Today's episode is an interview with Alaska Airlines Captain Ron Limes. He is one of the two Chief Pilots at the Seattle Pilot Base.

Captain Lines shares his story about growing up in New York City, and how his 5th grade teacher got him interested in flying airplanes.

It was his High School Guidance Counselor who told him how to get his aviation dreams off of the ground.

Captain Limes also had a brilliant career in the USAF Reserves, ultimately commanding a C-17 squadron.

Mr. Nigel Sargent is the Director/Flight Simulation at Alaska Airlines. He is considered to be one of the foremost experts in the field of Flight Simulation.

Mr. Sargent grew up in England and worked on Simulators all over the world before joining Alaska Airlines. He started his career right after high school when he landed an intern position with the British company, Redifon. The company later changed its name to Rediffusion Flight Simulators.

Nigel tells us about his career and the exciting changes happening in the world of Simulators.

Captain Phil Pope joined Alaska Airlines in 1964. He started in Ground Operations and worked his way into becoming a Flight Engineer on the Lockheed Super Constellation. He later flew the Lockheed C-130, the Boeing 727 and the Boeing 737. 

Phil tells us about his part in helping to build Alaska Airlines into the Major Carrier that it is today.

Captain Mike Swanigan talks about how he helped his Niece get through a stressful day.

He would sometimes use the same strategy near the end of a long day of flying.

We sit down for a long-form conversation with Mr. Brad Tilden, CEO of Alaska Airlines.

Brad tells us about his life journey that eventually lead to him to become the Chief Executive Officer at Alaska Airlines.

We learn about how Brad approaches leadership, and how his late Father still has a profound influence on how he solves problems that come up at the airline.

Brad shares some excellent advice on how to be successful in business and life.

Captain Phil Parrish tells us about his amazing journey to become Captain for Alaska Airlines.  (Previously released in 2014).

Captain David Mets is presently one of the two Seattle Base Chief Pilots for Alaska Airlines.

David tells us about his career as a USAF Pilot and about his transition to a Pilot career at Alaska Airlines.

We also learn that he had a three-year stint serving as Rocket Scientist at Cape Canaveral.

Several events that initially appeared to be disappointments, turned out to be some wonderful opportunities for Captain Mets and his family.

This is this first in a series of short Voice Blogs from Mike Swanigan. Don't worry, we will still feature our usual long-form interviews. This is an added feature to our Talking Flight Podcasts.

A lot of people gave me some great advice during my career. I am trying to pay it forward by recording these Voice Blogs. If it helps just one person, it will be well worth the effort.

If you find any of this to be helpful, please pass it on.

Be Excellent to Each other

Captain Kevin Nigbur is the first Horizon Air Pilot to appear on Talking Flight. He is currently flying the Embraer 175 Regional Jet on Horizon's route system.

Kevin earned an Aviation Degree in College, but he had to put his flying dreams on the back burner when he was needed in his family business.

Captain Nigbur tells us the amazing story of how he restarted his flying career after the age of 40. 

One of the most complex pieces of running an airline is making sure that that qualified and rested pilots are available to fly the airplanes. 

We rarely hear about the men and women who are behind the scenes working to make sure that your flight is flown by a crew of qualified and rested pilots.

On this episode, we sit down with Ms. Trish Barney. She is the Duty Manager Pilot Scheduling for Alaska Airlines.

Trish tells us the background story of how she got into the pilot scheduling world and she gives an inside look at how her Pilot Scheduling Team works their magic.