EP147 - Trip, Fall, Succeed: Chip Away at Your Next Rating

EP147 - Trip, Fall, Succeed: Chip Away at Your Next Rating

The crew tackles the midlife aviation dilemma: wanting that next rating but lacking time for full commitment. The hosts share Brian's "Trip Fall Succeed method" - making progress through small steps instead of diving headfirst into training.

Ben returns from Europe unable to eat American pasta again and explains how multi-engine training feels like "standing in front of a cliff" until it becomes "a little bit of a slope." His dedication includes yoga training just to reach emergency gear handles: "I'm surprised I haven't thrown my back out yet."

Brian shares his instrument training breakthrough on flying holds: "just draw the heading inbound to the fix and make the least insane turn" - apparently the secret nobody teaches. Ted discovers rental planes lack coffee makers while relearning carburetor heat exists.

The key message: you don't need full commitment to make progress. "Point yourself in that direction and start chipping away" through reading, finding safety pilots, or just "planting seedlings of learning" in your brain during downtime.

As friend of the show ATP CFII Nathan Ballard proves: "It took me 27 years to go from commercial to CFI. We are all on our own pace."

Plus the debut of Midlife Pilot Confessional featuring anonymous "avionics errors."

"Steam gauges because sometimes your best friend is a needle with a twitch."

Mentioned on the show:

* Moontown Airport Alabama: https://www.moontownairport.com/

* CFII Ben Lehman, Drift Aviation: https://www.driftaviation.com/

* Sandwich Illinois private airport: https://www.airnav.com/airport/IS65

* The Dunning-Kreuger effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

* Ted's Alvord Desert video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKIK0CiVnrM

* CNI Cherokee County, Canton Georgia: https://www.airnav.com/airport/CNI

* Triple Tree fly-in, Sep 22-28, SC00 Spartanburg, SC: https://tta.aero/ttfi/

* Music City STOL, Oct 10-11, XNX Gallatin Tenn: https://nationalstol.com/musiccity/

* Swift fly-in, Oct 1-5, MMI Athens Tenn: https://swiftmuseumfoundation.org/2025-swift-national-fly-in-october-1st-5th-preregistration-form/

* Atlanta Mayors' 5k on an ATL runway: https://runsignup.com/Race/Donate/GA/CollegePark/Mayors5Konthe5thRunway

* Atlanta airport cemetery (on the runway): https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/flat-rock-and-hart-cemeteries

* Erica's IFR ground school class: https://www.gilbertaviation.com/ifr

* dwhonan's aviation photography: https://www.instagram.com/dwhonan/


Join the Midlife Pilot Podcast community, get merch, and more at www.midlifepilotpodcast.com

Avsnitt(173)

EP174 - Information Whiskey: Just Don't Do It. Just Don't Do It.

EP174 - Information Whiskey: Just Don't Do It. Just Don't Do It.

Ted "puts a ring on" his airplane in the most permanent way possible. A Colorado hotel owner proves that "not a Patreon supporter" and "free advertising" aren't mutually exclusive. We talk IFR currenc...

31 Mars 52min

EP173 - Certified vs. Experimental - Do You Want to Fly or a Hobby?

EP173 - Certified vs. Experimental - Do You Want to Fly or a Hobby?

You can have a flying machine or you can have a project. Sometimes you get both whether you wanted them or not.This week, 1DullGeek aka Mark lays out why he's leaving the certified world behind and bu...

24 Mars 1h 8min

EP172 - Live from Bentonville! The Thaden Invasion Fly-In

EP172 - Live from Bentonville! The Thaden Invasion Fly-In

Recorded live at Legends Air Center, Bentonville Municipal Airport (KVBT)We pulled it off. Forty-six planes, 76 humans, one carbon cub with a suspiciously placed trim switch, and a weather forecast th...

16 Mars 56min

EP171 - Bracin' for Thaden with Seth Lake

EP171 - Bracin' for Thaden with Seth Lake

DPE, airline pilot, C-130 instructor, and VSL Aviation founder Seth Lake drops in from his car outside a North Little Rock hangar to help pilots get ready for the real thing. He previews his enhanced ...

10 Mars 1h 17min

EP170 - Information Whiskey: A Nothing Sandwich in the Clouds

EP170 - Information Whiskey: A Nothing Sandwich in the Clouds

An Information Whiskey edition where Ben loses his Sears and Roebuck HSI in the clouds and flies a partial panel ILS into McCollum like it's just another Tuesday, Brian takes his first solo IFR flight...

3 Mars 1h 17min

EP169 - You Can't Fix the Mind With the Mind - with Gita Brown

EP169 - You Can't Fix the Mind With the Mind - with Gita Brown

Gita Brown came to flying the hard way: through crippling fear, a discovery flight, and one moment where she grabbed the controls and something just flipped. Now she's a student pilot marching toward ...

24 Feb 1h 9min

EP168 - How The Turn Tables... Brian's Turn to Checkride Debrief

EP168 - How The Turn Tables... Brian's Turn to Checkride Debrief

You've watched our Patreon community members sit down with 1DullGeek after their checkrides and lay it all bare — the nerves, the near misses, the lessons learned the hard way. Private, instrument, co...

18 Feb 1h 2min

EP167 - Cockpit Tetris and Mess Management

EP167 - Cockpit Tetris and Mess Management

Episode 167 tackles the challenge of cockpit organization with real solutions from three very different flying setups.Brian's still battling the conspiracy to prevent his instrument checkride (spoiler...

10 Feb 1h 6min

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