Airplane Geeks Podcast

Interviews recorded at Sun ‘n Fun 2019: the Aerospace Center of Excellence, a family-owned GA aircraft interiors company, how a high school student funds his pilot training, a flight operations software company, and a competitive glider pilot. In the news, 737 Max fallout for American Airlines and Boeing, a pilot rescued by a hazardous tree removal company, unexplained aerial phenomena seen by military pilots, and a human transplant kidney delivered by drone.

These interviews were recorded at the Sun ‘n Fun International Fly-in and Expo, held April 2-7, 2019 in Lakeland, Florida. [Approximate start times in brackets.]

Ed Young, Executive Director, Aerospace Center of Excellence. This non-profit helps people pursue careers in aviation. The Lakeland, Florida campus includes the Central Florida Aerospace High School, Buehler Restoration Center, Piedmont Hangar, Florida Air Museum, and the Crossfield Building. [32:13]

Cesia Lopez from family-owned AviationX Aircraft Interiors (formally Camarillo Aircraft Interiors) creates custom interiors to the client’s specifications. One of their custom interior clients won Outstanding In Type at Sun ‘n Fun with a 1967 Cessna 182. [51:56]

Trevor Simoneau is a high school student who funds his student pilot training through Chart it All, a business selling custom sectional chart shirts and gifts. Be sure to see Trevor’s YouTube channel. [58:10]

Tom Perkowski, co-founder and president of Eagle Cap Software, providing flight operations software and specializing in dispatch and operations systems, and front-of-the-aircraft systems such as mapping and EFB software. The free Aero Charting app is a data-driven moving map aeronautical charting application for the iPad. Tom also describes the Top Ten List of Learn to Fly Resources card he hands out when youngsters are inquisitive about aviation. [1:12:12]

Laura Radigan is a glider pilot who will be competing in the World Championships July in Romania, at the U.S. Nationals in September, and at the Southwest Regional Championships in Arizona in November. See Laura’s YouTube channel and find her on Facebook. [1:21:50]

A combination of higher fuel prices and the grounding of its 737 Max aircraft pushed the airline to cut its 2019 earnings forecast. The carrier raised its 2019 fuel cost guidance by $650 million due to higher costs.

A new Airworthiness Directive is effective on June 3, 2019, and requires inspections and checks for certain parts, including the aileron and elevator power control units. The AD was motivated by reports of hydraulic leakage after lightning strikes.

Pilot John Gregory, 79, crashed his Piper Cub into a treetop near McCall, Idaho. Gregory was able to call 911 from his 60 foot high perch. The SPOT locator beacon was activated which alerted the International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC). A hazardous tree removal company climbed the tree and rescued the pilot.

The military calls them “unexplained aerial phenomena” and pilots are repeatedly seeing something that is not explained. The U.S. Navy has drafted procedures for pilots to use to document these encounters. A spokesman for the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, told the Washington Post, “Since 2014, these intrusions have been happening on a regular basis.  We want to get to the bottom of this. We need to determine who’s doing it, where it’s coming from, and what their intent is. We need to try to find ways to prevent it from happening again.”

GE Aviation AiRXOS unit collaborated with the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, and the Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland to fly a kidney 2.6 miles on a University of Maryland Medical Center drone. AiRXOS’s Air Mobility platform monitored the drone’s flight.

• Flying Magazine
• #PaxEx Podcast #66
• The CAF AirPower History Tour
• CAF B-29 / B-24 Squadron​

Outtro by Bruno Misonne. All photographs copyright Max Flight.