantially from the evidence available during the NTSB’s original investigation.”

Read the NTSB’s Response to Petition for Reconsideration [PDF] for more details on this topic.

David Vanderhoof’s Aircraft of the Week

David invokes the “It’s my segment and I’ll do what I want” clause in his contract, and talks about podcast sponsorship.

Rob Mark’s Aviation Minute

This week Rob talks about our tour of the NTSB training facility, and how that trip made him rethink how he reports accident stories himself.

Mentioned

AOPA Rusty Pilot program

AOPA says there are more than 500,000 lapsed pilots in the United States under the age of 75. The Rusty Pilot program seeks to get those pilots back in the cockpit. Rusty Pilot presentations and discussions around the country cover the use of newer technology, changes in the airspace system, new resources available to pilots, and much more.

Listener Feedback

Listener Micah sent us a recorded story he calls, “Fearless Flying.”

We comment on a listener email describing the writer’s frustration with getting into a professional flying career: the cost, the time, the low wages. Our panel offers a different way to think about this admittedly difficult path.

Credits

Listener Brian Coleman asked if there was some way he could “give back” to the Airplane Geeks podcast and help us out. So we made him Associate Producer and now Brian is busy booking guests for us. Thank you Brian!

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

APG 267 – The Expert Aviator

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (50.5MB)

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at <a href="http://www.brotherloverocks.com/">www.brotherloverocks.com</a>.

Guest Carl Valeri is a commercial pilot and a flight instructor. He is also a prolific creator of aviation content. The broad appeal of his Aviation Careers Podcast goes beyond those looking for career advice. Its interesting to learn about what the jobs of others are like.

We talk about airline furloughs and seniority lists, things to think about when considering flying for a different airline, the age/seniority situation and what that means after an airline merger. Carl talks about how the Sun N Fun activities support and promote aviation. It’s not just the annual event. Sun N Fun radio broadcasts great interviews year round at Sun N Fun Radio.

Find Carl at the Aviation Careers Podcast (@FlyingCareers on Twitter), the Stuck Mic Avcast (@StuckMicAvCast on Twitter) and the ExpertAviator.com blog (@ExpertAviator on Twitter).

The Week’s Aviation News:

David Vanderhoof’s Aircraft of the Week:

The so you want to be a Historian?  Since David will be celebrating Thanksgiving with his family on October 14.  He didn’t want to leave the show without a segment so this is where you come in.  We are looking to have you write a 1000 word history segment on the Aircraft, Helicopter, Blimp or space craft of your choice.  Here’s your chance to get that airplane you always wanted that David hasn’t done yet.  So here’s the requirements:

  • A subject that hasn’t been done

  • Minimum of 800 words maximum of 1200 words

  • Provide your references

  • Proper Spelling and Grammar

  • Must be submitted to theGeeks@airplanegeeks.com by October 9th, 2013

So let’s see them. David will choose one to record for the episode.  The others we’ll either post or maybe use them in later episodes. Good Luck Future Airplane Geeks Historians.

In this week’s Australia Desk:

Steve and Grant have finally finished running around to various events in Australia (for now 🙂 ) and have (finally!) put together a “real” Australia Desk. They quickly review a few headlines before settling down to discuss a recent AirProx between two Qantas A330s.

All that plus a shout-out to Aunt Benet’s piloting skills and news that Grant’s appearing in the latest Australian Pilot magazine from AOPA.

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu. Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124. Australia Desk archives can be found at www.australiadesk.net.

Iberia Maintenance

Iberia Maintenance

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

This week our contributor from Spain Diego Lopez Salazar from AeroPodcast takes us behind the scenes at the Iberia Maintenance facility at Madrid Airport. In the first of two segments we hear all about seeing an A340 stripped down to its barest minimums, who owns the aircrafts tyres and how quickly emergency chutes are deployed.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

Listener Story:

Listener Micah, our Main(e) man, recorded a story he calls, “Fifteen Thirty At 2-O’clock.”

Crew - Morotai, 1944

Crew – Morotai, 1944 from listener Doug Betts. Doug’s father (highlighted) flew 52 missions in a B-24 of the 307th Bomb Group, The Long Rangers.

Mentioned:

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 203 – Aviation Careers

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (46.0MB)

MV-22 Osprey over the Gulf of Mexico

In his new Aviation Careers Podcast, Carl Valeri tells you what it’s like to have an aviation career through the voices of his guests. Carl focuses mostly on pilot and mechanic jobs, but there will be others as well. After all, there are lots of positions for those who have a love of aviation.

Carl is a flight instructor and an airline Captain who is also well known for his volunteer work at Sun ‘N Fun Radio and his role on the Stuck Mic AvCast. He also authors the popular Expert Aviator site.

Carl Tweets for the Aviation Careers Podcast at @FlyingCareers and for Expert Aviator at @expertaviator.

The week’s aviation news:

David’s Aircraft of the Week is the Martin M-130 China Clipper.

In this week’s Australia Desk report:

South Australian government wants $2.25 million back from Tiger Airways, former RAAF & RNZAF WWII Bomber Command aircrew return in force to the UK for the memorial, Qantas senior management travel to Canberra to lobby federal politicians on all sides, Alan Joyce names as the new IATA Chairman, Qantas A380 fleet re-configured to take more PAX, Hawaiian Airlines announce expansion to Brisbane, Virgin Australia announced code share agreement with Virgin America, Christopher Luxon names as new CEo of Air New Zealand, Royal New Zealand Navy looking to purchase 11 additional SH-2G Sea Sprite helicopters.

Re. recent listener email about the Avanti P180 – Grant’s video interview on board the P180 demonstrator at Avalon 2011 is at http://youtu.be/iFrrWF8CwD8

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124. Australia Desk archives can be found at www.australiadesk.net.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

Pieter tells us his story of a flying incident in Florida. On his cross country qualifying flight he hit bad weather and made a decision to abort too late with almost terrible results. In the end Pieter was OK but shaken.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on his blog Alpha Tango Papa, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

Mentioned this episode:

Post photo: MV-22 Osprey over the Gulf of Mexico. A U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Training Squadron 204 (VMMT-204), Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., flies over the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding areas in Florida March 30, 2007.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 102 – Outlook for Professional Pilots

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (46.7MB)

Cessna Skycatcher

Guest Louis Smith, a retired NWA DC-10 captain offers some unique insight into the market for professional pilots. The future looks bright, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy for pilots. Louis runs FLTops.com, a site offering information and advice for pilots looking to advance their professional careers.

The week’s aviation news:

David takes the week off, but will return next episode with This Week in Aviation.

Grant and Steve continue their journey back across the Pacific in the Australia Desk Report. This installment features the voices of Dan Morris and Michelle Lowrie, and the music is “Slice of Heaven” by Dave Dobbyn. Last episode included Anthony Simmons, the man behind the View From the Lounge segment you can hear on the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast.

Other mentions:

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Episode 101 – Another Jetwhiner

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (48.0MB)

Insitu Scan Eagle

Guest Scott Spangler is an instrument-rated commercial pilot and the founding editor of Flight Training magazine. He launched and edited NAFI Mentor for the National Association of Flight Instructors, and was editor in chief of EAA publications. As a freelancer he’s written for Air & Space Smithsonian, Overhaul & Maintenance, Aviation for Women, Twin & Turbine, Avionics News, Kitplanes, a number of non-aviation titles. Oh, and of course, he posts at the Jetwhine blog.

Scott joins Max, David, Dan and Rob to talk about the week’s aviation news and how to get started on an aviation career. That plus This Week in Aviation and the Australia Desk report.

The news:

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/. Australia Desk music is “Six Months In a Leaky Boat” by Split Enz.