FAA is implementing a couple new changes to the airman medical certificate, including different procedures for testing color blindness and classification of medicals that are deferred to the FAA for guidance.  Dan talks with Aviation medical Examiner Dr. Drew Sambell to talk about the changes and other medical questions.

Dan and Christy talk about VFR Flight Plans and why they’re hardly used for today’s General Aviation pilot in the US.

Merry Christmas from the TakingOff Team!  Bryan Turn of JustPlaneSilly joins Dan and Christy to talk about how becoming a pilot has changed no pilot things in everyday life.

Dan and Christy talk updates in their lives, including what took Christy off flight status for a month and how you can teach an old dog new tricks as Dan learns something new and challenging in aviation.

Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals is announced as the 3034 Roberto Clemente Award Winner. We go back to 1972 and examine the plane crash that took the life of MLB Great Roberto Clemente. The Roberto Clemente Award is given to the MLB player that best represents the game through Character, Community Involvement, and Contributions.

Dan and Christy talk about the list of celebrity pilots, beyond the very commonly known ones, there are quite a few you might be surprised to learn are pilots.  How many did you know?  And yes, we left out Alton Brown and several others.

From the In The Hangar archives, Dan and Christy interview DPE Joe Casey about the physiology of Spatial Disorientation and how easy it is for a person to get upside down and never realize it.  The condition has led to many airplane crashes, notably Kobe Bryant’s helicopter pilot and more recently the crash of a Kingair off Maui in December of 2022.

Watch on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ziJAsrlPkc

Dan and Christy sort through the data to determine if it is indeed safer to fly versus drive.  To come to the correct conclusion, you must separate commercial airline travel from General Aviation.  The data comes from the McSpadden Report and an article done by the Pilot Institute: https://pilotinstitute.com/is-flying-safer-than-driving/

Garmin or Aspen/Genesys? Dan and Christy talk about whats new, including upgrades to avionics in both of their planes and Dan’s upcoming helicopter training.

William LeBaron recounts his story of landing on an airstrip owned by a Tribe in Arizona.

LONG: Dan talks with William LeBaron about his experience landing at a private airtrip on a Reservation in Arizona, believing he had permission.  Even after getting second permission, the Tribe’s Fish and Game officials impounded his Mooney M-20 and threatened to take it apart to move it.