Aviation News Talk – Pilot Stories, Safety Tips & General Aviation News Podcast By Max Trescott | Aviation News Talk Network cover art

Aviation News Talk – Pilot Stories, Safety Tips & General Aviation News

Aviation News Talk – Pilot Stories, Safety Tips & General Aviation News

By: Max Trescott | Aviation News Talk Network
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40 yrs of experience - GA News, safety tips, IFR & technology Aviation News Talk is a podcast focused on General Aviation news, general tips for pilots, technical details on glass cockpits and flying GPS approaches, and an occasional interview. I bring over 40 years of piloting experience to the show to teach pilots and future pilots to fly safely and to answer listener questions.Glass Cockpit Publishing 2023 Politics & Government
Episodes
  • 426 Gear-Up Landings & Gear Collapses: How to Prevent Them with Tom Turner + GA News

    426 Gear-Up Landings & Gear Collapses: How to Prevent Them with Tom Turner + GA News
    Aug 27 2026
    Gear-up landings are often dismissed as embarrassing pilot mistakes, but landing gear mishaps are far more common, complicated, and expensive than many pilots realize. In this episode, Max talks with Tom Turner of the American Bonanza Society Air Safety Foundation about why gear-up landings and landing gear collapses continue to happen—and the operating habits and maintenance practices that can prevent them. Turner says the Beechcraft Bonanza, Baron, Debonair, and Travel Air fleet averages about one reported landing gear mishap every week. Those events represent roughly 40 percent of the mishaps reported to the American Bonanza Society. And because many landing gear events do not meet NTSB reporting thresholds, Turner says contacts in the insurance, aircraft rebuilding, and salvage industries believe the actual number may be two to three times higher. The problem is not unique to Beechcraft. Turner previously tracked landing gear events across piston retractable-gear aircraft and found comparable or even higher rates in some other types. Landing gear mishaps also have an outsized impact on aircraft insurance because a seemingly survivable gear-up landing can result in propeller damage, an engine teardown, belly damage, and repair costs high enough for an insurer to total the airplane. Much of the conversation focuses on developing habits that make forgetting the landing gear less likely. Turner teaches the concept "gear down to go down." Rather than beginning the final descent simply by reducing power, landing gear extension becomes the event that initiates the descent from traffic pattern altitude or onto the final portion of an instrument approach. He also teaches Gear Extension Altitude, or GEA. On a straight-in or other nonstandard arrival, the pilot selects an altitude below which the airplane will not descend until the landing gear has been extended and confirmed. Max relates two occasions during his flying career when normal landing gear cues broke down. In one, while training in a Diamond DA42, he reached the flare before his instructor revealed that the gear was still up. In another, while flying a Vision Jet instrument approach, the normal glidepath cue used for gear extension never appeared. The airplane's warning system ultimately caught the omission. That leads to one of Turner's strongest recommendations: regardless of when you normally extend the landing gear, establish a deliberate final gear confirmation on short final, around 400 to 500 feet AGL. If distraction, a changed traffic pattern, a go-around, or some other interruption causes you to miss your normal extension cue, that final check provides one more opportunity to catch the error. Warning systems alone are not enough. Turner describes pilots who continued toward landing while gear warning horns sounded and bright warning lights flashed. During high workload, pilots may simply stop processing repetitive warnings. In multi-engine training, the problem can become particularly insidious because pilots may listen to a landing gear warning horn throughout a simulated engine-out exercise and effectively tune it out before landing. Turner recommends using more than cockpit lights to verify the gear. Listen to the gear motor and notice whether it sounds normal. Feel and observe the expected change in drag and pitch. Compare airspeed, power, descent rate, and aircraft performance with what you normally expect. Then verify the cockpit indications. ABS even recommends holding the gear handle until this entire confirmation process is complete. Go-arounds introduce another human-factors trap. Pilots may vividly remember extending the gear—but the memory may be from the previous trip around the pattern. Turner favors making a go-around resemble a normal takeoff, then using the same normal extension cue on the next approach. Whatever technique a pilot chooses, the key is consistency and making sure the cue will still occur following a go-around. The discussion then turns to touch-and-go landings, which both Max and Tom strongly discourage in retractable-gear airplanes. A pilot reaching to retract the flaps can inadvertently select the landing gear instead. They similarly recommend not reconfiguring the airplane during the landing roll. Wait until the airplane is clear of the runway and preferably stopped on the taxiway before moving flap or similar controls. And pilots should not assume squat switches will save them. Turner describes observations showing that systems tied to weight-on-wheels switches may not recognize the airplane as firmly on the ground until surprisingly late in the landing roll—and may switch to flight mode early during takeoff. Bumps and unloading of the landing gear can further reduce their effectiveness. Gear collapses also have a significant maintenance component. At American Bonanza Society maintenance evaluation events, aircraft are placed on jacks and their landing gear rigging and downlock ...
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    1 hr and 16 mins
  • 425 STEM Flights: How Volunteer Pilots Inspire Future Aviation Careers + GA News

    425 STEM Flights: How Volunteer Pilots Inspire Future Aviation Careers + GA News
    Aug 20 2026
    In Episode 425 of Aviation News Talk, Max talks with retired Air Force General David Brubaker about STEM Flights, a nonprofit organization that pairs middle- and high-school students with volunteer pilot mentors for free, one-on-one aviation experiences designed to introduce them to careers in aviation, aerospace, engineering, and other STEM fields. STEM Flights grew out of Brubaker's own experience after retiring from the Air Force in 2005. During his military career, he flew aircraft including the F-4 and F-16 and finished his career with an assignment at the Pentagon. After retiring, he became active in general aviation and began taking young people flying. But Brubaker didn't simply give them airplane rides. He expected them to participate. They helped with navigation, looked at the instrumentation, worked with the radios, and often took the controls themselves. Years later, he began hearing back from some of those young people. Several had gone on to study aviation, aerospace, engineering, and other technical subjects. One young woman eventually earned her ratings, joined the West Virginia Air National Guard, and became a C-130 pilot. Those experiences helped Brubaker recognize that pilots could have an enormous influence on the career choices of young people simply by sharing aviation with them in a meaningful way. His children encouraged him to turn what he was doing informally into a nonprofit, and STEM Flights was launched in 2018. Today, STEM Flights connects students with volunteer pilot mentors around the country. Students don't simply show up at an airport for a free ride. They apply to the program, receive a recommendation, select a mission based on their interests, and complete homework before being paired with a pilot. That preparation is part of what makes STEM Flights different. Brubaker describes the program as a more intensive, personal experience than a typical introductory airplane ride. A student is paired one-on-one with a pilot mentor, and the pilot learns about the student's interests before the flight. On the day of the mission, they discuss safety and learning objectives, preflight the airplane, and then head into the air. Once they reach a safe altitude, the student usually gets the controls. They may learn about navigation, aircraft instrumentation and communications, and Brubaker says he likes to have each student make at least one radio call. But the most powerful moment often comes when the student realizes that he or she is actually flying the airplane. Brubaker tells the story of one reluctant young man whose mother encouraged him to participate. On the ground, the student appeared completely uninterested, and Brubaker wondered whether the flight would accomplish anything. Then they took off. Within minutes of taking the controls, the boy came alive. He started participating, asking questions, and enthusiastically flying the airplane. A couple of weeks later, Brubaker received a letter from the boy's mother. She explained that her son had approached life believing it was better not to try than to try and fail. Flying an airplane—something he never imagined he could possibly do—changed his perception of what he might be capable of accomplishing. That experience illustrates why STEM Flights is about more than simply recruiting future pilots. Students have gone on to pursue aircraft maintenance, avionics, aerospace engineering, military aviation, and other technical fields. Brubaker says dozens have attended universities with aviation or engineering programs, and STEM Flights continues supporting students after their flights through a program called Flight Following. Flight Following connects participants with information about scholarships, flight schools, grants, Civil Air Patrol, and other organizations and programs that can help them continue toward aviation and STEM careers. For pilots listening to Aviation News Talk, one of the most important parts of the conversation is how they can participate. STEM Flights calls its volunteers "pilot mentors," and you don't need to be a flight instructor. Brubaker says pilots generally need a private pilot certificate, at least 250 hours of flight time, appropriate medical and aircraft qualifications, and a background check. You don't necessarily need to own an airplane either. Some pilot mentors rent aircraft or belong to flying clubs, and in some areas STEM Flights has arrangements with local flight schools. The organization has pilot mentors in 49 states, but matching students with available pilots remains a constant challenge. At the time of the interview, Brubaker said roughly 115 young people were waiting to be paired with pilots. After a career that included fighter jets, simulated air combat and pulling nine Gs, Brubaker says mentoring young people offers a different kind of satisfaction. Military flying was intensely focused on accomplishing a mission. STEM Flights provides an opportunity to give ...
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • 424 The Savvy Flight Instructor: Greg Brown on CFI Jobs, Getting Hired, and Finding Students + GA News

    424 The Savvy Flight Instructor: Greg Brown on CFI Jobs, Getting Hired, and Finding Students + GA News
    Aug 15 2026
    Max talks with Greg Brown about one of the most important—and often underestimated—roles in aviation: the flight instructor. Greg is one of aviation's most respected CFIs, writers, and pilot mentors. A pilot since 1972 and a flight instructor since 1979, he was named the 2000 Industry/FAA National Flight Instructor of the Year, became the first-ever Master Flight Instructor, and was inducted into the Flight Instructor Hall of Fame in 2021. Many pilots know Greg from his aviation books, including The Savvy Flight Instructor, The Turbine Pilot's Flight Manual, Flying Carpet, You Can Fly!, and Job Hunting for Pilots, as well as from his long-running "Flying Carpet" column in AOPA Flight Training magazine and his Cockpit Adventures from the Flying Carpet podcast. In this episode, Greg and Max focus on practical advice for people who are becoming CFIs, looking for CFI jobs, or trying to build a better flight instruction business. Greg explains that he did not become a flight instructor immediately after earning his private pilot certificate. By the time he earned his CFI, he had already accumulated a great deal of flying experience and had discovered that he loved teaching. He instructed about 800 hours in his first year while still holding another full-time job, and soon discovered that instruction could lead to unexpected aviation opportunities. One of Greg's key messages is that becoming a CFI should not be viewed as a dead end or merely a required stepping stone to an airline job. He tells the story of teaching an instrument student who owned a scientific instrument company. That student eventually invited Greg to become the company's chief pilot and help select and fly a cabin-class twin. Greg's point is that CFIs meet people, build trust, and create opportunities in ways that are impossible to predict. Greg also offers detailed advice on how new instructors can get hired. He explains that many applicants simply send resumes and end up in a large pile with everyone else. A smaller number know someone at the flight school. But the strongest applicants are those who have built a personal relationship with the owner, chief instructor, or people already working there. Greg urges aspiring CFIs to visit flight schools, ask for advice, stay in touch, and create a simple system to maintain relationships over time. In a tight CFI job market, he says, networking and reputation can be more important than raw hours. Max and Greg also discuss different paths into flight instruction, including academies, Part 61 flight schools, flying clubs, universities, and independent instruction. Greg says flying clubs can be a terrific environment because instructors often know their students, have access to aircraft, and may face less bureaucracy. They also discuss the idea of buying an airplane to teach in. While that can work for some instructors, Greg and Max point out the financial and insurance challenges, along with the practical limitation that when a student solos your airplane, you no longer have that airplane available for dual instruction. A major theme of the episode is that flight instructors must also learn marketing and sales. Greg recommends that CFIs create photo business cards with an airplane or cockpit image, a QR code, and contact information. He says the card does the work of explaining who you are and often starts conversations with people who may be interested in aviation. Greg also recommends having at least a simple web page, so potential students searching online for flight training or a local flight instructor can find you. Greg also strongly recommends earning a ground instructor certificate. He explains that the advanced ground instructor written test overlaps substantially with the commercial and flight instructor written tests, making it a practical step for many aspiring CFIs. Teaching ground school can help a future instructor get connected with a flight school, develop teaching skill, and attract future flight students. Max adds that teaching ground school before his CFI checkride made it far easier to stand at a board, explain concepts clearly, and teach an examiner during the practical test. The discussion then turns to how CFIs can earn more and build long-term credibility. Greg compares flight instruction to golf or tennis instruction: the best instructors are not necessarily the cheapest, but the ones who provide the most value. He recommends building references, earning additional instructor ratings, pursuing credentials such as Master Flight Instructor, and developing expertise. Max adds that specialization can move an instructor up the value chain. A CFI might become known for tailwheel training, glass cockpit instruction, instrument training, mountain flying, aircraft ownership, Cirrus training, Mooney training, or another niche. Greg and Max also explore the deeper human side of flight instruction. Greg tells two stories about challenging students. One student showed...
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    1 hr and 22 mins
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Great radio voice. Great update info for the community and gtreat topics with guests. Max, keep up the great work.....and please know that you have made me a better pilot. Thank you

Best Aviation Podcast yet !!!!!!

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