The Fly Good Podcast

Today we are going to be speaking to Doug Wolfe, who after a fulfilling career in public safety, decided to become a pilot at the age of 56. 

Not only did he not fall in the trap of “I’m too old to start flying”, which a lot of people still ask themselves. And spoiler alert, you most likely are NOT too old. He also made the bold move to buy his own airplane to flight train in. Something I wish I would’ve done when I started flight training. 

I am always happy to talk to another pilot who is pursuing this aviation journey as a new thing in life, and it is also great to have someone on the podcast who can speak to being a student right at this moment. 

Now we'd like to hear from you, let's have a conversation. At what age did you start flight training, and have you ever considered buying your own plane? Let us know in the comments.

Today we are going to be speaking to Carl Hancock. He is the brain behind the YouTube channel Fly With The Guys. 

His aviation adventure started in 2015 when he took his son to a scouting event where the kids were introduced to an airplane. This ignited a fire in him that had been there for a while and decided to start flight training.

Shortly after he started flying, Carl decided to share the knowledge about flight training on YouTube. With his content he wants to help student pilots find the answers to common flight training questions. 

It’s great to talk to a fellow aviation YouTuber: Carl Hancock

Bob Robberts is a general aviation pilot and aerospace enthusiast that is using his skills and talents to help his fellow aviators. Bob is director of aerospace Education of the South Carolina wing of the Civil Air Patrol

In our conversation we talk about the civil air patrol, what the organization does and how you can get involved. I was amazed by all the things that they do to help the community. 

I was also floored by his story about that one time he flew a Cessna 152, you really need to stick around to the end of the podcast to hear it, it’s amazing and funny. 

This is a pilot who clearly loves flying and makes a point to use his aviation knowledge and skills for a good cause.

Now we'd like to hear from you, let's have a conversation. How would you use your flying knowledge and skills for a good cause? Leave a comment now!

Today I thought I’d answer a question that I got via email:

I’m thinking about quitting flight training. How do I know if I just need to push through and break through my slump, or just quit. I have already spend so much time and more importantly money on the hours that I have flown already. I have over 60 hours and still don’t have my private certificate yet. Any input would be much appreciated...

Now there are so many factors that play a role in a decision like that. And even though I am absolutely the type of person that doesn’t like to go give up on something, sometimes there are absolutely good reasons for you to have hit the pause button or even quit.

 

If you're thinking about quitting

If you are thinking about quitting and you are just continuing because you don’t want to look like a looser or a failure, that’s not the right reason to continue. Sometimes your interests just change and you want to do something else, and that’s ok.

Staying in flight training because you feel like you’ve already spend so much time and money, is just not the way to go either in my opinion. Do you want to continue to invest more time and money and be miserable? I wouldn’t.

You can think about it this way: all those investments are actually not a waste. You invested in a great experience that you will carry with you forever.

 

Don't just quit because it gets hard

Look, we’ve all been there. Learning plateaus happen and flight training does get hard at times. And we all do it in our own pace. Having more than 60 hours and no private certificate yet is nothing to be ashamed about. It might just be a little hard to continue right now, and that’s understandable. 

If it was easy everyone would do it

 But we can do hard things, and let’s face it, if it were to be easy everybody would do it. So what I do when things get hard I evaluate what I’m doing and make a plan of action to push through it. At times that means I have to take a little bit of a brake in order to tackle it with renewed energy later. Sometimes it means that I have to change the approach, so that I can move through the problems in a different, potentially more effective way.

Ask for help

We all need some help once in a while. Don’t be stubborn like I was in the beginning, since I thought that I was just going to figure it all out by myself. It is way smarter to recognize when you need help and then actually go and find that help. Sometimes that means to watch some helpful YouTube videos or listen to podcasts, that might mean reaching out to a pilot mentor that your might have or your flight instructor.

 

I would really love to hear from you as well. Have you ever thought about quitting flight training? What made you decide to keep going, or not? And what helped you make that decision? Leave a comment now!

They say that when you go through initial training you will make friends for life. And that is definitely the case with my guest today Leslie Stephens. She is a wonderful person that always manages to make me laugh even when it all doesn’t seem to be going that great. Her support was fantastic especially when we both went through the experience of our airline closing up shop.

We have an awesome conversation about her unconventional pilot journey and we talk about the importance of being able to embrace change. Especially when you are a pilot! 

I am so glad to share her humor and love for aviation here on the podcast.

So many student pilots start, but never finish

Anybody that has ever thought about flight training knows that not everybody that starts actually finishes. In fact, the majority of student pilots never finishes flight training. In this podcast I don’t want to focus on that. I want to focus on things that you can do so that you will actually succeed with your flight training goals and become a pilot.

There are a few simple things you can do, to succeed in flight training

To summarize the five tips to help you succeed with flight training that you might not have thought about before are: 1. plan your flight training with QOL in mind2. stay consistent with your flight training.3. Be organized4. How what to expect from your flight training5. Accept that you will have to do a lot of studying

I can go on with more tips that will help you succeed but I’d love to hear from you as well. What are your tips to get through flight training successfully? Let me know in the comments!

From helicopters to Boeing 747

Rich Snelling is one of the few pilots that I know that is dual rated, flying both helicopters and airplanes. Even more so, he flies both of them professionally. In our conversation we talk about his atypical aviation journey and how to deal with setbacks along the way.

Not only do we discuss airplanes and helicopters but even a potential path to space! I love it when these conversations go in a direction that I would have never expected.

We also talk about struggles during your flight training as well as ways to stay fit when you are on the road. 

How do you stay fit to fly?

Planning your flight training goals the SMART way.

Any goal, and I mean *anything* you set your mind to is achievable. Including your dream to become a pilot. I really believe that. I have been able to reach all the flight training goals that I have set for myself over time. And you will be able to so as well, by making sure that every one of those goals SMART.I am sure that you have heard of *“S.M.A.R.T”*goal setting: “SMART”  is an acronym and it stand for  *Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based*. So let’s look at your flight training and SMART goals.

S, which stands for specific:

You have decided that you want to become a pilot, but specifically what type of pilot do you want to be? Helicopter pilot, fixed wing, corporate, airline or cargo. There are many options and you need to know specifically what you are working towards.

M, stands for measurable:

This is where the FAA, the federal aviation authority helps us out. The FARs Federal Aviation Regulations will help us make it measurable because they dictate the amount of flight hours that we need to fly in order to get a specific rating. For example. So you can measure your progress, against the minimum requirements of the FAA. For example the 40 flight hours minimum to get your very first pilot certificate, the private pilot certificate. But don’t forget that these are minimums and that the average student takes a little longer to get their private, on average it’s about 60 hours to get your private pilot certificate. 

A which stands for Attainable and R which stand for Realistic.

These are the two big ones we have to focus on: Attainability, what makes flight trining attainable? Money. What makes flight training realistic, basically when you have enough money to actually finish your flight training goals. Actually, it’s having enough money and time.

T, Time-based.

 Being good with time management is huge when it comes to feelings of burn out and jadedness. You need to be incredibly realistic when it comes to time management and how much time you can REALLY free up for flight training. And marry that with  the time frame in which you want to achieve your specific flight training goal.

S.M.A.R.T flight training goal setting:

So to summarize your SMART flight training planning.S, be specific in what type of pilot you want to be, what certificates and ratings you’ll need to getM, Measurable. Know exactly what the FAA wants from you for that specific rating or certificate so you can measure your progressA, attainable. In this case, referring to your budgeting R, realistic, will you have enough resources to continue flyingT, time based, really work on your time-management.

Sharing the beauty of flying, that’s a big part of why I started my YouTUbe channel and my guest today Marshall Baker created his product and company around just that, sharing the love for flying. 

Early on in his aviation journey, when training for his private certificate, Marshall realized he wanted to show his family and friends what flying looks like, feels like, really give that birds eye view. From that desire to share, the product  my pilot pro was born.  I am really happy he is a guest here on the show to share his story.

Going from stock broker to entrepreneur all because of a love for flight and sharing that with the world. His story is one of perseverance and of not giving up. I really hope that this will inspire you to keep going on your aviation journey as well!

We'd love to hear from you, let's have a conversation. Would you be interested in filming your flights? If so, why… or maybe if you don’t, why not? Head on over to Flygoodaviation.com and leave your thoughts in the comments.

MyPilotPro GoPro mounts that I use:MyPilotPro GoPro Airplane Mount: https://mypilotpro.com/product/mypilotpro-gopro-airplane-mount/?wpam_id=15

MyPilotPro Swivel Mount: https://mypilotpro.com/product/mypilotpro-swivel/?wpam_id=15

MyPilotPro has more products for example GoPro mounts for helicopters as well. Find the link to their complete catalogue here:MyPilotPro Shop: https://mypilotpro.com/shop/?wpam_id=15​

(These are affiliate links and by purchasing through them you will support the channel at no cost to you.)