Technology
Episode 238: Who can instruct sport pilots under MOSAIC? 'Miss Montana' DC-3 pilot Douglass
In Episode 238 of Hanger Talk, hosts David Tewis and Alicia Heron discuss the latest aviation news, including the Archie League Awards honoring air traffic controllers, the remembrance of the last fly...
Episode 238: Who can instruct sport pilots under MOSAIC? 'Miss Montana' DC-3 pilot Douglass
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Interactive Transcript
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This week on Hanger Talk.
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The Archie League Awards honor air traffic controllers.
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The last flying Tuskegee Airman is remembered.
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The government shutdown begins, but air traffic controllers will keep working.
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An FAA Funding Stability Act is introduced.
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And proposed ADS-B bill would protect GA.
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Dave, are you ready to do some Hanger Talk?
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Let's do it, Alicia.
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From AOPA, you're freedom to fly.
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This is Hanger Talk.
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This is Hanger Talk.
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Attention, you take turns right in one, two, three, four, four, four.
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With your host, David Tewis and Alicia Heron.
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All right, we'll have you with us.
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This is Hanger Talk.
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Welcome to Hanger Talk.
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I'm David Tewis.
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And I'm Alicia Heron.
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Now, Alicia, we're going to introduce our special guest interview.
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It'll come a little bit later.
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This is going to be with Ms. Montana pilot Brian Douglas.
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And he shares the experience of flying a historical Douglas, no relation.
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DC-3 and World War II Warbird.
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And we want to give special thanks to AOPA publications.
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Julie Walker and Rebecca Moon for an interesting look at this historical warbird.
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And coming up in our mosaic minute,
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Jay's back to answer the question
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who can provide instruction for sport pilots.
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Thanks, guys.
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In this mosaic minute, the question that we're answering is
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who can provide instruction for a sport pilot?
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Those of us that have taken flying lessons at any point toward becoming a private pilot
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or toward a more advanced certificate or rating,
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we've all been instructed by a CFI, which is a Certificated Flight Instructor.
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But there's another type of instructor that you may not have heard before,
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called a CFI-S, which is either known as a flight instructor with a sport pilot rating,
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or a sport pilot flight instructor.
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Students pursuing a sport pilot certificate can receive instruction from either a CFI or a CFI-S.
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Just like sport pilots, the sport pilot instructors will no longer be limited to
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only flying or instructing in light sport aircraft, thanks to mosaic.
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They'll be able to teach in any of the aircraft that sport pilots will be able to fly
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under the new rules.
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So let's take a look at the differences between a CFI and a sport pilot flight instructor.
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To be a CFI, you must be 18 years old.
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You have to hold a commercial or ATP certificate, so you'll generally need at least
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250 hours if you're flying an airplane.
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You'll also have to pass a written exam, an oral exam, and a checkered.
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To be a CFI-S, you also have to be 18.
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But you only have to hold a sport pilot certificate and have a minimum of 150 hours of total flight time.
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And like with the CFI, you'll also have to pass a written exam, an oral exam, and a checkered.
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So in addition to the large number of sport pilots we may see in the near future,
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we may also see a jump in the number of sport pilot instructors.
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Now if you're a pilot, even if you hold a higher certificate,
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and you want to fly under the expanded sport pilot privileges,
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a CFI or a sport pilot instructor can provide the endorsements that are now available to sport pilots,
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as long as that instructor has each respective one.
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Now those include flying an aircraft with a constant speed per per per
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or retractable landing gear or simplified flight controls.
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Now some pilots might already have those endorsements,
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but any pilot, regardless of what certificate you hold,
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will need an instructor to provide an endorsement if you want to fly at night
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under sport pilot privileges.
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This is a brand new endorsement that was created with Mosaic,
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so any pilot flying under these sport pilot privileges will need to earn it.
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And like we talked about a few weeks ago,
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night flying as a sport pilot also requires a valid medical or basic men.
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Alright, that's it for this Mosaic Minute.
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We're getting closer to the first part of these new regulations going into effect in just a few weeks.
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So next time we're going to take a step back and we're going to break down which parts of Mosaic
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could go into effect in October and which parts take effect next July.
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I'm Jay Weils, I'll see you next time.
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Wow, I didn't know about that and I'm going to call it CFI-S.
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That sounds like an interesting option for future instructors, Alicia, and thank you, Jay.
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Now let's take a quick look at some AAPA exclusive member benefits.
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Heart Sale has a great deal for AAPA members.
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You can receive a $1,000 member discount on their top prop composite propellers.
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Yes, you heard that correctly.
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$1,000 off a heart sale top prop conversion.
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And also, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, members can use a corporate code for discounts,
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which can vary depending on the property and the time of year.
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As always, you can find this and all of our member benefits online at AOPA.org.
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So I wish membership.
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Thank you, Alicia.
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You know, we're gaining some hangar talk listeners all the time.
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And here's just a quick shout out to Cessna 182 owners Gary and Lee Smith of IAMSville,
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Maryland and Tom Hamilton, a flight student at Frederick Municipal Airport.
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They stopped by my vintage Piper tri-pacer during last weekend's Frederick Municipal
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Airport's festival of flight.
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And they came to say hello.
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Oh, I'm glad they stopped by to say hello and see your museum, your literal museum piece
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that you actually fly.
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So sounds like fun.
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And some of our new listeners might not be familiar with us or the program,
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but we're glad you're with us today.
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We hope you'll return every two weeks where we explain and discuss the general
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aviation news that's important to you.
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Plus, we bring special guests on for interesting interviews on aircraft places to go and things to do.
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That's right, Alicia.
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For those new to hangar talk, I'm a single engine land and see private pilot based here at AOPA
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headquarters in Frederick, Maryland.
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And since I'm a vintage aircraft owner, I usually look at the topics we cover from a
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what's it gonna cost me now, perspective?
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And what it means to you, our listeners, what it means to you as a pilot,
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an aircraft owner or student, or even a flight instructor.
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And speaking of instruction, Alicia brings her CFI perspective plus a lot of passion to this program.
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Thanks, Dave T. Yep, I'm a basic California.
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I'm a CF-Double Eye, single engine land and sea commercial and multi-engine land pilot and
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have a background in in full time flight instructing and banner towing.
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And with the AOPA Air Safety Institute, and I'm working on my masters and human factors right now.
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So that comes up my frequently more frequently than I thought it was going to when we started
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recording this, Dave. And of course, both of us travel to meet new people, finding exciting
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places to fly and bring back those stories.
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I suppose the videos for AOPA pilot magazine, flight training magazine,
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and AOPTurban Pilot and our other media channels.
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And we break down some of the more complicated subjects that can affect you, our listeners.
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So thanks again for joining us today.
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That's right. We appreciate everyone who's listening to us, new listeners and loyal listeners alike.
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But Alicia, before we get into the news this week, this is something that affects you and I
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personally as well. The NTSB released a final report on the Lake Placid accident
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from October 1st, 2023. And the AOPA Air Safety Institute also released an early analysis
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on this accident. We would like to add personal notes of sympathy to the families of Russ Francis
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and former AOPA Air Safety Institute, senior VP, Richard McSpadden.
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And to all involved, including the NTSB investigators, the first responders, and our own AOPA staff.
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You can watch ASI's analysis at bit.ly slash Lake Placid Crash or on ASI's YouTube channel.
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Yes, we miss Richard. All right. Well, let's start with the news, Alicia. And we're going to
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talk about some good news and start with some good news. Let's talk about the Archie Awards.
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They're honoring air traffic controllers. And you know a little bit more about this than I do,
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because you've covered it before. I sure have. So recently, I think we actually mentioned
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this on our last hangar talk as well that these awards were going to be happening.
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The Archie League Awards, they are named after the first Air Traffic Controller Archie League.
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The middle safety awards are put on by Natka every year in Las Vegas. And they recognize
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Air Traffic controllers for extraordinary saves throughout the country. Each region gets to
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nominate various saves. And then they're selected. And then of all those saves that win per region,
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one is selected to receive the Presidents Award. This year, the Presidents Award went to the
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Western Pacific region, Joseph Seamus, for an assist with an F-15 in August 2024. So that was
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pretty impressive. You can watch more about this online on YouTube. It's very, very interesting,
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very moving stuff, you know, because as we know, you know, some things they don't always go well,
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but in these cases, these air traffic controllers are instrumental in saving lives, which is pretty
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moving. So I've been to the event a couple times. And it's a very, it's a very moving evening. And
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it's very cool to be there. And it's always exciting to listen to the stories and, you know,
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see our air traffic controllers who don't necessarily get a pat on the back every day for just
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doing their job well, which is a really tough job to do. And we talk about this literally every
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episode about just like the struggles that air traffic control is going through. So, you know,
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shout out to especially these controllers, but all controllers who are keeping a safe out there.
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So quickly, I'll just go through and give a shout out to the folks who won. As I mentioned,
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the President's Award went to Joseph Seamus in the West Pacific region. The Alaskan region
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was Anthony Quintana. Central region was Devon Turner and Nathaniel Menky. Eastern region James
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Barth. Great Lakes region Trent Hennison and Robert Hattley. New England, Joshua, Castello, and
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Brian Locquette. And Northwest Mountain region, Jonathan Russell, Southern region, Christian
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Cambridge, Southwest region was Jade Hennesse. Congratulations to all those air traffic controllers.
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And thank you to the all the air traffic controllers who keep us safe every day.
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Yeah, absolutely. We love you ATC even if we probably make your lives harder sometimes,
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but thank you for bearing with us. Now, I know I make their lives harder for sure.
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All right, well, let's move on to something else. I tease this one. The last of the World War Two
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Tuskegee Airmen is remember this is from Aft brief. The last surviving Tuskegee Airmen who flew
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overseas has passed away. His service represents an historic milestone in aviation and civil rights.
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It reminds us that the GA community has a legacy of the first African-American military aviators
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and we have talked about some of the other aviators in the past. So George Hardy, like we said,
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who is one of the last of the ones who got to fly overseas and don't forget some of their
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craft they flew were the P-51 Mustangs, which are probably no easy beasts to tame. Right.
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Hardy flew 21 missions for the all black unit during the war and he stayed in the army, serving in
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Korea and Vietnam with a legacy of courage, resilience and skill. He was saluted by saying that we
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are forever grateful for his sacrifice and will hold dear to his memory from Leon Butler. Leon is
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the national president of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. Well a little bit more about Hardy. He qualified
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in 1942 when he was just 19. He came one of the youngest members of the squadron, more than a
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thousand people including all the support personnel including folks who from delivering the mail to
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working on the aircraft to help and build runways and keep the aircraft in the air were attached to
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that squadron but only 300 went to Europe. Right. And there are 13 members of the squadron who are
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still alive but Hardy was one of the last who went actually overseas. So he's flown west but we
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appreciate his service and actually the red tails live on because there are some current versions of
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the red painted tail aircraft that the more modern aircraft that are in the training fleet to this
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day. So that is kind of interesting. Yeah it is. It is. The legacy lives on and we're certainly
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thankful to him and all the Tuskegee Airmen for what they did. That's right. Listen now you
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tease this one about the government shutdown beginning but air traffic controllers will keep
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working. Yes. So there's a little bit more to this as we record this government funding ran out
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on September 30th which as we record this it was yesterday. So AAPA along with 50 members of the
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modern skies coalition urged lawmakers earlier on to avoid the shutdown but the shutdown is upon us.
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We don't know how long it will last. It could be days. It could be longer. There was a letter written
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to some of the leaders to try to avoid this and the coalition underscored the negative impacts a
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shutdown would have across the country and the aviation industry because government shutdowns
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harm the US economy and degrade the redone disease and margins of safety that our national air
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space system is built upon the letter stated. Yes exactly and you know it continued to go on to say
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that although air traffic controllers technicians and other exempted aviation safety professionals
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could continue to work without paid or shutdown many other FAA employees who support them are furloughed.
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So that's right. This is just while the air traffic controllers are still there you know the whole
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system is not again talking about systems just like last week but the whole system is not working
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at full speed which is introducing risk. You know it's a system that we don't really like more risk
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especially when it's something like this that arguably can be controlled so. Well yeah and we've
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actually in previous programs we've talked about funding and the continuation of funding.
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There have been bills introduced that would sort of exempt the FAA from having to start and stop
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and start which has in fact in the past affected FAA ATC modernization. Right. So but anyway let's
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get back to the modern skies coalition. It formed earlier this year with more than 50 companies and
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organizations across the industry and they came together. Yeah within the unified push to modernize
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existing air traffic control and to expand hiring and training of controllers. We're a quick
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moment to read from Jay Wiles his story. Thank you Jay. Since then the Congress has approved $12.5
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billion towards ATC modernization efforts and as we all know an additional 19 billion dollars is
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expected to be needed to complete the work. Right. So the 12.5 billion was the down payment that
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Sean Duffy said and the 19 billion he was going to ask for more recently to help complete the job
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and to get more solid infrastructure into place. Well also it's like you have to actually do it now.
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Yeah. It's sad to stress. It's like you can get that done but it's like if nothing's if the
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government shut down if nothing is going to get done. So and like we said you know separately the
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coalition is previously called for the FAA to be exempt from the effects of government shutdowns.
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Yeah. By temporarily funding the agency now this is answer saying funding the agency through the
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airport and airway trust fund which already finds a significant portion of the agency's budget.
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Right. So that measure has been already suggested and I would like to see that the FAA be exempt
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from the effects of government shutdowns. This does not make sense to me. It doesn't really make
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sense to me either you know like I obviously I don't have the whole financial picture but at the
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same time it's like it seems like taking the system and trying to cut it into pieces and saying
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which part of the system is essential and which part isn't. It's a little unnecessarily risky.
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Yeah. And it seems like that's what they're doing you know. So taking one part of you know it's
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like taking pieces off off something and saying like okay what's the absolute it's like a minimum
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equipment. Let's like what's the absolute minimum equipment we can we can work with here you know.
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We can associate with a minimum equipment. Yeah and it's like okay fine like maybe I can fly
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with this but like I don't really want to and like at a certain point it's like if you're just
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putting in up on all these things that you're used to relying on at what point are you just like
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this is too much. So I don't know I send us an email if you like that explanation or if you didn't
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like it. Well you know what this now is a good time to mention we do have an email it's a podcast
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that AOPA.org. You can also email our personal emails which is just our first. Last name at AOPA.org
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so that's true that's true. Good spot here to say folks if you have ideas for stories you want us
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to cover or talk about or fun people to see or meet or places to go also drop us a line we're
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always open to hearing from our members and from folks who are not yet members but listening to
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hangar talk. Thank you so much. Yeah as we are in our 10th season so we've been doing this for a
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little while and we'll be right back. This podcast is brought to you by Pilot Insurance Center.
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policy for you and for your family. Visit PICLife.com for more. All right so moving on this is one that
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I T Israel briefly the FAA funding stability act was introduced thanks to AOPA and the general
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aviation news which we both covered this a bipartisan bill Aynster protect the FAA from future
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shutdowns like we were just talking about. Yeah exactly. By ensuring stable funding if fast
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that would prevent interruptions to certification, route making, safety oversight and ATC operations
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that general aviation depends on. Yes exactly and Congressman Steve Cohen from Tennessee
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said aviation system is too critical to be caught up in Washington's budget battles. This bill
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will allow the FAA to tap into the airport and airway trust fund which you mentioned to keep
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essential operations running. So plain stay in the air safety inspections continue and modernization
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projects don't guide to a halt. So this is you know this is what we are just talking about this sort
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of the story we just talked about rolls right into this one and just you know putting these safeguards
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in for this already fragile system would help improve the safety and efficiency of the whole system
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with these tools that we can introduce to to help the performance at least maintain and hopefully
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improve you know. That's true you know I think about we talked a little bit about ATC and we talked
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about the Archie Awards system in a go. We talked about air traffic control so much which I think
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is interesting because it does you know it does affect us all so it does. Even if you're flying in
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non-towered fields like sorry it does affect you too because there are people flying in and out of
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back to the previous story I don't know if we put a fine point on this one Alicia but we should
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even though we're still going to have all the safety backups in place and ATC is working the
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air traffic controllers are currently not going to be paid for a while so this is like out of the
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goodness of their hearts they're working for us. Out of trust that the government will come back
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and it's just like the way that that also psychologically influences performance should be
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considered too because it's just like you're going to work you're not probably in a good mood.
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Not if you're worried about food on the table or your mortgage. Yeah seriously and so that alone
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it's like yes they're required essential workers things will keep going they'll get paid eventually
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but just having that additional stressor plus a more fragile system with that support staff there
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is concerning you know because again it's like we can't take the human the human is a big part
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of the equation and the way that this probably psychologically affects air traffic controllers is
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is a factor in their performance so. Absolutely well let me finish off on this one before we move on
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but one other thing I wanted to point out was the bill that you said was filed by Steve Cohen also
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representative Andre Carson. It's called the airport and airway trust fund. Right. Which already
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funds most of the FAA's budget you know Alicia thinking way back Congress changed budget rules
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in the 1970s and since then more than 20 government shutdowns have occurred but of those only one
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in 2018 and 2019 lasted for more than 30 days. So let's hope it doesn't last at long. So we could be
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in for the long haul again is what you're saying. We could be we could be in the trust fund
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it collects money from tickets fuel and cargo taxes and that generally that's enough for
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revenue to sustain FAA programs even during funding laughs but we're well again what we're saying is
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that we want to have a bill introduced that shields the FAA from government shutdowns yes and to me
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it sounds like a no-brainer I mean that would be a good way to keep things going yeah there are lots
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of things that seem like no-brainers and yet the struggle continues but the struggle is real. So
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really a guest editorial by AOPA's Jim Koon who handles a lot of the behind the scenes
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maneuvering in downtown Washington DC and he meets with a lot of our congressional leaders behind
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the scenes he normally is a a person we don't hear much about he likes it that way he does but he
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did have a very interesting editorial in general aviation news and we feel that this is we're talking
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yes absolutely so there's a new bill proposed that aims to shield GA pilots from the misuse of
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ADSB tracking data and advocates say that the measure will protect privacy and security while
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maintaining safety and accountability in the national airspace system yeah and it's known as the
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pilot in aircraft privacy act or papa which would prohibit the use of ADSB data for
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billing purposes you know keep it out there for safety purposes but not for billing purposes and
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there's a house bill and a senate bill that simply seeks to keep the skies safe and protect
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the privacy of all pilots the US Senator Ted Bud yes representative Bob onter authorized the
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legislation and they are both active pilots yes they sure are Jim Koon reminded folks in the
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editorial that GA pilots spent more than a half a billion dollars to meet the FAA's 2020 ADSB
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mandate yes a APA along with other industry partners supported the mandate after the FAA
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conveyed that ADSB data would only be used for airspace safety and air traffic efficiencies and
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that's not exactly what's happened is it Dave T it is not the third parties are getting in the
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game with the four profit companies that track and access our personal information and then send us
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an invoice right so now we're not saying don't get out there and stand at the edge of the runway
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with binoculars that is fine no problem if your airport wants to do that and bill people for landing
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that is fine yeah we want our surveillance to be old school only well that is because we did not
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agree to use ADSB for this invasive and privacy you know violation yeah exactly well I mean we
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would prefer to have no landing fees in places well of course of course of course yes you know he
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makes an interesting point which is what if we use someone's license plate to access DMV records to
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obtain your or someone else's home address exactly same concept with third party companies are
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cleaning ADSB data running an in number through the data registry that phase registry to obtain
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our personal information I understand this and I I agree with Jim on this this is a not what we
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agreed to and a P.A. and all the industry folks got together said hey for safety yes but for other
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reasons now right and privacy and surveillance is just an increasing concern in this day and age
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where we have cameras facing us all the time almost everywhere almost everywhere we don't want
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landing fees anywhere and we especially don't want ADSB to be abused in this way to you know
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harass pilots and violate their privacy so let's hope that this goes forward this is you know not
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unlike ATC this is going to be a continuing issue and I'm interested to see where it goes right and
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so three important things before to leave the subject I think might be worth it just to review to
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clarify the bill would prohibit the use of ADSB data to impose fees number one number two when
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the bill becomes law airports will still have the ability to impose reasonable fees at their discretion
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but number three they would not be allowed to use ADSB data for this purpose Jim points out that
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there are a couple of states that are already you know enacting laws to prevent the use of ADSB
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data for collection fees and that's interesting but a cohesive nationwide strategy he says is essential
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to avoid a patchwork of laws highlighting the critical role of the federal PAPA act so keep the
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skies safe it's okay to land at places please airports post how much it is to land if there's a fee
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involved we do sometimes see that but don't do it nefariously and you and I have talked about this
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several times there are over 5,000 public use airports in the US that receive federal funding
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get your money that way true okay we are very passionate about that subject yes speaking of being
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passionate let's introduce someone who's very passionate about flying Miss Montana a DC-3 in Montana
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and again special thanks to our publications department for grabbing this interview Julie
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walking Rebecca Boone let's introduce Brian Douglas Douglas with two S's
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my name is Brian Douglas we are in just south of Calispell Montana at a fly-in at Sky Ranch we do it
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here and it's great fun what are we in? ah what are we in we're in a 1944 C-47 DC-3 named Miss
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Montana and how do you get the privilege of being a pilot for Miss Montana? well you have to show
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up the way you get to be a pilot for Miss Montana is mainly you have to just show up and keep showing
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up and pretty soon you get to do some fun things were you a volunteer on the whole project or what's
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your role in the Miss Montana project? my first role was co-instigator of the project with Eric and
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we heard about the D-Day squadron and aspired to maybe join them had no idea what we're up against
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or what was involved and we're storing the airplane or certainly flying her and so we just took
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one step at a time and over the course of almost a year we got her restored we were late but we
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made it in time for the main event and the process learned to fly her and thankfully are still flying her
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so pilot to pilot tell me about how this airplane feels it seems like it would be heavy it seems
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like it would be ungainly but it's really not right? this airplane's coming from a guy who's a
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single engine small GA pilot this was a big a big change had very little multi-in experience very
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little tail oil experience and guess what you have both of them in the same airplane so it's been
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a lot of learning from me one of the first thing you notice when you come from a smaller plane is
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how long that stinkin wing is I mean it's enormous and once you get up there and have time to look
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out there it just keeps like it feels forever but the controls are heavy but it's very forgiving
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very has no really bad habits to speak of it's flies like any other bigger airplane course there's
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no boosted controls it's all wires and manual there's no power steering in other words so yeah it's
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a lot of mass and like any tail-wheel airplane it's it could be a handle a lot to handle on the ground
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is it more the handling on the ground than it is in the air when the flying last night it seemed like
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it was yeah even a could do it yeah so when this airplane's airborne and cruise and trimmed out
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it just really is a joy to fly you can do it with two fingers and just rumbles along at roughly
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three miles a minute and has great visibility even though on the ground the visibility doesn't seem
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very good in flight flight deck is level and your face is pretty close to the windshield and
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it's just great visibility so tell us about all this did you all restore all of what's in the cockpit
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and what what are we seeing here we did a complete cockpit restoration we took out probably 200
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pounds of old radios and wiring and replaced it with some modern GPS and navcom radios and some
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attitude indicators all of the the round dials were rehabilitated or or overhauled we have one
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clock here that's was actually flown on D-Day by a guy that walked in one day and wanted us to
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take it back to Normandy for him so that's we call that the D-Day clock and there's a great story
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in my book about that clock and somebody I did write a book about this whole thing when it was over
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we started talking about it and trying to tell the story and it became apparent pretty quickly that
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there were just too many little stories that happened in the whole course of the project and
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the first idea and then developing through the restoration and then the trip over and back and
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then add in the history of D-Day and history of the Berlin Air Lift so I felt like I really needed
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to write it down if for nobody else than my grandkids but it turns out people like it pretty
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well it's a great story inspirational story and nobody thought we could do it we were the
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finally made it to England and arrived with most of the rest of the squadron very quickly the other
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cruise came over and congratulated us and but told us don't take this the wrong way but we're
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pretty sure you weren't going to make it what do you like flying best about this day? I think the
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thing I like best about it is the take-offs and landings because they're the hardest take-offs
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aren't all that hard but it's got so much horsepower compared to what I'm used to flying and you
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bend these throttles and it just roars and it comes off the ground so nicely we most of the time
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we're fine I find it pretty light so it takes out beautifully it just maybe more than anything
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being able to fly this airplane with all the history and heritage not only of this airplane
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but of the airframe the whole DC-CREASE-C-47 family there've been some really famous
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amazing mountain pilots have had their hands on these yolks and we get to sit here into the same thing
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and I can name them for you, heritage dad being one of them so it's a real privilege to do it and
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then we get to come to air shows and tell people about it and share the amazing history of these
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airplanes and the kids we get the kids up here I always try to we always block the cockpit off
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it at an air show that kids get kids get to get up front and I don't know how many of them we put
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up here and the most emerges ecstatic and so you just see in that you never know what that's
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going to inspire someday what do you dislike about flying the airplane oh I don't think there's
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anything I don't like about flying it's just an amazing historical capable airplane what do you
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think it's future is well I like to say that this airplane has had two two brushes with death in
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its history that we know of and many of these airplanes are rotting in wheat fields around the world
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who knows what the future holds for this airplane but we're going to do our best to make sure that
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we don't see the end of it so we're going to try and keep her flying we need it takes money to fly it
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we have to have pilots and mechanics and honestly most people say that if there's one thing that
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will keep these airplanes grounded eventually is the lack of good mechanics that can not work on
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radio engines that you know what they say without a mechanic a pilot is just a good looking guy walking
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down the street so I'll say the story of this clock sky walk in was actually the day
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where first flight and sky walks in ahead and see them before the museum is busy people everywhere
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and he had something in his hand and I tried to go and greet people hey how you doing well you
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guys are really busy I don't want to bother you no I said we got some time we're just getting ready
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to fly the airplane and so he said well let me tell you a story my dad flew a B-26 in the war
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and at the end of the war they were in France somewhere and they were ordered to taxi their airplanes
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to the end of the runway and open the gas and light them on fire destroy them and so they did
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but before he did he took the uh it's called the eight day clock as if you wind it up it's supposed
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to run for eight days and he said he took that out and he brought it home and when he died I got it
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I think it's an Elgin clock I found a place that would repair them had it repaired and my son is
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a captain with a Alaska Airlines and I would really love it if you guys would take this clock to
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Normandy and fly it over the beaches again and bring it back so that I can give it to my son of course
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we would but my first thought was where are we going to put it because we lose stuff all the time
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he could fall down and be gone forever then I had an idea when we restored the cockpit we had
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some blind holes I said let's go up here so we had came up here and there was a blind hole right
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here and I said can we put it there it'll be safe it'll stay there and be safe yeah it'd be great
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so we did so fast forward we're flying between Iceland and Scotland on the way over who were it
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whatever 10,000 feet and I'm over here and Jeff White's over here and before we left we had wound
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them both we got a new one here we wound them both up and set them to Montana time so we were
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cruising along rumbit along and there's not much to do so I'm just looking around and I look over
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and I have to notice that this one's off the time is not set correctly so I said to Jeff oh that
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the D-Day clock is not isn't keeping time I reached over to change and he said wait a minute
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no Jeff was a career airline pilot and he's one of those people he knows what time it is where
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you left and when you're going and everything in between and he looks at me he looks at his watch
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he looks at the clock he says it's on normally time and I looked at it and it was so we didn't touch him
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so that's freaky do what you want with that so how did um you get to keep it though you said you
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wanted to get some sort yeah it doesn't happen so the I thought the guy would look us up when we got
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back and as to get his clock back and we were fully prepared to do that and I never heard from
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I've never heard from and then one day I was standing in line for a movie and he recognized me
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and said hey remember me I'm the guy that brought the clock and oh yeah you should come up we've
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got your clock you wanted to give it to your son he goes no I think it's just right where it is
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so it stays yeah little stories like that I mean that's why I wrote the book is you you could take
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too long to tell all the little things that happened
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well that was interesting and DC-3s are very special and that was a cool conversation
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I agree 100% Alicia thanks again to everybody for grabbing that well sadly that's all the time we
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have our audio engineer is Austin Hanson and don't forget you could find us at aopa.org slash
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hangar talk or wherever you get your podcasts see you next time Dave T will see you then
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let's show thanks hangar talk from aopa your freedom to fly
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