Ready For Takeoff - Turn Your Aviation Passion Into A Career
613 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 136 ratingsThe Ready For Takeoff podcast will help you transform your aviation passion into an aviation career. Every week we bring you instruction and inspiring interviews with top aviators in their field who reveal their flight path to an exciting career in the skies.
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Episodes
RFT 506: Air Traffic Controller Andy Cook's Ultimate Man-Cave
June 07, 2021 06:01 - 25 minutes - 35.9 MBAndy Cook is one comfortable guy. He’s on a Louisiana layover. Inside what’s left of a retired, renovated, old New Orleans Hornets Boeing 727 airplane. WGNO’s Bill Wood is there, too. He’s been invited into Andy’s man cave. Andy has decked out his home away from home. It’s actually just behind his home. He landed his 727 man cave right in his own backyard. And it’s a short commute from work. Andy Cook is an air traffic controller at the Houma-Terrebonne Airport in Houma, Lo...
RFT 505: Inflight Violence
June 03, 2021 03:28 - 12 minutes - 18 MBA flight attendant on a Southwest Airlines plane lost two teeth over the weekend after allegedly being punched by a passenger who had "repeatedly ignored standard inflight instructions," according to an airline spokesman. The Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department charged Vyvianna Quinonez, 28, with battery causing serious bodily injury in the incident, which was caught on video and later went viral. The incident sparked widespread outrage, but for flight attendants it was just the l...
RFT 504: Navy/Airline Pilot Jake Ellzey
May 31, 2021 06:01 - 27 minutes - 38.3 MBCommander Jake Ellzey decided to become a fighter pilot when, at age seven, his dad took him on his first plane ride. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Commander Jake Ellzey served as a fighter pilot and completed his service as the Air Boss on the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier. In his 20 years of service, Commander Ellzey was deployed nine times, including to Afghanistan and Iraq. He served five combat tours by air and one by ground with Seal Team 5. For his service, Comman...
RFT 503: Hijacking!
May 27, 2021 06:02 - 6 minutes - 10.2 MBFurious Backlash – In what some observers are referring to as “state-sponsored hijacking,” a Belarussian jet forced a Ryanair jetliner flying from Greece to Lithuania on Sunday passenger airliner to land in Minsk so authorities could arrest a journalist on board. The dissident is Raman Pratasevich, a key foe of authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who ran a popular Telegraph messaging app that played a key role in helping organize massive protests against Lukashenko. ...
RFT 502: Author Eric Lindner
May 24, 2021 06:01 - 34 minutes - 49 MBSeptember 1962: On a moonless night over the raging Atlantic Ocean, a thousand miles from land, the engines of Flying Tiger flight 923 to Germany burst into flames, one by one. Pilot John Murray didn’t have long before the plane crashed headlong into the 20-foot waves at 120 mph. As the four flight attendants donned life vests, collected sharp objects, and explained how to brace for the ferocious impact, 68 passengers clung to their seats: elementary schoolchildren from Hawaii, a teenage...
RFT 501: Airline Passenger Weights
May 20, 2021 06:01 - 7 minutes - 10.9 MBIn a measure that will likely irk flyers, airlines could soon require plus-sized passengers to step on the scale — or provide their weight — before boarding the aircraft. The initiative, which was outlined in a recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) advisory, strives to provide new data on average passenger weights as the current numbers reportedly don’t reflect today’s sky-high obesity rates in the US. In turn, this would help ensure aircrafts, especially the small ones, don’t excee...
RFT 500: Astronaut Susan Kilrain
May 17, 2021 06:01 - 29 minutes - 41.4 MBKilrain was born in Augusta, Georgia, as Susan Leigh Still to Dr. Joseph Still, M.D. and his wife, Jean Ann Batho; she has nine siblings. Her father was a prominent burn surgeon who founded and directed the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia. Kilrain graduated from the Walnut Hill School, Natick, Massachusetts, in 1979. She graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering and received her Master of Science degree in...
RFT 500: Astronaut Susan Kilrain
May 17, 2021 06:01 - 29 minutes - 41.4 MBKilrain was born in Augusta, Georgia, as Susan Leigh Still to Dr. Joseph Still, M.D. and his wife, Jean Ann Batho; she has nine siblings. Her father was a prominent burn surgeon who founded and directed the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta, Georgia. Kilrain graduated from the Walnut Hill School, Natick, Massachusetts, in 1979. She graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering and received her Master of Science degree in...
RFT 499: Flameout! LaMia Flight 2933
May 13, 2021 06:01 - 9 minutes - 14.8 MB28 November, 2016. The aircraft was an Avro RJ85, registration CP-2933, serial number E.2348, which first flew in 1999. After service with other airlines and a period in storage between 2010 and 2013, it was acquired by LaMia, a Venezuelan-owned airline operating out of Bolivia. The captain was 36-year-old Miguel Quiroga, who had been a former Bolivian Air Force (FAB) pilot and had previously flown for EcoJet, which also operated the Avro RJ85. He joined LaMia in 2013 and at the time of th...
RFT 498: Airline Captain Laura Einsetler
May 10, 2021 06:01 - 32 minutes - 45.4 MBCommercial Airline Pilot – Captain – currently flying for a major U.S. Carrier Qualified on aircraft: Boeing 767, 757, 737, Airbus 320, Lockheed L-188 (civilian P-3) and Convair 580 – flying International and domestic routes, military contracts Flight and Ground Instructor – Multi-engine Instructor, Commercial Flight Instructor, Commercial Flight Instrument Instructor, taught all levels of flying and ground schools Qualified on aircraft: Various twin and single engine aircraft, variou...
RFT 497: Gulfstream 650 Pilot Kimberly Perkins
May 06, 2021 06:01 - 30 minutes - 42.6 MBKimberly is an international Captain on a Global Express and Gulfstream 650 aircraft. She has piloted jet aircraft on six continents and lived on three. Kimberly was influenced by her experiences living in Nigeria, which laid the foundation for her creating Aviation for Humanity. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation: Flight Operations and a Master of Arts degree in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations. She enjoys international travel both profes...
RFT 496: Air Force/Airline/Fractional Pilot Peggy Carnahan
May 03, 2021 06:01 - 53 minutes - 74 MBMargaret “Peggy” Dennis Carnahan is retired from the U.S. Air Force and currently a Captain for NetJets. Peggy is a member of the 1980 U.S. Air Force Academy Class, the first to graduate women! She rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, serving as an Air Force Instructor Pilot and Squadron Commander. Her awards include Air Training Command Master Instructor (1985) and Outstanding Young Women of America (1987). Peggy’s impressive bio is included at the end of this article. Being the first...
RFT 495: Pet Rescue Pilot Julian Javor
April 29, 2021 06:01 - 30 minutes - 43.2 MBSpeaker, pet welfare activist, corporate manager, and member of his local government, Julian Javor formed Pet Rescue Pilots out of the belief that every pet should have the chance to know a loving forever home. Julian began flying rescue pets in 2017 after receiving his Commercial Pilot’s License. Since then, he regularly spends his weekends flying up and down the Western United States – from Southern California to Washington, and even into the Western provinces of Canada – proudly del...
RFT 494: Airshow Pilot Cecilia Aragon
April 26, 2021 06:01 - 32 minutes - 45.6 MBDR. CECILIA ARAGON is an award-winning author, airshow pilot, and the first Latina full professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. She’s worked with Nobel Prize winners, taught astronauts to fly, and created musical simulations of the universe with rock stars. Her major awards for research, and a stint at NASA designing software for Mars missions, led President Obama to call her “one of the top scientists and engineers in the country.” Her new memoi...
RFT 493: Fighter Pilot/Author Mandy Hickson
April 22, 2021 06:01 - 25 minutes - 35.7 MBMandy was the only female pilot on her Front-Line Tornado Squadron, flying multimillion-pound fast jets for the Royal Air Force. She has operated in hostile environments, including patrolling the ‘No Fly’ zone over Iraq. Drawing on her experience of calculated risk-taking, decision-making under pressure and the critical role of the human in the system, she transfers vivid lessons from the cockpit to other management and leadership contexts. Mandy is a highly demanded keynote speaker and h...
RFT 492: Michelle and Dave Pryor
April 19, 2021 06:01 - 34 minutes - 48.4 MBInteresting facts about Dave and Michelle Pryor and our aviation careers: Michelle and Dave met at the United States Air Force Academy during basic training, where they were SCUBA partners and later went on to become SCUBA instructors while at the Academy. They were also partners as survival instructors during the summer between their sophomore and junior years at the Academy. Michelle earned her jump (parachute) wings while at the Academy. They were married 30 days after graduating from...
RFT 491: Tinnitis
April 15, 2021 06:01 - 8 minutes - 12.4 MBAfter coming down with a mild case of Covid-19 in November, W. Kent Taylor found himself tormented by tinnitus, a ringing in the ears. It persisted and grew so distracting that the founder and chief executive of the restaurant chain Texas Roadhouse Inc. had trouble reading or concentrating. Mr. Taylor told one friend he hadn’t been able to sleep more than two hours a night for months. In early March, he met friends at his home in Naples, Fla., and led them on a yacht cruise in the Bahama...
RFT 490: Lynsey Howell
April 12, 2021 06:01 - 23 minutes - 33.5 MBMy personal philosophy is to be authentic, of service, and always courageous. I love inspiring pilots and helping them build the footwork necessary to achieve their dream flying job. I work with pilots 1:1 and in group coaching sessions on all the important facets of success outside the cockpit. I also develop online courses to support pilots. My courses are on interviewing, perfecting scholarship packets, and also my signature course, The 5 Step Plan to the Flight Deck. I earned a Bac...
RFT 489: Cleared Out Of The Pattern!
April 08, 2021 06:01 - 6 minutes - 9.57 MBOn May 24, 1963 I was cleared for a one-hour flight out of the traffic pattern. I had been accepted to start at the United States Air Force Academy in another month, and this would be my last flight at Lovett Field. I was really looking forward to this flight after finishing my afternoon classes at the University of Delaware. I mean, I was REALLY looking forward to this flight. You see, it was a very warm spring day, and the word at the university was that the coeds would sunbathe au n...
RFT 488: Pilots Together Trustee Katy Lee
April 05, 2021 06:01 - 16 minutes - 23.7 MBPilotsTogether is a charity established by current pilots and their supporters. Our goal is to ensure that pilots made redundant from a large UK-based airline remain a part of our community, retain the skills they already have and to help them gain new ones, and ultimately find new jobs. We also aim to ensure that no former colleagues face significant financial hardship. We are a new charity, established in summer 2020 in response to the impact of Covid-19 on our community. I am a profess...
RFT 487: My First Solo
April 01, 2021 06:01 - 7 minutes - 11.2 MBIn August 1962, I was 17 years old and taking Private Pilot lessons at Atlantic Aviation in Wilmington, Delaware. I was taking my lessons in a PA-18 Super Cub, and felt like I was getting close to solo. At the time, a minimum of 8 hours was required to solo, with most students taking about 12 hours. I had slightly under 11 hours and my instructor indicated my solo would be soon. I was on cloud nine as I drove home from my lesson. I would be able to solo before starting classes at the Univers...
RFT 486: Pilot/Anecdotist Mo Barrett
March 29, 2021 06:01 - 23 minutes - 33 MBMo Barrett launched her distinguished career as a successful failure at the Air Force Academy, persevering after becoming the first member of her pilot training class to receive a grade of “Unsatisfactory.” As an Air Force pilot, she flew the Alenia C-27A throughout Central and South America, then moved to Northern California to fly the Lockheed C-5 around the globe. After 9/11, Mo deployed with a small team to bare bases in Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, converting them from austere fields to ...
RFT 485: Takeoff Climb Gradients
March 25, 2021 03:14 - 4 minutes - 7.46 MBIn the airline world, there are a number of new rules, limits, and terms a pilot needs to learn. One area in which a new understanding needs to be had is in the takeoff. Gone are the days when, as a general aviation pilot, you can just eyeball the runway, the load, the airplane, measure the wind with your thumb, and go for it. When you are flying passengers and cargo for hire, you need to be able to comply with the segmented climb. Specifically—-and this is key—-you need to be able to meet...
RFT 484: Liz Booker
March 22, 2021 06:01 - 33 minutes - 46.9 MBFor the women who have served in aviation, being surrounded by other women in our field, either physically or virtually, is magical, especially for those of us who spent most of our careers in isolation. My hope is that the sheer volume and diversity of these stories inspires us, and those who will take our place in the future. And there’s room for so much more. Every one of you has an inspiring story to tell, and there’s an audience for that story. In addition to featuring books already p...
RFT 483: Captain Kgomotso Phatsima
March 18, 2021 06:01 - 19 minutes - 27.6 MBCaptain Kgomotso Phatsima is best known in Botswana for her pioneering work as one of the few women pilots in the country. Her career began in the military, and she diligently worked her way up to becoming a real force to be reckoned with. Captain Phatsima’s work as a pilot and her passion for youth development led her to discover that there were very few girls who were adept at, or even interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects, which are key for the aer...
RFT 482: Cargo Pilot Kelly Lepley
March 15, 2021 06:01 - 33 minutes - 47.1 MB“It started with me seeing a photo of a plane in a Christmas catalogue and pointing to it. From that moment, that was what I wanted. As a child I would dream of flying, would beg my parents to go to the airport, watch planes take off and land. Around the age of 6, I flew in my first plane. It was all I ever wanted to do.” At the same time, Lepley, who was assigned male at birth, explains that “from my earliest recollection I knew I was a girl. Yet societal, family and religious expectatio...
RFT 481: Loading Bridges
March 11, 2021 03:34 - 8 minutes - 12.3 MBJet bridges provide all-weather dry access to aircraft and enhance the security of terminal operations. They are often permanently attached at one end by a pivot (or rotunda) to the terminal building and have the ability to swing left or right. The cabin, at the end of the loading bridge, may be raised or lowered, extended or retracted, and may pivot, to accommodate aircraft of different sizes. These motions are controlled by an operator's station in the cab. The cab is provided with an acco...
RFT 480: Helicopter Pilot/Author Larry Freeland
March 08, 2021 07:01 - 47 minutes - 66 MBLarry Freeland was born in Canton, Ohio. Since his father was an officer with the United States Air Force he grew up on many Air Force bases across this country. After graduating from High School at Ramey Air Force Base in Puerto Rico, he attended the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. He graduated in 1968 with a degree in mathematics and a concentration in finance. He joined the U.S. Army and served one tour in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division as an Infantry Officer ...
RFT 479: Am I Safe To Fly?
March 04, 2021 04:36 - 8 minutes - 13.3 MBWith Covid-19 vaccines rolling out across the United States, the beginning of the end of the nation’s struggle with the pandemic may be coming into sight. But while the two currently approved Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are more than 90 percent effective at preventing the development of serious illness, scientists don’t know whether someone who has been vaccinated can carry the live virus and spread it to others. Initial vaccine trials focused on vaccine safety. Thes...
RFT 478: MiG-Killer Ralph Wetterhahn
March 01, 2021 07:01 - 53 minutes - 74.2 MBRalph Wetterhahn went from 1100 knots to 11 knots, while serving as president, U.S. Merchant Marine Veterans of WWII, charged with maintaining and operating the historic SS Lane Victory berthed in San Pedro, CA. In addition, his skill as an aviation archaeologist, has enabled him to become a real life "Indiana Jones," traveling the world from Cambodia to the Russian Far East, to Guadalcanal, to the Philippines in search of aircraft wrecks, our nation's missing-in-action, and the amazing stor...
RFT 477: The Box Canyon Maneuver
February 25, 2021 07:01 - 8 minutes - 12.8 MBIn 1967, when I was in Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) at Laughlin Air Force Base, I devoured everything I could read about flying, like every other student pilot. The UPT leadership helped us by providing a variety of flying periodicals in the magazine racks on the inside of every lavatory stall - Flying, Plane and Pilot, Private Pilot, the works. Early in our careers we learned about multi-tasking! In one of the magazines, I can't remember which, I read an article titled "The Box Cany...
RFT 476: Smithsonian National Air & Space Curator Dr. Mike Hankins
February 22, 2021 07:01 - 23 minutes - 32.9 MBMike is a curator of modern military aircraft at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, focusing on the history of the US Air Force. He is a former Assistant Professor of Strategy at the USAF Air Command and Staff College eSchool of Graduate PME, and a former instructor of military history at the USAF Academy. He completed his PhD in history at Kansas State University in 2018. Mike specializes in military history and the history of technology, with a special interest in air power histo...
RFT 475: Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award
February 18, 2021 05:36 - 7 minutes - 11.4 MBThe Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award is the most prestigious award the FAA issues to pilots certified under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 61. This award is named after the Wright Brothers, the first US pilots, to recognize individuals who have exhibited professionalism, skill, and aviation expertise for at least 50 years while piloting aircraft as "Master Pilots". A distinctive certificate and lapel pin is issued after application review and eligibility requir...
RFT 474 Pilot Linda Pauwels
February 15, 2021 07:01 - 23 minutes - 33 MBCaptain Linda Pauwels is an airline pilot. For over three decades she has flown thousands of hours, on many types of big airplanes, all over the world. Linda even counts some aviation “firsts” attached to her name. At present, she instructs and evaluates pilots as a check airman on the Boeing 787 for American Airlines. Linda was born in San Pedro, Buenos Aires, Argentina. She came to the United States at age six, after the death of her father. Having experienced adversity early on in life,...
RFT 473: The Magic of Failure
February 11, 2021 07:01 - 10 minutes - 15.9 MBWhen a project is highly successful, it might be as a result of luck or as a result of good planning. You just don't know what does not work. but if you fail, you now know, precisely, what does NOT work. In his efforts to invent the light bulb, Thomas Edison famously said, "I have not failed. I just found 10,000 ways that don't work". A failure I had on the FAA Airline Transport Pilot Written Exam was the basis for numerous subsequent professional successes. In this podcast, I share how ...
RFT 472: ERAU Flight Department Chair Ken Byrnes
February 08, 2021 07:01 - 32 minutes - 45.7 MBDr. Kenneth Byrnes is the Assistant Dean for the College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach campus. In addition, Dr. Byrnes is an Associate Professor of Aeronautical Science and the Chairman of the Flight Training Department. As Chairman of the Flight Department, Dr. Byrnes is responsible for leading over 1300 flight students, over 200 Certified Flight Instructors, 30 A&P mechanics, and 35 additional support staff members. Dr. Byrnes is an expert in all aspe...
RFT 471: Airliner Hit By MANPAD!
February 04, 2021 07:01 - 8 minutes - 12.3 MBOn 22 November 2003, shortly after takeoff from Baghdad, Iraq, an Airbus A300B4-200F cargo plane, registered OO-DLL and owned by European Air Transport (doing business as DHL Express), was struck on the left wing by a surface-to-air missile while on a scheduled flight to Muharraq, Bahrain. Severe wing damage resulted in a fire and complete loss of hydraulic flight control systems. Because outboard left wing fuel tank 1A was full at takeoff, there was no fuel-air vapor explosion. Liquid jet ...
RFT 470: Airline CEO Howard Putnam
February 01, 2021 07:01 - 29 minutes - 41.9 MBHoward Putnam was raised on an Iowa farm and learned to fly out of a pasture in his Father’s J-3 Piper Cub. He entered the airline business as a baggage handler at Midway Airport in Chicago for Capital Airlines at age 17. Capital was soon merged into United and Howard held thirteen different positions in sales, services and staff assignments in several cities, before being named Group Vice President of Marketing for United Airlines, the world’s largest airline, in 1976. In 1978 he was recr...
RFT 469: ONE MILLION DOWNLOADS! The COVID Flight From Hell
January 28, 2021 07:01 - 11 minutes - 16.2 MBAn outbreak aboard a September flight from Dubai to New Zealand offers researchers, and airlines, an opportunity to study in-transit contagion. In an effort to reassure, the airlines have updated and adjusted their requirements for travelers, with patchwork results. Some airlines work to maintain social distance, both at the gate and at boarding; others are less vigilant. Mask-wearing is dependent on passenger compliance, and not predictable; nor, increasingly, is flight capacity, which ca...
RFT 468: Air Force/Airline Pilot Patty Bear
January 25, 2021 07:01 - 27 minutes - 39 MBGrowing up in a community similar to the Amish, I’d been programmed to follow the same path my ancestors had followed for hundreds of years. Church members could only drive black cars, and the women all wore white caps, black bonnets, and long dark dresses exactly alike. Forbidden to own a television, go to the movies, wear makeup, serve in the military, or even press charges when someone robbed our home, we lived a life cut off from the mainstream. Having friends outside the church was disc...
RFT 467: Yerkes-Dodson
January 21, 2021 07:00 - 7 minutes - 11.3 MBThe Yerkes–Dodson law is an empirical relationship between pressure and performance, originally developed by psychologists Robert M. Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson in 1908. The law dictates that performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point. When levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases. The process is often illustrated graphically as a bell-shaped curve which increases and then decreases with higher levels of arousal. The original pape...
RFT 466: Airline Pilot/Well Provider Dave Reierson
January 18, 2021 07:01 - 29 minutes - 41.8 MBHope2Others International is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing clean water to those in need throughout the world. Our primary work is centered on offering individual families or groups of families the ability to own their own well, which creates not only dignity but long term sustainability and self-sufficiency. We are dedicated to employing and empowering locals to bring this goal to fruition. By manually drilling our wells and designing our pumps from locally availabl...
RFT 465: Inflight Passenger Safety
January 14, 2021 05:23 - 16 minutes - 24.3 MBCoronavirus has almost all of us grounded, so it’s probably been a while since you’ve heard a preflight safety briefing, and longer since you gave it any attention. As we fantasize about getting on a plane again, we at TPG thought it’d be a good time to look under the hood of that once-familiar speech. For starters, have you ever wondered why every airline seems to do theirs slightly differently? From Southwest’s folksy approach to American’s video demonstration that commands flyers to “...
RFT 464: Pet Rescue Organizer Chris Roy
January 11, 2021 07:01 - 27 minutes - 39.1 MBHi, I’m Chris Roy, founder and president of Doobert. I’m a technology guy in my “day” job and I use my experience to create Doobert.com which is an online software platform custom-built for animal rescuers. It’s like a combination of Match.com specifically for animal shelters and rescues to find new partners, and then a volunteer Uber for getting the animals where they need to go. But it’s also the ONLY Foster home management solution out there and the ONLY solution that allows you to get...
RFT 463: Goal Setting
January 07, 2021 20:55 - 8 minutes - 13.1 MBHow to Set a Goal First consider what you want to achieve, and then commit to it. Set SMART (specific, measureable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) goals that motivate you and write them down to make them feel tangible. Then plan the steps you must take to realize your goal, and cross off each one as you work through them. Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn your vision of this future into reality. The proces...
RFT 462: Shuttle Carrier Aircraft Pilot Ace Beall
January 04, 2021 07:01 - 39 minutes - 55.1 MBAce Beall entered the Air Force with over 200 hours flying experience, with a goal of becoming an airline pilot. He was commissioned through the "90-day wonder" program, and excelled in Undergraduate Pilot Training. Upon graduation he selected an assignment as a T-38 Instructor Pilot (IP). After that assignment, he flew C-141s at McCord Air Force Base for four years. He had hoped to get an airline job, but instead flew a King Air for an oil company, which promptly went out of business. On ...
RFT 461: Is The Pilot Shortage Over?
December 31, 2020 06:17 - 8 minutes - 13.1 MB“Well, that fixes the pilot shortage.” This has been the “word on the street” since the Covid-19 crisis hit in mid-March. Since then, thousands of airline pilots have taken early retirement packages and extended leaves of absence. The good news? Private charter flights are more in demand and first-time aircraft buyers are entering the market. While those factors might generate pilot demand, there aren’t enough positions to employ every furloughed airline pilot. And even if there were, ...
RFT 460: Fighter Pilot Rochelle Kimbrell
December 28, 2020 07:01 - 23 minutes - 32.9 MBKimbrell received her commission in 1998 after graduating from the USAF Academy, later she attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Laughlin AFB, TX and was awarded her pilot wings in August 1999. She then completed Introduction to Fighter Fundamental training at Randolph AFB, TX in November 1999. In August 2000, she graduated from her initial F-16 training at Luke AFB, Arizona, becoming the first African American female fighter pilot in the USAF. She was assigned to the 13th Fight...
RFT 459: Private Jet Flying
December 24, 2020 03:50 - 14 minutes - 20.6 MBFurloughs in the airline industry are forcing pilots to find new work in other aspects of aviation, including flying privately-owned aircraft. Private aviation is in the midst of an expansion that's seeing aircraft operators invest in more planes to bring in a new market of first-time private flyers who are abandoning first class thanks to the pandemic. A fleet of new planes requires more pilots to fly them and as the airlines contract during the downturn, private firms are looking to hire...
RFT 458: Dog Is My Copilot Founder Dr. Peter Rork
December 21, 2020 07:01 - 35 minutes - 49.3 MBEvery day over 2,000 healthy dogs and cats are euthanized in our nations shelters— the result of too many animals and too few homes. We are working to reduce euthanasia rates by transporting animals from places with overcrowded shelters to adoption centers in other geographic regions where loving families are waiting to adopt them. DIMC flies as many animals as possible in a single flight to maximize efficiency. DIMC does not charge our partners organizations for our transport services....