Pilot to Pilot

Carson Stilson built his own Zenith Super Duty kit plane in two and a half years and about 1,200 hours, then flew it to Oshkosh. He shares what building an experimental aircraft really takes.Carson never planned to build an airplane in his thirties. He did it anyway, while working full time and raising two young kids. He explains why he chose a Zenith over a tailwheel kit, why he did most of the build himself, and how he kept going through the slow stretches. One of those stretches came a few weeks in, when he accidentally threw away half his airplane's skins.In this episode:Why Carson chose a Zenith: STOL performance, cost, and no ground-loop worriesHow the Zenith rudder workshop led him to buy the kitBuilder Assist vs. building it yourself, and when to get help with the engine and avionics"90% done, 90% to go": wiring, final assembly, and the last six monthsPutting a Lycoming IO-390 on a Super Duty for high-density-altitude backcountry flying in UtahThe DAR inspection, the first flight on July 4th, and flying to EAA AirVenture OshkoshWhy experimental and kit aircraft, along with MOSAIC, could be the future of personal aviationCarson's dream fleet: a bush plane, a 200-knot family hauler, and a show planeThinking about building a kit plane? Send this to the friend who keeps saying "someday."Pilot to Pilot MagazineGet your copy at https://pilottopilothq.com/magOur SponsorsPlease support the companies that support the show.Aero Tow: The Aero Tow T2 moves tail draggers and medium twins up to 15,000 lbs. Pilot to Pilot listeners get $100 off with promo code PILOT100 at https://amigoaerotow.comTextron Aviation: Owner support from the people who built your aircraft. Learn more at https://txtav.comAvemco Insurance: Pilot to Pilot listeners save 5%. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit:Aircraft owners: https://avemco.com/4297-ownerNon-owners: https://avemco.com/4297-non-ownerGarmin: Plan, file, fly, and log with the Garmin Pilot app.Allworth Airline Advisors: Watch "The Hot Seat," an on-demand webinar where airline benefits experts answer pilots' open enrollment questions. Register at https://allworthairline.com/justin

A Designated Pilot Examiner shares 5 tips to pass your checkride, plus the story of his engine failure and landing on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive at 3 PM on a Friday.Johnny Ginley, a young DPE and fellow Ohio State aviation alum, explains what examiners see from the other side of the table. The advice applies to private, instrument, commercial, CFI, ATP, and type-rating checkrides. Many checkrides end before they even begin because of missing flight time, a bad endorsement, or aircraft paperwork that can't prove airworthiness.In this episode:Logbook mistakes that disqualify applicants, and why airlines still want clean logbooks years laterProving airworthiness: inspections, ADs, and why a printed status sheet isn't enough"Know your numbers": why cruising at 2,300 RPM needs a reason behind itDon't force the flight: making a go/no-go call when the wind picks up on checkride dayDon't force the landing, and the one maneuver where a go-around now counts as unsatisfactoryAverage checkride pass rates and how the ACS changed the CFI oralThe throttle cable failure that put Johnny on Lake Shore Drive, and how he got back in the cockpit afterwardGot a checkride coming up? Send this episode to someone who needs it. You can read Johnny's full article in Pilot to Pilot Magazine.Pilot to Pilot Magazine Get your copy at https://pilottopilothq.com/magOur Sponsors Please support the companies that support the show.Aero Tow: The Aero Tow T2 moves tail draggers and medium twins up to 15,000 lbs. Pilot to Pilot listeners get $100 off with promo code PILOT100 at https://amigoaerotow.comTextron Aviation: Owner support from the people who built your aircraft. Learn more at https://txtav.comAvemco Insurance: Pilot to Pilot listeners save 5%. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit: Aircraft owners: https://avemco.com/4297-owner Non-owners: https://avemco.com/4297-non-ownerGarmin: Plan, file, fly, and log with the Garmin Pilot app.Allworth Airline Advisors: Watch "The Hot Seat," an on-demand webinar where airline benefits experts answer pilots' open enrollment questions. Register at https://allworthairline.com/justin

Steve Giordano left a senior captain seat at Allegiant to build Nomadic Aviation Group, one of the most trusted ferry operations in the business. He breaks down how a ferry flight actually gets quoted and flown — lessors, permits, DARs, tankering fuel at $18 a gallon — what trips really cost, the margins behind them, and what he looks for when contracting pilots. Plus the Alice Springs COVID runs, Equatorial Africa thunderstorms, and the operational failure in Korea he still calls his worst.Pilot to Pilot Magazine — Volume 003 is out now. Get yours at pilottopilothq.com/magSponsors — please support the people who support the show:• AeroTow — $100 off an AeroTow T2 for Pilot to Pilot listeners. Use promo code PILOT100 at amigoaerotow.com• Avemco Insurance — Save 5% as a Pilot to Pilot listener. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit avemco.com/4297-owner (owners) or avemco.com/4297-nonowner (non-owners)• Textron Aviation — Built for lifelong aviators. Plan your next chapter at txtav.com/stepup• Garmin — Plan, file, fly, log with the Garmin Pilot app• Allworth Airline Advisors — Register for their latest webinar at https://allworthfinancial.com/airlines/lp/runway-for-retirement-webinar?utm_campaign=airlines+-+more+runway+for+retirement&lmls=Partner+Channel&lmld=Pilot+to+Pilot&ad_version=Social

Nik Fialka has watched pilots lose the job before they ever sat down.The Spitfire Elite coach and Ready 4 Pushback host joins us to walk through his ten rules for the airline interview — five things to do, five things that'll sink you.The first one starts tonight, not the week your application gets picked up. Nik's habit: after shutdown, open your notes app and write down one thing that happened on that flight. The disagreement with your instructor. The divert. The passenger you went out of your way for. Do it for a year and you'll never be the candidate staring blankly when someone asks for a conflict story.We get into paperwork nobody wants to think about until they need it, and why a gap you find today can take months to fix. Logbooks, too — Nik's line is that your logbook is your dissertation: you don't just present it, you defend it. Cover page, totals that add up, no white-out, addendums for the errors you find. As one airline logbook reviewer told him, don't make me pull out a calculator.Then the other half. Why hiding or shading your data ends the interview faster than you'd believe. Why adding a previously undisclosed failure after you've been invited is a very different conversation than adding a new type rating. The pilot whose expunged record still got him fired for failure to disclose. And the one Nik is best known for — the candidate in a conference room full of finalists who dropped an F-bomb at the wrong moment and never made it to the logbook review.The bigger point underneath all of it: from the second you leave your house, you're being interviewed. Be good to the Uber driver, the gate agent, the hotel desk. Jobs get won and lost when you least expect it.Pilot to Pilot Magazine — Volume 003 is out now. Get yours at pilottopilothq.com/magSponsors — please support the people who support the show: • NEW SPONSOR ALERT I'd like to welcome AeroTow to the Pilot to Pilot sponsors! check out their AeroTow T2 Engineered for easier maneuverability, the AeroTow T2 is versatile for a variety of aircraft. Its universal cradle provides a seamless towing experience ( Pilot to Pilot listeners can save $100 by using the code in the podcast!) Avemco Insurance — Save 5% as a Pilot to Pilot listener. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit avemco.com/4297-owner (owners) or avemco.com/4297-non-owner (non-owners) • Learn more about the exciting innovations at Textron Aviation today… just go to TXTAV.com • Garmin — Plan, file, fly, log with the Garmin Pilot app • Allworth Airline Advisors — Register for their latest webinar at allworthfinancial.com/justin • Allworth Financial - https://allworthfinancial.com/airlines/lp/runway-for-retirement-webinar?utm_campaign=airlines+-+more+runway+for+retirement?lmls=Partner+Channel&lmld=Pilot+to+Pilot&ad_version=Social 

In 1999, a handful of people gathered at a dusty Namibian airfield to meet two men flying weight-shift microlights around the world. One of them was Mike Blyth. Watching from the crowd was a boy who had never left the country, whose family couldn't afford much flying, and who had no real concept of where these men had come from — only that whatever they were doing, he wanted to do it too.Twenty-five years later, JP Schulze has flown around the world himself, built the first Sling High Wing off the line — designed by the same Mike Blyth — and become one of the most distinctive filmmakers in aviation.This one took a while to make happen. We finally met at Oshkosh this year, and JP is candid about being a naturally shy person who ended up with a career in front of a camera.He grew up in Namibia with no art classes and no creative outlets, thinking in German and Afrikaans, teaching himself English from the Discovery Channel at eight years old. He was taking the controls of his dad's microlight at ten. He funded his first licence by free-diving for crayfish, selling snake venom, and restringing tennis rackets.The around-the-world trip nearly didn't happen twice. Sponsors walked after a Cirrus ditched near Hawaii and the CAPS pull ran on every news channel — nobody wanted their logo on a small plane over an ocean. So JP and Louis Cole self-funded it, and JP is honest about what that cost: the fourteen-hour legs, the multi-hour shouting match somewhere between Fiji and Kiribati, and the weight of being responsible for a non-pilot's life for the first time.In this episode:Meeting Mike Blyth in 1999 — and building his airplane twenty years laterGrowing up flying "sketchy" weight-shift trikes over the African bushWhy Southern Africa has a GA scene almost nobody expectsMoving to New Zealand at seventeen and rebuilding from scratch in a third languageMeeting Louis Cole on a sand dune and having his life change in a daySigning with Discovery, then watching the money disappearWhat flying around the world actually took — and why he'd do it againInsisting on being the first to build the Sling High Wing, then helping write the manualWhy he refuses to post weekly, and what that has cost himThe sunglasses he built because a $350 pair costs $10 to makeWhy print still matters, and what we both think is at stakeWe also recorded a second conversation about the around-the-world flight itself — that one is exclusive to the magazine, with the audio released free a year after publication.Happy Flying,JustinSupport JP - otavi.co best sunglasses for pilotsPilot to Pilot Magazine — Volume 003 is out now. Get yours at pilottopilothq.com/magSponsors — please support the people who support the show: • NEW SPONSOR ALERT I'd like to welcome AeroTow to the Pilot to Pilot sponsors! check out their AeroTow T2 Engineered for easier maneuverability, the AeroTow T2 is versatile for a variety of aircraft. Its universal cradle provides a seamless towing experience ( Pilot to Pilot listeners can save $100 by using the code in the podcast!) Avemco Insurance — Save 5% as a Pilot to Pilot listener. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit avemco.com/4297-owner (owners) or avemco.com/4297-non-owner (non-owners) • Learn more about the exciting innovations at Textron Aviation today… just go to TXTAV.com • Garmin — Plan, file, fly, log with the Garmin Pilot app • Allworth Airline Advisors — Register for their latest webinar at allworthfinancial.com/justin • Allworth Financial - https://allworthfinancial.com/airlines/lp/runway-for-retirement-webinar?utm_campaign=airlines+-+more+runway+for+retirement?lmls=Partner+Channel&lmld=Pilot+to+Pilot&ad_version=Social 

Mark Woglom has bought and sold roughly a dozen airplanes in twenty-five years — a new Cessna 182 he learned to fly in, a Baron he never got comfortable in, a pressurized 414, a Cheyenne II XL, four separate Cirrus SR22s, a Vision Jet, a TBM 960, a Citation M2, and the CJ3+ he flies today. Six weeks ago he added an Icon A5, because you can't go sightseeing in a jet.Along the way he built a framework for making the decision the rest of us agonize over.In this episode we cover:The three F's — finances, features, and function — and why mission is the one most buyers skipThe "fourth F": buying the wrong airplane, and how to avoid itWhy he never trusts manufacturer range claims, broker enthusiasm, or forum consensusHis normalized fuel reserve method for comparing aircraft honestly, apples to applesReal rules of thumb for insurance, capital cost, maintenance, and the ancillary costs that ambush new ownersWhy he took a five-year break from flying while still owning an airplaneWhat changed when he decided to earn a type rating in his mid-fiftiesWhy his wife's headset ended a turboprop purchaseNever get plane poor — and why a fuel stop isn't the end of the worldWhether you're saving toward your first 172 or wondering whether the step up is worth it, this one's a masterclass in buying with your head instead of your heart.Happy Flying,JustinPilot to Pilot Magazine — Volume 003 is out now. Get yours at pilottopilothq.com/magSponsors — please support the people who support the show: • NEW SPONSOR ALERT I'd like to welcome AeroTow to the Pilot to Pilot sponsors! check out their AeroTow T2 Engineered for easier maneuverability, the AeroTow T2 is versatile for a variety of aircraft. Its universal cradle provides a seamless towing experience ( Pilot to Pilot listeners can save $100 by using the code in the podcast!) Avemco Insurance — Save 5% as a Pilot to Pilot listener. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit avemco.com/4297-owner (owners) or avemco.com/4297-non-owner (non-owners) • Learn more about the exciting innovations at Textron Aviation today… just go to TXTAV.com • Garmin — Plan, file, fly, log with the Garmin Pilot app • Allworth Airline Advisors — Register for their latest webinar at allworthfinancial.com/justin • Allworth Financial - https://allworthfinancial.com/airlines/lp/runway-for-retirement-webinar?utm_campaign=airlines+-+more+runway+for+retirement?lmls=Partner+Channel&lmld=Pilot+to+Pilot&ad_version=Social 

Pilot to Pilot Magazine — Volume 003 is out now. Get yours at pilottopilothq.com/magSponsors — please support the people who support the show: • Textron Aviation — The Pipistrel Voyager is perfect answer for high utilization flight training, easy ownership and broader access to aviation • Avemco Insurance — Save 5% as a Pilot to Pilot listener. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit avemco.com/4297-owner (owners) or avemco.com/4297-non-owner (non-owners) •  • Garmin — Plan, file, fly, log with the Garmin Pilot app • Allworth Airline Advisors — Register for their latest webinar at allworthfinancial.com/justin • Learn the Finer Points — Save 10% off your first year at learnthefinerpoints.com/justin. https://allworthfinancial.com/airlines/lp/runway-for-retirement-webinar?utm_campaign=airlines+-+more+runway+for+retirement?lmls=Partner+Channel&lmld=Pilot+to+Pilot&ad_version=SocialKyle Skylaski had never been on an airplane — not even as a passenger — until his senior year of high school. A local orchardist flew him across Washington in a Cessna 172 so he could make a state playoff baseball game. He got there as the game started, changed in the car, and hit a three-run homer off a future big leaguer to win it.That flight sent him to the Air Force Academy and into 23 years in the cockpit: F-15s at Holloman, F-16s as an aggressor during the fall of the Soviet Union, an exchange tour with the Navy in the F/A-18, and later a modified 727 as a test pilot for Raytheon.In episode 366 we get into what sports actually teaches you about flying, why leadership is service and nothing else, the three C's every team needs, what it feels like at Mach 2 versus 300 feet and nine miles a minute, losing seven friends early in his career and what it changed about how he takes risk, and where electric and hybrid training aircraft might actually make sense.Kyle's book, The Sky Less Traveled: The Maverick Life of Leadership, Resilience, and the Pursuit of Purpose, is on Amazon now, with the audiobook coming this fall.In this episode: first flight over the Cascades • Air Force Academy football and gliders • pilot training at Laughlin, where half the class washed out • F-15 vs F-16 vs F/A-18 • the aggressor years • flying the 727 as a test pilot • the squadron bar, call signs, and crud • three things he'd tell anyone starting over

Pilot to Pilot Magazine — Volume 003 is out now. Get yours at pilottopilothq.com/magSponsors — please support the people who support the show: • Textron Aviation — The Pipistrel Voyager is perfect answer for high utilization flight training, easy ownership and broader access to aviation • Avemco Insurance — Save 5% as a Pilot to Pilot listener. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit avemco.com/4297-owner (owners) or avemco.com/4297-non-owner (non-owners) •  • Garmin — Plan, file, fly, log with the Garmin Pilot app • Allworth Airline Advisors — Register for their latest webinar at allworthfinancial.com/justin • Learn the Finer Points — Save 10% off your first year at learnthefinerpoints.com/justin. https://allworthfinancial.com/airlines/lp/runway-for-retirement-webinar?utm_campaign=airlines+-+more+runway+for+retirement?lmls=Partner+Channel&lmld=Pilot+to+Pilot&ad_version=SocialPete Stavridis was nine years old, watching the Challenger explode on live TV, when he decided he was going to fly airplanes. No pilots in the family. No money for it. So he enlisted in the Navy out of high school in 1995 — not the optimal path to fighters — flew P-3 Orions as an enlisted aircrewman on counter-drug ops over Panama and Colombia, and worked his way into a commission. He selected #1 out of T-34s, got the Super Hornet, and flew combat over Iraq and Afghanistan.Now he's an Airbus first officer (by design), an FAA examiner with roughly 700 checkrides behind him, an aircraft management guy specializing in the Piaggio, and he runs upset recovery training in the L-39. He also raced at Reno in the gold jet class at 500 mph, four to six feet off another airplane — until he watched his friend and competitor Aaron Hoag G-LOC and go into the ground in front of him in 2022.We get into:Why enlisting first was a risk he'd take againWhat a Navy flight surgeon prescribed when Pete was struggling in T-45s (hint: Halo)Being shot off a carrier deck, and why nothing else comparesFighter pilot ego vs. actual humility — and why humility can't read as weaknessWhat air racing really takes: micro-knots, wake vortices, and why pole position changes everythingLosing Aaron, "stem power," and how he got the jet on the groundWhy the DPE shortage isn't a DPE problem, it's an FAA problemWhat he can read about an applicant in the first two minutesHonesty, knowledge, determination — his three traits of a good captain, FO, or wingmanExposing your kids to aviation without pushing it"When we get in an airplane, we're in a survival situation. We're not supposed to be there."Happy Flying,Justin

Pilot to Pilot Magazine — Volume 003 is at the printers. Get yours at pilottopilothq.com/magGIVEAWAY - Complete the survey to be entered to win a Pilot to Pilot hat and Magazine subscriptions Big thanks to Textron Aviation for sponsoring this week's episode of Pilot to Pilot! This week I'm joined by Jason Rhode as we talk bout his unconventional journey in aviation - from where he started to what ultimately led up to step up into larger aircraft.Don't miss this opportunity to hear how the right aircraft can help you take the next step in your aviation journey!What happens when a public company CEO gets tired of the airlines and decides to fly himself? Jason Rhode, former CEO of Cirrus Logic, joins Justin to share one of the most unique aviation journeys we've featured — one that started not with a childhood dream of flying, but with a sweaty preflight in 110-degree Austin heat and a finance guy's ForeFlight demo.In this Textron Aviation-sponsored episode, Jason walks through every aircraft in his progression — DA40, DA62, Kodiak, TBM, and finally the Citation CJ3+ — and why Textron Aviation was the throughline that made each transition smoother than the last. He breaks down what the pro ownership program actually looks like from the inside, how Textron connected him with the right mentor pilots and Flight Safety simulator training, and why the M2-to-jet transition is far less intimidating than the insurance market wants you to believe.In this episode:Why owning a plane extended Jason's career as a CEO by four to five yearsHow Textron's pro ownership program handles maintenance tracking, mentor pilots, and service center coordinationThe CJ3+ acquisition story: buying a plane that had been in a ditch, flying it to 45,000 feet before the seller hadFinding the right insurance underwriter for jet transitions (and why your broker matters more than you think)Pilot and Paws missions, concert chasing in the Citation, and the lifestyle that makes it all worth itSponsors — please support the people who support the show: •Textron Aviation — Built for lifelong aviators. Plan your next chapter at txtav.com/stepup • Avemco Insurance — Save 5% as a Pilot to Pilot listener. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit avemco.com/4297-owner (owners) or avemco.com/4297-non-owner (non-owners) •  Garmin — Plan, file, fly, log with the Garmin Pilot app • Allworth Airline Advisors — Register for their latest webinar at allworthfinancial.com/justin • Learn the Finer Points — Save 10% off your first year at learnthefinerpoints.com/justin. https://allworthfinancial.com/airlines/lp/runway-for-retirement-webinar?utm_campaign=airlines+-+more+runway+for+retirement?lmls=Partner+Channel&lmld=Pilot+to+Pilot&ad_version=Social

Pilot to Pilot Magazine — Volume 002 is out now. Get yours at pilottopilothq.com/magSponsors — please support the people who support the show: • Avemco Insurance — Save 5% as a Pilot to Pilot listener. Call (888) 635-4297 or visit avemco.com/4297-owner (owners) or avemco.com/4297-non-owner (non-owners) • Textron Aviation — Built for lifelong aviators. Plan your next chapter at txtav.com/stepup • Garmin — Plan, file, fly, log with the Garmin Pilot app • Allworth Airline Advisors — Register for their latest webinar at allworthfinancial.com/justin • Learn the Finer Points — Save 10% off your first year at learnthefinerpoints.com/justin. https://allworthfinancial.com/airlines/lp/runway-for-retirement-webinar?utm_campaign=airlines+-+more+runway+for+retirement?lmls=Partner+Channel&lmld=Pilot+to+Pilot&ad_version=SocialSome people are drawn to the sky. Others are forged there.Rob “Scratch” Mitchell grew up surrounded by aviation legend — his grandfather flew Spitfires over occupied Europe, his father patrolled Cold War skies in a Royal Canadian Air Force jet. By the time Scratch sat down to choose his own path, there was never really a question. He wanted to fly fighters. He wanted to be the best. And through relentless focus, iron discipline, and a willingness to outwork everyone around him, that’s exactly what he became.In this episode of the Pilot to Pilot Podcast, Scratch takes us from the crucible of Canadian military pilot training — where attrition rates hovered near 50% — through the unforgiving world of F-18 tactical flying, into the bright lights of the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, where he eventually led the team as commanding officer. Along the way, he opens up about the fatal accident that occurred on his watch during his very first airshow weekend as team lead, and what it taught him about leadership, humanity, and what it truly means to hold a team together when the world falls apart.What you’ll hear in this episode:How Scratch finished number one in his pilot training class to guarantee a fighter slot — and why second place wasn’t an optionThe story behind his callsign, involving a French tanker, the wrong basket technique, and a very expensive canopyWhat 95 airshows in a single season does to a team — and to a marriageThe moment during the Snowbirds’ first airshow of the season when his wingman was lost, and how Scratch led nine pilots back to earth when the world had just gone silentWhy ego has no place in the debrief room — even when you’re debriefing your commanding officerThe civilian world’s hardest lesson for a fighter pilot: sometimes skill and effort aren’t enough, and luck is a variable you cannot controlHis pivot from the cockpit to the camera — and why aviation storytelling was always the through lineWhether you fly airliners, light aircraft, or simply love the world above the clouds, this is an episode about what it means to commit completely — to a mission, to a team, and to yourself.