Becoming a Private Pilot after a 20 Year Gap in Training ep.6 Artwork

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A podcast about Aviation, for aviation enthusiasts, pilots, or anyone who looks up when they hear a plane fly overhead. We will be sharing the stories and experiences of the skies through those who fly them. Hosted by me, Osa a private pilot, content creator, and aviation junkie. Tune in to get your fix on aviation lessons, and laughs!!

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Becoming a Private Pilot after a 20 Year Gap in Training ep.6

January 22, 2025 • Osa • Season 1 • Episode 6

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In this first episode of The Fly Media Podcast for 2025, Osa kicks off the year by sitting down with Manny Ruiz, a fellow Bay Area pilot. Manny shares his aviation journey, from learning to fly at Tradewinds Aviation to his goals of aircraft ownership.

We explore his flying club experiences, the joy of flying G1000-equipped planes, and his preference for the classic six-pack instrument layout. Manny’s passion for aviation shines through as he reflects on his training and his dreams of one day owning his own aircraft.

If you're considering flying or are already a pilot, this episode offers insights into flight training, the flying community, and what it takes to get started and stay motivated in the skies.

Tune in for:

Manny’s journey from training to being a member of a flying club
Thoughts on the benefits of flight simulators
Inspiration for aspiring pilots and those interested in Aviation

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Thank you for tuning in, may there always be wind beneath your wings!

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1:00:03

Well, good morning and welcome back tothe Fly Media podcast. We're hereshooting our first episode of 2025.Super excited to be here. I've got MannyRuiz here with me today.He's another Bay Area pilot and Mannyactually flew out from his airport, ReedHillview, which is what?25 or so nautical miles?About 25 nautical miles.That's about right. Yeah.Welcome, Manny. Thank you for coming.Hey, it's great to be here. It's great tohave me here. I appreciate it.I didn't realize it was the first podcastof the year, so hey, that's something.Big first. Are you a member of a flyingclub? Where do you rent after now thatyou have your ticket?Yeah, so I did my training withTradewinds Aviation. Now they're owned byAmerican School or something like that.But pretty good school, great planes,everything's new. They got G1000s.Once they got G1000s, they got six packsas well. I mainly did six packs because Iwanted to be old school.But great school and it's a flying club.So there's a bunch ofplanes that are available.I think there's about 10 or 12 in thefleet. So there's almost always somethingavailable as long as I book it in time.But yeah, I fly with them for now and I'mgoing to figure out whatI want to do long term.I have dreams of owning something at somepoint, just having one thing that I fly.But it'll come with time.Awesome. I can agree more like theconsistency of just flying like the sameplane every time would be nice, right?Every plane, even if it's the same model,they're all just a little bit different.Yeah. And when you're flying, I mean, Ithink there's so much to do with comfort.Like you have to be comfortable and I'musually not comfortable, atleast for the first five minutes.And then I kind of like settle in, but Iwant to just feel comfortable in a plane.Luckily, the plane I flewtoday, I've flown it a bunch.I've probably flown it the most and I'vetaken it on the longest trip.So I do feel prettycomfortable in that plane.But there's something about owningsomething that isjust a little different.So that'll that'lldefinitely be in the books.I'm sure that's everybody's goal.I know I myself aminterested in airplane ownership.If you had an aircraft that, you know,for ownership, what would it be?What would you be interested in?When I look at a plane, it's that'salmost like the first stat I look at.That's the first spec.I'm like, so what's the useful load?Like, can I take the full family?Can I take my friends?You know, I've got some friends, youknow, they're all my age.And, you know, probablyweigh about 200 pounds or so.And so you want to be able to takeeveryone, maybe some golfclubs, things like that.So yeah, useful.Those are like one ofthe first things I look at.But the series is, ofcourse, that's the dream plane.I mean, it's it's hardto go wrong with a series.I mean, it's a beautiful looking plane.It's a low wing.I probably want to end upin a low wing long term.And I think the parachutewould make my wife feel good.But, you know, she's she's gotten morecomfortable with me flying.And so I think she's she's been on somelong trips with me now.So she feels a little bit safer.But yeah, it's the peace of mind.Definitely.But I've heard different things aboutdifferent opinions about the series.I haven't flown one yet.I know that, you know, having the leftside seems kind of weird.A little joystick.I was flying with a with a CFI and hisdad is he's an airlinepilot with, you know,tens of thousands of hours.And he wanted to buy a plane.He was looking at a series and he decidednot to because he saidit felt like a video game.They just didn't feel like, you know, thetrue getting the kindof CD or pants flying.He didn't feel that in a series.So I mean, I don't know howmuch I would care about that.But it's a it's a pretty sleek plane.It's fast.It's got great useful load.And yeah, I mean, I I want to be able totake my family of family.I got two boys.So I want to be ableto take the four of us.I want a pretty good range.I go to Mexico pretty often.So at some point I want to fly to Mexico,you know, not straight there.But hey, you know, you got to stop beforeyou get to the borderregardless for customs.But I'd like to make it in two legs.That'd be nice.But you have to do that in a one seventytwo is kind of hard.Can't go too far into Mexico.I think I'm running into the same issuein the one seventy two.The useful load of the ones that I'vebeen flying is likeeight hundred and seventynine pounds, whichI'm two hundred pounds.I just assume every adult for safety.I just say you're two hundred pounds.Make it easy.I don't need to ask you.I don't need to check with a woman unlessyou look that much bigger than me.I'm saying you're two hundred pounds.So that puts us at six hundred for threepeople full fuel in which is fiftygallons in the plane that I've beenflying the most three hundred pounds.We're already at nine.So we're twenty one hundred.We're twenty one pounds overweightalready with no baggage.None of my cameras.None of my GoPros.It sounds like thistrip is canceled already.Yeah.One seventy two is limitingthe first bait tour I did.I wanted to bring my I was I wanted tolearn how to do a bait tour.So I did it with my CFI.I want to bring my son along with me.My son likes to like to fly with me.My son is he's just turned fourteen.His birthday was acouple days ago, actually.Happy belated.What's his name?His name is Santiago Santi.Everybody calls him Santi.He has autism and an intellectualdisability but loves to fly.I mean, like he's not afraid.He was afraid, I think thefirst time, but he loves it.So I brought him alongwith me and I thought, okay,there's three of us in a one seventy twoshould be no problem.But the CFI flew with I won't name names.He's about two fiftyto sixty around there.So first point we hadplane was it was to the tabs.So it had full fuel and wedid the weight and balance.And my son is he's builtlike me, but he's he's tall.So he's about one twenty.But we couldn't fly.It was we were overweight.So we have to go from plane to plane,checking the check the guy,the fuel to see if if we can findsomething that worked.And finally, we had to wait for someonewho flew in that just landedand fuel was much lower.Like, all right, now we can go.But that's that's whatthe one seventy two does.It's it's a little bit too limiting.Great for great for training, but greatfor these trips that I take.But long term, you know, something withgood useful load is really important.Exactly. That's exactly what I wasthinking, especially with,you know, wanting to have kids, it'll befine when they're younger.And you see, I've seenthis with other pilots.SoCal Flying Monkey, he's like myfavorite aviation content creator.He's a cinematographerprofessionally, right?So his stuff is in my eyes, untouchable.His kids, his daughters were little whenhe got into flying and got planes.But at a certain point, they got too old,too tall and got uncomfortable.So then he ended up buying a Cherokee sixand that can fit a truck.You know, if if it fits, it flies.Fourteen hundred poundsof useful load, six seats.He's got the nice club seating so thepeople in back can play cards,kickback. I'm I'm very interested insomething like that.Yeah, that's that's agreat long haul plane.He's got he's got some great content.I've you know, he's I saw one where hehad to he had issues with oxygenthat the altitude they're flying andthere's like fires going on.And just the themodifications he's made to that plane.That's that's a fantastic plane.But yeah, you're right.I mean, I think getting your family toembrace this thishobby of ours is importantor else it could stuff it out real quick.Because I know when I got back into this,first thing I did was have a conversationwith my wife and I'mlike, are you OK with it?Are you going to participate in this?Because if you don't, like I don't knowif I want to just do it alone.Like, you know, it'sgreat to meet folks like you.And this is awesome.And like, I really want to kind of meetother pilots in the communityand would love to do some different tripswith with other pilots.But, you know, by default, Iwant to fly with my family.I want to fly with my wife.You don't want to take a weekend trip andshe's got to be OK with it.She'll be comfortable with it.And if not, it really kind of takes awaya lot from the hobby.So luckily she's she's embraced it.And she she'll tell you she'll be thefirst tell you it scares me.But she does it.And that's what that's what matters.And there's some flights thatshe's very comfortable with.No problem.This is a breeze.Loves it.We flew out to Davis formy buddy's 50th birthday.That was a breeze.You know, no wind issues, you know, alittle bit of narrow runway.But it was a breeze.I had a had a goodlanding first time around.So she felt like this is great.This is super cool.You know, we come here.We don't have to dealwith Bay Area traffic.And it's great.But other times when we went out toPetaluma, we did abait tour on the way back.I decided to get a little bit dicey onthe way back and go through all theall the the Charlie airspace throughOakland and then overHayward instead of coming outto the hills, which isactually a more scenic flight.But I kind of wanted todo something different.But it was constant revectoring.I had to I had to fly over Hayward at 900feet and then there's heavies flyingcoming into Oakland.It was dicey.It was dicey.Even for me, I was like,man, I'm all over the place.And, you know, I think we're looking ather and I just see the fear in her eyes.She's like, don'tever do this to me again.And when we landed, Iwas like, you're right.And she's like, that wasthat that was an experience.So that one wasn't very fun for her.But but she's embracing it.So, you know, it's it's having the familybe a part of it, nothaving to exclude peoplefrom the family because the plane, youknow, doesn't doesn'thave the useful load.So it's a it's a really important partfor folks like us whodo this for a hobby.I couldn't agree with that more.If the family doesn't fly or your wifeisn't into it now, it's like,it's a hobby thatalmost creates a divide.Because, you know, if you want to goflying on a Sunday afternoonand you're both off work now,she's like, well, you'rechoosing your flying hobby.Again, and she's not necessarily wrong.I started this when we bought this houseabout two years ago is whenI started flight training.She's like, how are you going to pay forthe house and flighttraining and blah, blah, blah.It's going to be expensive.And I know nothing about it.Now I mentioned flying and she lights upand she's like, so where are we going?This is going to be great.Nice. Yeah.Now those types of experiences, right?Like that's whataviation opens up to you.Like it's just it's a whole other worldout there that unfortunately,a lot of people get access to.But, you know, we'refortunate enough to have access to it.And there's even though there's been aclosure of several GAairports over the years and there'smore coming, there's still a ton of them.And there's these great littlecommunities at all these airports.There's these great diners we weretalking about right at theseairports and just experiencesthat you would otherwise have and likeplaces I probablywouldn't otherwise go to.But hey, there'sthere's an airport there.And why not?You know, we're talking about Mendocinoearlier, you know, the tripfrom San Jose to Mendocinowhen no traffic islike almost four hours.Right. And there'sgoing to be some traffic.No matter when you go in the area,there's going to be some traffic.So that's a that's a pretty long trip.That's an hour and a half in a 172.You know, I mean, you know, you can youcan do a day trip if you wanted to.You know, so it does openup a lot of places for you.That experience is pretty incredible.But you're right.It's nothing like commercial fine.Not at all.I mean, you feel every bump.Good or bad.Right. That's that'swhat spooks some people.But yeah, I love that feel like kind ofgives me the feel of like, you know, I'mI'm getting I'm gettingfeedback from where I am.So, you know, I take that in and I can Ican do something with it.I can adjust how I'm flying and whatnot.But it's it's not for everyone, but it'sit's certainly for me.But yeah, very different than any otherkind of travel experience, for sure.Without a doubt, you sound like me.I think you misspoke when yousaid that flying is a hobby.It's not a hobby.This shit is an obsession.It's a passion.It's something that consumes at least 50percent of your thoughts.And I'm going to put it at around 50because you're married.We'll give your wife that 50.But it's just I can't explain it.Yeah. The only thing I do and the onlything I read about the only real YouTubeand podcast I follow isall the solid aviation.Like I play golf and I like to play golfevery so often, butyou're not watching anybody.I'm not. Not really.Like I'm I'm reading about aviation.I'm reading magazines,books to some extent.And, you know, a lot of podcasts, a lotof videos and just learning.Just what am I going to do next?But yeah, you're right.It is it is a bit of an obsession.Once you get bitten by that bug, itdoesn't matter whenor where it bites you.You're in for some trouble.My story's been a little bit up and downwith aviation because I startedwhen I was about 28 or so.This is over 20 years ago.My wife and I were married, you know,dinks, dual income, you know,little little bit of spare money, no kidsat the time and alwayswanted to be a pilot.So I said, hey, I'mgoing to I'm going to try it.And I started doing it.I got about halfway through it.What got to my solo stage.But then the family started.So we started to focus on family and Isaid, all right, I'llput it aside for now.You know, we're going towe're going to start our family.And then I'll comeback to it at some point.But I didn't for many years.It took 20 years forme to get back into it.And I was thinking alittle bit more about that.Like I most most of the time when peopleask me why I say, well, you know,life took over, you know, kids, you know,kids obviously consume you.You know, we had one sixyears later, we had our second.But there was a lot of like anxiety thatI dealt with as well.And there is I remember for all the yearsin between passing by the airport,driving past it because it's not far fromwhere I live and notreally being excited about it.More so like I'm glad I'm not doing thatanymore because I rememberhow much anxiety gave me.And I think at the time those years I waskind of dealing withmore anxiety with work andthings like that.And but now I've gotten to this point inmidlife now that I feel like I have thatmore under control and it's still there.Like it's still there.Like I'm, you know, like nervous thismorning about this flight.Probably more nervous about having thisconversation with youthan than the flight.But it's still there,but I can manage it now.And it just feels good to to be able toovercome that as well and challengeyourself and be like,you know what?That used to scare me for a long timebecause there's a lot oftimes I had flights when Iwas training 20 years ago that that theyhad some diceysituations and it was scary.And you're not lettingthat scare me off, right?Coming back to it.So that's that feels good.That feels good.And now it kind of feels like, hey, I canI can I can handle that.I can I can handle a lot.You know, midlife crisis people buy aCorvette or a sports car.Manny got his pilot's license.That's awesome.Every time I've had people tell me thatall this is your midlife.I started this in twentyeight when I was 20 years old.I'm just continuing.You didn't become a statistic.You're not one of those 75 percent ofpeople that don't finish.That's awesome.It took you a little whileto come back around to it.But hey, you did it when it was the righttime for you and the family.So that's that's huge.That's important.You're enriched by it.You know what I mean?Like you have a glow about you.It's an element of mylife that I just just bring.So it's very rewarding.Just it just gives youa sense of self worth.Almost like it's it again,not in a way or very good way.I don't think I'm better than anyone.I just decided to do something thatanyone could havedecided to do with the means.You get fortunate enough to have a means.But it does it does feel good, especiallyafter a flight like this, you know,going somewhere new, pulled that off.That's it.Perfect way to have tospend your Sunday for me.If I can, I want to start spending mySunday's flying the brunch.Right now I'm working on my highperformance rating on a one eighty two.So part of it is useful load.Right. I want to take the full family.I want my my son is a big boy.He's he's taller than I am.You know, he's like two fifteen and he'slike in a one eightytwo fits nicely in the oneseventy two.It's it's pretty grand.So it's it's been really interesting tostart to learn the one eighty two.I think it's probably a lotsimpler than some people seem.I know I've read all about the constantspeed prop and, you know,understanding how it worksand everything.And it's very complicated when you reallywant to try to understand how it works.But to fly, it's actually not as complex.Yeah, it's not as complex.And I think part of the issuethere is is overthinking that.But it's so far, I'veonly done one flight so far.We've had dealing with weather issues.But I should be able to knock it out in acouple more flightsand then I'll have accessto that plane.So if I do want to take the whole familysomewhere, at least have access to it.But really, the point is learning islearning because, like yousaid, you have to have somekind of goals as a as ahobby or an obsession.You still have to have some kind of goalsor else, you know, Igot to a point where afterI got my license, Iwas like, where do I fly?I were where do I go?You know, I just want to fly on my own.Would I work on?So it takes you either have to be verydiligent about thatplanning or you got to set somegoals for you.So, you know, I had a whole like set ofgoals for twenty twenty fouraccomplished, probablyhalf of them, not all of them.One of them was to get that highperformance endorsement.And I started it twenty twentyfour, but I didn't finish it.I wanted to hit 10 differentairports in twenty twenty four.I hit six, you know, so butI set some goals for myself.So I performed for sure.I want to do tailwheel.Tailwheel is is I'msure it's really difficult.But everyone I've spoken to have told metailwheel will make you the best pilot.So just stick and rudder like it'll it'llreally hone your skills.If you can if you can master that comingback to, you know, atricycle is pretty straightforward.So the instrument, I think I want tostart playing around withinstrument approaches tostart learning how to howto how to do that on my own.But I want to wait till I can reallycommit to it to go fullon because I know it's it'squite complex and I want to be able tojust put my mind to itand do it the way the wayI did my private.So my private pilot, I took six monthsoff of work and it was itwasn't that I took I did it.I took that time off forthe for my private pilot.It's just I left a job.And then I at that point, Iwas like, I really want to fly.So I said, I'm just going to fly.I'm going to start now.I'm going to get this done and then I'llworry about getting job later.So it was a good wayto just stay focused.It was a nice break in my career.And I've been in techfor twenty five plus years.So it was a really nice breather.And that was fantastic.So I mean, I don't know if I need to takelike three months offor something like thatto get an instrument, but I want to beable to focus on it, at least for a bit.That's awesome.I think I'm planning on doing my groundschool for that online.A few basic flights to kind ofunderstand, you know, theapproaches and kind of some oflike the checklist and justthe way of going about things.And once I have a little bit of grasp onthat, I just want to do a ten day courseand bang it out just nine to five for tendays and knock it out.And I've got a CFI in one ofthe flying clubs that I'm in.No, that's that's the way to do it.And that's certainly something I want inmy back pocket as well, because I'vecanceled a lot of flights due to due toweather, not that you canfly in any kind of weather,but, you know, it opens up a lot more.I had a dicey situation flying out totrying to go to Camarillo Airport.You know, where the marine layer just wasjust enough to cover the airport.Everything else was clear.Like I could have shot right through thatif I had an instrument.So it definitely opens things up for you.Just makes you more proficient.I just gives you so many more tools.You're told that.Right.Oh, my goodness.Acronyms.If you're not good at memorizingacronyms, I suggest you getsome flash cards or something,especially if you're going tostart your instrument rating.So hopefully I get grounddone by end of next month.And it definitely acronym hell there.I've kind of ignored a lotof the of the instrument.So like whenever I see podcasts or, youknow, I'm flippingthrough the magazine, I see,you know, was an RNAV approach.I'm just like, I don't likeI don't know what that is.So I'm just going to I'm just ignore it.But now I've started toembrace it a little bit.So now I'm like reading itand trying to understand.I don't fully understand.I think it's just likeeverything in aviation.Like you just have to be open to it andjust have very much a learning mindsetand just kind of open yourmind, try to figure it out.A lot of critical thinking, which isreally, really great.That's what I love about it.You know, the amount of critical thinkingthat we have to do on every flight.I mean, the flight here issuch a simple flight, butthere's a lot of critical things to docoming into a new airport.You say it's simple.You fly in like in and under and inbetween two very busy Charliesand you're still under the Bravo, right?You got to still underSFO's Bravo where you are.That's an extremely busy airspace.For those of you out therethat may not be from the Bay,the San Francisco Bravo airspace is oneof the busiest in the country.Within that, you've got two very busyCharlies in San Jose and Oakland.Both are international, all threeinternational airports.So it's extremely busy.And then you have how many more GAairports within 10, 15 miles?Oh, God, there's got to be, I'd say likesix or seven at least.I mean, you've got you've got Reed, whereI flat out, you got Hayward.You've got San Carlos, you've got PaloAlto, all of those inthe South Bay, really.And then there's all theseup here in the North Bay.So yeah, there's a ton.The airspace is complex.And I think we'rekind of spoiled by that.Learning in this airspacereally makes us much better pilots.Yeah, I talked about theBay tour, doing a Bay tour,just to fly around Golden Gate Bridge,which is just aphenomenal experience, right?Flying around the Bay Bridge, flyingaround, doing turns around,flying around AlcatrazIsland is just insane.And I just I feel so fortunate to havebeen, I've done it now four times.And but just to get up there and back,that airspace is, it's crazy.It's pretty wild.It keeps you on your toes for sure.But when I fly there, I feel like I cango into most otherairspaces and it's not too bad.And this is what happened tome when I went to Camarillo.Tried to go to Camarillo.I ended up so Camarilloin Southern California,and Ventura County.My sister and brother-in-law live there,live in Thousand Oaks nearby.So I was going to fly in there.They're going to pick me up.We're going to go to Dodger Game.Big Dodger fan here in the living in theBay area, which is not very popular.But you know, it is what it is.But always dreamed of flying down and,you know, and catching a Dodger Gameand coming back like that.That was one of like my motivatingfactors for being a pilot.Because when you're in the Bay area, youknow, you get to see all the Giants fansgoing with their home fansand having this great time.And, you know, we don't have thatexperience as a fan of a, you know,you're a Yankees fan.So you got to go to the Yankee Stadium toget that experience.Right.So being able to fly down and do it wasalways a dream to do with my son too.So my son and I did that flight.You know, the plan wasto go into Camarillo.You know, in hindsight, I probably shouldhave been a little bit safer.But I planned for alternatives.And, you know, there is there is in thesummer, the Marinelayer tends to come in,but it usually clears out by afternoonand it's pretty consistent.And I called the airport before they toldme that, hey, it's likeit clears out by noon.And it almost always clears out.So was counting on that and kept checkingweather as we're heading down.And nope, nope, still still I have for Ihave for I have for.And finally got to a point like, allright, we're not going to we're not goingto be able to make it.Let's let's assuming that, you know, whatI'm seeing here is is accurate on my pad.So we actually got there and literallythe Marine layer was justenough to cover the airport.Just enough.Everything else was clear to the west.Sorry, to the east.But I knew I couldn't I could make it.And so my alternative was Van Nuys.And I had already studieda bit coming into Van Nuys.I already prepped for it somewhat, talkedto people and they'relike, hey, you know,it's a great airport.You know, it's a very classic historicairport, big and busyand very busy and in L.A.airspace.So you start to get Burbank and Whiteman.You have like a lot ofcomplex airspace there.But I'm like, I'm I'mused to complex airspace.So I think I can handle it.And sure enough, like we we did, Idiverted to Van Nuys andcame in a little dicey.There is Southwest L.A.and the air traffic control had to ask metwice to hurry up and get down quick.I'm like, I'mdescending as fast as I can here.And I heard the Southwestpilots say like, I've got him.You know, I was about 1000 people and hecrossed right over me.But came in and you know,pretty uneventful landing.And you know, the radio work was to mewas second nature because theradio work that we have to dohere in the Bay Area, it's challengingwhen you're going throughall this different airspace.Yeah, more so where you live than me,because I'm justoutside of the Bravo shelves.And most of my flightsare either south or east.So I never really have to get into it.But going to Half Moon Bay the other day,I don't think I've everhad to switch and changeradio frequencies thatmuch in a 26 minute flight.Yeah. Yeah.I mean, that is the experience that weget here in the in the Bay Area.And you're right.And I think there's there are certainlytimes where you should pull back and notgo into some of those situations if youtruly don't feel like you can handle it.But it is rewarding when you're able todo it, especially ina situation like that.It feels good when you get down andyou're like, I was able to manage that.And, you know, it was not easy.And when you explain that to a non pilot,they you just blow their mind.You blow their mind because they're like,I don't need I can'teven understand that levelof complexity, even to pilots when youwhen you tell themthey're like, yeah, we that'sthat's pretty dicey.But yeah, that's that situation there.You're right.I mean, just coming here.I mean, it was for radio changes.I mean, I was on, you know, take off onread NorCal departure,then NorCal approach.And then they just let me go.And I was like, oh, I thought you weregoing to stick with me.And then over there to comfort.That to me is normal.Like to me, like, likethat's that's difficult.If I'm flying in the bear,that's that's pretty difficult.So for me, I'm, you know, listen for it,listen for my change.So it's not too hard.But when I went to Half Moon Bay thefirst time, I had a similar story.It was pretty busy.And I almost decided to quit.I had my son with me as well.So, you know, a little bit more carefulwhen I have my son with me.And I saw just I was probably about sevenmiles out and I sawquite a bit of traffic.I was ready to pull thatU-turn and just go right back.And I said, I'm justgoing to wait a little bit.And then it just kind of opened up alittle bit like a couple couple of themlanded and were full stops.So I'm like, allright, I can I can do this.I can do this.And it's a little tricky approach whenyou're when you're coming in.I forget that the runwaynumber, but you got to come in.You've got three zero coming in over thewater and then the other would be one tocome if you're if you're coming south,it's one to north three zero three zeros.What we landed on the other day.Yeah, so we're doing I was doing lefttrack left traffic on one, two.And you got to come over the hills andand you get pretty lowwith those those hills.And it gets a little bumpy.So that's a that that approach,especially coming in onforty five, like, you know,you could come straight in.It's an untowered airport.So you know, you could do it.You're not supposed to do that.And I didn't want to do that.I wanted to come in on forty five, but Ikind of like, you know, Inarrowed that 40 becauseI just didn't want to beover those hills so low.So it was a little bit dicey for sure.But again, getting down, I just felt asense of accomplishment.And then you walk over to the diner therein Half Moon Bay andyou just have a nice.Yeah, you have a nicelittle meal there and fantastic.That approach is beautiful, isn't it?It's gorgeous.Oh, man.But in the way, I think in the winter,it's best because it'susually clear in the summer.It's always youalways get a marine layer.I'm a big advocate of flying over amidfield, especiallynon-towered airports.Obviously, I fly over a midfield so I canlook and see, see who's in the pattern,hear them over the radio, right?Give me a little more time.Yeah, that that safety is getting thatthat site of where everything is.Super, super criticalbecause there's so much going on.Just just like I mentioned to you earliercoming in here today, Ilost sight of the runway.You got two parallel runways and I waslooking at the wrong one for a second.And luckily, I caught it fast enoughthere not to become a statistic or get introuble or something.Without question.And then like I said that runway oneniner right here at ConcordAirfield is 150 feet wide.It's a massive airport.But one niner left theparallels about 75 feet wide.And when you're comparing the two lookingfrom one to the next,one niner left looks likea taxiway in comparison.Like, yeah, yeah.And so you read aboutsome of these incidents.There's times I read ofsome of these incidents.I think like, how couldsomeone make that mistake?You know, you'rethinking that in your head.I don't know if you heard of the HarrisonFord is that HarrisonFord is a private pilot.He landed on a taxiway.I forgot where this was, but he made amistake and he mistake the taxiway foryou would think in your headlike how you make that mistake.But then when you come toa place like here, Concord.Yeah.Just like you said, you've got a verywide runway and you've got some prettyyou've got a bunch of different taxiways.It really is a lot ofspaghetti down there.So it kind of makessense out of everything.You can see how in the in the moment, youcan make that mistake.It's definitely something you do.So just about paying attention to thosedetails and makes it being safe andconservative when you fly.Definitely, definitely.And that's a huge PSA to all pilots.I mean, no matter you have very fewhours, you've got thousands of hours.Safety first, pay attention, double checkthings because when youdon't and you end up in the badsituation, you're either going to end upwith a story to tell about, oh my gosh, Icould have should'veor someone's going totell that story for you.Right.Like what's the big channel on YouTube,the guy that does reviewsof every accident, you know,I'm talking kind of sits in like his hesits in the combos in the dark.He's got like a little table channels.Amazing.I watch a whole bunch of stuff when itcomes up and I review things.I think it's pilotreview or something like that.Yeah, I think that's it.That will, you know, kind of get rid ofany bravado or hubris that any pilot has.You go watch a few of those.You go, oh my gosh, that happens topeople that are just like me or they havemore time than I do.They fly bigger planes than I do.How did this happen?If it can happen to them, it candefinitely happen to you.Yeah, yeah.In this pilots, like I think it's it's Imean, this might implyto other professions,but definitely for us, we spend a lot oftime studying accidents.And that's why channelslike that are so popular.I get obsessed with reading aboutaccident, but like I haveto do it in spurts becauseit's it can be really dark.It's really dark.I mean, there'sthere's stories behind these.There's families, tragic, tragic stories.So there's only so much of that you cantake in without it startingto like impact your mentalhealth. So you got to just balance it,but you do that to learn.So you're just constantly thinking about,hey, if that situation happens,you've at least already thought about itat some point in time.Ideally, like hopefully, if you doencounter some kind of situation,you either seen or readabout it and thought about it.So some of those thoughts have alreadygone through your mind.Definitely help in in a situation which Ithink every pilot does as long enough.They're going to be in some kind ofsituation that they have to deal with.But it is it is morbid.It's a bit morbid sometimes, like there'stimes where I'm tellingmy wife about some of thesethings. She's like, Idon't want to hear about that.I know, but it's reallyfascinating to me to learn about it.Accidents and fearsand things really happen.So you've got to kind of,you know, pay attention.Yeah, there's no need to make, you know,a tragic mistake thatsomeone else made whenyou could have learned from it.Yeah, I heard a saying once there'ssomething like I'llprobably put you this, but there'ssomething like intelligence is when youlearn from your mistakes.But wisdom is when you can learn fromother people's mistakes.And I think that's what we're doing whenwe're when we'reanalyzing these accidentswith these incidents.You're trying to learn from those becauselike when it I'm inthat situation, you know,I want to know whatwhat I would have done.A lot of times I read some of those arelike, I don't know whatI would have done in thatsituation.Same.And he sure they already asked my wifewhat's the playwright?What should I?What would I?So it is a lot again backto that critical thinking.Yeah.Constantly thinking, you know, staying onyour toes, not relaxing at all.Like this is I mean, there's times wherewhen you fly, you canrelax like, you know,you're on a log cross country.Sure.And you know, you're still every so oftenchecking your instruments and making sureyou know where you're going to land.You have an engine out.But most of the time youhave to be on your toes.I get a big overgrant.Most definitely.So let's backtrack a little bit and talka little bit about your training.What would you say was like the biggestchallenge for you oryour biggest struggleduring your PPL training landing?There's like every once.Oh, yeah.You know, landings are one of thosethings that you feellike you got it figured out.And then all of a sudden you get smackedin the face like, oh,man, you balance onethree times.You're like, I thoughtI had this figured out.Right.Right.So that that that certainly felt likeeven to the day, right?If I if I'm not fine this morning, right,I haven't flown for just under a month,three weeks ago.I'm like, before I come out here, you hadto a new airport, a new runway, a complexrunway.I'm going to take a few in the in thepattern and get something.I greased.Great.I'll do another one.And the second one, not so great.At least I got a bill.We got to get that out of my system.And then headed over here.But landings are definitely the one thingthat you probably putthe most thought into.And we probably think a lot of it ismental more than more than physical.I think the thing that I think thathelped it click for memost was not taking controlof the plane, not letting notletting the plane control you.Like just a lot of times I was kind ofjust going for the ride.I was kind of going throughbut not really in control.And I remember I see if I once show melike, let me let me showyou what taking controland it was just jostling.Yeah.Get on the center line.And I think that really helps me.I would not use the word master for sure,but I feel morecomfortable with landing safely.Agreed.I still bounce from time to time.And when I do, one, get pissed off.Two, I go, okay.I never want to walk awayfrom the plane or an airportthat I visited with mylast landing being a bad one.So I always make sure Ileave after a good one.All right, cool.I'll go home and putdown a safe landing at home.Great.Because I don't want that,that'll eat away at me personally.I'll just befrustrated about it and be like,oh yeah, I'll think aboutit the whole rest of the day.Before my nextflight, I go, I suck again.Yeah, I'm sure memory sometimeswith the negative thoughts,not with the learning things.What did that teach me?What did I do wrong there?That you have to keep in your mind.So just on my flight, like I tell you,second landing was not a great one.And I could havestayed and didn't serve it.I was like, no, I'm gonna come out here.And my landing gearwas, I wish you filmed it,but it was like one ofmy better landing shoes.Oh, that's awesome.With it.But because I had a short memory,I'm like, I'm notgonna start to self doubt.It's like, oh, maybe I can't land well.Maybe I got lucky on the first one.I was like, nope, I knowhow to land this thing.I know how to land well.That's about, I knowexactly what I did wrongon the second one.Like I got a little slow on the speedand it came down a little hard.But I knew exactly what I did wrong.So like, what do I do behind you?And then you focus on your fundamentalsand as long as you'refocused on your fundamentalsevery time and again, anotherthing don't take for granted.Yeah, trust yourself.Without question.Oh, that was mybiggest struggle in landings.I was so horrible for so long.It took me, I don'tknow, I'd fly consistentlyand get good at landings.Then something would happen.Like life would come up,I wouldn't fly for a monthand it would go back to being the shit.Like I'd never landed aplane before in my life.And I got so frustrated.There was a point where Iwas like, you know what?Maybe I'm just gonna stop doing this.I was like, ah, no.I wanna get out and see the world, right?Like I'm tired of being in the pattern.I've done a few cross countries,but like, let's go see theworld at these unique altitudes.So I've been very fortunate to do so.I really wanna take amountain flying course.I think that's one ofmy next steps as wellbecause flying in themountains is not as, you know,a normal person, just think,oh, it's gonna be a little bit bumpyor you wanna fly in themiddle of the valleys.Well, what if flying inthe middle of the valley,something happens and you turn around,but there's not enoughspace for you to make that turnwithout hitting the mountain.Yeah, yeah, that'sactually, you're right.I mean, you can't justkind of just go into mountainsand be like, oh, you know,I just gotta fly a littlebit higher or, you know,or put it in the valleys.Like, no, it is a complex scenario.I've heard a lot offoreshore use of flights in there,but it's also something like, oh,unless what you wanna do, that's anotherdream flight for me.Yeah. I'm there.It's such a beautiful airport.It's such a beautiful place.Right. Absolutely, absolutelyon my list of flights to do,but I'm not gonna rush into that one.Like, there's different mountain coursesthat you can take.I mentioned Jason Miller earlier.He does a multi-day camping.Yeah, I've seen that.Yeah, I almost did it.He's finer points, right?Yeah. Yeah, yeah.He does a lot withSoak Off Flying Monkey,also their buddies, andhe's an affiliate with him.No, awesome, I've seen that.It's like amulti-day, like your ass like,there's around, there's flying,there's survival skills,or just like it, yougo down the mountains.Like, you gotta know how to survive,and the ways people willfind you and things like that.Seems like a reallycool, like, multi-day course.But it's that maybeoverkill for some folks, you know.But you definitely can't takethat light in the air, right?True. The light could bereally tricky. Right, but it's thingsthat you may not even think about, right?Like, if something goeswrong, like, oh, I landed safely,but now you're stuck some random place.Help is miles and hoursof hiking to get to you,you know, if that's even possible.So that's actually a really good thing.Plus, I feel like withpeople like Jason Millerand at that level, they build community.So like going and taking this course,you're meeting other pilots who may befrom different partsof the state or country,but you may be planning a really coolflying trip somewhere,you hit that guy up from the cloud,and he's like, oh yeah, I'm in.You know, so it'sabout building community,meeting other pilots,bonds, shared experience.I think that's extremely valuable.Absolutely, yeah,because there's a few peoplethat really understandthe nuances of what we do.Like, I can talk to a friend or whatnotabout what I'm doing,but you can only get so technical,really understanding it,but to talk to another pilot about it,it's just another level.So the communities are important.It's definitely something, again,why I'm sitting here doing this.I'm hoping to meet morefolks just to chat with,learn from, andhopefully fly with at some point,you know, maybe takesome adventures with.You have a trip coming upwith the wife that weekend,but I'm starting toplan these Bay Area fly-insjust to go to differentairports to have lunchand meet other pilotsand really get more social.So I hope, you know, you can make thenext one in February,and a few after that,hey, you'll be able to hityour 10 airports this year.You know? For sure.That's one way to do it.That sounds like fine media.What traits do you think are importantfor like a student pilot to haveto get through some ofthose struggles and persevere,some of that doubt that may set inwhen you're struggling with something?Great question.I was gonna ask you,you talked about landingand something that's helped out.The majority of studentsthat I've talked to have gone,had hit that here atsome point when you plateau,your skill line getting better,and then all of asudden, like something clicksand it works, it's really, really common.So I think for anystudent pilots out there,I'd say like, it is super common,and you feel self-doubt,that you feel like imposter syndrome,maybe I'm not cut out to be a pilot.Almost every pilot I know has felt thatand wanting to give up.So it's common, just know that,and know that everybody,just about everybody whohas a private pilot license,felt that and overcome it.Right.There's a bit of auniqueness of being a pilot and you.Not a lot of people do what we do.Right.But that's not because they can't.It's for other reasons,either it's not for them,or they're scared to hide,or financially you can,because this is a very expensive hobby.So it's not a crucial onefor that one big reason.Yeah, very much so.But you might feel thatbecause it's such a small community,it's such a smallpercentage of people who do it,that maybe there'ssomething special about them.And there's not, I mean,I like to think we're special people.We like to think we're the 1%, but.You know, we're the ones whojust have the means to do it.You know, just said, we're gonna do it.And went after it.And you know, itcertainly wasn't natural for me.I wasn't like, soloing at five hours.There's some people that can do that.And hey, you don't haveto hit my cap to that,but most people don't, most people don't.I mean, like at theaverage number of hoursit takes to get a PPL, it's like 75.Yep, yeah.It definitely did that forme. It damn near broke me.I was, there were days where I was sofrustrated and mywife was super positive.Like, you got this, you can do this. AndI was like, ah, that's helpful.But like, that wasn't it. And I wastalking to my momabout how frustrated I was.And she went, Hey, uh, how old were youwhen you started walking?I was like, I don't know. She goes, well,you walked at around a year,but you got to realize from the time youwere born until you started walking,you weren't. And that was a year. Andbefore you started walking,when you thought you were ready, you fellmany times, you'd stand,need wobbling. You fall in your butt. Butguess what? Naturally in life,human beings have to walk. So you kept atit and you started walking.Same thing with talking.You don't talk till 15 months and half ofit is mumble jumble gargled in thefirst place. And thenuntil you're about three,you're not reallyputting together sentences.You're like a littledrunk man running around.So if you look at life from,from that lens of everythingthat is necessary or that you get good attakes a lot of time,a lot of practice and a lot of struggle,a lot of fumbling and falling.Think of your flight training the same.As long as you have the financial means,and that's like, you're not eating up thecapital that you need to live to do.So stick with it.It'll click at some point.And then you'll join the 1%and call yourself a pilot.I think the statistic wassomething like 75% of people whoget like a student pilot certificate,don't finish and get their PPLcertificate. And like you were saying,it's not cause they're notcapable. You get frustrated.Life happens, financial things.You have kids or you have like a OOPSIkid where you're like, this was my,like I now have money cause my kids areoff to college and all you have a OOPSIkid. You're like, Oh God, here we go. I'mnot flying anymore. You know?So I, I get it. But if that's not one ofyour problems, trust me,you're missing out. You're missing out.Yeah. The perseverance is key.Perseverance is key. I mean, it's, um,it is not a simple thing. Imean, it's, uh, I mean, I,I will tell everyone andI say this not to brag,but it is the hardest test I've evertaken. I feel likeI've accomplished a fairamount of my careerin school and whatnot,but it was hands down the hardest testI've ever taken. Um,but it feels so good to be able to havedone that and be able to prep,prepare and know that you can do itright. And you can handle it. Like it's,you know, you get drilled for two hoursor old questions and you got to go up inthe air after that oral beating.You got to get in a plane and go and showmaneuvers. Like it's pretty tough,but when you're prepared and you're CFI'sknow when you're prepared,they won't lie deep because they look badtoo. If they hadn't someone,yeah, it's tracked their student failurerate is tracked. So it's, um,it is certainlychallenging, but very doable.If you're focused in yourseries about, uh, one, one,another to buy give isusing different CFI's.Like one of the things that was helpfulfor me was I didn't,I didn't do this onpurpose. Some of it was,I was very much like I want to train andif my CFI is not available,I'm going to copy. Okay. So I would endup going with other CFI's,but every CFI, just like every person,every teacher kind of teaches things aslightly different way.They have a slightly differentperspective and I justremember everyone I wentwith would give me some other nugget andbe like, Oh, I didn't think about it.That yeah, that's a good point. So Ihighly encourage folks to do that. Um,when I started, I,I was recommended the CFI who was highlyrecommended and very busy.Got on a schedule. We got started andthen he went to India for three weeks.He's like, Oh my lay, uh, I'm going toIndia for threeweeks. I was like, Oh man,it just got started. So Ihad to be to this other CFI.And I'm like, I'm going to keep trainingbecause I can't just,I did a few classes withhim. Like I gotta keep going.I can't not fly for a few weeks. And,and the other CFI that he referred to me,he actually was an AMP as well. Um,so he taught me a bunch about themechanics of theplane. Like we go through,we do our pre-flight and he's telling mehow every single thing worked. Wow.I'm like, that's super cool. That's awhole other perspective. Right.I wouldn't necessarily workabout like switching CFI's,but just kind of buyingwith different people,buying with Jason Miller at one time, hehad a full leave idea.He uses very long methods to how heteaches. If you can do it and you know,you belong to aschool, like, unfortunately,I was part of a pretty bigschool with a lot of instructors.So there were a lot offolks that could, I could file.That's very valuable. Everybody hassomething different to give.Nobody's necessarily betteror worse than anybody else,but there are different,different ways of encoding a message thatwill be decoded different by someone.This conversation we have when you go andtalk to somebody about how it went,what stuck with you may bedifferent than what stuck with me.As we move forward,before we land the plane,we've got this segment that I always workon. It's a rapid fire question,just kind of, you know, differentquestions having to do with aviation.So if you could fly any plane past orpresent, what would that be?P-51 Mustang.What piece of aviation tech or gear doyou feel you can't live without?Um, you know, the simple answer to thatwould be foreflight.I mean, foreflight is amust must have. Um, I mean,there's a Garminversion as well, but that,that's something one that can livewithout, but I think the,the thing that I would most recommend is,is leveraging simulators.All right. The simulators to me,every single flight into a new airportthat I do, I do it onthe simulator first.And you know, like thisflight today, you know,flew it on the simulator, landed aboutseven or eight times, right?Got the site pictures, different runwaysthat I landed on. Yeah. And it just,and it's so realistic now, like nowadaysit's so realistic that I had timeswhen I think back, like when I think backto flying it to Davis and that flight,I'm starting to remember, was that thesimulator flight orwas that my real flight?That's awesome. It's sorealistic that, uh, you know,as a lot of people think that we wereliving in actual simulation.I don't know if that's the 32th to that,but these simulators, they,they had gotten so realistic with, uh,just the terrain and views.Uh, it's, it, that's a must have forgoing to new airports.That's a big, big game changer. Andthat's a great point.I'm glad you mentionedthat because like I said,enough people sleep onsimulation. Oh, it's just a toy.It's a little more than a toy. Um,so what is your favoriteaviation related acronym?Acronyte. Oh, a favorite acronym. I don'tknow why WASC keeps coming up. Eventhough I don't even know if I know whatit is. It's an IFR acronym. I know it'slike a precision one. I don't know whatthere's just something about saying it.This kind of rolls off the tongue. WASC.Like I just when I become an IFR, I justwant to keep usingit. It just sounds cool.What's your longest flightor cross country to date?That would be Van Nuys. I don't rememberon top of my head how long that was fromReeve Hillview. But I gotta believe itwas close to 200? At one age, Hunter?Yeah, I can see it being,yeah, give or take at least.Yeah, so that was my longest. That's whenI mentioned really I wasn't planned to beVan Nuys. Just like you said, thingsdon't always go the way you planned. Soyou have to be prepared for it. But morethan anything, it was thedream flight that I mentioned.Getting to plane on Friday morning, flydown with my son. My brother-in-lawpicked us up at Van Nuys. We went toDodger Stadium for a game. Spent thenight and next morning we'll come back.It was phenomenal. That's why I got aprior pilot license.What's your biggest oh shit or near missmoment that you've had thusfar in your aviation career?I had a dicey touch and go at ReeveHillview. And Reeve is an airport that'sin the middle of the big city. Verycontroversial. It's supposed to shut down2031. There's people trying to fight it.I grew up right on the approach path to13. So my entire life as a kid, flyingflying overhead, that's why I alwayswanted to be a pilot. But it's in themiddle of a very congested area.As a kid, I witnessed the aftermath of anaccident in my neighborhood. Three peoplepassed. But it's in the middle of thisresidential area. So usually the touchand goes are allowed. But some peoplediscourage them. But myCFI's were always very inclusive.Hey, we can do that. And it's so muchmore efficient when you're learningyou're doing pattern work. But I tried atouch and go. I did two I think it wasuneventful. And then on my third one, Ijust lost control of the plane a bit. AsI'm wet full power, laps up, I started togo off the center line. And I freaked outbecause the plane was wobbling.Yeah, I pulled the throttle back and justgot it under control. But I mean, thatcould have easily turned into anincident. Yeah, like either just awrongly incursion or I could haveflipped, you know, it startled me.It should, you know, probably, itprobably like I bet if somebody waswatching, they probably wouldn't noticetoo much. But for me, yeah, when you'refeeling it, when you're feeling like youdon't have control of the plane, thatfeeling just, that's what I'm feeling.It's horrifying.Yeah. And and I remember thinking, like,I'm gonna struggle to get back into playafter this. And I forced myself to getback in after a few days and just do somemore pattern work. And it was fine. Butit should be for a bit. I started todoubt like, Hey, should Ibe doing this, you know,on the cross countries and such, what'syour favorite in flight snack?First thing bars. He's a healthy guy.First thing bars just fill you up, youknow, I should have had one. And Iprobably need them before I fly back. Butif I don't have a snack after a flight,man, I, when I finish a flight, I'm like,I can just I need abell burger or something.Because it takes a lot out of you. Likeit is there is a physical element to it.Honestly, because one of the plan in thephysical part is not so much, although Ido feel it in our body,but the mental part of it.It, you know, it's so draining mentallythat that that burns as much caloriesanything. So when I'm done with theflight, I am starving. Yeah. So you'reright. Like on the longer flight, you gotit. You got it. Snack.I mean, it's gonna, you're gonna gethangry and you don't want you don't wantany other emotions going on when you'retrying to land some new airport.In terms of, you know, places you flownin to eat, what would you say has beenyour favorite place? What diner has thebest food? Your hundred dollar burger or?Ube, Ube, I believe.That's it.That's it.Uh, and that waspretty unique and fantastic.Uh, at Steak and Eggs there, phenomenal.It's such a pretty cool cafe with allthese memorabilia and photos.It's, uh, yeah, itwas a great experience.Um, little chilly, uh, how we went, but,uh, that is, that's my choice.Another thing I want to circle back to iswhen you mentioned how flying is,you know, it's like mental, emotional,some of it physical.Um, you said you're getting your highperformance right now in flying theone 82, uh, with a constant speed propand it's probably a two 35 horsepower.Give or take.Isn't that thing like wrestling a bear?Like you really have to use trim.If you don't use trim,you're going to wear yourself out.I've never like, you know what I mean?So much in a one 17, thatguy, it's not a big deal.Little trim here.No.And that thing you're either pushing downto not climb or you'regoing to work with the trim wheel.Yeah.Well, it flies beautifully.I mean, it just feels like so powerful,you know, compared to onesemi two that you're flying and you know,it's fast, it's really smooth.Kind of like a man, you know, it doesn't,you don't feel the bumps as much.Uh, but yeah, you're right.Like on, on round out and player, thenyou got, you got topull back pretty hard.Like mine searcher said, yeah, I'm goingto, I'm going to help you on the firstone because it's, it's a,that ended is just so happy.And I just, I hear that.I don't know if this is this way true,but the balance on one of thesetwo is just not perfect.Like it's just a little bit too nose.Hey, right.So you really have to trimwell and it takes some muscle.Like even when, when I was justpre-flight or just like you now, it'shappening to you, I pulled it back.No problem.Like you do one thing or you know, like,oh man, this thing's got a weight on it.Yeah.I thought I was all theway back in the charge.It was like, no, it's got another foot.I was like, no, it doesn't keep going.Oh crap.This is, this is different.Now, very, very unique.And I think that's a great next step tochallenge yourself in flying bigger,faster, more capable aircrafts, which,um, it said that when you get yourpilot license, the worldbecomes smaller, right?Because you talk about a comfortableweekend trip is maybe a fourish hour drive, maybe five at most.Um, but now if you were to say a fivehour flight, a five hour flight gets you.To LA like past LA, it gets you over andyou know, deep into Oregon,get you well into Nevada.Um, you can go a lot of places.You can fly to Vegas from here.Vegas, I think is 368nautical miles from concrete.It really does.Uh, I mean, I'm thinking, um, I'mthinking about spring training.Maybe this year, I don'twant to do a spring training.Like that's a verydoable flight to Arizona.Yeah.And not only that, uh, you've got Sedona,which is, um, supposed to be a just aphenomenal, I mean, that's, that's the.Default Microsoft simulator.Yes.Yes.Yes.When they train you to low 152.Exactly.Um, but that airport is that's, that'slike one of those must do.So Epic man, that's, that'sat the top of my list as well.This year, I definitely amgoing to plan for multi-leg.That's the reason what I'd like to do.If I can pull it off at work is I'd loveto just take a week off and get a flavor.We can just go somewhere like, um, youknow, multi-legs, you know, maybefind like three or four hours a daystaying somewhere overnight and goingyour next leg and, and go into some otherplace, you know, multi-leg flight there.Um, I, I hear these greatstories of people doing that.I hear like just these three stories ofmeans so many pilots and people aroundthe airport and everybody just seems likeit's such a welcoming open community.Uh, I just, uh, everywhere I've, everypilot I've met so far, um, every kindof airport I've gone into, you rarelyfind anyone who'slike grumpy or just like,somebody's something about flying thatmakes people happyand just very welcoming.But it's, it's very familial.Um, yes, I've got no qualms about goingby myself and going into these strangeairports and just meeting people.I think it'd be great.I think that would makeyou a much better pilot.All the planning that you have to do,whether that you probably have to dealwith maybe you're stuck somewhere for acouple of days and you know, that's whyyou got to give yourself a little time.You don't take any chances.I've not have to worry about whetherother than, I mean, we do like basicallymight get fly or not, but I'm like, I'mgoing to dodge thunderstorms.Right.It's like that.Like when you're flying in the Midwest,like that, that's for reality.And I hear a lot of the pilots fromthere, when theytalked about their stories,they're talking about dodge andthunderstorms and like, I'm like, Oh, Iwouldn't even go, you know, but, andthese are not like super serious pilotsor fights I have a couple hundred hours.Like, well, you know,that's very normal for them.Because it's not, right?So yeah, you're talking about going outto Oshkosh from here.That's that's the ways.And they guaranteed there's probablygoing to be some weather on the waythat you're going to have to think about.So that's going tomake your better pilot.That's any all the plane.And as long as you're safe about it andsmart about it, like it's,it'll be a great experience.There's a pilot in one of the clubs thatI'm in who, uh, the club, I had to signoff for you to take the plane for amonth, but he did amonth trip with his wifein the one 82 and they flew all the wayto Maine and then came back the southernroute, like over there.So you spent a month and flew the entirecountry and everybody, you know, somegood people were like, Oh, well, youknow, what about the rest of us?And we're like, one, you don't fly thisplane to, isn't that what it's about?Like, wouldn't you kill to beable to do that type of trip?Like, how are you not happy for yourbuddy to be doing so?And everybody's like, you know what?You're right.Go have fun, enjoy, love it.Tell us all about him.Like this, this is it.This is why I'm in a flying club.And this club meets every Thursday at thehangar here in Concord, having agood time for threehours every single Thursday.And I'm like, this is, this is like theMecca for a young pilot.You're hearing stories, gettingexperiences, flying in different types ofair planes, people areteaching you different things.A bunch of CFI's six or seven guys areairline pilots in the club.And it's just like, Oh,there's people at every level.Like I'm the mostinexperienced pilot here.This is exactly where I want to be.You know?Yeah.No, be around.I mean, you just learned to just listenand talk, having conversations withthemselves, you know, when I wastraining, you were justsitting in the, in thelounge, I wouldn't, I would just sitthere and be like,I'm going to study here.I could study at home, do my ground upthere, but I'm just going to, I'm justdoing here, justgoing to listen to people.I want to ask questions like someone I'llreply, Oh, what happened?You know, what did you encounter?I hear him like debating something.I ask him that like, just, just to hearthe conversation, especially whenyou're first learning, likethose things are invaluable.But they're just reallyinteresting, really interesting.I've got a group at work,we use Slack to communicate.Hey, I'm, we created, I found out therewas another pilot and turned out likethere's like about five others.So we started a little,a little Slack person.We just, every so often, we just talkedabout stuff, you know, and we just, andyou're speaking the language that none,you know, if anybody else is listening,if I have no idea what you're talkingabout, but, justlearning the dim types ofpilots, like one is a glider pilot andyou just postedvideos of doing spins in aglider, which was insane.It was actually hard to do.It was really, they had totry like three or four times.It was really hard to put aglider into a spin, apparently.So as we go ahead and land the plane, inclosing, are there any PSAs that you wantto put out to other pilots or any, youknow, other learning tips that you havefrom things you may have struggled withor had to go, Hmm, how am I going toconquer this specific thing?That's like a mental block.Maybe.Yeah. You know, when I started 20 years ago, itwas a different world.I like, there's so many tools at ourdisposal now that wedidn't have back then.I think we had things like, you'vealready stopped like,Simuliar, but 20 years ago, that waspretty archaic, right?Right.But all the GPSfunctionality, it was rare.Back when I was flying there was rarethat anybody had any kind ofGPS capabilities in the plane.You know, iPads didn't exist.You know, port flight didn't exist.ADS-B didn't exist.So when you flew, you hadto have your head on a swill.It was constant looking for traffic.And the world changed.Like in those 20 years,the pilot was big time.So we have so many tools at our disposal.It could be overwhelming at times, but Ithink you need to know how to leverageyour tools and leverage all the thingslike this, like podcasts, YouTubers.That's really what got me back herebecause I was, I knew I wanted to getback in at some point, but I didn't havelike that push, right?I think it was going to be that push.And then I just started to find theserandom YouTubers, TikTokers, and likemaking it reallyglorifying their pilot life.And I was like, that's what I remember.That's why I wanted to be a pilot.It had this alkaline about just soaringover, you know, at 10,000 feet overthese mountain ranges, and then just aweekend trip and the hundred dollarand I just started seeing these episodesand I thought, I want that.That's, that's what I wanted as a kid.And for whatever reasons, like I put itaside and put it asideand it just came back to me.So leverage though, there's a lot ofreally great YouTubers out there.There's a lot of great content, a lot ofgreat educational content.Um, I'm a person that learns morevisually than, than by the book.So it's really hard for me to readsomething in a bookand really understand.I got to see it.I feel it, experience it, but in YouTubeviews you that you have all theseevery single maneuver that you'relearning, you could findit someone teaching it onYouTube.So, um, leverage those resources becausethey're credible and to be efficient,like do all of as much of that aspossible before you really get started.Do your ground beforehand.Some there's, there's alot of debate over that.Like some people don't, I'm a friendwho's a DPE actually.And he was like, Iwouldn't recommend doing that.And he's like, for you, it's okay becauseyou, you flew before,but you kind of haveto learn and then do it.Say, again, it comesback to your learning South.But even if you do your ground before andjust do it again,when you're, when you'redoing your, your, your live training, um,it's worth it because you can get most ofthat stuff for free.So there's just all of these resourcesthat are out there and you know, leveragethem, don't, don't, uh, I wouldn't justlike jump in and belike, all right, I wantto start training right away.I really would leverage all of these freeresources and thenhave a really good ideaof like, what is the pace?What are the differentthings I need to learn?Maybe watch the different maneuvers, youknow, on YouTube, um, maybe learn thedifferent concepts, at least like ifyou've learned 50% of it, like even that.Now you're really prepared when you comein, like if you have faster knowledgetests and stuff, even, even better, butnow you're really prepared once you, onceyou get it in and you can reallystreamline and maximizeyour training experience.And then you really use your CFI forlike, Hey, I saw thisvideo about this thingand I didn't totally understand it.It's like, Oh, okay.Well, let me explain it to you and let mego and let's go fly and show it to you.And now you really understand it.So, um, the amount of resources that thisincredible, incredible, like I can't evenkeep up with everything that's out there,but it's, um, it makes it, uh, learning,um, much more, uh, withinreach and just doable for folks.Tools that you now have due totechnology, the ability totrain, to learn from others,to watch a video onsomething before you try it yourself.Um, we have so many things at ourfingertips that sometimesthat can even be overwhelming.You know, like you just get caught upgoing down that rabbit hole and that theycall it, um, is a term thatpeople are using for it now.It's like, uh, analysis paralysis, right?Where it's like, you just keep reviewingand reviewing and da, da, da.Look at it, enjoy it, take it for what itis, but then get outthere and do it if possible.Um, don't just get caught up, like beingthat person is afraid to pull the triggerwhen the time comes, if again, you'reready or in the situationfor it and it's the right time.Manny, thank you so much for coming on.Thank you to you out there listening.Um, this was another insightful episodeof becoming a pilot,the journey, the fun,the family, and of course the growth,because that's what being a pilot is.It's about growing and the aviationcommunity, as Manny here said,is one that is extremely welcoming.So to all of you guys thinking aboutbecoming aviators and gettinginto it, welcome, go for it.Make sure you tune in.We are available on all podcast streamingplatforms, as well as thevideo version on YouTube.You can follow usthere on Instagram as well.TikTok X, wherever youget your media, we're there.Thanks for tuning in.May there always bewind beneath your wings.Peace.