Chapter 7: Flying High- A Pilot's Journey with Cole Hood

Join us as we soar through the inspiring journey of Cole Hood, a dedicated student at North Carolina State University. From navigating multiple major changes to earning his pilot's license, Cole shares the pivotal moments that shaped his passion for aviation, including cherished memories with his grandfather and uncle.

In this episode, we explore the cultural significance of flying in the U.S., delve into the rigorous training processes of aviation, and hear about a thrilling incident involving a miscalculated wind that took Cole to an unexpected military base landing. Discover how curiosity and passion fuel his learning journey, and listen as he reveals his top Clifton Strengths: communication, strategic thinking, input, positivity, and individualization.

Buckle up for an enlightening conversation that highlights the sky-high potential within us all!

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Creators & Guests

Host

Veronika Becher

What is Identity Library?

Welcome to the Identity Library, a captivating podcast hosted by Veronika Becher, a German student exploring life in the United States. Join me as we unravel the different layers of identity and embark on a quest for authenticity. Each episode delves into how our backgrounds, cultures, and personal journeys sculpt our sense of self.

Every month, we journey into a new cultural landscape with our guests, sharing stories and experiences from the tapestry of life. Whether you're forging a path in a foreign land or simply curious about the forces that define us, The Identity Library invites you to write your own narrative or uncover fresh perspectives.

So, settle in with a cup of tea and immerse yourself in tales from around the globe with some sense of humor. If you don't find your story here, keep exploring—there are countless books with chapters waiting to be discovered. Identity Library is a podcast by WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2.

Veronika Becher 0:00
Hey everyone, and welcome to another episode of identity library. My name is Veronika Becher, and today I'm joined by Cole. Oh my gosh. We will not start with your last name, please.

This is

he's really coughing.

Cole Hood 0:15
Yes, we have a sick person in the studio. And like you all know, we always start our episodes pretty late. It's literally almost 9pm but that's okay. That's what you get from spontaneous people, right? So welcome to the stage. Call the victory of the people. I'll let you know why the victory of the people. But do you want to introduce yourself, maybe to the listeners and stage? Absolutely. My name is Cole hood. I am from North Carolina, and I'm a student at North Carolina State University, and I have Instagram. And Veronika posted something on Instagram saying, who wants to come on my podcast, and like everyone else on Earth, I love hearing the sound of my own voice.

So I said, Veronika, I have a great story.

Bring me on your podcast. It'll be awesome. It was more like, oh, I want to be I'm actually good, no, no. The introduction was literally, I would like to be on your podcast. And I'm like, okay, so what can you tell me? You're like, Oh, I'm a great, like, talker. I can communicate so well people, no, I can talk about anything. And I was like, okay, so

Veronika Becher 1:25
and so that was the most spontaneous and also interesting request that I've gotten so far. So I was like, Yes, why not identity with the you know,

Cole Hood 1:36
pilot, my identity is an excellent communicator.

That was too fast. Okay, sorry, sorry, we're getting we're getting right to the end of the podcast. Okay, everyone can go home. Thank you. Thank you for listening so enrich. Jokes aside. Um, yeah, what are you studying?

I am studying for a bachelor of art in economics, but I wasn't originally

what happened. The reason I'm laughing is because I have switched majors about 20,000 million times. How many times?

Officially,

Veronika Becher 2:19
let's

Cole Hood 2:22
let's

just think,

Okay, I think officially, only two or three, maybe four. I don't know what counts, but I am on the track to get a bachelor in economics and graduate on time. But I originally went into college

at a different school, and I was just in the general business program,

and then I met a bunch of friends that were engineers there, and they convinced me to to transfer majors and get an engineering major. And you should, people don't do that. And there's a reason that people don't transfer to engineering majors, because in the United States, if you enter college without a

boatload of credits, it's really hard to graduate on time with an Engineering Bachelor's degree. And I had no idea, so I just switched to engineering, and then didn't realize that it would take so long anyway.

I realized that it took me way too long to graduate, and I switched back to business, specifically economics. I almost did computer science. My mom convinced me

not to parents. I'm sorry nothing as your mom I was more like a joke. You know, when you have this one parent that tells you something like, maybe you shouldn't go into this field, and then you're like,

maybe, you know, I wish that I had taken their advice. In some ways, they're older, they've been through more of life. I would say, you know, when people say, Oh,

Veronika Becher 3:56
I don't listen to my parents, well, I think the greatest lessons we've ever like experience is when we don't follow someone's advice and we actually do the same mistakes. It would be so much easier to just tell everyone all the mistakes you've done.

Said the structures are crazy, whatever,

all the German

Cole Hood 4:18
I cannot. Let's switch. Give me a year no longer. No,

Veronika Becher 4:22
no, we're not doing that. Um, but basically, just if you could tell anyone everything they've done wrong in their life, you would still listen. They would still wouldn't listen. Yes, and the moment you actually commit the biggest mistakes in your life, you like, come back and you're like, I don't know if I want to acknowledge and tell my parents that I actually didn't listen to them, didn't listen to the advice. I'll probably never tell my mom fully on how many, like, how many times she was actually right? Yeah, yeah, let's just keep it this way.

Cole Hood 4:49
Hey, you need to make your own mistakes. That's an important part of life, especially especially while you're young,

Veronika Becher 4:57
especially when you're young, yes.

Cole Hood 4:59
So advice from a 21 year old beautiful so

Veronika Becher 5:03
what happened afterwards? You were in computer engineering, and then you switched I

Cole Hood 5:08
was, I was doing mechanical engineering at a school that's about two hours away from here, and I switched back to business, and then studied abroad, and then transfer to NC State immediately after studying abroad. So, yeah, pretty wild. But

Veronika Becher 5:27
and then you call me being wild with my story. Just saying, just saying, Well,

Cole Hood 5:32
I mean, at least you didn't waste credits. I assume I have a lot of wasted courses that I took.

Veronika Becher 5:38
You could literally listen to another episode that I recorded where we literally discuss if we think things are wasted or not. If you go to college, yeah, but I feel like I still agree that you'll learn things for yourself, and even if it's not the course content, that's fine.

Cole Hood 5:55
The waste would be studying something that you don't want to study. You'd be going down the path that you don't want to do. That would be a waste,

Veronika Becher 6:03
but you don't know what it is sometimes, yeah, so you still go towards that degree switch, if you have to, yeah, but yeah, why victory of the people again? Just for the listeners, um,

Cole Hood 6:15
I don't know. You told me,

Veronika Becher 6:17
wait, literally, just discovered talking about the last episode. We were literally talking with Abdullah about the meaning of names in the origin of our names, and we decided to look up what Cole means. And apparently Cole is the victory of the people, and Veronica means the victory bringer. So we kind of related. Just realized that, yeah. So we in Alabama. I'm sorry, my dear friends. Sorry. Jokes aside, let's just actually start the proper I feel like, I hope everyone is now relaxed. Got their cup of coffee and tea. That's crazy. Broke

Cole Hood 6:56
the ice. Have you not heard that expression? No, wow. Breaking the ice is Oh,

Veronika Becher 7:01
like, Oh my gosh. I thought like not ice, but actually, like ice broke the

Cole Hood 7:09
eyes by being so incredibly ugly. Why

Veronika Becher 7:13
would you break your

eyes, but not the eyes? Oh my gosh. This is such a misunderstanding. Cultural misunderstandings are funny, but starting off finally and switching over to your actually episode, because it's not about me, it's about you. You want to just start off with, like, why did you want to be on my podcast? And what is something that brought you where you decided to be my dear friend.

Cole Hood 7:46
Um, yeah, I guess we're supposed to talk about airplanes, right? We're supposed to talk about that topic, right?

Veronika Becher 7:55
But the ice, which is so prominent, we will literally just Yes, we had to break it. If anyone ever read the book The Sandman? Uh, read it you Yes. You understand why I'm talking about ice. It's a literature book, but it's not really ethical. It's Yes, it is fiction. It's a really famous um, the salmon et a eta Hoffman, written by a German, actually, man that love dark romance, or dark romantic books. It's like a genre, and he was like, literally using ice, almost in all like on all pages in each sentence, I

Cole Hood 8:39
would get sick of ice, reading that the ice is broken. So I'm I'm supposed to talk about getting my pilot license, because that's, that's one of the most significant things I've done in my life, and that's what this is about. It's about who I am. So let's get into it. I look the first thing I want to say is that I need to explain the entire thing. This is going off the rails.

Too many idiots,

Unknown Speaker 9:17
too many How

Cole Hood 9:19
do I how do I explain this to you? You are from Germany, yes, but you spent some time in the United States when you were younger. Did you have experience with the culture of general aviation in this country when you were younger? Or recently,

Veronika Becher 9:34
I love how we're switching. You're the interviewer now, no, but actually, have a friend who lives in Berlin and Hamburg at the same time. Don't ask who is into like flying and being a pilot. So they

Cole Hood 9:51
ever take you in the airplane or take you to the airplane? I'm scared of heights, but my grandpa is afraid of heights, but he's a wonderful Pilot. It, oh

Veronika Becher 10:00
my gosh, that's crazy pilot. But I'm not scared of flying, actually, on airplanes, like if I'm flying back home to Germany, yes, I'm not scared of it at all. Actually, some people are. I'm not really scared. I I like it. It depends how you fly.

Cole Hood 10:22
Well, in the United States, as part of our culture, we have a general aviation industry. And unlike in the in the European Union, in the United States, flying small aircraft is attainable for people of the middle class and and whatnot, and obviously people that have more money, it's much more expensive in the EU so that's one thing that you can take away from being in The United States is that aviation is popular here. It's part of our culture of individualism. But, yeah, I mean the story, the end story,

you know,

the the point of the story is that I became a pilot. I trained when I was in middle school and high school at the urging of my grandfather, and it's a big part of who I am. So you know, when I as I was growing up, my grandfather, who's a pilot, would take us flying. A few times we flew down to the Bahamas, which is just south southwest of Florida. And my uncle also was a pilot, and he would bring us into his airplane and show us what the Earth looks like from the sky. And sometimes he would let us sit in the captain's seat and actually steer the plane. Well I have a have many memories of this. What is

Veronika Becher 12:05
it like, one of your most memorable and favorite memory that you had with your, um, grandpa, or anyone in your family flying

Cole Hood 12:17
it's hard to pick out one specific memory. You know, it really was that it was part of the culture of our family. I mean, instead of asking like, when are you know, when are my grandparents driving in, we would say, When are they flying in? But when I was in middle school, my family and I took a trip to Ohio and to Washington, DC, and we flew airplanes, and we stopped at a few aviation museums on the way Ohio, notably, is the birthplace of the Wright brothers. You familiar with them,

Veronika Becher 13:01
you can tell the story, though. I think it'll be interesting for some listeners.

Cole Hood 13:06
I don't know the story that well, but the Wright brothers were the two brothers who claimed to have invented flight, although there are people who say that it was actually someone else, I think, in Europe. But they were born in Ohio and owned a bicycle shop, and they were fascinated with the idea of human flight. And the only kind of flight that we had at the time, this was around 1900 was without wings, but lighter than air balloons. But they saw a bird flying, and they wanted to replicate that, but for humans. So they went in their bike shop and built a contraption, and then they came over to North Carolina, where we are, to the beach, Kitty Hawk, and they tested their invention. And I believe, the first time that they traveled to North Carolina, they didn't succeed. And then later times they did. But you know, in 1901 they're credited as having performed the first human flight of a heavier than air aircraft, so one that isn't full of helium, yeah. And anyway, they were born in Ohio, and so today there's a huge museum there that's just full of all kinds of aircraft. And I remember when I was in middle school, me and my my father and my cousins flew over there to to learn about, you know, this great piece of our country's history and culture. So to go from that to starting the process of getting my pot license, it wasn't even a question for me when I was in middle school of whether or not I.

It,

yeah, whether or not I would go that do that process exactly because

it was the coolest thing that a middle schooler could do. So I had to say yes, and the opportunity was being offered to me as well. And

not a lot of people get such an opportunity. So I said, Yes, yes, I would love to get my pilot license. And I began training in seventh grade, which is way too young to be flying airplanes.

Veronika Becher 15:36
I think so many things here in the United States are so like, sometimes I'm just questioning it. I'm like, you're like, too young. You're 13 years old driving a car, okay, but you can't drink 220 Yes, um, but then I'm like, we only drive when we 18. I still don't have my driver's license. You'll be like, yes, yes. I know. I even work for a company that is actually, like, manufacturing cars, and it's a shame for me, but I just moved around so much

Cole Hood 16:04
that I never needed it. Common in Germany, you don't need cars,

Veronika Becher 16:07
yes and no, it depends. My dad was driving me, and then I moved. And I just never needed it when I was like, literally, my college town just walked. That's how I get all my 18,000 steps per day. But yeah, going back actually, to the flying thing is such an interesting story. It reminds me you were joking about your career and how you switched from like business to engineering. You would have loved been born in Germany. For one reason, my German business school, university, ESP business school, they offer, this is not a commercial they offer a project engineering degree where their end goal, or the end thesis, let's go this way, is to actually build a whole like um, aircraft yourself, and in the actually fly it as they are, like final project. And it's, it's part of the business school. So you get, like the business aspect too. And you do like project or plan and engineering. I forgot like the actual name, but it's literally, you build it together. It's a really small, like, group of people, I think, like maybe 25 people that they accept, and then you, literally, you have a whole workshop, just like to build a craft, like a small one. Sorry, I just remembered, and I was like, Maybe I should share that with you. But yeah, yeah.

Cole Hood 17:43
I mean, I suppose if I had ended a program in college that was actually interesting to me, I probably would not have switched so much thinking back on that, like if I had found a program that had mixed aviation and business or management things that I was interested in at the time especially, I probably would have had a better time, but I did. When I went into college, I found fellow pilots, and I was active in the Aviation Club. I started the Aviation Club at my school. But where were we in? The

Veronika Becher 18:20
story. The story was, you were talking about the museum and right?

Cole Hood 18:24
And then starting flying, yes, so yeah, so you were talking about ages. So to get your pilot license in the United States, you have to be 17. But to fly lighter than air aircraft, such as hot air balloons, you can be 16 into flag lighters, which don't have engines, they're just towed up into the air by other aircraft, and then they kind of float down. So I was training when I was like 13, so I had, like, four years to get this accomplishment under my belt, because I had to be 17, obviously, and it's something that you can do in like one year. So I was I started really early on. But, yeah, it was exciting. I still have memories of going to the airport and, you know, making my flight plan, studying the weather, studying aircraft components, studying flying procedures at such a young age, and going up with my instructor and practicing landing.

Veronika Becher 19:37
Could you tell me more about what you need to do to prepare for flight. I just never done it before. I'm just curious what you do.

Cole Hood 19:46
Yeah. So first of all, there are a lot of differences between flying a small aircraft, like when I was flying Cherokee 140 or a Cessna 172 and flying large. Aircraft, like the ones that cross the Atlantic, the one

Veronika Becher 20:04
the Boeing 737, the one that I use all the time to like, yeah,

Cole Hood 20:07
the one that we all know, yes, that we've all been on. But there are also similarities. So some principles are just important, no matter what. So one of the key skills that I had to develop in my training was the ability to do dead reckoning. So essentially, this gets a little bit complicated, but I'll try to explain at any given moment the air above Earth is moving, and that we call that wind, and in general, it's steady. It moves in just one direction. At the same time, you might be flying an airplane through that wind and trying to get from point A to point B on earth. Well, it's like the medium through which you're flying is moving while you're trying to get from point A to point B. So if you flew directly towards point a or, sorry, towards point B, you you wouldn't get there because the wind would push you away from it. Does that make sense? So you have to based on this wind speed and direction change the heading you fly so that you actually make it to the point you're trying to get to. People don't think about this, but it's fundamental in flying. So when I would fly a flight, or when I would plan a flight, for example, I would have to pick out each point that I wanted to fly to, I would have to discern the wind speed and wind direction, and I would have to determine the heading to fly, the actual heading on the compass in order to get to that point. And on top of that, I would have to determine, based on my plane speed through the air and the speed of the air over the earth, how long it would take to get from one point to another. And then on top of that, you need to write that down, and then time yourself to know when you get to the next the point that you're trying to get to that's called Dead Reckoning. Okay, there's a lot, there's a lot of moving parts.

Veronika Becher 22:28
I'm curious, how close to the flight do you have to plan something like that?

Cole Hood 22:35
You have to plan it pretty soon before, because the wind information isn't always accurate if you plan super far in advance. So usually I would show up at the airport and plan my flight there, like an hour before my lesson was supposed to start, and then the instructor would show up and I would already have the flight plan ready. So now dead reckoning isn't a skill that pilots need these days, because they have GPS and they have systems that do the math for them as well. But when you're a pilot that's in training, it's really, really important that you nail down those skills. So that's what we did, and I got pretty good at it, you know, just hope and pray that the information that you're given about the wind is accurate, because if not, you might be a couple miles off of your waypoint. We actually had a an instructor at one of my later schools. Well, we're going to get into that part of the story, but I actually changed flight schools. We had an instructor actually miscalculate and fly over a military base, through airspace that was completely restricted, that no civilian should ever fly into. And they landed at the Air Base, which is even worse, they were pulled out of their plane by people with guns and uniforms, questioned for like six hours. It was a whole mess. And then that guy lost his job. The student probably never flew again. But, yeah, that's what that's what happens when you mess up dead reckoning. But

Veronika Becher 24:25
then I'm, I'm just curious. Okay, what is, of course, you can

Cole Hood 24:30
there's a lot I can talk about now that I'm Reto. I'm talking about again because it's been a while since I've flown now that I'm having a conversation about it, I'm reminded about how complicated it actually is. There's so much I could tell you about it. I mean, we could literally be here for hours.

Veronika Becher 24:44
That's fine. That's fine. I'm here for it. Um, I'm just, it is really interesting. I'm just curious. Isn't like a person's life more important? It's like a controversial thing, like, just imagine there'll be, like, something changed the wind changed. It, and you have to land somewhere else, because it happened, right? It happens all the time, like, and then, if you think about it, um, it's interesting how this instructor got questioned, because it makes sense, right? It's a military base. But then, yeah, just imagine something would happen and they have there

Cole Hood 25:24
was an emergency. Yes, you're talking about if there's an emergency and you have to land in a military Yes, um, if, if you are flying a plane and you have an emergency, you can declare that over the radio station for the area that you're in and the the air traffic controller that's listening then allows you to take all necessary actions to save everyone in the aircraft. Yes, land. So you can land anywhere that's safe. So and you have to say Mayday three times, May Day, May Day, May Day. I don't know. I think you can also say pan, pan three times. I don't know where that comes from. That's just what they say. But if you say Mayday, mayday, mayday, you get, you get permission to do whatever you need to do to save the lives and lives in the aircraft. So if the instructor did say Mayday Mayday Mayday, he could have landed at the military base and not gotten pulled out of the aircraft with uniform men and got with guns and questioned for six hours and gotten a lot of trouble. Yeah, he should have said, May Day, May Day, May Day, but he would have had to have a legitimate reason, obviously. But yeah, it's common for people to when they lose their engine or they have an engine fire, to land on highways and things like that. Do whatever you can to save the people in the plane. But emergencies don't happen often. Obviously,

Veronika Becher 27:03
they happen, though I always joke. It's like people are always scared to fly, but there are less accidents, more flying than car accidents, yeah, and it exists. So it's like people are always worried because some something maybe unnatural or unlike, off the ground, but then there's so many accidents daily, like in your car. Well,

Cole Hood 27:27
it's different, because when you're driving a car, you're surrounded by other death mobiles, other death vehicles, because when you're in the air, you can't hit anything. Oh my gosh, like an empty road.

Veronika Becher 27:38
I need to tell you the story. Okay, I know this has nothing to do with flying, but it reminds me every single time I learned this thing in class, and it's so interesting. Do you know why Jay walking means Jay walking while we name it this way we do this is the weirdest thing. I should never there's this thing. I think it's like 80s or something 90s. Don't name me, Don I think even earlier, but basically, Jay walking has something to because you'd mentioned how all the death mobiles are next to you. Yes, there's this really, like, famous, not picture, but it's like someone drew, like, just a little sketch something like that. Like to use it, and it's basically when the first vehicles were invented, and people were actually buying them for daily use, rather than just for commercial purposes or, like, sports, etc. It was really interesting because there's this picture where people were so scared of cars, and they thought the reason why cars are evil is because they kill people. And there's this picture, this evil car that is standing on top of the Catholic a hill, and this human being that sacrificed babies to Him. And so it's like sacrifice babies, yes. So it's like a human sacrifice. And the reason for that was because people were Jay walking all the time, and they were not thinking about the fact that, oh, there's a car, so that you were just walking. They didn't care about the car. So cars are just killing people

Cole Hood 29:13
like this. Yeah, I do that. Sometimes it's bad, like I'll just walk in front of

Veronika Becher 29:16
course, you resurrect 1000 times. Yes. And so Jay walking was actually established by the automotive industry. It was a business.

Cole Hood 29:26
They probably lobbied for the almost

Veronika Becher 29:29
what they did, it's not a law. They actually decided to create a whole propaganda type of thing, or like more, like a social experiment. All the police, like the police were running around. And every single time when someone would walk over the street, they should shout out to this person, be like you are Jay walking. How dare you

Cole Hood 29:48
Jay I know I've heard of it. Oh yeah.

Veronika Becher 29:51
And then everyone would look at them, look at this person, and feel so ashamed of doing it that they. Would never, ever do that because of the social pressure of people, the shame. Yes, they would use emotions to actually, like, teach people to not do it. But

Cole Hood 30:10
the car lobby in this country is

Veronika Becher 30:12
powerful, yes, but coming back to actually airplanes and aircrafts and everything else there's Have you seen this movie? This is, this is the messy conversation. But have you seen this movie? It's a Studio Ghibli movie. I don't know if you're familiar with like, I

know studio, studio or Ghibli. It depends,

like, what country?

Cole Hood 30:34
Yeah, I don't know how you want me to say it. I always say Ghibli. Give

Veronika Becher 30:38
Lee is actually right, because give Lee means, it's the meaning for Studio Ghibli is, it means the desert, I think. And it's like a comes from Drive from a, no, it's actually right from a different it's a has an Arabic background. But then, like a mixture of different, like languages, it means the desert, because they want to be part of the desert. Of so many different innovations, but being this one studio, yes, that actually brings us meaningful. Yeah, it is meaningful. But

Cole Hood 31:08
I just saw Spirited Away. Oh, really, yeah, last night, crazy. I just, I

Veronika Becher 31:13
love such a good way, but there's one of my favorite movies, is where the wind rises. And a lot of people where the wind rises. A lot of people don't know about it, but it's actually about aircrafts and airplanes. And it tells a story about this man who is a young man engineer who wants to be the first to actually construct in Japan. So it's based on half a real story and half a like not real story. And yes, to be like an engineer. And so it goes back to this one guy that is an Italian engineer, and they bring in this character of the builder of one of the aircrafts, like he's talking to him all the time and consulting him about the ideas and aspirations while being on the aircraft. And it's a really sad story too. So it's a happy and sad story at the same time, because he's like, he has his wife who has, I think, I don't know of cancer, but she has auto closes, but it's really sad too. But the meaning is him trying to be the first innovator, because he's so passionate about flying that he believes there is a way of us flying, and he will do everything he can to be like successful in his even though he was just a random boy in school.

Cole Hood 32:34
Yeah. I mean, it's, it's truly magical flying. Um, that's one thing I haven't talked about yet, but the feeling of being in the air and being partaking in such a incredible feat of human engineering is like no other Yeah, it's not the same feeling as being in a commercial aircraft. I wish I was current and proficient, I would take you flying, but I haven't flown much recently. But yeah, it's, it's truly a wonderful feeling, and it's something that makes me really proud to be an American, because I know that it's a it's a big part of our culture. And it's, it's big in other countries too. It's big in the in Europe, mostly. And,

Veronika Becher 33:21
yeah, my hometown in Germany, you

Cole Hood 33:23
said you have your friend. You said you have your friend. That's your pilot. Yes,

Veronika Becher 33:26
I have a friend who flies. But also my hometown, we would always see pilots like these small, like aircraft specifically, flying around, like close to apartment. And it will be always so funny, because people like wave to them, but I think it's so nice. No, actually, like my friend, he was more, it's, He's the first person I've met, randomly that was interested in, like, being a pilot in general. Um, and it just, I don't know, something I didn't really think about much as a hobby, but people are really passionate about it. Yeah, and,

Cole Hood 34:06
well, it's a big deal. I mean, it's Aerospace is just, it really is cutting edge technology still is magical. I know I keep saying that, but

Veronika Becher 34:18
no, that makes sense. It really does. I'm curious, how So would you say you found this passion? Can you can call it a passion, right or not? So that's

Cole Hood 34:31
actually an interesting point, because I don't know whether it's a passion of mine or not, because when someone offers you the opportunity to get your pilot license, I would say yes, even if I wasn't passionate about it, because that's just such a cool thing to do. So I don't know if it's exactly a passion of mine. I mean, if it was, if it was something I was dying to do, then I would, I'd be doing it right now. It's just fairly expensive, so I prefer to allocate my money for other things, but, but go ahead and ask your question. Assume it is a passion. For me, it's something I'm highly interested in.

Veronika Becher 35:18
But would you say passion? What is for you, passion? That's maybe the question.

Cole Hood 35:25
That's a great question for me, passion is something that makes me lose track of time when I'm thinking about it. I'm a really curious person, and I think that I I'm passionate about things that satisfy my curiosity. So, so I would say that at a certain point in my life it was a passion, because it did satisfy my curiosity. I mean, there was nothing more interesting to me than how planes worked and how pilots did their job and how to become a pilot. So, yeah, I think it's safe to say that it was a passion. It taught me a lot getting going through the process of training about science and physics and weather and the world of aviation in this country. But yeah, I mean, trying to think of, what do you think passions are? What do you Yeah, what are you passionate about? And why? There's got to be a couple. I don't know.

Veronika Becher 36:36
I'm passionate about a lot of things. I don't know if you're asking. It's interesting how you ask me questions back, and it's like it makes me think too well, I'm

Cole Hood 36:45
curious. I'm just trying to discern the truth.

Veronika Becher 36:47
I don't think there's a truth. I don't think there's a truth. I think passions can change throughout the years. Something you were passionate about when you were 10 might not apply when you're 20, but there's also a distinct difference between you're passionate about something, but you don't have the time for it. Like, for instance, I like a lot of things, but I don't always have the time to do it. Doesn't mean it's not a passion. I don't think, I think there are different types of passions. So something you're passionate about as a hobby, but you would never have like, you don't want to have a job in this passion field. Um, I think when you said you feel like it's something that makes you lose track of time, that's the best description, even though that probably thought there are 1000 definitions of how would you define a passion? It's just, I feel like it's something that makes me feel fulfilled and something that I do, and it doesn't drain me as much, because I really it fills me up like it fills my cup. If that makes sense, if,

Cole Hood 37:55
yeah, I know what you mean. It sort of I feel like everyone has this anxiety in me, that's the wrong word to use of that stems from worrying that they're not doing what they need to be doing in life. And if you follow your passions, then it does fill your cup, and it makes that sort of go away, that feeling, that's the feeling of being completely engaged in that in activity where such that you lose track of time. I think, I

Veronika Becher 38:24
think you can be passionate about a specific hobby. For instance, you you can be like, I'm passionate about, um, growing plants randomly, but I don't know as much about plants as I would like to, but then I don't want it to be my job. See, that's

Cole Hood 38:41
why, that's why I say that that passion is tied to curiosity, because you're passionate about plants, and as a consequence, you want to learn more about plants. That's why you're getting that minor of yours,

Veronika Becher 38:58
true,

Cole Hood 38:58
the holder horticulture minor,

Veronika Becher 39:00
yes, right? Yes. And then the other thing is, I think if

Cole Hood 39:04
there wasn't passion, there wouldn't be something you want to learn about. Go ahead.

Veronika Becher 39:09
I don't know that's like another question that I would like think of, see,

Cole Hood 39:13
there's something, there's something deep about that, that your passion is tied to curiosity. At least for me, I feel like that's the case. I

Veronika Becher 39:22
think you can be curious about something that is not your passion,

Cole Hood 39:28
but not in the same way, but I see what you mean. I see where you're coming from, because

Veronika Becher 39:33
sometimes you discover it's a passion without even knowing it, through having just curiosity to know about it, right,

Cole Hood 39:39
right? Like it's a healthy curiosity about just random stuff, everything. But

Veronika Becher 39:44
I do see the point where you're saying you become curious even more because you feel the passion behind it. But then passion can be also like, I'm really passionate talking to people. I just love talking to people. I love meeting new people, traveling and just having the most. Just conversations. But then that's something also not. I will have a job in like, it's also not a hobby specifically, but I still

Cole Hood 40:12
something that fills your cup,

Veronika Becher 40:15
yes, like aspires to me. Yeah. We actually really interesting thing. I just came back from a Leadership Weekend. Let's go this way. It's this program called CCl, creative Center for Leadership, what is in Greensboro, locally here. And one thing they talk about is the Clifton Strengths. A lot of people do the Clifton Strengths in their freshman year of college. And it's literally just an assessment similar to MBTI tests and all these tests that people just do. And it tells you, out of million billion combinations, that you can have your top five or top 30, whatever it depends which one you do, um, strengths that you have, and they explain really well what you need and what you're good at, and what you're maybe like, what you need to improve it, but it actually focus on your strengths, and then also what type of collaborator you are. And I realized for the first would you get

Cole Hood 41:18
what? What was your result? You

Veronika Becher 41:20
want to know?

Cole Hood 41:21
Yeah,

well, I feel like I could guess. No, I don't think I could guess. Um,

Veronika Becher 41:28
my top five. Well, first is communication. Well, that's the thing. It is a strength, um, being a communicator, meaning you express yourself to others you like having it's actually called me out on so many levels where I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is bad. No, seriously. They were like, you like talking to strangers. And I was like, Oh my gosh. This is crazy. This is like, I never took this test series, so I realized that they have something that resonates with me so much. People don't think too much into it. And the interesting thing about the cliftonstrengths test is apparently accordingly to like scientists, the top 10 will always be the same. They will like your top 10 strengths will always be the same throughout your whole life, unless something major happens that tremendously, that shapes you so much, then things can switch. But all they do is just switch around on the like placement. So maybe number one is not even,

Cole Hood 42:30
they don't even get replaced by something else. They just, they just

Veronika Becher 42:33
move between these, yes, between these. The top 10 state, yes. And is that is interesting. It's so interesting, and so my second thing is strategic, thinking about the big picture, being really strategic, really like it's this having 1000 ideas and putting them all together, input, collecting a lot of data, But not like data analysis, but rather information from people. Stories,

Cole Hood 43:05
these go together well,

Veronika Becher 43:07
so far, things that you like to do, learn about others. The fourth was kind of a really funny name is boo. It means when others over you create a positive Yeah, create a positive atmosphere people so they feel comfortable being in it, and make them feel like they can actually contribute to the conversation and connect so well that people just open up to you about anything, almost. And then the last is individualization, so find people that are so different from you, because you want to learn more from them and actually connect with people from different cultures and backgrounds. Now I'm actually curious what your top five are, but you have to, but it's it explains to you, even in the categories you're in, like, how you approach group work?

Cole Hood 43:57
Yeah, what was your collaborative like? The

Veronika Becher 43:59
Collaborative is more like the group work thing, and so I'm an influencer. I'm actually, like, this is an interesting thing. Usually you have one type, because these categories, these strengths, are in different, four categories that you can, like, classify in. And I'm have two that are, like, actually mixed in, and technically, actually three. I'm missing the executive one. So it's like actually being really, like, focused on the small scale tasks, and just like focusing on these and actually doing it right away. If you see a task, you just do it. You just jump into it. But I'm a strategic, strategic thinker, so someone who thinks a lot about the big picture, I get the idea, but then I don't know how to implement it, but I have the idea. Then the and I'm an influencer, someone who is gets well like works well with people together, but also it's not only people. There's. Relationship builder, that's the last point. Relationship builder, that's the thing. Relationship builder is my last point. So people that are actually really good, they are the glue in between different things. The influencer is the one that talks too much. What I do right now. No, keep talking. Talk too much. That's the influencer part. The strategic thinker is someone who thinks logically more like or tries to, like, create a structure and then like, say, relationship builders are the people you need to create good relationships and dynamics and a group work. Yeah? And so there.

Cole Hood 45:36
So you're not, you're not going to be the leader, but in every other way, you're, you're a valuable member to in a group project.

Veronika Becher 45:43
That's a misconception people have, because actually, you're leading in all your shapes, because each you can be the communicator, too, if you want to. It's more, it depends. It's more like a concept. Everyone has their own part. Oh, so

Cole Hood 46:02
you, what you're saying is that executive doesn't equate to leader. Yes, okay, it's

Veronika Becher 46:06
someone that, if you think about strategic thinkers, or have the idea someone needs to actually be like, pushing that we create the product. So that's the executive person, someone who the executive person's like, hands on, hands on someone these people are usually they don't like to give away work. If you work with people, you're like, Oh, this one person that always wants to do all the work by himself, because they don't trust others, that they will actually do a good job, something you see all the time, right? It's an

Cole Hood 46:37
an interesting thing, whatever. We just drift apart from pallets. But I think all good. This isn't, this is a interesting conversation as well. It's, yeah, I still have a lot of story to tell.

We can spend a lot more time. We

Veronika Becher 46:55
should go back. We should go back. But no, that's like, and I think that's why it's very interesting to learn about yourself, but also leadership skills. What is your passion? What is something you value in life? And I think

Cole Hood 47:10
it teaches you a lot about your hobbies and maybe things you pursue and where you want to like end up in life. Yeah, you know, you have to make decisions about what you prioritize. Like, just a simple one is like, when you enter college, what clubs are you going to join? And if we know ourselves better, we can make better decisions about things like that. I think sometimes is also like an experiment. Figure it out, just give it a try, see what sometimes, oh my gosh. It reminds me like that. I have a friend who decided to join the Fourth Street club,

Veronika Becher 47:42
and he was like, Oh my gosh. He was so excited. Can you imagine, you have this tree trunk in front of you, and we, all we do is try to cut it,

Unknown Speaker 47:53
like, oh

Veronika Becher 47:53
my gosh, this is crazy. Like you're a journalist man, like, what is happening? And it's like he was so passionate about it. He was so and it just inspired me to and it wasn't related to his major No. And this is exactly what I think makes you the I feel like passions are what people like people's eyes shine. Do you know I mean, like when you look at someone and you just know the person loves what they are doing. I

it's good,

but maybe, like, maybe back to the aircraft thing. Now I just realized I shared, I showed you the whole world, like my five top five strings. And that's crazy. That's a weird feeling. I know, right. Um, what would you say are, like, the top three things that you've learned from your experience flying as a pilot and, um, like, even on a personal level, what is something it taught you?

Cole Hood 48:56
Um,

and you're asking the questions

Veronika Becher 49:02
you want. A deep conversation you should have.

Cole Hood 49:05
You should have given me these to me beforehand. I could have written notes or something. Jeez, I gotta think I'm the fly. Top three things I learned are a bunch of random facts about weather and

Veronika Becher 49:18
aircraft. Okay, give me, give me one fun fact. Okay,

Cole Hood 49:23
I learned, I learned that cold fronts are indicated with lines that have teeth in them, and then warm fronts are indicated by lines that have sort of like semi circles in them.

Veronika Becher 49:41
That's such a

fun fact.

fun fact.

Cole Hood 49:48
No, no, but three things that I learned about about myself and about the world, one, one big thing that I learned, it's it's not really something that you learn, but it's something that you. Yeah, you come to understand is that you are capable of doing things. There are things. There are things that seem unattainable, but they just are attainable. Like I never thought that I would get my pilot license. I never thought, especially having spent four or five years in the process of training, and COVID happened in the middle of it, and that just totally messed it up, too.

Veronika Becher 50:29
Would you say that's something because someone believed in you or you? You said you didn't, you would have never imagined it would have happened. Would you say that's something that came from you or someone believed in you, and that's why it happened, and that's why you pursued it.

Cole Hood 50:45
I don't know. I think it came from within. I don't know. It's just that having finally done it, it, it's meaningful to me, because now I see other challenges that I could take on, and I think, well, I did this one thing. It's something that a lot of people take on and never finish. So I know that though that I can attain other things too. My grandfather supported me a lot. He, you know, he never questioned whether or not I'd be able to finish. Was never a question. Same with my father and my mother. They never questioned my ability to finish the training. I never questioned it, but it's almost like I was young at the time, and I was sort of experimenting, like we say, like you were talking about experimenting when you're young, and just trying things out, like your friends in the Forestry Club. I was honestly just trying to see what would happen if I genuinely persevered at all costs towards this goal and just would not say no, like, what would actually happen? And what happens is that you attain what you what you try to, what you try to attain. So that's a really important thing for a child that's really young to learn, and it's something that you don't just learn, but that you feel inside when you have a large accomplishment like that when you're young. So that's number one. Number two probably be,

oh, the ability to make decisions. Oh, my gosh. If I could tell you the number of times that I've had to make, like, literally, life or death decisions at an airport or in an airplane, it would be a lot. I can you tell us your story? Sure, sure. So it's it's funny to me that I was given so much responsibility at such a young age. Because, I mean, it really is life or death in those scenarios, when you're in a in an airplane by yourself, and you are 100% responsible for it.

Let me think there

there

one time that I was coming into land at an airport and I thought I was too low. So when you're approaching a runway from the air, it's called the approach,

and the best way to have a good landing is to have a good approach. That's just a good life skill. Maybe that'll be my The third thing I learned, it's just like a sort of a metaphor. You know, it's easy to have a good landing if you have a good approach, but, but that's just true in flying, and if your approach is too high or too low, you can just tell. And I felt a little bit like my approach was a little bit low, and they were trees before the runway, and I had to make the decision of whether or not to continue landing or to increase my power and, you know, basically take it back off again and go around and try again. And I decided to go around. That's literally life or death if I made the wrong decision and I was too low. I mean, I wouldn't, I would have crashed the plane and died, or just put myself in more danger. So when you're young and you have to make decisions like that, it it, um, it does. It does a lot to fine tune your decision making abilities. I'm especially under pressure, and feel like men especially are bad at making decisions when they're young women too.

Veronika Becher 54:48
I'm sorry. I'm just laughing because it reminds me of, like, isn't there like, also statistic about most men don't live past 26 Yeah, is

there bad?

Cole Hood 55:00
making because

Veronika Becher 55:01
they're too reckless in everything they do, but women are more like trying to it's a biological thing. It is. It is so

Cole Hood 55:09
men especially, but even women when they're young. I mean, girls do stupid just not as good at making decisions as adults. But even adults do stupid things. Yeah, adults act like children often. So the decision making ability was another skill that I learned. Go ahead, sleeping.

It's late now, I'm

Veronika Becher 55:29
sorry. It's late on me. It's time for Ben, no, no, no, it's time to shut the lights off. No, that's why you shut down the lights. Here, you just start sleeping. No, it reminds me of my dad always joking, and he's like, any idiot can fly, but not everyone can land, literally something he would always tell me that is true, like it's more difficult to land, um, not to start an engine,

Cole Hood 55:58
yeah, the most dangerous point of any flight is the approach and landing. What

Veronika Becher 56:03
is your third thing that you've learned? Okay? Well,

Cole Hood 56:07
as I was telling that story, I had another idea. I had the third one. It was that this is gonna sound so poetic. Okay, no, no, no, we're

here for it. Okay, okay, we're here for it.

You can't have a good landing, unless you have an excellent approach, use that in all aspects of your life.

Unknown Speaker 56:27
I'm gonna name this. Have a

Cole Hood 56:29
good approach. It's true, though. It means that your your mindset, when you enter any activity, that you do, any tasks that you take on in your life determines how you perform in that task. And that's unavoidable. It's unavoidable. So that's one thing that I learned from flying. If you're too low, too close to the ground as you're landing it, it just it screws you over when you actually try to have a good performance in landing and when you're too high. I mean, you just can't salvage it so and anything that you take on anything, have a level even disposition toward it and think positively no matter what

Veronika Becher 57:24
I'm about to die, staying positive song,

Cole Hood 57:29
wait what

Veronika Becher 57:31
you're about to die. I think positive song will be a song you would sing if you're about to die in your little aircraft.

Cole Hood 57:39
I don't know. Do you know a lot of American music? I do. I would sing, it depends. I would sing, Danger Zone, the song from Top Gun. That's the way to the danger zone. Have you seen the movie? I should know. Okay, okay, that's a classic. Top ends, a classic American movie about flying, flying. Yeah, and then the new movie came out recently, too. Maverick. Oh, true.

Veronika Becher 58:09
Did you see that one? Yeah, this actually okay. You have two movies to watch. This a different movie. You should have been here when I was struggling two days ago to find a movie. And I was like, Oh my gosh. You know when you know what you want, but you can't find the right movie. That's me every single time. Sometimes I'm like, questioning. I'm like, Are they

Cole Hood 58:28
you can't remember the movie, or you just you can't find one that, like, fits the is exactly

Veronika Becher 58:33
yes. The second one. I was like, can we just have a whole, like, folder of just wholesome movies for you. So when you just want something that will warm you up, but you don't want something fishy, that's just like a love story, and you're like, oh my gosh, I don't know what to watch, but then I don't want something that will, I don't know, make me think too much. No, I was thinking there's a new movie that came out. It's about not the aircraft. It's about the balloon. What's the hot

Cole Hood 59:05
air you? It's like, what do you how do you call them in German?

Veronika Becher 59:09
Oh my gosh, he just said something. And my brain is like, I don't remember in what language we're speaking. Yeah, um, wait, hot

Cole Hood 59:17
air. Hot air balloon. It's okay if you don't remember it,

Veronika Becher 59:21
this is, like, right now a bad thing, bad moment. I'm just actually thinking because Balan is, like, like the normal balloon, and then we need to check this. My brain just shut down. This is how I'm not we also call them zeppelins in English, Zeppelin, we could say it's a Berlin. Well, that's sort of different. That's, yeah, they like a different shape, too

Cole Hood 59:45
hot. Hot air balloons are smaller,

that ones are big. Have you been on one before?

What a hot air balloon?

Um,

I have not, but I have been to a festival in Albuquerque called the hot air balloon. Moon Festival.

Veronika Becher 1:00:00
There's Okay, where's the Locate? Wait how far in Albuquerque,

Cole Hood 1:00:05
New Mexico? Oh my gosh. It's every year. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. You should

look this up on the news. Oh my gosh.

Veronika Becher 1:00:13
It means it's literally the same translation. Oh my

loved. Love, heist, love Balan Balon, high slough ball on ice.

Cole Hood 1:00:31
Loft alone, what my

is, confident about the German skills. Oh my gosh, that's so crazy.

Veronika Becher 1:00:44
No, I take it. I take it. There is a new movie that came out, and it's literally about the first expedition that was one of the highest ones. And, like, I love that movie. I forgot the name.

Cole Hood 1:00:55
When was it? When was it? Set it was and where I'm curious,

Veronika Becher 1:00:59
oh my gosh. It's been a while that I watched the movie, but it's like, basically, it was literally about this performer, lady that was really famous, and she ended up going as the first woman where people would just criticize completely on a hot air balloon um expedition, because she previously been on one. And it's like, based on the true story, and she was there with a really famous, like, he was a researcher, and they both went on this trip. And so this lady that is a performer made everything look like so fancy and like it's in the newspapers, but she's actually an expert in flying, and one of the first ones that, because her,

Cole Hood 1:01:40
I feel like I remember this story. I'm like, Oh, my God. It's

Veronika Becher 1:01:43
just like, I must. It's such a it's such a good movie. And it's what's it called? Well, I need to look this up. This is the the moment of the day. Um, there's

Speaker 1 1:01:54
something arrow,

Veronika Becher 1:01:58
not, yeah, 2019

oh, it's recent, yes, yeah, I'll have to watch that. And it's, um, now you have also a movie to watch. It's literally about the scientist that was trying to, like, predict, okay,

Cole Hood 1:02:12
I remember hearing about this movie,

Veronika Becher 1:02:13
and it was a really good movie. It's really, like, he, I don't know how to explain it, um, it's feminist too. Like, in a way, it's not really, that's not the theme, but I think it's, it is one of them, because she was not taken serious, and she's a woman, but she's the one that actually knew how to fly one she was an expert. And she lost her husband because he decided, when they were trying to land, he decided to jump off to save her life. And she lost her husband because, literally, he decided to sacrifice himself while they tried to, like land. And there was, like, a huge, what a story storm. And so she was in a huge depression, couldn't get it back to flying. And there was this guy that was so passionate about flying, and, like, all the signs behind it from, like, do you know, like, fun fact, maybe you know that, um, there's certain, like, height that you can reach where there is a whole bunch of butterflies, like, butterflies like, because of the air, serious. So the thing is, I can't really explain properly as a scientist, but basically just certain like wind flows or like air flows that are warmer or colder or depending like and so really high up when you, like, literally almost reach the specific like region where you shouldn't be in because everything's gonna freeze, there are certain random spaces where there are butterflies collecting huge, huge clouds, and they collect there because of the weather, I think because of the time. I think it's more than that. But that's like, one of the things, it might be the air pressure, yeah, maybe, like a certain pressure, but it's just, it's warmer too.

Cole Hood 1:03:54
That's cool. Well, I mean, I've, I've flown a lot, and I have never seen a school of butterfly in the air. Yeah,

Veronika Becher 1:04:01
that's like, just what I would have loved, the random thing. And this, this movie is fantastic. It's literally, this lady saved both of them. I'm like, spoiling the movie. Yeah, it's okay. But yeah, she's saving it. And the craziest thing is, she saves this with her shoe, like I spoil them. You're like, What the heck is happening

now? It's too

No, but it's a good one. It's a good one. It's very funny, because I watch all my movies in Russian

Cole Hood 1:04:36
just to maintain that language I

Veronika Becher 1:04:37
know, because I used to watch it for my parents when we speak Russian at home, so I would just we only watch it in Russian, and it's easier to find movies that are translated in Russian. Don't ask me why. So sometimes I'm not even sure what the name is of the movie, but I know it in Russian. I've seen it in Russian, fantastic movie. But I'm thinking also. Like another thing that I came up to me randomly to share, but we're gonna switch back to your stories. I promise

it's eight your podcast.

Cole Hood 1:05:10
You pick it. That's what I was saying in the beginning, or when you texted me on Instagram, or when I texted you. Look, pick a topic. I'll talk about it. Pick any topic, um, there's screw the airplane that's

Veronika Becher 1:05:24
crazy. There's a whole science behind where you can sit on an airplane to have a better experience in an economy class. Yes,

Cole Hood 1:05:33
yes, exit row because you have more leg room, yes,

Veronika Becher 1:05:38
and no. Like halfway. This is one of the points analysis of Veronica flying across the globe with only the cheapest seats that you can actually find is like that. So if you get sick, because you can't just fly on an aircraft, you have to sit in the middle, like, because we have the wings. It's the most stable it will if you get sick, like, if you get like nauseous, you get sick in the air all the time. You need to sit by the wings, because it's the most stable. So book your tickets if you can get it, if you want a best service, and then sit actually in the back, sometimes, depending on the like company, because the the probably most likely help you out if they also in the back, because they stay back, but they don't want to see others like they don't want others to see how they serve food. So they will only help the people in the back on the way back. Yes, unless you're like, a really big business area, and then there's nothing like, like room, that's the point. But if you want, if you have a huge luggage. You need to book the tickets in the front, because less likely, or more likely, you will enter the aircraft as the first person to put down your luggage. So you'll have Yes, but you will most likely less have space, like leg room in the economy class even. So that's in the front. It depends. So they're like different random things, fun things, I don't know. I just realized that over the years, you kind of accumulate random fun facts, where you want to sit, where you should sit, how you should avoid, certain random situations. I want to

Cole Hood 1:07:13
sit in the jump seat, the small seat that's in the cockpit. That's crazy pilots, it's crazy. That's where I would want to sit. But they don't like I wish. My mom, they don't let you unless my mom

Veronika Becher 1:07:24
once was flying with a stewardess, we didn't have enough seats. So you know how aircraft, or like companies in general, like, they overbook, they give more tickets and actually their seats. Well, once in lifetime, we managed to get on this aircraft that everyone decided to be on. No one was missing at all, and they didn't think about the fact that there there's one seat that is missing. So my mom was literally standing and handing out water in the back where she's not even stood as the whole flight to Turkey. I hope they paid her. They didn't, but she said it was the best flight ever, because she just hate sitting the whole time, yeah, yeah, that's true. So she was just enjoying her life.

Cole Hood 1:08:05
How long was the flight? Four hours? Yeah, I would enjoy that too. So she was just, like, being a stewardess for you, but you don't, oh yeah, you don't get paid, but you also don't have to deal with, like,

Veronika Becher 1:08:17
how to shadow, okay, coming back to actually the story, another thing that was curious is, how would you say? What is an advice you would give to others regarding of lying and being a pilot and maybe, if someone wants to anything, actually, I don't want to limit you.

Cole Hood 1:08:39
Live in the United States.

I know I keep

saying that, but I think it is easier here.

Veronika Becher 1:08:45
Oh my gosh,

Cole Hood 1:08:46
I don't know. I need to go, Okay, I'll probably study abroad in Europe later in college, when I'm there, I'm gonna go to an airport and talk to somebody about flying, because I need to know what the differences are. Because I just hear that it's easier in the United States, connected

Veronika Becher 1:09:00
to the person that I know.

Cole Hood 1:09:02
Okay? They have Instagrams. Okay, put me in touch. Have

Veronika Becher 1:09:06
a conversation. This is how you connect people. I'm just saying.

Cole Hood 1:09:09
But it is easier in the United States. So, I mean, you know, you'd have to, someone would have to confirm that with me. But even Europeans say that it's that this country is just so economically productive, and we are. We run the world, politically, geopolitically. It's crazy. So we have, we have the ability to, to have such a large general aviation industry.

Veronika Becher 1:09:32
Oh, my friends that would just disagree with the statements. That was a really bold statement.

Cole Hood 1:09:36
The US runs the world geopolitical we had the highest GDP of any country. It's just true. I'm not look. I'm not making a value judgment, like there's things about this country that I can't

Veronika Becher 1:09:52
stand you. You actually import more than export.

Cole Hood 1:09:59
Yeah. Heard that you do

Veronika Becher 1:10:02
twice as much. Okay, let's just shift away from politics, because that's not gonna be, I don't I think that's a controversial topic. But

Cole Hood 1:10:09
you know, we're also the largest oil producer in the world, which I wouldn't, I never expected. We actually produce the most oil of any country, and we export it all. For some reason, as far as I know, I'm not

Veronika Becher 1:10:22
sure about that. I can't tell you anything about.

Cole Hood 1:10:24
It's like, first US, and then, like Russia, and then like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela is up there. But, like, I didn't know that we had that much oil anyway, yeah, but um, did you know that all of the general aviation gasoline that's used around the world is made in the United States, so it has to be shipped to other countries, so that just increases the price of of the hobby in general. So it's, it's things like that that make the US the perfect place to to

Veronika Becher 1:11:00
learn how to fly. But the thing is about like, um, the prices, if you when you buy a ticket, there's already a risk percentage. No, I'm talking about general aviation, like small planes, okay? Because even thinking about bigger aircrafts, there's a certain percentage already include in your price. Take ticket price, where they assume if gasoline or other like resources that are needed gonna increase, so they don't have to increase the tickets. It's like a price stability that is included

Cole Hood 1:11:33
that makes sense, because the you can purchase tickets, like six months out from your flight, or like, a year, and they don't know what the price of gasoline will be at the time. Yes,

Veronika Becher 1:11:43
this is, like, a really complex actually, one of the most complex things you can do is literally, like, the anticipate, oh my gosh, anticipation of risk management and like, realizing what could happen eventually based on different things in the world. I have a friend of mine who worked for Calgary, the airport in Calgary, and she was, like, the optimization manager and like, kind of, like planning each route and what airplanes will land when in, like, optimizing certain like processes in this whole like airport, like she was the one doing it. So sweet. I hope

Cole Hood 1:12:21
she got paid a lot. She was paid. She got paid. She gets paid. That seems like a very, um, valuable job.

Veronika Becher 1:12:29
It is definitely, maybe like, I feel like we can talk about a lot, but I've This is an episode I talked the most. This is actually crazy, but, um, maybe, like, in maybe the last maybe a little bit, like, drawing back the Wait, what was your advice?

Cole Hood 1:12:52
Oh, my advice was kind of silly. My advice was kind of silly. So I can give, I can give serious advice. No, it's okay. My advice. My advice. My advice was, live in the United States as you want to learn to fly because it's just cheaper here, it's another advice, okay, but more general advice, when you're young, especially, take every opportunity that's presented to you. Don't just don't question it if something, if someone comes up to you and says, Hey, do you want to start a podcast? Do you want to join our band, even though you don't play any instruments? Or do you want to join our ballet team when you never dance in your life? Just say yes, because Screw it. Why not? What's the worst that can happen? Just say yes. Just go do everything that's presented to you. Don't even, don't even question, don't question, don't second guess yourself. Sorry. I was trying to get so I anyway, I COVID happened. So I was training in middle school. COVID happened in 2020 and my training had to stop, obviously, because just like hobbies like that stopped, the general aviation stopped. People stopped training. And then two years later, actually worked at an airport for a while, a different airport than the one I was training at. And then I got my pilot license at a new school at that airport, the new instructor. His name was Joshua, and he was just a wonderful pilot and a great instructor. And those that final year, I remember, I was a senior in high school, and every day after school, I would drive over to the airport to complete my lessons learn more about flying. And then I actually graduated high school in May of 2022 and then that summer, I just worked and took lessons, and I got my pilot license at the end of that summer before going off to college. And I was so happy. You to have taken the test and passed, and I think I was like 17 and a half or 18 at that point. And then I took my license, and I used the privileges that are part of it. I took my dad flying, that was wonderful. And then I took my friend flying, and I haven't used my license since, and this is another thing you'll find interesting, but I'm not upset about the fact that I haven't used the privileges of my private pilot license since gaining it, because I'm proud to have gone through that process. But I can also at any point, go flying. I just need to rent a plane from one of these flight rental schools and go flying. So I'm not. I'm not. I don't feel a lot of pressure to get back into the hobby while I'm in college. You know, college students are poor, so

Veronika Becher 1:15:52
that's the whole stop.

Cole Hood 1:15:54
Why'd I stop? Okay, it's

expensive.

It's expensive. It's like $150 an hour at the cheapest to rent one of these planes. So you, if you fly an hour a week or two hours a week, that's what, $300 a week. You know, over the course of a year you're spending, what is that? $600 one? No, no,

Veronika Becher 1:16:15
that's totally wrong. No, engineers enough,

Cole Hood 1:16:20
that's $60,000 right? Hold on. No, 6000 it's a lot of money. It's $150 an hour more to rent a plane and but, I mean, I don't know what I'll do. I'm, I'm happy to have the pot, the capability, and will the ability to fly airplanes if I wanted to, but I just have to make that, that cost benefit analysis, once I have a real job after college, decide what I want to do. So that's the whole story.

Veronika Becher 1:16:51
Do you miss flying?

Cole Hood 1:16:54
Um, yeah, I do miss it. I fly a little bit sometimes when I can go with someone that I know. The last time I flew was with a friend that I met at that airport who also got his pilot license in high school. But he went down, he went down that path as a career. So he he does a lot of flying still, because he's trying to make it a job. And he took me flying once, so that was fun. But, yeah, I mean, it's, it is a passion, as we were talking about, so I would love to fly again soon, but I have lots of connections that are pilots.

Veronika Becher 1:17:35
How do you think? And I was like the last question, how do you think,

Cole Hood 1:17:39
let's bring it home. How

Veronika Becher 1:17:40
do you think? Yes, exactly. How

Cole Hood 1:17:44
long? How long have we been going? Long

Veronika Becher 1:17:46
enough, but I'm joking in the context of identity, because you asked me, right, how would you say being a pilot shaped you and yourself as a person like you can go in different ways about it. Like,

Cole Hood 1:18:03
yeah, I mean, that's a lot. It's a lot to unpack. Like, when I was in college, I considered joining the military program at my school with the goal of becoming a military pilot, and I wouldn't have even thought of that if I hadn't earned my pilot license in high school, I didn't, I got really close to joining. And then more recently, I talked to a Marine recruiter about joining after college, because the Marines let you join and give you a pilot slot before you have to enlist or before you have to commission. And make that decision, but I decided not to. But, I mean, it's just the decisions that you make are based on your identity, and I think that I I wouldn't have even considered joining the military if I wasn't a pilot, because being a military pilot is pretty cool, but, but I'm not going to go down that route, at least I don't have plans to in the near future. But other than that, I mean, it's something that really sets you, set you apart. Like I remember the day that I got my pilot license, my grandfather, who was my largest supporter during the process, sent me a text message, actually, and he said something to the effect of, well, Cole, only about 1% of people who start training actually get their pilot license. And there's only about something like, I don't know. I don't know what the number is, 50,000 or, I don't know, 10,000 private pilot, private pilots in the United States that have gotten this certificate like what you have. So you're joining a small fraternity of people in the United States who have gone through a similar experience as you and it makes you proud. So. So, I mean, it really has affected my identity, and you know, it makes me think now, now that you're asking me these questions, like, I should go back to an airport and just go talk to people, have conversations with other pilots, because it, it is a big part of my life, and recently I haven't been very active on that front. Like I said in college, I started an Aviation Club, and I met a lot of other pilots there at that school. But recently, I haven't been as involved in the industry.

Veronika Becher 1:20:36
Is there an Aviation Club at state?

Cole Hood 1:20:39
There is, yeah, there is. It's called a wolf wings, but it's not functioning right now. Why? So I actually knew the Old president. We met once. He works at the same company as my grandfather and uncle, and he graduated last year. They did, I think, a couple events while he was the president, and he passed the club on to someone else, who I think, is trying to become a commercial pilot. And I tried to get in contact with the new president, but he just didn't contact me. So unfortunately, it seems like there's not a lot of interest right now,

Veronika Becher 1:21:24
maybe we should spray paint the free expression tunnel and ask aviation people pictures

Cole Hood 1:21:29
of airplanes you see. But I know pilots that go here. I mean, I just met one recently, people that have their private pilot licenses or are just interested in aviation. Yeah, it's

it should be a significant

portion of the student population at NC State, because, considering that, we have an aerospace program in my other University. I went to UNC Charlotte, which is a another big public school in the state. My other university, didn't even have an aerospace engineering major, but they hadn't. I mean, as far as I remember, it was something like 10 or more private pilots just like me that had that were attending the school. And NC State does have an aerospace program, as I said. So. I mean, I know the interest is here. I said earlier that there's no interest. I think there is interest, but it would have to be corralled, and we'd have to find who actually is is here that's interested, and get them together doing events. So if anyone is listening and loves aviation, please just contact this guy or contact me. You will find me. You don't have to be a pilot. Yes, anything anyone who's interested in that, and even if you're just a big fan of Studio Ghibli movies, and all you want to see is where the wind rises. Well, we can make that happen. Yeah, get in contact with you are a pilot in the in the Raleigh area. Seriously, get in contact. I would love to make more connections in the aviation industry. So I don't know what my instagram handle is, but my name is Cole hood, so look me up. I remember maybe the last fun fact. One of the students that I was she graduated this year, and she was also in this dual degree program, but from the German university with, I think it's German Brazil track, like to go to Brazil, Brazilian. And she wanted your friend from Germany. We are more acquaintances, like I know her, but she really wanted to be pilot. Her dreams be pilot. And so she started this whole journey to go actually into management, because it was like a way of for her to like pay, also to be like a pilot, and also like other ways. It's expensive to become a pilot. It's sort of like becoming a doctor. You have to put a lot of money up front, but the pay is good. What's the what's the official name for, like, horse riding? I think it's like,

Veronika Becher 1:24:01
there's a equestrianism, yeah, there's like, there's a specific term for it. It's the same thing for with that hobby. It's expensive at the beginning because a horse takes a lot of money away. Yeah, I can imagine. And then I'm like, questioning, are these hobbies or passions unattainable for people because they don't have the money, and how can we make them in society more attainable for people that are just interested in them?

Cole Hood 1:24:28
It's a good question. It's a really good question. And the price of flying an aircraft, even adjusted, adjusted for inflation, has just skyrocketed over the past few decades, because the industry is changing. That's that's specifically in the United States. But yeah, it would be unfortunate if, in 10 years, it becomes even more expensive to take that on as a hobby. And same for equestrianism. And

Veronika Becher 1:24:54
maybe, like, there will be specific passions or hobbies that will just be lost completely. People cannot pay for it, or, like, people that can pay for it just are not interested in it, and I think it'll be a shame, but, um, yeah,

Cole Hood 1:25:09
do you Yeah, for sure, I'm in agreement. Do

Veronika Becher 1:25:11
you have, like, any last words, something that you feel like you want to leave behind as a pilot? I know we didn't really talk that much into all stories, but I think there's always a possibility of talking in another episode about it. That's something you feel like you would like to share with listeners that might be interested in these things.

Cole Hood 1:25:33
I hope that my coming on this podcast has piqued your curiosity about aviation. More get in contact with me. I'd love to talk about it with anyone that's interested. And you know, if you if you are really interested, then go to your local airport and ask about it and maybe go become a pilot yourself.

It always helps to have more interest in in aviation. I think that would help the industry a lot.

So other than that, yeah, anyone's welcome to contact me who's listening to this. My name is Cole hood, so look me up on Instagram, or I'm sure that maybe in the show notes you'll put like, my Instagram handler or whatnot. But yeah, it's been, it's been an absolute pleasure to come on your podcast, Veronika, and I hope that this show is enlightening for people who are listening. Thank you too. I really appreciate it. And, yeah, I wish anyone who's listening to this episode thank you so much for finishing all this hour something

to get to this point, the real ones, the real ones.

Veronika Becher 1:26:40
And I just hope that you have a wonderful evening whenever you're listening to it all morning and fly high, my dear friends, thank you so much for listening and fly high. Take care. Bye, bye, bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai