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In Episode 339 of the Pilot to Pilot Podcast, host Justin Siems chats with Leah Froehlich, a passionate flight instructor and Instagram content creator. Leah shares her unexpected journey into aviation, sparked by a flight with her stepdad after pursuing physical therapy. She opens up about overcoming early confidence struggles, the realities of CFI life, the importance of humility in flying, and how she balances instructing with creating motivational videos that inspire aspiring pilots. From tips on starting flight training to navigating career paths beyond the airlines, this episode is packed with relatable insights for anyone in aviation. Don't miss Leah's rapid-fire answers and her take on building a fulfilling flying career. Follow Leah on Instagram @Leahthal_inflight for more CFI adventures!
Pilot to Pilot is the podcast for anyone who flies — or dreams about it. Host Justin Siems sits down with airline captains, bush pilots, CFIs, and everyone in between for honest conversations about the path to the cockpit, the grind of the career, and the love of flying that keeps us coming back. Whether you're a student pilot chasing your first solo or a captain with 20,000 hours, there's a seat for you here. New episodes weekly.
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I am Leah Frolick and I am
mostly a flight instructor.
AV Nation what is going on?
And welcome back to the Pilot
the Pilot podcast.
My name is Justin Seams and I
am your host.
Today's episode is with Leah.
Leah is a CFI and you've
probably seen her pop up on your
Instagram for you page or
homepage, explore page, whatever
Instagram calls it.
I don't have TikTok should
probably get on it might help out
a little bit.
But anyways Leah comes on the
podcast and she just talks about
her journey, her love of
aviation, how she has some doubts
about if she could even do
this in the beginning and how she
overcame those doubts.
Avia Nation I really hope you
enjoy this episode.
It was a lot of fun to record
with her.
I really love her style, I
love how she's going about filming
for aviation and doing her content.
So check her out on Instagram,
should be a link down below or you
can find a tag that I do on
Instagram as well.
But it's a great episode, I
really hope you enjoy it.
Please, please, please.
We are 11 reviews away on
Spotify for 1000 reviews, which is
absolutely insane.
So please leave a review if
you haven't already and if you already
have, maybe leave another one
if you're allowed to, I don't know
but grab your dad's phone,
grab your mom's phone and leave a
review.
Preferably five stars but you
know if you got some criticism let
me know.
Maybe in an email, not in a
review, but Heavy Nation.
I hope you're having a great day.
And without any further ado,
here's Leah.
Leah, what's going on?
Welcome to the Pilot to Pilot podcast.
Thanks for having me.
We finally made it work.
Finally.
It's been a minute, but this
is usually how it goes.
I mean, I'll.
I'll DM someone and like, six
months later, it's like, all right,
we're finally doing it.
Yeah.
I mean, you probably have two
pilot schedules, and it's just, like,
impossible.
It is not the easiest, that's
for sure.
But I'm very intrigued about
your story, especially how you started
off by saying mostly a cfi.
So I look forward to getting
any of that, kind of figuring out
everything that you do in aviation.
But.
But I always want to start at
the beginning.
I always want to start about
the why.
So why did you even want to
become a pilot in the first place?
You know, it's so crazy.
Pilot wasn't even on my radar
at all.
I was always very much, like,
on a path of, okay, fitness, physical
therapy.
Like, that's what I'm doing.
And I was actually in the.
I was in a physical therapy
program, and my mom had remarried
a pilot, and so he had a
plane, and he took me up and, like,
I was hooked.
That was the instant I was hooked.
So I was like, whoa, this is crazy.
I was like, this is so fun.
And then, you know, my mom was
like, why don't you do it?
And I was like, what?
And she's like, yeah, why
don't you become a pilot?
You know?
And he was kind of in my ear,
too, because that's been his passion.
And so he was sharing his
passion and, you know, trying to
get me to go and start pilot training.
So that's.
That's really how it happened.
And then, you know, I finished
my program just for a backup plan,
you know, in case the pilot
stuff didn't work out.
But I really haven't looked
back since I started training, and
I was doing my physical
therapy stuff in between, and then
I just, you know, I was
working in an office.
And, I mean, I do.
I do love helping people,
genuinely, but it was like going
into the office every day, and
you don't get to see the sun, really,
unless it's through a window.
And I was like, this is not.
This is not for me.
I can't do this anymore.
So, yeah, just like, full
throttle, you know, I left that behind
and just got right into all of
the training and everything.
Isn't it crazy how things work?
Because, like, if it wasn't
for him, there's probably no way
you would have ever gone in a
small airplane, ever taken flight,
ever started recording
yourself flying.
Like, this would have never
happened if it wasn't just for kind
of that one interaction.
I was like, you know, you
could also be a pilot.
So kudos to him.
I mean, it's awesome for just
being able to share it and be like,
look, no, I think you'd be
great at this.
Go for it.
Yeah, for sure.
I mean, I think about that
sometimes, you know, I'd probably
still be in a physical therapy
office, which.
Nothing wrong with physical therapy.
It's an amazing.
It's amazing.
And I still do love, you know,
that side of things, but that just
wasn't fulfilling me, really.
It just wasn't enriching.
And so, yeah, he really came
out of nowhere.
And for real, I didn't think
it was even.
It wasn't even my realm.
I didn't even think it was a possibility.
Nobody in my family was flying.
I just wasn't around it.
But, yeah, it's been the best
thing that has happened, for sure.
Talk about.
A lot of people think it's
really hard to get into aviation,
right?
They think they have to be
really smart with math.
I think they just have to be
this really, really smart person.
And you and I both know that
we have probably either trained or
flown with people that you're
like, wow, they really shouldn't
be pilots.
It's like, it's not that hard, right?
Obviously it takes some skill.
Obviously it takes some
training and a lot of money, but
anyone can truly do this.
Was there a period where you
were just like, that's not for me.
Like, I can't be a pilot?
No.
I wouldn't say I never had a
moment where I was like, I cannot
be a pilot.
There were moments of doubt of
more of like a confidence issue.
Can I.
Can I fly by myself?
Can I be a CFI and teach other people?
You know, do I have what it
takes there?
I never really doubted myself
in training as far as can I be a
pilot?
But it was.
I had to work through some
confidence issues for sure to get
pretty comfortable with flying
and being able to be like, yeah,
I freaking got this airplane.
Like, if it's going down, I'm
going to handle it, you know?
Or if a student tries to kill
us, like, I got it, you know, anything
like that.
Which students never try to
kill their CFIs, right?
That's never Happened?
No, not intentionally anyways.
Well, hopefully, yeah, maybe.
You mentioned confidence.
Is there like a specific.
I can't talk.
Is there a specific story that
you have at all or like a.
Just when you look back, is
there like a specific moment where
you're like, all right, this
is where I truly just didn't think
that I could do this or just
lack the confidence, I should say.
Yeah, you know, let's see, I'm
trying to think of like a specific
moment.
I would say early on when I
had gotten, let's see, I had gotten
my private pilot license.
And after that, you know, and
I always make this comment, people
who have their private pilot
license know nothing, you know?
You know nothing.
It's actually pretty crazy if
you think about what it takes to
get that license and then
you're able to just go fly out in
the world, you know?
Yeah, you're like, yeah, yeah, exactly.
So I think it was right after
I got my license, you know, and I
was like, okay, I need to
like, go out there and I need to
start flying.
And that's probably one of the
first moments I've really started
to doubt myself.
And I was like, I don't know,
can I, can I do this?
Should I have my license?
A lot of self doubt kind of
crept in there and I, I had to work
through it.
I just had to force myself to
go up and to work through it.
And it, it took a minute,
honestly, to.
To get through that, but I
would say that was probably my first
really big moment of, of doubt.
Yeah.
Yeah.
How did you come over it?
How did you overcome it?
Was it just through trial and
not surprise?
Was it just through you flying
a lot?
Was it kind of just talk about
what you did to overcome it?
Yeah, you know, I think it was
a few things.
I definitely had to really.
It was more of like a mind
game, I think I was playing with
myself and I just had to kind
of break it down within myself and
be like, okay, what's the issue?
Why, why are you doubting yourself?
You did get your license.
You did really well in training.
You know, you're, you're onto
this other training.
And I just thought about,
okay, I think I'm just psyching myself
out.
So it was a lot of mental back
and forth, just like fighting with
myself.
And then, you know, another
thing is I've had some really great
mentors.
And then of course, you know,
my, my stepdad being one, you know,
and it's, it's funny because he.
And I think this is very
Common with more male pilots is a
lot of them don't have that fear.
And if they do have that fear,
they're not going to show.
I just hit that.
They're not going to show that
they have that fear.
You know, it's kind of like, not.
I'm good.
You know, they're.
They are not going to show it.
And so when I came to him and
I was all, hey, I'm kind of like,
doubting myself a little bit.
And I think at first he was
like, huh.
You know, because he was like,
he would go out in anything, you
know, when he was younger,
and, you know, he grew up flying,
so he kind of grew up around it.
And he just.
He had, like, no fear.
He still has no fear, I swear.
But at first it was weird for
him to hear that from me.
And then, you know, he came
around and he was like, yeah, okay.
I think it helped that my mom
was like, okay, you guys are different.
You know, you grew around it.
She didn't.
You know, she's.
She's just doubting herself.
So anyways, he then was like,
he just kind of worked with me and
worked through that, and he
was like, well, hey, let's go up
together.
And you tell me, you know,
what's kind of.
What's kind of what's stopping you?
What's.
What's getting in your head?
And so when we would go up
together, you know, I would fly and,
you know, everything was fine.
Everything was perfect.
I was fine.
There was never anything wrong
or sketchy.
I wasn't flying bad.
It was literally just all in
my head.
So, you know, it helped going
up with him and him probably just,
you know, reaffirming, hey,
you're solid.
You're good.
You know, and then I think the
biggest turning point for me was
actually when I became a CFI
and I had to be the one in charge.
I was no longer having these
mentors or whatever.
It was flying with me or, you
know, me flying alone and figuring
out it was more, okay, you're
in charge of two lives right now,
yourself and the student, and,
like, they can really screw it up
for you, and you guys could go down.
So.
Forced me to just, like,
abandon all of that, and it just.
It clicked.
And I was like, oh, shoot, I
can do this.
Yeah.
I was like, yeah, what?
Why was I in my head so much?
Yeah.
So, yeah, that.
That really, I would say was
the biggest turning moment for me
is when I had to.
Was forced to get out of my
comfort zone.
You know, I think There.
There's something to that, though.
I think I would rather have a
private pilot that is a little bit
hesitant, only because I think
overconfidence is a real thing.
Like you talked about when you
just get your license, when you're
going out there, you're just
like, I can do it.
I can do it.
I can do it.
You know, and you just like,
if you don't have any kind of.
Just not, not.
I don't think doubt's the
right word, but just like, hesitation.
And when I say hesitation, I
mean, like, reaching out to people.
So, like, hey, I want to do this.
And then you go to your mentors.
So you did the good part of
reaching out to your mentors, not
trying to push through the
fear on your own.
It's good to go talk to someone.
Talk to someone that you
trust, talk to someone that you kind
of see as a mentor and be
like, hey, like, these are just kind
of things.
I'm thinking, like, I have
some confidence issues here.
Like, can I go up with you so
we can do this?
And this is what you do when
you're cfi, when you have someone
that's getting ready to solo, right?
It's like, you're not just
going to go send them loose.
You're going to be.
You're going to continue to
work through their fears.
You can continue to help them
and show them that one, you can do
this.
You have the ability to do this.
And I.
We're going to work on it
until you feel comfortable to do
it.
And the second thing on that
is watching your videos as a cfi,
I would have never doubted
that you were doubting your confidence.
You look very confident when
you're in your videos, so you're
doing great.
I am more confident now for sure.
But yeah, you know, it was a
blessing in disguise to kind of go
through those struggles
because it's really helped me relate
to my students a lot better.
And.
And you.
You are totally correct.
There are a lot of students
that do kind of have that overconfidence
issue, and they freak me out.
I'm like, you got it?
You know, and maybe they are.
Maybe it is pretending because
they don't want to show that vulnerability.
But, like, a really big thing
that I try to do with my students
is show, like, I want them to
feel comfortable.
Hey, I'm not judging you.
This is very normal to feel
some type of way.
And like you said, you should.
You should have some type of,
hey, something crazy could happen.
You know, I should be prepared.
I shouldn't just go up and be
like, I'm good.
I can handle anything.
Nothing's gonna happen.
You know, and then that's, you
know, when something happens.
So, yeah, that's.
It's definitely been a
blessing to go through that.
I'm glad that went through
that, and I'm glad that I'm over
it, because it was also very
annoying to just go through that,
like, mental battle back and forth.
Absolutely.
I mean, yeah, it's something
that you want to.
To get past eventually.
And I remember my mentor, he
told me, he's like, hey, dude, how
many hours you had?
I'm like, oh, like, 700.
He's like, dude, be careful,
because 700 hours is where you start
to feel like you're.
You can do anything and you
really don't know anything.
I'm like, dude, I have 700 hours.
Like, I know a lot.
And sure enough, I just
started flying freight after that,
and I was like, I know nothing.
Okay.
He was right.
But that always stuck back of
my mind.
It's like, all right, just be humble.
Just approach this with as
much humility as you can and ask
questions, and don't be afraid
to reach out to people.
Now, there are some people you
could ask, and they might make you
feel stupid, but you just know
that, and you just go ask the right
person.
You just find out, like, all
right, they're not the person to
talk to.
I need to go find someone else.
Yeah.
I mean, oh, that's so real,
you know, And I. I think being, like,
when I was at my flight
school, I was probably.
Actually, I think at the time,
I think I was the only female CFI
at my flight school.
And I remember kind of going
through, like, some doubts and feeling
like I cannot show that, you
know, I'm feeling any type of way
around these guys because, you
know, they're all handling it, and
then they're just gonna be
like, oh, she's a girl.
You know, she.
Girls shouldn't be flying,
because this is why.
You know what I mean?
And I definitely.
Some of it was in my head for
sure, because I have some.
Actually, most of my mentors
are amazing, supportive men.
Amazing.
But I definitely did have some
men that were boys.
I don't know what you want to
call it.
That would kind of make me
feel inferior for kind of feeling
that way.
And so I kind of just bottled
that up.
And then, yeah, I would.
I would go to my mentors, and
luckily I had them, honestly.
But I think it's a. I think
it's a Real thing.
I remember talking to one
female CFI that I worked with later
down the road, and there was
something janky going on with the
airplane.
And I was like, dude, I was
like, this is not normal.
Like, the sound of it is not normal.
You feel this, like, grinding,
and you hear this grinding, and you're
like, like, that's not normal.
And I remember talking to her
about it, and she was all, yeah.
She was like, but if we don't
go up, you know, all those guys in
there that have been going up
in this janky airplane with this
sound, they're totally going
to give us crap.
And I was kind of like, who cares?
You know, I was at a point
where I was like, screw that.
They can judge me.
They can do whatever.
I'm not going up in that plane.
And then we found out that the.
What was it?
The.
It was grinding the.
In the propeller hub.
I don't know why I'm blinking.
On.
On what?
The alternator belt.
Yeah.
The gears there were grinding
and shaving off metal pieces, and
that's what we were hearing.
And the mechanic was like,
yeah, don't go up in this.
Yeah.
So it was like.
It was good to get to that
point where I was like, screw it.
But it.
It took some time.
Definitely trust your
instincts, right?
There might be a time where
you make the wrong call, but at the
end of the day, if you don't
feel safe flying it, if you don't
feel safe going up.
And that's also how you learn.
You know, you learn by
recognizing sounds, by feeling vibrations,
kind of listening to the aircraft.
And if you think something's
wrong, just go talk to the mechanic.
The mechanic will be like, oh,
that's actually okay.
This can do this.
But you really want to look
out for this noise instead of, you
know, they have a kind of like
the insider's knowledge or the insider
trick.
And every plane is different, too.
Right.
But just.
Just.
It's important that you feel
comfortable enough and confident
enough to make those decisions.
And definitely don't let some
boys, as you said, make you feel
like that you are inferior
because you can do this as well.
And you're probably doing it
better than them.
And they're probably turning
around like, oh, my gosh, I am inferior.
I don't deserve to be.
Yeah, right.
No, no, Yeah.
I do like what you said,
though, about.
About being humble.
I truly do feel like the best
pilots I have ever met, the most
skilled pilots, the most
advanced in their training, everything.
They are so humble, you know?
And I will you know, I had a
student one time, and, you know,
he was doing really good.
He was excelling.
And I don't know if I made the
mistake of giving him too much praise,
but I was like, you're doing
really good.
You're catching on really good.
And then I don't know if it
went to his head or what it, what
it did, but he kind of, you
know, he started not overly confident,
and then he got to that point,
and now he's kind of going through
the world in that way.
And, you know, and I'm like,
don't do that.
You know, and all other pilots
that I've met, they're just like,
you know, I'm the.
I don't want to cuss on your
podcast, you know, Crap.
Yeah, they are the ones that
are usually like, you know, the,
not the best pilots and are
making some really questionable calls,
you know, but, yeah, the best
pilots I have met that are doing
the coolest things are so, so humble.
Yeah.
So I, I, I know that I always
want to maintain that, you know,
and I don't think that I'm out
here better than the boys or whatever
it is, but, but I will always
try to make the safe call, for sure.
We're all just trying to be
the best pilots we can, right?
We're all just trying to learn.
We're all just trying to
honestly go home at the end of the
day, see our loved ones before flight.
I'm like, look, I don't want
to fill out paperwork and I want
to see my kid when I go home.
So, like, let's just make sure
we can do that and follow us, appease
and be good to go.
Yeah, for sure.
It's funny when you talk about
praising your, your student kind
of similar story to me, but not.
I didn't take it to the point
where I got, like, overconfident,
but anytime I got praise, we
would do something again and I would
totally mess it up.
So my flight check is like,
I'm just never going to tell.
You did a good job.
Please don't.
Yeah, just tell me how bad I
am and that works.
And maybe I played football my
whole life and in a college and it's
all kind of.
Coaches are kind of negative sometimes.
So maybe I thrive off of
people being negative so it works
out.
That's hilarious.
You're like, I need that
negative feedback.
You know, Some students do, though.
I have noticed that some need
that, like, negative feedback.
It's pretty funny.
It makes them just work harder.
Yeah, criticism.
It works Sometimes criticism.
But if you tell me I'm doing
good, it's like, dang it, all right,
I suck.
Can you please be an ass?
And I will respond better.
Yeah.
Let's go back to your training.
For someone that had.
I mean, you had your
stepfather, but for someone that
didn't really have any
experience in deviation, were you
overwhelmed with the idea of,
like, how do I start training?
How do I go to the flight school?
Was he like, look, you're
going to go to this day, you're going
to meet my buddy here.
He's going to be your cf.
Yeah.
I was so fortunate that I had
him because I. I did not know where
to start.
You know, when I went from the
moment of taking the flight with
him and then talking to him
and my mom and then being like, you
should do it, and deciding to
do it, I was like, okay, what do
I do?
You know?
And.
And I wouldn't have known.
Honestly, I wouldn't have known.
I would have had to get on
Google and where do I start?
But luckily, yes, he was like,
okay, go get your medical.
And then this is where you
schedule it.
And then you're going to go to
this flight school.
I will go in with you to make
sure it's a good cfi, you know, and
so that was nice.
And so, yeah, I guess you
could say you kind of held my hand
in the beginning, through it
on, okay, this is where you start.
This is how you do it.
And then from there, you know,
he just let me go.
And it was up to the CFIs in
the flight school.
But I wouldn't have known.
I wouldn't have known, like,
hey, I need to go get a medical.
I need to find a flight school.
What type of flight school?
141.
Like, what's the difference?
You know, those types of things.
What do I need to look for in
a flight school?
What do I need to look for in
a C5?
All those things I would have
not known.
Yeah.
So much so.
I definitely feel for the
students that come in and they're
like, I want to fly, but I
know nothing.
What do you recommend to
someone that comes to you like that?
I'm sure you get DMs all the
time, like, hey, I want to be a pilot
just like you.
What's like, your go to?
Like, ba, ba ba.
Like your go to answer.
What do you say?
Oh, man.
I mean, it's never a short
answer, unfortunately.
Yeah.
Because everyone's different, right?
Yeah, I. I wish there was just
like, you know, one site Well, I
could always be like, oh, go
to aopa, you know, plug aopa.
But I know we got it.
Yeah, we can't do it.
Sorry, you guys.
I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
I'm just kidding.
I love him.
Please don't fire me.
Okay.
So anyways, yeah, no, I. I
just kind of try to tell him, okay,
you have to consider, you
know, do you want 141?
You want 61?
Do you need a more flexible
schedule or do you need like a routine?
Boom, boom, boom, get me through.
You know what?
How are you going to pay for it?
Some people are, like, getting loans.
Some people are fortunate and
they have all the money in the world.
And, you know, and some
people, most people are paying as
they go, you know, and that's,
that's the roughest.
So I kind of have them
consider that, you know, okay, this
is what you're going to get with.
If you go this route versus
this route.
And then, you know, those.
I would say that's probably
the main thing that I tell them because
I know that once they get
their foot into a flight school,
that they can kind of take it
from there.
You know, there has been times
where people have been like, you
know, I'm trying to pick a
flight school.
What should I look for in a
flight school?
And I'm like, oh, man, that's
like a whole other topic.
Yeah, like, I can't tell you
what flight school to go to.
Like, I don't know if you're a
141 person, a 61 person.
Like, I don't know if you can fly.
Serious, you have the money
for that?
Go do it.
If not, go, go fly.
152.
I don't know, like, I can't.
Right, Right.
My recommendations is always
get a first class medical to rule
out the fact if you want to do
this for a career to make sure you
can do it and then also go
take an intro flight.
Because what if you don't like it?
What if you start throwing up
everywhere and you're like, all right,
I tried.
I don't want to do that.
Well, that's true.
I didn't think of the intro
flight thing.
I think I'm used to people
being like, I've gone up.
I want to train.
How do I do it?
But yes, if no one has ever
gone up, oh, my gosh, take an intro
flight.
Please take an intro.
Let you fly.
They will literally be like,
all right, you're playing.
You're like, what?
Some CFIs might make.
Let you do the takeoff too.
You know, they're on the rudders.
You're just pulling back.
It's like, it's a very
valuable 45 minutes or 30 minute
flight.
So highly recommend it.
Totally.
And you know, I would add to
that because I think some intro flights
are in like the morning or in
the evening, you know, and it's all
nice and smooth and you're
like, man, this is amazing.
Take your intro flight in the
middle of the day when it's hot and
maybe some winds.
It doesn't have to be crazy winds.
Get the thunderstorms.
15 knots.
Go right through a thunderstorm.
No, but seriously, I mean, that's.
I think what a lot of people
don't realize is, you know, you might
go up when it's really, really
nice, or you go up with a friend,
you know, and they have their
ppl and they're like, they know when
it's nice.
They're gonna take you up when
it's nice.
Right?
And then you go out and you
start your training and it's in the
afternoon and you got the
thermals and you got the winds and
all these things and you're
getting just rocked and you're like,
I didn't know that this was a thing.
And then they start getting
sick, things like that.
So that I would say would be a
really good recommendation.
Like, agreed.
That's more of what piloting is.
You're gonna have more bumpy
days than smooth days.
Oh, 100.
And everyone loves a sunset
flight, right?
Like, I go to my wife right
now and she'd be like, I want to
be a pilot too.
It's like, all right, well,
let me take you up a couple days
later.
Like, I don't want to do this.
Yeah, there's a thunderstorm.
Let me take you up.
Yeah, let's.
Let's do that.
Yeah.
IFR pop up.
Ifr, please.
I know.
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backslash pilot to pilot.
When you first decided to be a
pilot, was this a full on career?
Was this I'm going to be an
airline pilot or was your kind of
idea just to see where it goes
and see where it takes you?
Yeah, when I decided to be a
pilot I was like, okay, I'm going
airlines.
You know, that was the, I
think when you start that's really
the only path you think of.
Truly, unless you know someone
in aviation that's like, you have
this, you can do this, you can
do this, you can do this.
So yeah, that was it.
When I decided to start
training, I was like, okay, I'm going
airlines.
As I've, you know, grown the
social media and flown and got more
experience and met amazing
people, you know, I've realized there
is a whole aviation world out
there full of all these different
career paths.
And so, you know, I mean the
airlines is still very, very appealing
to me because of cool, you can
make this money and once you put
in this many years, you're
basically making that money and not
doing anything and then you
can have your side hustle, you know,
which I'm all about.
You know, I'm not one person
who can like do the same thing every
day.
Like I have to do something,
whether it's creative or whatever,
I have to do something else.
So that's still very, very
appealing to me.
But I, I wouldn't say that I
know for sure what I'm going to do.
Yeah, I think it's healthy
though because I think if you're
just set on one option, you're
going to say no to so many opportunities
that might take you off the
path that you want to go on.
So I think you should usually
say yes to most opportunities you
have in aviation and if it's safe.
Right.
Like, should I make sure the
planes are going to fall the sky?
Ask some people if it's a good job.
Ask mentorship.
Because if you get in a bad
spot with bad chief pilot, you know,
could kind of ruin your love
for aviation.
But I think just listening to
the opportunities and not being afraid
to take them, I started
flying, I Thought I was me, a CFI
that was going to the regionals.
I thought I was going to go to
the majors.
I did aerial survey.
I flew single pilot freight, I
flew fractional, and now I'm at the
airlines.
So my path is not a very
traditional path.
There are different ways to do it.
And the only reason why that
happened was because I just kept
an open mind.
My buddies are like, hey, I am
actually starting at the zero survey
place.
Like, oh, that sounds cool.
Let me try that.
So I left CFI training and I
went to, I got a job and went to
do that and kind of fell in
love with general general aviation.
And then I realized that maybe
the majors was the place to be.
And like you said, flying an
airline, as an airline pilot, the
more time off you get, the
more money you make.
And I mean, those aren't
always together, but when you get
senior, you can make more
money and not do much.
And that is very appealing to me.
It's also nice, the fact that
you can kind of drop your schedule
and really not make any money.
But it lets me do this more.
So I can make money off this.
I can supplement it with
creativity or I can kind of make
my own schedule and I can
either decide to make money or not
make money and stay home.
So it kind of works out, right?
Yeah.
And that's, that's what's been
so appealing is, is that part of,
of the airlines.
But, you know, I, I do like
that you say you, you, you know,
I thought I was going to do
this, this, this, you know, the.
You do your training, you
become a CF hours.
Right.
Time build and then you start
at the airlines.
Right.
Just.
That's how you do it.
Yeah.
And I think that is like the
traditional route, but there's nothing
wrong with that route.
It's a great.
Nothing.
Yeah, yeah, nothing wrong with that.
I will say I have, you know, I
became a cfi, but I started, I started
my Instagram solely just to be
able to connect to other aviation
people, you know, other people
in the world because, like, social
media makes the world, you
know, this small.
So I was like, okay, I just
want to meet people.
And then it, it blew up.
My intention was never to
build a presence or anything, but
what I will say is it has
created opportunities for me to meet
other people and kind of do
these other side jobs and flying
instead of just, you know, and
I've gotten flack for this from other
flight schools and things.
Not where I'm at now, but
they're like, ah, you're not.
Why aren't you coming in every
day, flying your eight hours and
get through and get to the airlines?
It's like, yeah, I mean, I
guess that's the quickest way to
get to the airlines, but
there's so much to experience and,
and see.
And it's really made me fall
in love with aviation even more.
So I've just been enjoying the
process and enjoying being a CFI
and enjoying doing these side
things and meeting all these people.
And so I've.
I think it's really valuable
for some people to kind of look at
like, hey, there's more than
just become a CFI time build.
Your students are hours.
You know, I.
That's a whole other thing we
could talk about.
I don't like that.
But like, get out there, meet
the people, do these other things,
like say yes to other things,
just like you said, you know?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I mean, it's hard not to get
caught up in like, I gotta get hours,
I gotta get hours.
But you're eventually going to
get burned out.
It might not be in cfi.
It may be.
And when you become a regional
pilot, maybe further down the line,
as you're going to be a major
pilot and what it can do, it can
kind of harden you towards,
you know, aviation again and make
you never want to do it again.
And you're just going to fly 121.
And so many pilots that I fly
with don't fly general aviation.
This could be the last time
you ever fly small planes, which
is kind of crazy to think
about because it's just like wrapped
in your mind like that's all
you can fly right now.
But there's so many pilots
that just fly their 737.
They're 330, they're 380, 780,
whatever it is.
And they don't do anything else.
Yeah.
So enjoy it while you can.
So it's a good way to look at it.
Yeah, totally.
I didn't think about that.
I've always been like, if I
fly airlines, I'm 100% buying an
airplane.
Like, I have to be able.
I have to be able to keep
general aviation.
I feel like that's where truly
the love of aviation is.
That's where everybody falls
in love with it initially, you know,
and yeah, the bigger, faster
airplanes, so fun, so cool.
But after doing them for a
while, you know, it's like, okay,
I'm used to this.
And then people go back to
that, you know, whatever little general
aviation airplane, and they're
like, I love aviation again.
You know, I think that's
really where like the love of aviation
lies is in the general
aviation, small planes.
Agreed.
Yeah.
You also start like the
burnout starts hitting and the last
thing you want to do after you
just flew for seven days is want
to go back and fly another airplane.
And then on the unfortunate
side of being a pilot is eventually
you're going to run into
someone, you know, either dying an
accident or getting, getting
really hurt in an accident, and you
just kind of think it's unsafe.
And there are times when it
can be unsafe.
Right.
But it's up to you as the
pilot in command to make those decisions.
And if you come at it in a
humble way that we talked about and
not afraid to cancel flight,
no pressure things, and hopefully
everything will turn out right.
But there is kind of the being
afraid that that could happen to
you.
And I have a family, you know,
you got people look out for and sometimes
going to single engine
propeller and there's or even a turbine,
you're kind of like, ah, maybe
I won't do it today.
Yeah, you know, that's, that's
so funny.
As a CFI who's mainly just
flying a single engine propeller,
it's funny to talk to, you
know, people like you or other people
in airlines that are flying,
you know, the 737s or whatever.
So they have these multi
engines, you know, turbine, and they're
like, I will never get in a
single engine prop again.
It's so unsafe.
And I'm like, man, I never
really thought of it like that.
You get comfortable with
everything that, you know, those
big airplanes give you those
big jets and then you're like, single
engine propeller.
That's so unsafe.
Yeah, so it is, it is funny
to, to think about that.
And it's like, yeah, but we
spent like what, like 1500 hours
doing it.
I know, right?
But it totally makes sense.
And yes, I, I totally agree
with you.
Like being able to be pic and
say, nope, not comfortable with that,
or, you know, I'm just gonna
keep it safe.
I have a family.
All these things, things like that.
Nothing wrong with that.
Absolutely nothing.
Yeah, yeah, no, nothing at all.
Let's talk a little bit about Instagram.
What made you.
I mean, you kind of mentioned
a little bit.
You kind of want to make sure
that you're loving what you're doing.
Right?
You want the creative outlet
and you don't want to enter the rat
race and do eight hours every
single day.
So talk about why you started
the Instagram and I guess a later
question, but I'll ask it now.
Was there any kind of
hesitancy of the flight school that
you're at when you started it,
or kind of putting this information
out there on the Internet?
Because we all know some
people get weird with videos and
aviation.
So I'm really interested to
see kind of when it started, how
it started and what the
reaction was like, yeah.
So I actually started
recording back when I was training.
So I would just, I would
record when I was training for.
I think it was like, I think
it was when I was starting my commercial
or maybe it was my CFI training.
Anyways, that's how I started it.
And I solely started it to
meet other aviation people in the
world, in the country, you
know, I.
This little town of Idaho.
And I'm like, there's gotta be
more people, right?
And so that's, that's
initially why I started it.
And then once I became a cfi,
you know, I was like, well, let's
see if I can, you know, record
me and the student as flying and
see how that turns out, you know.
And I remember recording the
first one and going through it and
I was like, oh, man, it's so
cool, you know.
And so I posted that and I
think it was like my first CFI video
and it kind of just like blew
up and I was like, whoa.
People really like this?
They're really relating to it,
you know, I think it was nice for
people, maybe other student
pilots or low time pilots to.
I don't know if you hear my dog.
I did.
It's all good.
It's all good.
You know, I was like, you're
little steps right now.
Yeah, no, you can.
They were locked up, but let's
see where I was at.
Sorry, I lost my train of thought.
Oh, when I posted that first
CFI video, people started to relate
to.
They're like, oh, man, this is
so motivating.
It's really cool to see, you
know, that this is a possibility
for me.
Or, you know, people were
like, oh, I've been struggling with
this part of my training.
This really, really helps.
And so I was like, oh, this is
really cool.
I can, can.
I can make a difference.
And it kind of went back to.
I've always really loved to
help people.
And so I was like, oh, this is amazing.
And so I just kind of went
from there and started really putting
my energy into creating these
CFI videos.
And it.
And it wasn't like I had them
pre planned.
I'll literally just put the
camera up and forget it's there and
just instruct my student.
And if something in that
training session turns out cool,
I'll, like, put it on the.
You know, Instagram, social
media, whatever it is.
On the other hand, I have had
students who are, like, so focused
on the camera, and I'm like,
okay, we have to take this down.
You cannot be.
No, no, no.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm all, engine failure.
They're like, what?
Just looking at the camera.
No.
Yeah.
You're like, does my hair look good?
So, yeah, there was some of that.
But for the most part, people are.
My students have been pretty
good about.
Okay, just forget about.
It's there.
We're training.
This is a normal training session.
And then I've been pretty
fortunate with schools actually being
okay with it.
The very first flight school I
was at, you know, I don't know if
I even asked permission.
I think I just, like, put it up.
But, you know, guy was chill,
and he was, like.
Didn't really care, you know,
and so it was more me just making
sure the students were okay.
I don't film every single student.
Sometimes because of that,
they're distracted, or sometimes
it's a privacy issue, things
like that.
And I'm like, that's totally fine.
Like, I'm here to instruct you first.
You know, it's just.
It's cool to be able to record
it when I can.
And then, you know, other
flight schools that I.
When I started to really
build, I guess you could say, a presence
on.
On social media.
It's always so dumb to say
that, but I'm like, I'm such a prison.
The one thing I do hate is
when people are like, you're famous.
And I was like, come on, don't
do that.
That feels weird.
Don't do that.
Like social anxiety.
It's like, I don't want to see anyone.
Exactly.
I'm like, hi, to the garment
booth at oshk.
Yeah.
Were you at oshkosh?
I was, Yeah.
I was there for three days.
Yeah.
Oh, dang.
We missed each other.
I was hiding.
Yeah, you were.
You were hiding.
So when I would.
When I switched to another
flight school and I guess had more
of a following, then I did
bring it up in the interview, and
I was all, hey, this is
something that's kind of fun that
I like to do.
Are you guys okay with it?
And luckily, you know, every
flight school I've been at has been
totally fine with it.
And now, I think now,
especially since it's becoming more
popular it wasn't as popular
when I started, but now that it is,
I think people are getting
used to it and they're like, yeah,
fine.
You know, as long as it's safe
is the biggest thing.
Please don't make us look bad, too.
Yeah, this flight school sucks.
No, I'm just kidding.
Please don't make us look good.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
No, I guess my next question
was, when you do record something,
do you actually go back and
watch the whole thing or do you just
kind of count on your memory?
Be like, all right, well,
there was two or three good moments
that might be good clips or
you actually watching the whole thing?
Yeah, that's funny that you
even thought to ask that.
I usually will remember.
Oh, that might have been a
good little clip.
Because I'm like, I don't want
to watch this whole freaking thing,
you know?
You know?
Or I'll wait and I'll.
I'll kind of remember our
first flight training and.
Yeah, there's a lot of moments
in flight training that maybe people
that aren't flying training
yet don't realize that it is silence
and, you know, you are just
paying attention.
And it's not something that
someone's going to post because it's
boring to watch, but it's very
much flight training.
You guys are both focused.
I'm not posting that.
So, yeah, there are a lot of
moments like that.
Yeah, that.
That I know.
Okay, I'm gonna just, like,
skip past this and go to where maybe
we were talking about a
maneuver, teaching a maneuver, or,
you know, oh, that was a
really good landing.
Or something like that.
I can kind of pinpoint.
Okay, I'm gonna go to, like,
this section.
I will never.
I don't think I have the
patience to sit down and, like, watch
the whole thing, so.
Missing the content.
You never know.
I know.
That's true.
I know.
Sometimes I probably should.
Do you watch everything?
No.
I send this to an editor, and
I will never watch it again.
No way.
You do.
So if there's any issues with
it, it's not my fault.
It's my editor's fault.
He's watching this right now,
like, what the heck, dude?
Throw me to the bus.
He's great.
Nick's the man.
I appreciate him, but.
Yeah, I just kind of just
trust it, which maybe will get me
in trouble one day, but, you
know, it is.
I, I.
For the first four or five
years, I edited this forever.
And then I got another editor,
Kevin, and he did it for me for a
while.
He started flying too much and then.
Or not flying too much, but
his flying career started taking
off.
No pun intended.
And then.
Yeah, I know.
Rude.
No, Kevin's great.
And then I reached out to my
other buddy and I just put on Instagram.
I was like, hey, does anyone
have any experience editing?
And he's like, I do.
I was like, sweet, you're hired.
That's actually a really good idea.
Yeah, I never thought about.
I know, I know.
I should.
Honestly, I do like some of
the editing.
But, yeah, sometimes it's like
I don't have time.
I feel like I have so much
content that I have not gone through.
And, I mean, sometimes they'll
be like, oh, gosh, I haven't posted
in weeks.
And it's not because I don't
have content, but it's like, I don't
have time to sit down and edit
as much as I actually do like to
edit.
Right.
So.
So I think for anyone that's
just getting started with content,
and don't go higher right
away, you need to figure out the
story you want to tell or how
you want to be perceived, and you
need to figure out what you want.
And then you can go to an
editor and you can show them, this
is what I want.
And then don't be like me.
Make sure you watch it.
Make sure it's good.
Don't just blindly trust someone.
But, you know it works out.
You, like, pissed them off
that day and they ed you and made
you, like, look stupid.
Yeah.
And you're like, maybe it'd be
good for clicks.
I don't know.
Maybe.
Hey, maybe.
Can you give me a day in the
life of what it looks like to be
a cfi?
Yeah, the day in the life.
So it's kind of dependent, I
would say, on the flight school that
you're at.
Kind of how they like things done.
I would say that at the flight
school that I'm at right now, and
I really, really enjoy it,
they are very, very big on ground
school.
And, you know, in the past, it
would kind of look like people.
Other flight schools would be
like, the, like, don't waste your
time on ground school.
It's wasting their money.
It's wasting their time.
Just go and fly.
And I was like, okay, yeah,
yeah, exactly.
And then I started to realize,
well, this is like, not the way,
you know.
And so my day, typically in a
cfi looks like, okay, we go in, we're
going to sit down, we're going
to do some ground, we're going to
brief on what we're doing.
That Day what the maneuvers
look like, you know, and usually
if I've taught the maneuvers
already and I'm like, okay, we're
gonna do this maneuver.
Run me through what it looks
like before we get up there.
And you're like, wait, what is
it again?
And I have to teach you in there.
So it's a lot of that running
through that, or they'll run me through
it and I'll make sure it's correct.
And then, you know, once we
brief and we're established and we're
both on the same page, okay,
this is, is what we're doing that
day and we get in the
airplane, you know, obviously pre
flight, all that go out fly,
you know, probably it's, it's usually
like a 1.5-ish, you know,
flight session.
Pretty much the max that their
brain can handle, you know, because
as you know, flight training
is just so much task saturation in
the beginning.
So we'll do that.
Then we'll park, come back and
debrief a little bit.
You know, just on maybe what I
saw that they need to work on on
or what they did really,
really good on.
And then obviously if they
have any questions, we go through
that.
If it's someone closer to like
a check ride or in the very, very
beginning where they don't
know anything, we do spend time on.
Okay, let's go through the acs.
This is how you're going to
get tested because these are the
knowledge areas that we really
need to go through.
So I will introduce that to them.
Unless they're like, hey, I
have a program that I'm doing at
home.
Then I'm like, cool, keep
doing that.
But if you have questions, let
me know.
So I really make sure they
have like the basic ground knowledge.
And then of course, during
checkride, it's a lot more ground
prep.
Like, okay, I'm going to
pretend to be the DPE and I'm going
to ask you these crazy
questions, you know, so that's typically
what it looks like.
And then, yeah, they, they go.
And then it's the next student
and it's kind of over again.
That's, I would say the, the
day in the life of a cfi, you know,
very glamorous.
Yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty good.
Pretty.
It's like red carpet
everything, right?
Yeah, exactly.
What would you say is
something that surprised you about
being a cfi?
And you can say one good thing
and one bad thing.
One good thing.
We'll start with good thing.
That surprised me I guess
would just be how probably the connections
that you build with your students.
You know, I figured, you know,
you're training all these different
students.
There's no way you can, you
know, have friendships or whatever
with them, but you do.
You really start to build
these really good friendships and
connections, and even when
they go down the road, they can always
come back to you, and you kind of.
Of become a mentor to them.
And that's really, really cool.
And I never really thought of
that, even though I had went through
training, and of course,
that's how I treated my cfi.
But that's been really cool.
And just the reward of seeing
them go from, you know, not knowing
a lot and then just being able
to handle everything in the airplane
and they're passing their
checkride, you know, and they feel
so great, and it just makes.
Makes you feel so good.
Like, I'm so proud of you.
Right.
I would say that that's like
the best and then the worst other
than.
Well, let's see.
That's not shocking.
You're expected to almost die
every day.
I would say a shocking thing
would probably be the amount of.
Of pressure you can feel from
either a flight school or a student
or a student's parent about,
hey, we need to cancel today because
of a thunderstorm or something
like that.
You know, I've been at flight
schools where they're like, why aren't
you out there?
And I'm like, you.
The.
Do you see the thunderstorm
out there?
You know, something like that?
Or the student.
Yeah, exactly.
Or the student being like, oh,
I really want to fly.
I just want to get my.
My license.
And I'm like, ye, for sure.
But we can't, because the
plane is down, or we can't because,
you know, It's.
It's gusting 30, and you have
two hours of experience, and that's
just me flying out there, you
know, something like that.
Yeah, exactly.
So I would say that would
probably be the biggest thing, is
just feeling all the external
pressures from those areas.
And as a cfi, it is.
It really is up to you to make
that safety call.
And you can't let schools or
students or parents or whatever it
is, you know, sway you to make
a bad call.
Yeah.
And I didn't realize how much
responsibility and pressure that
that would be.
Yeah.
And that is something you're
gonna face your whole career, so
you're gonna get pressure from everyone.
One, when you start moving up
and you start flying cargo or you
start flying for people,
you're always gonna have the pressure
of making sure you do the
fight, and people will push you as
far as they possibly can.
And I always say, learning how
to say no is one of the most important
things you'll ever do in this career.
Now, there is obviously a time
you can say no, and obviously time
where maybe you shouldn't say
no because it is safe.
You just, like we talked about
earlier, don't have the confidence
to do it.
But that leads to another
conversation that you can have with
either your mentor or even your.
Your chief pilot, if you trust them.
I want to obviously go up to
someone that you don't trust and
tell them some concerns,
because they'll be like, why did
I hire you?
So, yeah, you're always gonna
have that pressure.
There's always pressure in
aviation, which is just.
I mean, pressure in
everything, right?
You want to be the best.
You want to make sure you do it.
Pilots want to make sure they
complete the job, complete the task.
And you feel bad if you.
If you let someone down or
kind of don't want to do the job.
So.
Yeah, totally.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I've.
I've definitely heard some
stories from people higher up about
that pressure that you can
feel then.
And I think it.
I think it was my.
My stepdad who was like, you
know, who may feel this.
You know, he flew.
He flew a lot of, like,
private jets, things like that.
And, you know, he would feel
it from his clients.
Hey, I need to get there.
And he's like, no.
And they're like, well, you're fired.
He's like, well, I'm not gonna
die for it, you know, so it's.
It's good to know that that's
a real thing.
And, you know, you should say no.
If.
Just like you said, if it is a
real situation where you shouldn't
say no, or.
Yeah, if it's a confidence issue.
But absolutely.
Trying to think of the next question.
I was trying to look for my
rapid fire section because someone
just called me out on my last.
On a Spotify comment, like,
why don't you do rapid fire anymore?
It's like, I don't know.
That's a great.
That's so funny.
I was thinking, was it yesterday?
I was like, I wonder if he's
gonna do rapid fire.
I'm trying to find them again.
Apparently, I'm logged out of
my Evernote, so I don't have the
ability to do it right this second.
But if you see me looking
down, because I'm trying to figure
this out, I don't know why?
This is a terrible.
I can't get out of the screen.
It's just like playing this,
like, Evernote.
What are we doing here?
I can't hit continue.
Oh, man.
Please don't ask me about technology.
If Evernote's listening to
this podcast, I need to leave.
All right.
Anyways, it looks like it's
not going to work, but right now,
if you had a kind of a Magic 8
ball and you could predict kind of
anything that you.
You would get this job, you
get that job, what would you think,
or what would be your perf
path right now for what you want
out of aviation?
Oh, that's such a hard
question, man.
I don't know.
It's hard because I would say
a perfect path would be a aviation
career that, you know, popped
up out of nowhere, and they're all,
hey, we got this opportunity,
and it is rewarding, fulfilling,
pays well, you know.
Right, right, right.
Pays well.
And I know I gotta buy my
plane somehow and, you know, gives
a great schedule, but to be
honest, that's such.
That's a hard question.
That's a stumper.
Honestly, it is.
That's what I'm here for.
It's hard to predict.
I have clicked, all right?
I finally found them, and I've
clicked a million.
Sorry if you were distracted
by me being distracted by clicking
these, but distracted by check.
Yeah.
But yes, it is.
Is a hard question, because I
think it's important to always be
open to what's going on.
I think it's good to have
goals, but don't be afraid to take
a different opportunity or
take a different path to get to that
goal.
Because who's to say you start
saying yes stuff, you don't end up
at the original goal, you just
skip the other two steps.
Could happen.
Totally.
Totally.
Another question before we get
to rapid fire is if you had kids,
your kids or friends, kids,
whatever, you know, they find your
videos in 50 years.
Right.
Who knows however they're
watching it?
But what would you want to be
remembered by?
Or what would you want them
to, like, kind of say and be inspired
by your content and what
you're doing?
I guess I would want them to
maybe see that I was making a difference,
maybe see that I was inspiring
or motivational for people that needed
it.
Yeah, I would like that to
come across.
It would be cool for them to
be like, wow, I can.
I can really see how you
probably motivated a lot of people
who maybe have been struggling
in that area, something like that.
I think that would be the most
rewarding thing to hear for them.
And then that my hair looked good.
I'm just kidding.
I love it.
You're like, dang.
I have my hair.
That's crazy.
That's really funny.
I have found my rapid fire questions.
We are doing them.
Let me know when you're ready
to go.
Let's do it.
All right.
No pauses, no anything.
First thing comes your mind.
Are you ready?
I think so.
The answer is yes.
What's your favorite airplane
ever made?
Oh, no, this is too hard right now.
The Marquette S211.
Just because I flew it.
What about a corporate jet?
Oh, this is really hard to do.
Fast.
We're gonna say The King Air 350.
All right.
What about an airliner?
Airliner, like company?
No, just like, yeah, don't
sing a lot of company because then
you won't get hired by them.
But let's just do.
Let's do like 737.
757.
A380.
Whatever.
You kind of your ideal
airplane to five were going to the
airlines.
Okay.
Well, I have no clue because
I've never flown them, but I'm going
to say the A380.
All right.
There you go.
What's the ugliest airplane
you've ever seen?
Ugliest airplane.
Yeah.
If you don't have one, the
answer is the pio.
They are not.
I don't know.
Piaggios are really ugly.
And the shorts is really ugly.
If you haven't seen the
shorts, you should look it up when
we're done and record your reaction.
It's pretty bad.
Okay, I'm going to.
What's something you wish you
knew before you became an airplane
or.
Wow.
Before you became a pilot?
All right, let me say that again.
I do want to become an airplane.
Yes.
What's something you wish you
knew before becoming a pilot?
These are hard to do.
Rapid.
I'm not good at rapid.
A lot of pressure.
Something that I wish I knew
before becoming a pilot is how expensive
it is.
Who in the industry would you
like to meet most?
Oh, gosh, I'm so lucky that
I've met a lot of people that I've
wanted to meet in this industry.
Aviation industry.
Yeah.
Someone that's famous and die.
Like Amelia Earhart.
It could be someone.
Oh, come on.
I didn't know it was like that.
Someone who died.
Amelia Earhart for sure.
Yeah.
Yes.
There we go.
Okay.
What's your favorite thing
about aviation?
The.
Just the freedom.
Literally the freedom.
Favorite airport you've ever
landed at.
Has to be right now, it's
actually no.
I would say Kavanaugh Bay.
Least favorite airport.
Oh, no.
They're going to hate me if I
say that sucks.
Yeah, it's.
Sorry.
Only because it's kind of boring.
I would say probably say Pendleton.
Okay, what ifr?
Vfr?
Oh, depends on what mood I'm
in for.
If I want to challenge ifr.
If I want to just be bop around.
Bfr.
Favorite airport Food.
Airport food.
Cookie.
All right, would you rather
fly over the mountains, the beach,
or city?
Ooh, how about mountains and beach?
Okay, fair enough.
Long trips or short trips?
So I'll rephrase it as as many
touch and goes as you can do in an
hour or hour and a half
flight, or the longest kind of flight
you can do in a 172.
Longest in a 1 72.
I do 1 million touches.
What's the hardest checkride
you've ever taken?
CFI.
Biggest regret in your career
so far if you have one.
Trusting the wrong people.
Biggest win in your career.
Trusting the right people.
What's the hardest flight
you've ever flown?
Flying.
Dodging a thunderstorm.
What's your favorite flight
you've ever flown?
Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh Bay.
Landing at Kavanaugh Bay.
And last one, would you do.
Would you recommend 141 or 61?
I know you get this question
all the time.
What's your go to?
I would say 61.
All right.
There you go.
Well, that's all I have for
the podcast.
I appreciate you coming on.
Thank you so much.
I think it's gonna be very beneficial.
Love your Instagram.
If you want to go and plug
your Instagram and what you're doing
so people can follow you if
they don't already.
Here's your time.
Yeah.
Instagram is Leo in flight.
I think Leo underscore in
flight and mostly CFI stuff, but
I'll sprinkle some random
other aviation experiences in there.
Perfect.
Well, thank you so much for
going on.
I appreciate it.
Yeah, thanks for having me.
It was good meeting you.
Yeah, likewise.
That's a wrap on today's podcast.
Thank you so much for listening.
Like I said earlier, please
leave us review on Spotify as we
are 11 away from 1,000
reviews, which is insane.
Absolutely insane.
1,000 people taking.
Well, technically, 989 people
have taken the time out of their
day to leave a review, so
really cool.
I really appreciate it.
Wouldn't be here without any
of you guys.
So thank you so much.
I hope everyone's having a
great day.
And as always, happy Flying
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