Forever on the Fly

Our next guest had a super unique introduction into the helicopter world. You guys ever seen Whale Wars? Yeah he was that dude flying the MD500 off the back of the Sea Shepherd's vessel assisting in whale conservation efforts from the North Atlantic, Galapagos, Gulf of California, all the way down to Antarctica. After his stint with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, he worked his way up from flight instructing in Robinsons to flying utility and firefighting in Hueys, 212s, and now is flying the infamous intermeshig K-MAX!

He's here to chat about his experience with the Sea Shepherds , what its like to fly the K-MAX, utility pilot life, and we dive into the role helicopters play in environmental conservation. 

Stick around at the end of the episode, where we share a short ground lesson answering Susan from Instagrams question, "What do you do if you find something wrong on preflight? And are all items no fly items?" Let's talk 91.213!

Our season opener starts off strong with our next guest who joins us all the way from Australia! She’s a leader in aerospace innovation, holding the title CEO of iJetPack. This real live iron woman will have you believing that literally anything is possible. 

She’s here to share her life journey from building her career in digital innovation in the corporate space, her helicopter experience, to then starting her own jet suit company in the midst of Covid 19. She’s currently training to set the Guinness world record for jet suit flight distance! She will be setting off on a 2112 mile journey across the continent of Australia which will no doubt test the limits of both physical and mental human capability. Check out her social to follow along on her amazing journey! 

www.helijen.com 
@HeliJen
@iflyjetpack 

Today we give the floor to our good friend Scott Booth. On February 10, 2018 Scott survived a fatal helicopter crash in the Grand Canyon. The NTSB determined the cause of the accident to be loss of control likely due to Loss of Tail Rotor Effectiveness. For more information please refer to the official NTSB report. On this episode we wanted to give Scott the ability to share his story. It is one of courage, survival, and mental resolution.  Today Scott shares his recollection of the accident, his recovery, his struggles, his successes , and how music has aided in his mental recovery.  He hopes to be an inspiration to anyone out there who has experienced extreme trauma, and shares a beautiful message of courage and strength. Thank you for trusting us with your story, we love you! 

SEASON 1 THAT'S A WRAP! 
Thank you guys so much for listening in, we appreciate your support and encouragement. We hope you enjoyed the first season of the Forever on the Fly Podcast, and we will catch you next time!! Fly safe out there!

Self proclaimed "normal every day helicopter pilot" Falko Baguhl,  takes us through his absolutely not normal pilot journey. From flying the Alouette, the S55T, the Bell 204, to now flying the AW169 in support of offshore windmill farms off the coast of Emden, Germany. 

In this episode we cover a variety of topics from discussing his path, day in the life of a windmill pilot and its unique challenges, his transition from the FAA license to the EASA license, his experience with the Deep Water Horizon tragedy, and finally the dangers of icing and why it should be avoided. 

Stick around for the end of the episode, Jose and I will give a brief lesson on the different types of icing, their dangers, and what to do if you ever encounter it. 

The lady of the hour, Stacy Sheard, currently sits as Chair of the board for HAI (Helicopter Association International). Her passion for uniting the international VTOL community, and her imagination for the possibilities that the future holds for this industry makes her an invaluable visionary for the AV family. She brings her extensive experience to the table as an Army veteran with time flying a wide range of helicopter platforms such as the UH-60, S76++, Bell 430, and the AW139. 
Her passion for mentoring has led her to teach workshops on the importance of networking at HAI's annual HeliExpo, and currently teaches a much needed military to civilian workshop for pilots transitioning from military to civilian pilot jobs. 
In this episode we discuss her experience, her visions for the future of VTOL, resume building & networking, and her Mil to Civ workshops. Stick around until the end of the episode, where Jose and I discuss our personal take on the future of pilot jobs, and provide names and dates of the top 3 aviation networking events of 2021-2022. 

Our guest this week is an aviation Youtube star and F35 Pilot that not only has explored how fast, but how high he can fly! In this episode, Justin "Hasard" Lee takes us through his journey of becoming an F35 fighter pilot for the Air Force, going supersonic, the centrifuge, and G-lock. Justin is an avid educator, and he gives us his pointers on better decision making, the importance of a good debrief, and Jose and I just cant help but to teach Justin a little something about helicopters! School will be in session at the end of the episode, where we will talk about how to perform a good debrief, and how doing one can benefit you as a pilot. Thanks for listening! 

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

If you don't know who @iflyheli is on Instagram, you better get on the app and look him up ASAP. I always say the one thing I love most about aviation is its ability to bring good people together. York Galland is just one of those people you meet along the way in the industry that shines his love for helicopters through and through, and has a passion for sharing the experience of helicopter flight with others. He joins us today to share his experience with personally owning and operating an R44,  R66, Bell 505, and EC130T2. We get into a pros and cons discussion of owning each of these helicopters, and why he chose to recently upgrade from a Bell 505 to an EC130T2. On this episode we also delve into what happens when your original flight plan and weather brief goes down the tube, and you have to recognize your own hazardous attitudes to put the ego aside in order to deviate from your original plan to land the helicopter safely. 

Stick around to the end of the episode for a quick ground lesson on how to obtain a proper weather brief, identifying possible hazardous attitudes and their antidotes, what you should be looking for on a high and low reconnaissance while choosing an off airport landing site in the event of a forced landing. 

Isaac Etherington takes us through his journey to becoming an EMS, or what is now called Helicopter Air Ambulance (HAA),  pilot.  He has flown HAA from the badlands of the Dakotas, to the mountains of Yellowstone, to the beautiful state of Oregon. His unique range of experience makes for an exciting episode where we dive into the life of a medical pilot. In this episode we cover juicy subjects such as Crew Resource Management (CRM), external and internal pressures a medical pilot might face,  the importance of good crew cohesion and the formula for a solid crew brief, and an emergency situation we will just nickname- DUCK TALES! Whether you are interested in flying medical services or not, this episode offers some great information and fun content. Enjoy, and thank you for listening!

This week's guest hails all the way from the fjords of Norway! He is a very talented utility pilot, safety manager, and photographer. On this episode, Tom shares his unique journey to becoming a utility pilot in Norway, and the benefits of working as a load master for a few years prior to getting into the right seat on complex utility missions. We all know flying helicopters is not a typical job, and we operate them in risky environments. As the safety manager for his company, Tom has the opportunity to create a work environment that orbits around safety. We really dive into the importance of risk assessments and aeronautical decision making by providing a couple of real life scenarios on how to mitigate risks. Hope you enjoy the episode!