Melvin Williams-@melthetraveler

Here at the Forever on the Fly podcast we not only celebrate pilots, but the men and women behind the curtain. The ones turning wrenches, keeping our aircraft flying, and keeping us safe in the skies. Melvin Williams not only is a pilot, but an instructor B737 Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic (A&P ) for Delta. Mel is here to share his incredibly unique journey on his path to Delta, how he made his plan to finance his flight training, how to handle those checkride jitters, and his aerobatic dreams for the future. You guys might know him as @melthetraveler on Instagram, if you don't already go ahead and give him a follow! Stick around until the very end of the episode for Diane and Jose's top 10 ways to handle those checkride jitters!

Transcript

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You're listening to the forever on the fly podcast what up AV nerd and welcome to forever on the fly podcast, your bi weekly dose of aviation inspiration, education and entertainment. My name is Jose. And I'm Diane and we're here to get you guys hooked on aviation. So senorita pretty much inspired me the past two weeks to get back in shape. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So you know, from start to get those gains, you know? Yeah, like you're talking about you look good. Flex. Doing the dance. Yeah. That's awesome. That's actually going really well. I see on your stories, you're running your bike bike and got a dietician a personal trainer, do yoga in the morning. It's amazing. Start investing in your own personal health and well being and investing in you. Oh, no, for sure. You know, I got like, my confidence is like, Yeah, I mean, you didn't really need help with your confidence. But I thought I muted this part. Calibrate tell everybody your main pickup line. Alright. For all you gentlemen out there, go ahead and write this down. This works 50% of the time, every time. So you walk up to senorita no matter where or it could be a gentleman, you know, depending on your preference. So you get up to somebody and go Excuse me, Miss Thank you drop something. 99.9% of the time, they're going to be like super serious. And they're going to be like, Oh my God, what did I drop and they look down. And then you like, your standards, my name. Your name is x, whatever it is. And then Well, typically the last like I said, it's 50% of the time, every time here on The forever on the fly podcast. We not only celebrate pilots and their accomplishments, but we're also here to celebrate the guys behind the curtain. You know the ones that are out there turning wrenches, keeping our aircraft flying and keeping us safe in the skies. Our next guest is not only a pilot, but an instructor 737 airframe and powerplant mechanic or a NP mechanic for Delta. He's here to share with us a very unique journey to Delta, how he made a plan to finance his flying dreams his side business aerobatic plans for the future, and how to handle those checkride jitters you guys might know him as Mel, the traveler on Instagram. Stick around for the end of the episode, we're gonna have top 10 ways you can help those checkride jitters Eric Yeah. Now Williams, I am a 737 Maintenance instructor. Hey, I'm Melvin Williams, and I'm ever on the fly. What's up? Welcome to the show, man. Thanks for coming. And yeah, thanks for taking your time to come on the show and chat with us about aviation and your career and what you've been up to and where you're flying to next. Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate you guys. We are in the navy or Air Force, by the way, brother. No, no, I gotcha. Yeah. Air Force and Navy classes right now. Because we also have that contract and delta so god, yeah. Okay. Yeah, cuz we saw the picture of you in front of the Navy bird, so we weren't sure. Oh, yeah. So that's, uh, so that's Marsh Shetty. S 211. It's an Italian trainer. And there's a buddy of mine who I met on Instagram. His name is Chris Holmes. He's an instructor at Victory aviation down in Denton, Texas. And they fly those airplanes so you know, they do like formation flight so you can get type rated in it if you want to if you have a shit ton of money you can do it. And you know he took me on a flight that day just to kind of you know, show me what he was dealing with down air and stuff like that. So that's that picture. Okay, got it. Got it. They put the Navy tag on it. I mean, it looks like a T 45 Navy trainer but it's not it's a machete has to 11 Isn't that always the case? As long as you have a shit ton of money you can do a lot of stuff in aviation. Everyone's like so what do you what do I need to be a pilot and to get involved in aviation? I'm like, money. Exactly. Got fun money. You got to find it from somewhere. It costs a lot. It's an expensive hobby career to get into. Can you tell us just a little bit about yourself where you from? Where do you work now? Where'd you grow up? Okay, let's see. Where do I start? There's a laundry list. But no. So my name is Mel. Short for Melvin, if you don't know, last name is Williams, but everybody calls me mela mela traveler per my Instagram. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn surprised there it's a quiet night here so hopefully somebody heard it didn't get upset anyway. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I eventually moved to Atlanta. And that's where I am now. Oh, yes, right. Yeah, ATL girl. Yeah, that's right. But uh the in betweens, I am a pilot of course working on aerobatics. Recently a flight instructor as of September September. Congratulation graduates that is such a appreciate it was the longest check ride of my life, but I made it blood sweat and tears. Amazing. What pretty nervous in the ground? Did you get pretty nervous like it? Was there something that, you know, you stumbled across when you're doing the checkride that you're like, Dang it? Oh, you know, I always get checkride jitters. So I have a tendency to stumble upon, you know, the stupidest things like airspace or whatever it Yeah, as silly as it sounds, you know, it's just you know, that. I'm not a good checkride taker. You know, it's hard to get settled in because, you know, in the back of your mind, it's still a test, but you know, so you try not to be on your P's and Q's and stuff like that. But, but But it worked out. You know, it worked out. Thank God. Yeah, man. Congratulations. That's huge accomplishment. Yeah, I appreciate it. What else? Uh, where was that? I own two airplanes. There's my decathlon behind me. And then I also also have a musketeer Beechcraft musketeer. Very, very, very old. It's built like a tank. So I like I do all my time building like the Nokia. Yeah, exactly. And then, you know, day job stuff. I do work for Delta Airlines. I am a aircraft technician, also Aircraft Maintenance Technician. So I do have my airframe and powerplant licenses. And currently my current position is, I am a 737 Maintenance instructor. Oh, sweet, dude. Hey, yeah. Yeah. But that is really, really cool. And how did you get involved with aviation? How did you get started? What sparked the passion? Were you young was somebody in your family in aviation? I, you know, grew up growing up in Brooklyn, born and raised, JFK wasn't too far away from the house. And you know, I can hear airplanes taking off every morning when I was getting ready to go to elementary school. And, you know, I've told the story before. So, one morning, it was like a really, really, really loud airplane. What the hell is that it sounds different from all the others. And you know, I look out the back window and it's like a dark flying through the sky. And what the hell is that doesn't look like you know, the typical stuff I've been seeing. Turned out it was the Concorde, as I got a little bit older and did a little bit of research. So that's Concorde, making all that noise on its way, whether it would be the Air France or the British Airways is on its way to Europe. And I was like, wow, it's pretty damn cool. And then, you know, fast forward to a couple of years later, my aunt used to take me to JFK, and just sit there and watch the airplanes taxi and stuff like that. She had like, this little spot, I think it was like terminal six, wherever British British Airways was at JFK. We just used the park up. Now, granted, these are the days right before 911 where you can just hang out. Move along, move along. Yeah, you know. So these are the days where you can, you know, park up and just hang out, you know, and that that really sparked my interest. I was like, Man, this is pretty cool. So, you know, growing up, I wanted to be a pilot. Way, way, way back when fast forward till it was time to go to high school. I saw Aviation High School, which the high school I went to in Queens, New York, in the high school book. So in New York, he had to find that there was this high school book is a thick book with all the high schools and all the five boroughs, all the public high schools, I should say. And when I got to Queens, so aviation I just wasn't Oh, that looks cool. I guess I can go to you know, and live out my dream is you know, becoming a pilot and lo and behold, I got there and I see all these airplanes taken apart. Engines everywhere. I'm like, I don't think anybody's flying them. Airplanes are a beast. And I found that found that it was an air Krav maintenance high school was a vocational school, you know, and they made mechanics. Yeah, so I said, All right, well, I'm gonna go do that next best thing, right? At least I get to still be around airplanes. So. So I did my time there. I graduated. And I had an a&p license in my back pocket at 19 years old. And delta picked me up a couple of months later, less than a year later, ah, aircraft, as he as an aircraft maintenance technician. So, here I am 33 years old. And I'll have a 14 years with Delta next. graduations. Yeah, that's I didn't know high schools did that. Vocational High School like that? You know, it's funny, you say that, because as I get older, when I tell people that that's the route that I that I went through, they're like, man, you say the same thing. I didn't know they were high schools out there. And you know, that, that, and, you know, you don't really appreciate as a kid, as you're going through it. Because, you know, at school, you know, yeah, I got to do this, I got to do that. You really think about it? You know, I've thought about it, you know, over and over, especially when I get you know, certain opportunities and stuff. You know, you look back and realize how blessed you are. Since it was a public school. It was in New York City public. You didn't have to pay to go there anything. Wow. You got a free license out of it when you graduated? Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, the only thing I had to the only thing I had to pay for, like the DME, so instead of being you know, having a DP, you know, you have a DMV designated maintenance examiner. Yeah, that's the only fee I paid. And it was like 400 bucks or something like that? What the hell? That's badass. This was the day. Wait, man, that is a lie. Yeah, it really is, you know, so at 19 years old, here I am working for, you know, a major airline, not, you know, a commuter, or, you know, going into GA or whatever. I mean, you know, the big leagues, you know, I don't know what the hell is going on, you know, I'm fresh out of high school and stuff, making good money traveling the world for free, at 19 years old. So I mean, it's definitely a blessing. I'm sure that they don't take every single student that graduates straight into delta. So that has to be saying something about how No, you're as a student. Yeah. Here's another thing. I like to be transparent about everything. I hate school. As I was going through it, I hated it. But you know, I was, uh, you know, I was very realistic. What I mean by that was, you know, I know, school if necessary, obviously, because I gotta do something with my life. But, you know, as I went through the school, I'm like, alright, this math, science, English and social studies, all these other stuff, you know? And I'm like, well, that's really not gonna do anything for me in life in the school. Does that make sense? So I'm like, what makes sense to me is the vocational part of the school where I'm fixing these engines. He's a fuse, and, um, you know, timing, mag nietos, and stuff like that, because when I graduated, and I leave here, that's the stuff that's gonna progress. You know, and, you know, put me on that, that, that, that launchpad to my career. Yeah, exactly. So the other stuff I didn't really care about, I did enough to pass, you know, 65 was passing, I got to 65 maybe 70. But in shop, you know, shop classes where I'm, you know, welding and all this other stuff. You know, I was like, 8590 students, and I, like, couldn't wait to go to shop class. You know, I'm sitting there learning about them, you know, American history or whatever. And they're like, Wow, I can't wait to get the hell out of here. So I can go, you know, lighter. I mean, think about it. You know, at 15 years old. I was playing with blow torches. Yeah. Nice. I was welding stuff. I mean, think about it. I mean, why the hell would I want to sit down and learn about a squared plus b squared equals c squared? I don't care about that. I want to go play with the damn fix engine. You know, so, that's, that's really where my energy went. And it worked out. But you know, to go back to your original statement, it's not just delta that picked us up, a lot of us went to Delta, some of us went to JetBlue. Some of us went to American all in New York area. So it's, you know, it's like high school all over again. But now everybody's a professional and, and, you know, we're all making money and traveling together. You know, some of us are together like hey, man, yeah, I graduated high school with you like, last year, you know, welcome you know, and then you know, some you'd find out working for other companies and stuff like that. So it's really cool. And then you know, once we build up a little bit of seniority, we all start to move away. You know, because New York is like crazy expensive to live. So a lot of people went down to Florida a lot of us came down to Atlanta, you know, county. Well, California is not, you know, better as far as finance wise, but, you know, people just dispersed. So you can find this everywhere really is the point I'm getting that. What was the name of your high school Got Aviation High School? Oh, Aviation High School? Do they have it in multiple states? Or is it just New York? As far as I know, so I so, you know, I hear like little whispers if there's like a school in Seattle, I think there's a school in Seattle or something like that, that I think either has the same name with the same concept. But as far as I know, and I haven't done recent research. My high school is the only high school in the country that offers that, you know, a&p license, that the right that program, as far as I know, yeah, I don't get a ton of people reaching out to me about wanting to be an a&p. Mostly, I just get people who want to become pilots someday. But you know, I'm sure I have people out there who are listening, maybe they're about to be or are in high school that are wondering how they can continue an education in something aviation, and yeah, hey, who knows? Maybe that information will really help somebody out there. So I hope so. Yeah. I mean, that's, I mean, that's, that was news to me, to me. So my cousin he needs to change school did. My cousin was thinking about becoming an a&p. And I was like, Yeah, dude, go for it. And he's like, yeah, I gotta get money for college. And now that I know, you can do it in high school, I'm like, you die. You need to move. Yeah, moved to New York, to Seattle, you can do it, man. So yeah, that's something that I was kind of, you know, I came out with this video, you know, hoping to maybe inspire people to not necessarily put so much emphasis on going to college, if that's not going to help out their career, right. You know, I never continued to go on with a four year degree, I ended up using the remainder of my GI Bill, to get my additional six swing licenses instead of finishing a four year degree because those were the things that were going to help me in the career that I wanted to pursue aviation, I wanted to get my flight ratings, I didn't really feel like a degree was, I mean, obviously, any education, is education is gonna help you out in the long run in some form or fashion. But vocational school is just as valuable. And a lot of people waste a lot of money, going to college not knowing what they want to do and studying in the books. And then they realize later on, oh, I want to be a pilot. It's like, Dude, you didn't have to spend all that money on college, you should have just saved that money and gotten a flight school. Instead, if you have something that you want to do that requires a vocational technical program, freakin go for it, like they, they pay money eventually, you know, having a skill that no one can take away from you, like people are always going to need. And you know, hope Hopefully, they're going to need people to turn wrenches for a while. And it's not going to be totally taken over by machines and robots. So actually, to even add to that story further. So in order to get both licenses at my high school, you have to go to school for five years, just because of the hours and stuff so, so after four years, if you get accepted into the program, so not everybody gets into the program to get there, or get invited back to get their fifth. I'm sorry, their second license. Yeah. So. So at 18, I finished my fourth year. But then since I applied for the program, and I got in, they allow you to do a fifth year and they hold back the way they get around it is they hold that one class that you need for graduation, and you do this one class and then your shot classes. So that's how I'm able to get past that. So I finished I had my airframe first the I had my airframe first at 18. Did my fifth year and then at 19 I had my powerplant. And then I officially graduated high school at that point. Nice. So so it's not being left back. Everybody that went you went to school for five years. Didn't you wish were freshmen in 2001? Why the hell he graduated in 2006? When it's supposed to be oh, five, but I'm like, Yeah, well, you know, kind of did and oh, five but yeah, so I think P certificate, and you're like, Yeah, but did you graduate with this, Mike? Oh, yeah. And then like I said, you know, I got lucky so I actually went to actually went to a flight school for college, because I was thinking about pursuing the whole goal again, but then when I got there so So dig this, I go to the school name is down in college, I go there, and you know, my plan was to get my, you know, bachelor's in I think it was aviation management that I was going for. So anyway, so I go there. Since it's a flight school, I have my NP they hired me as an a&p mechanic for the flight school but it's work study, because it's a conflict of interest. So I'm making you know, since they can't hire me as a full time employee while I go to the school yet or some whatever BS excuse they gave me, so I'm making like six bucks an hour to work on the flight school. airplanes. I'm making the same money as the damn library attendant. Since this works, that it's crazy, right? So but you know, I wasn't complaining because I'm like, wow, like I actually went to the school, and I'm putting my licenses to work and I'm actually getting paid for it. So I thought it was pretty, pretty cool. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, not what I should be getting, but hey, whatever it was experience. So I get back to my dorm room one day. And I'm like, You know what, I'm just gonna start applying for all of them different airlines, I applied for delta, united, at the time Continental, right? JetBlue. I mean, all these companies, Southwest, everybody, I can think of US Air America West. I mean, everybody, I didn't care. And I just just started firing off my resume there. My head. I'm like, nobody's gonna hire me. I mean, I'm 19 years old, you know, basically, I mean, basically no experience. And maybe about a month later, Delta call me and said, hey, you know, you got your resume, you apply for a job here at JFK? You know, we want to bring you in for test and I'm like, get the fuck out. You know, there's no way. So this was back in JFK, because I went school out in Long Island, which is not that far away. So I came back home to take this test, I was late. Late to the test, I couldn't find the building or whatever, I get there. And so I get there, guys, like, Hey, man, you know, so you had an hour to take the test. But I'll still give it to you if you want. But you only have like 25 minutes. I'm like, sit down. And I run through this damn test. It had physics on it. It had spatial relations, spatial relations, you play with the boxes and shit and triangles on boxes, or whatever, and kind of messing around with them in your mind. And it's funny, because I'm like, I don't have that much time. So I need to figure out a quick way to do the spatial relation thing. And I'm watching people have a piece of paper here. I'm watching people pick up the test. And you're like, you know, I mean, they're trying to figure out, and I'm like, No, I'm not. If I if I do that, I might as well just fucking walk out now, because I'll be here forever. So I started using true. So I started using process of elimination, I'm like, well, that trend in the picture triangle is next to the box. So I'm just going to cancel out these two because the triangles are next to these boxes, which they're not. So I finished the test. I was actually like the second person to finish and only had 25 minutes to do this, our longtime true story. So I thought I bombed it. I'm like, There's no way that I finished this test. In basically 25 minutes, and I got here with 25 minutes left to spare. That doesn't make any sense. So I finished the test. And then the guy goes, alright, if I call your name, please step outside. So you know, so my name is called whatever sounds like damn, I guess that's it, you know? So I walked out, and it was only maybe in a room full of maybe like 30 people, maybe only like four of us walked out. I was like, damn, I guess everybody. Yeah, I guess everybody else passed it wrong. We pass everybody else fail. Wow. Yeah. True story. Dang. Not. And yeah, it was crazy. So I looked at him. I'm like, Dude, you have to be fucking joking. He was like, honestly, I don't know how you fucking did it. Because you didn't have enough. You didn't have enough time. And you finished and you passed and I'm like, This doesn't make any sense. He's like, listen, dude. I know. But you know, I was watching you. You didn't cheat. You didn't have a lot of time you fucking back. So here it is. Did he like, got to that classroom? Yes, I was like, man. I'm thinking about the people in here. Like, those fucking 480 It's fucking he fucking had, you know, at some point, he fucking walk back and like, yes, you guys didn't fucking pass on, you know. So anyway, they gave me an interview on the spot. And so that, you know, after I pass the test portion, then it was like, hey, we want to interview you now. So I interviewed and then they offered me the job on the spot. And that's, that's how I got in. Oh, man. Cool. I can I could clap. I would. I'm telling you, man, you know, I can't I can't make this shit up. You know. So I don't know if he's a little bit of luck for me. Maybe it was me sitting down. Like, you know, whatever happens. I didn't really think about it too tough. I just took the damn test. I knew I didn't have enough time. So I thought I was gonna fail. And I ended up passing. And it was only like four or five of us out of like a room full of like, 30 people that fast. And here I am now. Here you are. 737 instructor. It's crazy, right? Yeah. And I tell people what they end up in instruct back. I can hate school. I hate and I'm teaching people. And you're also teaching a subject matter that you enjoy. That's true. But it's still it's still in the back of my mind. I'm like, these people are sitting down staring at me. Writing notes and shit. I'm like, you know, sometimes I'm right. I'm like, Dude, what the fuck are you? Right? You know about APU and you know, and you know, when you turn off the battery and this starts charging. I'm like, Oh, she's looking really bad. not done. Well, that's cool. Yeah. Well listen to me. Suit yourself. So after you got the job with Delta, at what point did you go to flight school? Where did that come about? Ah, so there's an interesting story behind that. Fast forward to 2016. Yeah. But late 2016. I'm down here in Atlanta, I'm working as a line mechanic. So you're not familiar with what a line mechanic does. So when your airplane breaks at the gate, they're like, oh, we gotta call maintenance. You see the guy in the green bright vest? Come on, or whatever, whatever color it is that? Yeah, that's the maintenance that I was doing, which I love. You know, it's fast paced. It's interesting. You get to see people, you know, you don't work in a hangar and stuff like that. See the same people the same airplanes every damn day, you know? So, so it's nice. But anyway, what happened was, I got a gate call, I'll sit in the office, and somebody said, Hey, Mel, run out to gate so and so is a pile out there with some type of issue. Oh, cool. So I go out there. And I walk into the flight deck, is this guy turns around, he looks at me like, wow, you like a young guy, you know? And I'm like, Yeah, I guess fairly young. You know, he's like, man, you ever thought about flying? He didn't even tell me what his issue was yet. And that's how the conversation started off with me and this captain? And I'm like, Yeah, years ago, but you know, I'm kind of past that. And true story. He's like, What do you mean your past that it's gonna be a whole bunch of us, you know, retiring soon and stuff, you know, you know, floods, it floodgates gonna be open, you know, for pilots. And I'm like, whatever. So you know, fixes issue, whatever, and I keep it moving. So fast forward to like two weeks after that. Another gate calm Sydney office. Hey, Mel, go out the gate. So on and so cool. Alright, so I'm walking out, walk to the flight. I got my Hey, man, aren't you the guy from two weeks ago I had and you start flying yet? And I'm like, hell nah, just start flying man. Well, you know, what if she got you know, you, you know, you got passengers to fly, you know, somewhere, let me you know, fix the airplane safely. You get the hell on, you know? And, you know, so he actually gave me his number. And say, Hey, man, if you change your mind, let me know. Okay. So then maybe a month after that I saw him again. True story. So my head I'm like, Man, I guess it's meant to happen. You're like, Man, I'm breaking my airplane. Right. But, but yeah, so I saw him, you know, we chat. You know, we when we spoke and he said Ma, you know, you really should consider it, you know, young guy, you know, is going to be the, you know, big meat for pilots and stuff like that all over the place, you know, and start flying from now and yada yada. Ah, so I think that night or maybe like two nights from Matt or something like that I was kind of sitting on it. Because I was trying to figure out how I'm going to, you know, get the finances to fund this thing. I know, it's expensive, you know. So anyway, so I send him a text message. His name is Dave buck. So I said, Hey, Dave, you know, really thought about what you said, you know, it can't hurt to take Intro flight, you know, I hear they give these things out, you know, you can either go on Groupon and find a cheap one, or you know, someone that just give you one or whatever. So he's like, Well, let me you know, reach out on Facebook, you know, kind of see who bites he's like, I know, a whole bunch of people or whatever. So let me just kind of, you know, kind of test the waters a little bit, I'll let you know. So I think maybe two days after I said, Hey, I got a guy, you know, here's his number. Give him a call. And, you know, he said he can take him so I call this guy I met him down at the airport and jumped in his airplane. It was a 182 Actually, Cessna 182 was my first flight and jumped in the airplane went you know, he kind of let me fly a little bit, my eyes kind of cool, you know. And then after we landed, well, of course, he landed and stuff. And he said to me, Well, what do you think I said, Man, I want to fly. And that was it. The rest was history. And that here I am now, as a flight instructor owning two airplanes and stuff. It's crazy how life works, doesn't it? Yeah. It's yeah, I mean, that's, that's that's really my story. And you know, to make it more interesting I just wanted to just be able to fly so he said, Hey, you know, I'm not sure how how much you know about this stuff. But you know, it's a private than his instrument and his commercial and his multi him in the CFI is me I see him doubleline I was I just want to be able to come out here on a nice day, pull the airplane out and go. That's all I want. True story. And all I wanted was the private at first and then I just couldn't get enough of it. So I'm like, Man, I want to know about this instrument stuff. Man. I want to be able to work for money someday, man, I want to fly an airplane with more than one engine man. You know, maybe I want to teach since I'm already teaching it delta. So and here I am. How did you secure the funds to go to flight school? Hmm. So now is the ultimate question. And people want to know is how do I get my training paid for. So there's a little so so there's actually a little bit of luck, and a little bit of investing. So at Delta, they do this thing called profit sharing. And what that is, is every year, well, not now to the COVID, and stuff like that, unfortunately. Yeah, so every year for us, February, Valentine's Day, February 14, depending on how the company did the year, before, they give you a percentage of your earnings, whether it be 14%, within 10%, whether it be 5%, whatever it is, they figure out a percentage, and they give it to you. So every Valentine's Day, you get a payout of, you know, a percentage of your earnings from the previous year. So that's actually how I paid for my private, I just took my entire profit sharing check. And I just put it toward my license. And then the investing part of it is, so I also invest in real estate. Okay, so I own a few properties and stuff like that. So I started to use a little bit of that money to start my instrument and when things got a little bit more expensive, because instruments a little while for me to get you know, I, you know, I like to consider myself an intelligent person, for some strange reason instrument instrument had me by the neck, and, you know, you know how it goes, it starts to get frustrating, you know, you got a whole lot of funds in the beginning where it's like, oh, okay, couple more flights, no problem, but then, you know, starts running low and low. Like, what do you mean, we're not done yet? You know, I don't have enough money to finish this damn thing. So I use a little bit of some real estate money, some residual income to pay for it off call. Yeah, I can hear you about instrument rather, like in the beginning, when I first started learning about it, it was like, What the hell is this hold? You're talking about? How do I enter it? That's crazy, dude, they start talking about parallels and directs and here's something like, Listen, you know, what the hell is going on? There like, you know, oh, man, it's terrible, man. It took me for ever doing a deal. Now granted, I don't think anybody doesn't anymore, but I think he's still got it. You know, practice it, you know, DME arcs and stuff. Oh, yeah, turn 10 Twist and what the hell you talk to your job? Like, I got plenty of tears for you. I don't need to do I'm turning the wrong way. I'm turning twist in this ways. like, Nah, man, you doing it all wrong. I might listen, I can't get this man. Is there like a cheat code to this thing? You know? So instrument kind of, you know, took me a while I actually failed my first checkride funny story behind that shooting approach. First of all, again, disclaimer, I'm terrible at check rides, you know, I got it all figured out until I sit down. And then, you know, you give the the DP his money. And he's like, Alright, you ready? And then you go, yeah. And then after that, it's like, Hey, man, you're not the only one whose brain just turns to mush when checkride start, and it has a lot to do with the DPE to like, making you feel comfortable. I've had a couple of DPS who are just complete a holes, and they try to make it as stressful as possible. And they try to set you up for failure, which like, there's pros and cons to both ways of giving a checkride. You know, obviously, some people are like, if you can't handle the stress of a checkride, then like, you know, when this stuff happens in real life, what are you going to do? So like people actually do try to put on the pressure obviously during check rides, but I am a fan of the of the chill DP that's like, Hey, man, don't worry about it. It's cool. You know, if you mess up, we'll just move on. And we'll you know, and it's like, you get this nice and warm and fuzzies from those guys. And I appreciate that that type of DPE for sure. But yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, so do I. But you know, I mean, like I said, when I failed, I was just so nervous. And you know, it was silly. No, that's a lie. It was it was silly. The reason why, you know, I shouldn't have done what I did. But anyway, long story short, I'm shooting an ILS approach. He calls out minimums. Well, actually, yeah, he calls up minimums and he says runway in sight. So what do I do not look up not take the fall goes off. Just continue to fly it down. The iOS. I got so close to the damn runway that I can see the centerline stripes right above that's how low he let me fly. And then he goes, he take the files off. I'm looking I'm like, Yeah, this doesn't look right. I think I'm like, way too low. Because like I let's let's go around and we'll head back to Henry County and I knew it was over. And I I broke down in tears. Man. He felt so bad. I mean, he's uh, you know, he's a buddy of mine now. You know, he's also an aerobatic guy. He also does. Reno Air Races out there. Cool. he actually won. I think he won last year or the year before. What's his name? Kevin Harper. Kevin Hart, Kevin Harper. Yeah, he fought, he flies the yellow pits, and Tacoma first place. But anyway, so yeah, he's a man, you know, everything was looking so good. All you had to do was look up. Don't worry about it, man. I know what happens. It happens everybody. So I was just sitting there in tears as I'm flying this airplane tears rolling down my eyes. I'm like, yeah, man, Whatever, dude. I was supposed to fail today, man. But you know, but but, you know, go back in time and give Mel a big hug and like, just like, you know, he, he brought up a really good point. And also the point that you just previously made, like, you know, in real in the real world, I can't make that mistake. You know, in the real world. A mistake like that can kill me, you know, flying it go, you know, so low and having a brain fart and being so fixated on the CDI. You know, so that was the explanation like, Hey, man, you know, I'm doing this to protect you, you know. And he did a great job. And, you know, we scheduled another one, maybe like two and a half weeks later. I'm not gonna park. You didn't charge you again, though, right? Hey, I can't remember. There might have been a small fee. It wasn't like a full time charge. No, no, no. That's the worst part of failing a checkride. Not not not, I mean, obviously, the like, oh, ego, you know, stabbed to the gut. But it's the fact that you have to, like pay more money. I mean, checkride these days have gotten so expensive. I think my CFI checkride was like 800 bucks. Oh, yeah. So it was much more. Yeah. So if you fail, and they're like, Well, you know, a redo is like 600. Like, oh, man, that's where the pressure comes for me. I'm better not screw this up. But obviously, no shame and failing check rides. I always try to drive that into people who are just starting out as well, because everybody gets the checkride jitters. I mean, I still get checkride jitters during 135 checkride. Who know you know, you know your stuff. And you know, your chief pilot or the training director, whoever you're doing your checkride or your whoever the chairman is for your company. Usually at this point in your career, you know, the dude and they're your friend and you just go fly with them. And it shouldn't be that nerve wracking. But for some reason, it's always, you know, always always the jitters like I failed my private my first private checkride I failed. I was so freakin nervous. I picked up the helicopter, the door flung open. It was like, oh, no, that's not a good sign. So set it back down and look at the DPM, like, you know, close the door, pick it back up. I'm taxiing out, I'm trying to call the tower. I'm like, man, like, I can't hear anything. They're not answering me back. And this is an AR 22. So like, you can't take your hands off the controls to mess with the radios. If you're sitting in a hover, the DPS just sitting there looking at me. And I'm like calling the tower over and over and over again. And I just really was like, Well, maybe you should check your radio volumes. Oh, so. So I'm like, Oh, no. So I set it back down. Turn up the volume realize the tower had been calling me the whole time. Yeah, you can take off and you know, repeating my request, turn the volume back up. I'm like looking at him. He's looking at me and like, and we, we take off, we start on the first couple legs of the checkride. We're supposed to fly the first few legs of your cross country plan that you made. And we get to the first checkpoint. I'm like, okay, read the first checkpoint, and we're continuing on. He was like, Yeah, you know that. That might be something you'd want to write down. I'm like, Yeah, you're right. That's probably something I should put on my paper. And he's like, Yeah, and he's just looking me like waiting for me to write it down. I'm just like, yeah. And so we keep flying, we get to the second checkpoint. And I'm like, Okay, we're at our second checkpoint. He's like, Yeah, that might be something you'd want to write down like, yeah, you're right. I should probably do that. And like, I just never wrote it. I just never wrote it down. He's like, so All right. I think you know, this isn't going well. I'm like, Oh, my God. Like, my pits are sweating so bad. So nervous, I want to vomit. And he's like, alright, you know, we can continue the checkride. Or we can go back we try that again. Another day. Ended up being like, Alright, dude, let's just go back. I'm not I'm just so afraid. I'm going to vomit on you. I'm so nervous. And so then we went back and I kind of regrouped. And a couple days later tried again, and I just remember my, my instructor sorry. No, the story's going a little bit longer than I'm interested. I'm tuned in I wish I had popcorn right now. Yeah. So my instructor he never cussed. He never said anything wrong. Mostly inappropriate. And I'm flying, flying with my instructor. And he's always just like the nicest guy just so freakin nice all the time. And he was just not talking to me kind of being a little bit of an asshole. I'm not gonna lie, like God, are you really this mad at me and so we're doing my recurrent, you know, flights after I failed the checkride. And he's putting me through the wringer. And making me super nervous. And like this was his plan all along, apparently was just to try to simulate being in a checkride with, you know, the guy was not so nice, but, and we landed and I'm like, Hey, I'm really, really sorry for feeling like I'm really sorry. I know that hurt your record, blah, blah. And he's like, did it work? Did it work? Did what work? I was trying to be a dick start cracking up, I was like, did you just say to do anything remotely, that it was really funny, like, yeah, man. He was such a dick. That was so good. You know, can did a great job. Yeah. prepared me for my checkride. And yeah, when I go and kill it, right? Yeah, I thought I was doing my CFI initial mill. I walked in, and there was two gentlemen sitting in there. And I was like, a little weird, you know, why are there two dudes in here? And one of them was an FAA guy that was gonna be, you know, monitoring the DEP. You know, that's administering the test. And by DEP is like, Hey, is it okay, if he sits in on this? And like, I took it about 45 minutes to get the aircraft over there. Sorry, spent already committed to the checkride. Yeah. And I was like, Well, yeah, forget, like, it's cool. Now, I'm already here. But it felt like speed. You know, like the movie with Keanu Reeves was like, pop quiz, hot shot. What are you gonna do? You know, I was like, I was like, he was giving me these questions. And I was like, damn, like, let me get bled out. But yeah, man, that's, that's, yeah, that's, that's always, you know, from what I understand. It's always on the table, I think they have to send out a notice or something like that, like 24 hours in advance to like, the local Fisto that they're given a check ride, and if anyone's available, and they want to come out and sit in on it, they do that. So yeah, I'm with you. Like as far as like, you know, feeling nervous and stuff like that. Oh, yeah. Well, hit me pretty good that day. And what are some, what are what's some advice that you would give somebody who's going into a checkride? To like, help with those? Those checkride jitters? Do you got Gani advice, anything that any tips, tricks, anything that's helped you, man, I'm terrible at it. Because, you know, I would say, you know, get a good night's rest. I know, everybody says that. It's like, well, how can I do that? I got a whole lot on my mind. You know, I got a big day tomorrow. What do you mean get it done tonight? You know, good night rest. Because you know, I'm a crammer sometimes, you know, so a lot of us shot you know, grab the far aim and fish through and you know, look at notes and you know, take a look at your airplane flying handbook and all that stuff, you know, forget about if you don't got it by now you you're not gonna get it you know, magically and then three hours right before you sleep. So take it easy don't even think about airplanes. That's that's how I started doing it. Especially after my instrument. The night before the even the day before I don't even think about it, I go home, I hang out I watch sports, throwing a nice movie or whatever. And I don't open up anything I just have my backpack ready to go for tomorrow. And I think that it helps me out because then when I actually get there now it's like okay, I'm kind of settled in and I can kind of you know, start pulling information from where I need to and I'm not as stressed as I would have been if I started cracking open books because you know, you almost like yourself out you know, you start fishing through and start to figure out things that are in there that maybe you thought you knew, but then now you're starting to realize well maybe I don't know it as good as I think I know. Now you start freaking out what else Don't I know you know what I mean? You start going through and down the rabbit hole yes starts to seem like you don't know anything you know? I don't know this either. I don't know. So now you're freaking the hell out so I don't even I don't even concern myself with aviation the day before I'm doing something else go out play bass we'll go to the gym just something completely different from airplanes altogether and then when I get there I settle in and now I'm locked in and I'm you know I give my best shot. He he does another thing a lot of people forget to eat grapes you know wake up it doesn't wrap is yeah, they they wake up I gotta check right today grab the bag hop in the car and then you know to get some chocolate oh crap, I didn't eat you know and you'll get tired and you don't have energy and stuff like that, you know? So the whole the whole Maslow's thing like to bring extra money for the benefit of the doubt. I heard your check ride fee was 600. But here's a just for fun. Put a star dinner later got away by or something pretty. You know that cash is going straight into their pockets anyways and like bro, you just gave four check rides at 800 apiece in one day, I think you're doing pretty good. That's really good advice. So a lot of people get super stressed out and you go down the rabbit hole of flipping through and trying to figure out what you don't know. But you don't know you don't know until you figure out what you don't know. And usually you just gotta wait until the checkride and never be afraid to just say I don't know. If it's really not in there. You know, check airman will rather hear you say, I don't know then sit there and waste time and try to bullshit your way through it. You know? Yeah. And honestly, it becomes dangerous. I mean, you know, if you don't know something act like you know it now you're trying to figure out stuff that you don't really know. And it can, you know, become a dangerous situation and check them and usually are pretty cool about making things a teaching moment. You know, at least in my experience it unless it was something that is like a sale item or whatever, but, but usually just say, you know, I mean, I actually don't know that one. I mean, obviously if you're the whole checkride like I don't know. gonna ask you to come back another day. Yeah, but you only get a few I don't know. So you have a decathlon and the Beechcraft but I assume the you don't fly aerobatics and your Beechcraft. So Oh, no. Add to capital long behind to cash to cause a long catalogue to cast long behind you. I love the decathlon. Is it a super decathlon? It is not a super decathlon. So it's 150 horsepower, fixed pitch. So it is it is not a super D super D would be one at constant speed who got you into aerobatics. What got you interested in doing that? Um, so a couple of different things. So my primary instructor, my CFI, he owns a RV. And one day I was at the airport, he was at the airport. I think either he was washing it, cleaning it changing oil, something I can't really remember. But he was like, Hey, man, you want to, you know, jump in the back and go for a spin. Sure, you know, little RV, a tandem seating. Little home built airplane, you know, I didn't know anything about it. And, you know, so I hop in the bag, the squishy toy ride, and we take off and head south. And then he's like, yeah, man, you know, so these things, you know, you can do like gentleman's aerobatics. And I'm like, What the hell is that? You know, like, you know, you can roll it around, and you know, some white stuff, you know? So I'm like, really? He's like, Yeah, you want to do a roll? And I was like, yeah, he's alright. So he explained to me the whole maneuver, you know, just so I don't, you know, freak out and stuff. And he pitches the nose up a little bit and throws it over. Oh, wow, that was cool. So I actually still have it on video on my phone. When he did it. I was recording, you know, of course, I'm like, I got the big old. I'm recording, you know, those headsets? I still, I still have that. You still got the DC is nice. Yeah. But anyway, so. So we rolled around, I was like, wow, that's cool. You know, and, and when we landed, I said, Man, you know, it'd be cool to do that, you know, so I started doing some research. Well, I started to realize not every airplane could do that. And, you know, so then I, you know, flipping through Instagram, I started following this guy named Anthony. Oh, yeah. How cool. Yeah. So I started so I started flying, following Anthony Anthony. And, you know, the first thought in my head was, you know, I didn't know black people did this stuff. DREW. You know, it's true. But it was it was a true statement. You know, I'd never seen you know, now granted, I, you know, I actually, up until that point, I've actually never been to an air show, but I've seen their shows, and I've seen you know, doing, you know, crazy stuff or whatever. You know, like you find videos online or whatever. But I never seen a black guy do it. I was like, Oh, wow, this guy's a black guy, you know, African, you know, a Nigerian guy. He has his own airplane he sponsored, I might want a hell of this unicorn come from True story. And I said, Well, I want to get into it. I want to explore this thing a little bit more. So I started following him and you know, liking this content and you know, kind of seeing how he was maneuvering around it, you know, and then I reached out to him and told him I was interested in aerobatics. And you know, he's been a great resource. We talk often Now, you know, he's like a little mentor of mine to say, you know a little bit about that. And then I started going further I started to look around the area down here in Atlanta in the Georgia area is like hey, you know, who has an airplane that could help me out? So I started you know, not the different people and and I eventually got in contact with Kevin Harper, who I told you about my DP for instrument and you know, he had a CITABRIA you know, not in the cath lab but it's a Tabios you know, very similar different wing so he said yeah, man, you know, we can you know, if you're interested, I can take you up and see how you like and spin around and do different things. Yeah, sure. So we did that. And actually not with him he put me in contact with one of his mentees another guy and we went up there we spun we did loops we did roles we did you know, all this stuff. And I said all I want more, I want more. And then he's like, Well, you show you what more and more he's like, Well, I want to piss you know, a little bit different than us a taqueria you know, look a lot more power and stuff, you know? So we have the net thing I'm thinking you know, I'm this you know, I'm this aspiring aerobatic pilot or whatever. And he rung my bell in that thing. I mean, my head my head hurt for about a week and a half, you know, and true story. And then I eventually got my tail wheel and not this specific airplane here. But one a bottle just like a regular calf. 150 horsepower, fixed pitch. After I got my tail wheel. I said, Okay, I need one of these. So now I was on a mission this was I got my tail I think in August, August of last year, something like that. Sounds familiar. Yeah, thank you. And then I said, You know what, if I want to pursue this aerobatic journey, this dream, I'm going to need my own airplane. That's just kind of how it is. So I started shopping around for the caf on I wanted a to a decathlon. And I found one, I got lucky. I hopped on a Facebook forum, you know, one of those, you know, groups and stuff. So it's called the Tabriz scouts and in the calf lawns or whatever, and I just put out a message hey, you know, new tailwheel guy here i everybody, you know, shopping for decathlon, anybody and one guy sent me a private message saying, Hey, man, you know, if you're, you know, I got this going on, you know, if you're interested, I went up to Bowling Green took a look at it. And I made him an offer. And that was it. So here it is. Does she have a name? You know? Oh, I went with peppermint. Oh, she looks like a peppermint. Yeah. I like it. Yeah. Got the nice Vanna White thing. Oh, white and red stripes. I like it. Yeah, that's it. That's a new name. Everybody's asking, oh, what's, what's the name? What's the name? No, I looked at it one day. And I'm like, government. Yeah. So very, absolutely. And yes, I mean, so that's my, you know, that's my quick and dirty how I got into aerobatics. And, you know, going a step further. My plan with it is to, you know, hopefully compete you know, with the dicey when a couple of competitions, hopefully, and then eventually go into air shows. So I'd like to explore the air show realm. See how I like it. If I don't like it, then I don't like it. Maybe I'll just kind of stay with competing and try to win, you know, competitions and stuff like that. So I'm probably just gonna say, man, like, that's pretty cool that you and Anthony and Harper, you know, just such a small industry, where I feel like everybody's wanting to help everybody, you know, along the way. So I just thought it was badass that you guys are actually connected. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny because you know, Anthony does Reno also So Anthony races up against Kevin is in there in the same class. So so so it's interesting how that kind of came around to so there are there are different levels of competitions like amateur. Oh, amateur. Oh, yeah, you have to qualify before you enter into these things, or do you just sign up? That is a very good question. And this year, well, no. So oh, by the way, thank God, we're out of 2020 Let me just put that out there, but 2020 was supposed to be the year that I was supposed to figure all that out. I wanted to go to a competition as a as a spectator, you know, because, you know, we go to air shows and stuff like that, but, you know, going to a aerobatic competition, you know, my plan was to learn how you know, people are judged and you know, is there a qualifying, you know, how good are these people what are the different, you know, classes or what do you call it not classes, different levels. or, you know, this primary? Yeah, thank you. I tend to have these brain farts every now and again, you can only imagine what it's like during the checkride. So, so anyway, but yeah, different categories, you know, so you have primary you got sportsman, you know, and then, you know, unlimited, which is basically like, you know, these guys, you know, that go out there and they like, the ish, you know, I mean, like, they can stop an airplane on it done and been doing it for years. Like somebody like Rob Holland, for example, if you ever heard the name, you know, Rob Holland, you know, he's I watched him, but he's like, the best of the best Mike booleans. You know, these guys, you know, are those limited class? You know, pilot Patty Wagstaff, you know, so? So, yes, you know, I would start off with primary, you know, being all sloppy and stuff, like, not as crispy, you know, and work on it, you know, the, you know, the plan is to eventually, you know, work my way up the ladder and stuff like that. So, going back to my original statement, 2020 was supposed to be the year that I was going to figure all of that out, go shake hands, you know, watch the competitions happen real time and, you know, kind of put my own thought process together. So I haven't been able to do that, unfortunately. Because the competition that they were supposed to have here in Georgia, up in Rome, was canceled due to COVID. So But this year, March coming up, there's gonna be an aerobatic camp, hopefully it goes through, up at Rome, same place, and, you know, they'll have like Mike Uillean supposed to be a mentor and in, you know, someone come in to, to work with the camp and a couple other people and stuff. So yes, I'm gonna definitely take this thing and go straight and show my stuff. Right now. So right now, I just, you know, I go practice there in a week, maybe for like, you know, 45 minutes an hour, because it wears you out. And it really does, doing all these aerobatics and stuff like that. And then eventually, hopefully, when March comes around, I'll have a little bit to show a little bit of confidence and go up there and, you know, hopefully, you know, perform pretty well. So cool. Well, good luck with all of that. That sounds awesome. beginning of a journey. That's so cool. Yeah, very interesting. Cool, but scary, but still cool at the same time, right? You're gonna start working on a fun like a promotion reel to get your sponsors go, no, that that, that is something I would like to talk to Anthony about. Because, you know, he's, he's doing that done that or whatever the case is, I don't know. Hey, listen to his podcast. Yeah. So I was I was involved with that. I was the pilot that took the camera guy up to film his, his promotion to see that video has motion video. So basically, he just said he called the marketing team over epic fuels and was like, Yo, this is who I am. Here's a video of me. This is what I'm trying to do looking for a sponsor. And yeah, he got epic fuels to sponsor him and give him a fuel card. So he could, I'm telling you, man, man better than free gas, free gas. Free gas. But once you get the airplane and you just got to put fuel in it and get up there and practice your craft that's paid for but I have no doubts, no doubts that you're gonna find that sponsor and you're gonna, you know, reach your fullest potential man, I already I see that in your future. I see that you are trying to catch all the fields that you're sending, sending you all the vibes, all the success by 2021 It's gonna be your year you can go to that camp. You're gonna get mentored by some of the greats. And you're just gonna be awesome. I know. Like, I got really sick when I did aerobatics. And you know, people ask me all the time I posted video doing loops, they're like, like, man, you don't get sick doing that stuff and spins I'm like, no, no, really. I've never gotten to a point where I'm like, Ah, that's it. You know whether it be flying with someone or flying alone now? I just don't get sick. Cool. That's not I mean, that's a good trait to have a guess if you're trying to pursue aerobatics. Yes. I really get to my to my advantage, right? Yeah, man. I really wanted to get into it too. Because I was like, oh, man, this is so much fun. But yeah, I got messed up for like two days after the last one I did. Even though it was so much fun. I was having such a blast doing it, but by the end of it, and people kept telling me you know, you just got to keep doing it. And eventually you get used to it and I'm like, Man, I don't know if I want to go through the suffering that it's going to take to get to that point of you know, I couldn't even hold down a piece of bread for like a day after that. So it was pretty bad. No, yeah. Oh, but so much fun though. So I'm envious of your Got a tough one, man. Yeah. I'm not a big guy, just small little man. And we're jealous. I'm jealous. Yeah. Cool, man. Well, um, so you've got your aerobatic goals and the other professional goals that you're going to be working on with delta or anything of that sort of sort. You know, professional goals, I really like where I'm at. I like to talk if you haven't noticed that. We like that in a podcast guest Yeah, some people don't like to talk. It's like, we have to carry them through the interview. But you know, you definitely, I love, I love you have to my gums, that's absolutely not a problem. So I like teaching. So you know, being an instructor at Delta, I like to talk, I like to sit stand in front of people. Now granted, in the beginning, I was a little weird, because I wasn't a CFI yet. But you know, I do like to talk, but then getting in front of a big class for like, 20 people, they're all looking at you. And it's like, well, it's a little different, you know, but now I'm comfortable, you know, I'm confident in my material and stuff like that my delivery, so I don't really worry about it anymore. But I like where I'm at there. So professional goals. Stay and put for now. Cool, but personal goals, I would like to really, really, really retire early. And that's it. Look, this thing around, you know, train people, you know, being like, you know, little sci fi and stuff like that, have a couple of students and just wake up and fly all day, you know, so, so we'll see what happens with that, hopefully, and I still go to the gas station, like everybody else by a couple of, you know, by a couple of numbers, hopefully, hopefully, to get lucky and stuff. But, you know, not only one, but you know, try my luck, you know, anything else that you'd like our listeners to know, any words of encouragement or advice to up and coming? Pilots who are just starting out? Fly good, don't suck now just a little truth in fly good, don't suck. But no, you know, you know, my advice would be, you know, enjoy it, I feel that, especially starting out. And then even later on, you know, I have friends and you know, almost myself in a sense, where, you know, you get so fixated on flying and, you know, getting into time building because yes, you do need time to you know, if you're gonna eventually work and stuff like that. But I think a lot of people forget to have fun during the process. I know what it feels like. And I think all of us knows what it feels like to you know, at some point, wake up, you know, going to work and you know, going to do something, you know, maybe at this specific time, you really don't want to do and it's like, I really have to go and you know, go fly or, you know, go do this or go do that, you know, I hate that feeling with something that I love. You know, so I try to find a happy medium. And you know, so yes, I'm a CFI. But I also do this. So there's a, an even, you know, trade off, if you will. So yeah, that's work, you know, I get paid to train people and stuff like that on the side. But I have some fun too, and it balances out. So my biggest thing is, you know, if you're trying to get to the airlines or you know, you have a goal or you know, you want to fly corporate, for some rich person or whatever the case is, but you need a whole lot of time. Just don't forget fun while you're building the time, because there's nothing worse than now flying feels like a job. And it's like, I don't really want to do that now you'd like on the other end. And you know, so it's been a kind of a reoccurring theme of people just saying enjoy the journey. We said, All right, just don't forget to, you know, Ferris Bueller. If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it. Yeah, it's true. They're so focused on building that time and your experience that you forget to look around and be like, Oh, wow, like, I got to go on these super cool cross countries. And I got to choose where I got to fly, which is really rare once you get into the professional world of flying, unless you own your own airplane or have friends that do or rent one once in a while to just go fly for fun, which that that's something I try to do once in a while too is like get up to Santa Paula and get into a decathlon once in a while also just to have fun with it. Not necessarily fly for work, but to keep that passion for flying alive. While you're in the professional world. That seems like you're already an inspiration to so many people through Instagram and spreading the love and your passion for it doing a great job. been cool, man, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you so much for having Yeah, man. It's always Always a pleasure. Hey, listen, I haven't heard the special word that you said earlier during this whole thing, so I don't know if I got you speechless or what? Oh, dang. All conscious about it naturally, I've been like, yeah. I'll just like, I'll listen to what you were saying, dude. And I just mad respect it. I was like, Man, that's a sap man. Thank you so much. You guys. You guys. Awesome, man. Keep doing what you're doing. I love a good podcast. You guys are fun and bubbly and great dude, that's so impressive that he got picked up by delta right after high school. I know just like when he's talking about it. I was like, wow, I wish I knew what I wanted to do right off the bat like when I got into high school. Yeah, it's cool that they have those type of high schools that allow you to get your EMP during school. I mean, takes five years but still like you learn a trade in the middle of high school. I don't know if I would have had the discipline to do something like that. In high school. I was too busy trying dip and thinking I was in the sound lot. A big chief. Nice. Gross, I've never tried it but it is a big shout out to Mel the traveler again, if you guys haven't seen him on Instagram, very impressive story. He had a lot of really good insight into being an a&p how he got picked up by delta. And just a very impressive story of owning his own airplanes and getting up there and financing his his flight training and having big dreams, to fly aerobatics. And, you know, he put himself out there. We talk about that all the time on the podcast here of just reaching out to people who might be able to help you out. And just from him reaching out to somebody he knew that had, you know, their pilot's license, who was a pilot and said, you know, Hey, dude, I want to fly. And I heard they give out these discovery flights sometimes. And they're super cheap, I could find and Groupon somewhere. And this guy just threw on his Facebook, like, hey, got a guy who wants to go on a flight and boom, done, done, you know, someone someone wanted to help out. And that's the really cool thing about aviation in the industry here is that once people get to a certain point, like they just want to help for the most part. Yeah, for sure. Small community it is. And everybody seems to be really nice. Yeah, totally. For the most part. I know there's a few bad eggs. But you know, for the most part if you throw stuff out there, like that's so cool about social media also, is that there's Facebook groups, helicopter pilot network Facebook group that you can post things on, and people post jobs on there and different charters and stuff. And just some funny helicopter stuff as well. But you know, stuff like this, and just never freaking know who's going to come out of the woodwork. And yeah, so don't be afraid to reach out to people on social media 100% For sure. Alright, the time has come top 10 things we believe will help you guys with your checkride jitters. Number one, get good rest. Number two don't cram the night before do something to relax, like take bath, chill, do something to keep your mind off of it. Number three, eat healthy brain food. Number four. It's tempting to reach for the bottle when you're nervous, but do your best to avoid alcohol the night before. Number five. It always helped me to make sure everything else in my life was in order to minimize distractions. Keep your space clean, make your bed in the morning and organize your materials and reference. Number six, don't drink a ton of caffeine. It'll definitely amplify your jitters and make things worse. I'm definitely guilty of having one too many coffees in the morning. Number seven. Some check airman will do their hardest to make you nervous on purpose. Just relax. Try to have fun with it. After all, you get to fly that day. Be here. Number eight. Don't beat yourself up. If you don't know something, be honest. Make a note take in the teaching moment. The chairman again, always love to teach you something new. Number nine. Don't beat yourself up. If you fail a maneuver, brush it off, keep it going. You can always continue and pass other maneuvers that you won't have to do again when you retest. Do your best to be prepared. But as you guys heard about our experiences, it's not the end of the world if you don't pass the checkride it doesn't help to dwell so just learn what you didn't No and improve your maneuvers with your instructor be like Alia and dust yourself off and try again. Try again try again. Students see licensee really hope that this short ground lesson on how to handle those checkride jitters helped somebody out there. And I'm definitely you know, taking note of these things too because I still get nervous on check rides not gonna lie same same. I don't know what it is it's just like you know yeah I don't know either gets Yeah, it gets you some times. Just try not to think about it. Yeah, totally. Hope you guys have a beautiful rest of your day. Don't forget to subscribe download, leave a review, leave a couple of stars if you feel inclined to do so. We'll catch you next time on The forever on the five podcast bye