The gag order is lifted. For ten months Ted answered "what have you been flying lately?" with a cheerful bunch of nothing, because he had quietly bet everything, sport pilot privileges included, on getting his FAA medical. If you apply and get denied, there is no crawling back to sport. He applied anyway. This week the curse-word-laden victory text went out: Ted has his medical, he is legal PIC again, and by his own math he'll have "probably 12 ratings in the next 60 days."Same week, same show: Ben formally accepted a charter job flying SIC in a Phenom 300. ("It didn't say Chrysler 300. It said Phenom, right?") He says he feels like the dog that's been chasing the school bus and finally caught it, and the chat has already decided his Piston Peasant shirt must be surrendered for a Turbine Tyrant model.Ted then opens the books on how the medical actually got won: five months of preparation before submitting anything, more records than his AME could upload (they faxed the rest), a cash MRI, a concierge neurologist one block off Rodeo Drive with an F1 replica car out front, a congressional inquiry, and a personally logged bill of $21,000. Disclaimer on disclaimer on disclaimer: that was Ted's very specific situation, not a recipe. Talk to AOPA Medical Services, Wingman Med, a HIMS AME, anybody but us.Also aboard: Mark, officially the fourth host ("the fifth wheel... it's really nice for redundancy"), is off to build airplanes in the Czech Republic, which Brian was reminded has not been called Czechoslovakia for quite some time. Brian pulled the power at 10,500 feet over a very hot Tennessee and glided Lucy all the way home ("the Icarus approach," per the chat). Plus a five-star review titled "New Era of Hangar Talk," sport pilot altitude rules straight from the 700-page MOSAIC reading (61.315: unchanged), and the non-event event on September 19 at McCollum Field (RYY).Tonight's wisdom, via Mike Alpha Golf: luck favors the prepared.Mentioned on the show:Chrysler 300: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_300Phenom 300: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_Phenom_300Raven Career Development: https://ravencareers.com/Ted's video, "first flight after ten months grounded: my faa medical certification story": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCt_6pCuLgoIson Law, The Pilot Lawyers: https://thepilotlawyer.com/AOPA Medical Resources: https://www.aopa.org/go-fly/medical-resourcesAOPA MedXpress Simulator: https://wingmanmed.com/medxpress-simulator/Wingman Med: https://wingmanmed.com/Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_Czechoslovakia

Ben, Brian, and Ted declare this one Oops All Feedback (or, as Ben coins it, "oopsitizers"): five tape machine clips plus reviews and community wins. Ben's avionics go pop-pop-pop over Columbus under an occluded front, and the crew lands on static as the likely culprit, with a side of "do you have static wicks?" Mark (1DullGeek) returns with the owner-maintenance addendum: anyone can replace a cylinder, only an A&P can sign it back into service, half the work is reading the maintenance manual, and his torque wrenches visit a calibration lab every year. Tango Hotel plans to fly the entire Mississippi from Lake Itasca to Venice, Louisiana, sandbars included. Ray in Australia asks how to survive "dropping out the bottom of the flight school sausage machine." Dan, almost 60, regroups with a new instructor at a slower pace (spite is very motivating). And Sierra Mike, 59, calls midlife "a fairly optimistic actuarial assumption" and reports that his instrument rating is temporarily delayed, not canceled.Plus: Delta Foxtrot passes his instrument checkride on the first attempt a month before his 66th birthday, Aviator Mo's five-star review orders Ben to stop whining, the non-event event moves to Saturday, September 19 at McCollum Field (RYY) with Elevation Chophouse after, and Brian connects it all to the Center for Land Use Interpretation and the way little airplanes teach you to read the landscape. Tonight's wisdom: learn from the mistakes of others, because you won't live long enough to make them all yourself.Mentioned on the show:Center for Land Use Interpretation: https://clui.org/

Marcus is a magician, an off-Broadway producer, and an en route controller at Houston Center, which is either an unusual resume or a perfectly logical one. To thousands online he's PropHatCat.He opens with the disclaimer (he doesn't speak for the FAA or NATCA), delivers a verdict on traffic management, and lays out the whole machine: tower to TRACON to center to the Command Center in Virginia, which fixes things with a cleaver and hands down playbook routes that every layer below shaves a little finer, until a controller is staring at a route straight through a thunderstorm and thinking exactly what you're thinking.He also discusses EDCTs, why fog in San Francisco turns into 80 miles in trail, and how to read the arrival demand charts before you plan into a busy field, plus why modernization takes forever at an agency where repaving a parking lot took seven and a half years, why frequency changes are harder than any controller believes until they sit in the right seat, how two American flights ended up with the same number, how accurate Pushing Tin is (very, especially the relationships), and why nobody else makes this kind of content: "they're not dumb enough to do it."Mentioned on the show:* PropHatCat on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prophatcat* PropHatCat's merch: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PropHatCat* PropHatCat on Linktree: https://linktr.ee/prophatcat* ATC TMUs: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/foa_html/chap18_section_2.html* EDCT: https://www.aspm.faa.gov/aspmhelp/index/Expect_Departure_Clearance_Times_(EDCT).html* NAS status: https://nasstatus.faa.gov/Arrival demand chart: https://www.fly.faa.gov/aadc/* ERAM, en route automation modernization: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/technology/eram* PropHatCat flying with Accidental Aviator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GtI-uRIswc* Opposing Bases: Air Traffic Talk: https://www.opposingbases.com/* FAA Mobile Clearance for GA, announced at Oshkosh: https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-advances-digital-departure-clearances-general-and-business-aviation* Elevation Chophouse and Skybar, McCollum Field: https://www.elevationatlanta.com/Midlife Pilot Podcast: https://midlifepilotpodcast.com

Owner-assisted maintenance, with all four hosts aboard: Ben, Brian, Ted, and Mark (1DullGeek), the show's resident expert, currently apprenticing in his mechanic's shop. What are you actually allowed to touch on your own airplane? The crew walks through 14 CFR 43.3(a), the 31 preventive maintenance items in Part 43 Appendix A(c), and the fine print that says you can change a tire on the rim but not remove the wheel, since that means touching the disc brakes. The sport pilot exception (SLSA only), why the list is not "examples," the Coleal interpretation and what Mike Busch and others have made of it, and the practical wisdom: even when it's legal, do it with your A&P the first time. Plus your aviation-lingo-at-home tape machine submissions from the EP191 ask, and the words of wisdom every procrastinating owner needs: the small problem you delay fixing becomes a major problem at the most remote airport on your trip.Mentioned on the show:Opposing Bases: https://www.opposingbases.com/Cheese Pilot: https://www.youtube.com/@cheesepilotGita and the Calm Cockpit Podcast: https://calmcockpit.com/Mark/1dullgeek's youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@1dullgeekTL Sparker: https://tlsportaircraft.com/sparker/Arrested Development, Mr. Wendal song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcnPfHS24Pg#t=1mMeat and Three: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_and_threeWhy can we work on our own aircraft? 43.3(a): https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/part-43/section-43.3#p-43.3(a)43 Appendix A(c): Preventive Maintenance. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-43/appendix-Appendix%20A%20to%20Part%2043#p-Appendix-A-to-Part-43(c)Except for sport pilot, pilots can perform preventive maintenance on owned or operated aircraft. Sport pilots only for SLSA: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/part-43/section-43.3#p-43.3(g)The Coleal Interpretation: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/practice_areas/regulations/interpretations/Data/interps/2009/Coleal-Bombardier%20Learjet_2009_Legal_Interpretation.pdfAOPA: Mike Busch and Savvy on Coleal and maintenance: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/october/pilot/savvy-aviator-preventive-maintenanceAOPA: Mike Busch on Coleal and other interpretations: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2023/august/pilot/savvy-maintenance-legal-interpretationsGAN: Jamie Beckett on interpretations: https://generalaviationnews.com/2025/08/26/the-rules-mean-what-the-rules-say-or-maybe-not/

Flying, and actually having someone else pay for it. The crew sits down with James Onieal of Raven Career Development: pilot, instructor, type-rated in the King Air, Citation, and Embraer 170/190, veteran of regional, fractional, and FAA flight check flying, and a career coach since 2010 (also a former FAA Sky Cop, but that's a topic for another day). Most aviation career advice is aimed at 22-year-olds; this conversation is for the midlife career changer: what Career 2.0 actually looks like when you're in your prime earning years, how a flight instructor made it to a legacy airline about eighteen months after starting the work, what changes when a 65-year-old airline pilot isn't ready to hang it up, and the question James opens with: what's your dream job? Tape-machine feedback, a review, and listener questions from midlife career changers round it out.Mentioned on the show:James Onieal, Raven Careers: https://ravencareers.com/Brian's The Long Way, Cohort Bravo starting August 13: https://www.makesmallcorrections.com/NetJets furloughed pilots in 2010: https://www.cnbc.com/2009/11/05/berkshire-hathaways-netjets-furloughs-495-pilots.htmlJames's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesonieal/21.Five podcast: https://www.21fivepodcast.com/

Ben is back from AirVenture and still hearing the Fisk arrival in his sleep. Two holds around the lakes, a push all the way back to Puckaway, and made it in on the third time, following an RV toward the runway: "I'm just going where he's going, and I hope they clear us to land." The full Oshkosh debrief: the campsite, the meetup with the APG crew, BK the Oshkosh controller, and the departure lesson every IFR pilot should hear (no slot before Oshkosh means no slot leaving it). Brian counters with the BUCKHD THREE arrival into Atlanta and a real-time weather call when the bad stuff showed up early. Plus a big announcement: a live show recorded at McCollum Field (RYY), with food at Elevation Chophouse after. Tape machine from Ash (flying_wheelies), a plea for written reviews (the stars are great, write the words too), Ray B joins at the Land-O-Matic level, and Dev Cannon logs an hour milestone flying his Navion home from Oshkosh.Mentioned on the show:RYY - Cobb County/McCollum Field: https://www.airnav.com/airport/RYYElevation Chophouse: https://www.elevationatlanta.com/Ascension Aviation, RYY FBO: https://ascensionfbo.com/location/atlanta/Ash aka flying_wheelies: https://instagram.com/@flying_wheeliesBen on Airplane Pilot Guy 716, part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-jPl9NKqOQBUCKHD THREE arrival for Atlanta: https://www.flightaware.com/resources/airport/KCCO/STAR/BUKHD+THREE+(RNAV)The Flying Reporter - Oceanic Adventure: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcG48Zvp5uCEOpen Source GA - many Oshkosh videos: https://www.youtube.com/@OpenSourceGA/videos

This week Ben, Brian, and Ted get into IFR currency: what it actually takes to stay instrument current and ready. Six approaches, holds, tracking and intercepting nav aids, and the clock that never stops running. Foggles versus a safety pilot versus the real thing, why the foggles are "the worst approximation of the instrument experience," and whether an IPC is the smarter move than chasing six approaches every six months. Plus a full tape machine of your voice memos and a whole lot of Oshkosh anticipation.From the tape machine: Ash (flying_wheelies) on flying as a wheelchair pilot and sport pilot in his Paradise P1, and more of your feedback.Mentioned on the show:Brian's THE LONG WAY: https://www.makesmallcorrections.com/Frequency Change Aviation, Nashville: https://frequencychangeaviation.com/EP36 with CFI & flight school owner Jeff Ramsey: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep36-cfi-flight-school-owner-jeff-ramsey-on-how-to/id1591463789?i=1000615289723Ash's Flying Wheelies: https://www.instagram.com/flying_wheeliesParadise P1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_P1_LSAICP Savannah: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICP_SavannahWhen Do You Need An IPC (Boldmethod): https://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/regulations/when-do-you-need-an-ipc-instrument-proficiency-check/1DullGeek's "I Can't See the Runway!!": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoIQv7IsfCw

Sport pilots get treated as lesser pilots. This week the crew takes apart why, and why it does not hold up. The restrictions are real. The skill gap is not. After MOSAIC put Cessna 172s and Cherokees within reach of a sport pilot, the training gap closed on its own. It starts with Rich, a sport pilot in Atlanta who walked into a flight school and got told he had "so much less training."Also this week: listener Christopher H. crossed 500 hours and passed his commercial checkride. Tape-machine messages from Luke Johnson, Sierra Squared, and Chris M. From the community: Echo November Whiskey passed the instrument checkride after "5 reschedulings with 3 DPEs." PapaLima logged a 90-day run for the ages. hakan flew his first border crossing, Germany to Austria.Support the show, join the Discord, grab merch, and send us a message at midlifepilotpodcast.com. If you are enjoying the podcast, leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and we will read it on the air.Mentioned on the show:Brian's THE LONG WAY: https://www.makesmallcorrections.com/Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic since 1992: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CzechoslovakiaLong Way 'Round, Ewan McGregor: https://www.longway.tv/Yes, Long Distance Runaround: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La9Me7alNqAErica's IFR class: https://www.gilbertaviation.com/

Ben's coming back to McCollum with his wife in the right seat and the winds at 340, 18 gusting 28, basically direct crosswind, and he's already named the two north-south runways he'll divert to if he doesn't like it. That's the whole episode in one scene. We dig into go/no-go decisions, built around the Go/No-Go channel where you post a flight before you fly it and let the group reason alongside you. No bravado, no armchair quarterbacking.Brian makes the case that scrubbing a flight you could have made is still a win, because you're teaching your future self the call was sound and next time the conditions could be worse. Erica Gilbert's 1,000-foot ceiling minimum comes up, and the story behind it: three emergency returns after takeoff inside 30 days. We talk through the real question under an IFR deck, which is how much time you want to find a landing spot when the engine quits, not if. The hardest scrubs are the ones 900 miles from home with work in the morning, so grab your meds and your underwear.We also read a remarkable letter from Bruce, a 45-year-old monocular MMA coach who spent two and a half years fighting through medical denials to earn his certificate. Plus accomplishments from Teddy's second Mooney, an M20J flown Texas to Minnesota, and Checkmate Barry's 14-maneuver flight review, the Piston Peasant shirt Ted designed, and a second cohort of Brian's VFR cross-country course after the first sold out. If you can't be a good example, you'll have to be a horrible warning.Mentioned on the show:THE LONG WAY cross-country course: https://www.makesmallcorrections.com/PISTON PEASANT shirt: https://midlifepilotpodcast.printful.me/product/piston-peasant-shirtNew website: https://midlifepilotpodcast.com/I FLEW ALL DAY AND LANDED AT THE SAME AIRPORT shirt: https://midlifepilotpodcast.printful.me/product/i-flew-all-day-and-landed-at-the-same-airport-unisex-classic-teeErica Gilbert's IFR masterclass: https://www.gilbertaviation.com/ifr-course

A whiskey episode, the non-format format where we catch up, work the live chat, and let it fly. Ted spots a pair of Canadair Super Scoopers fighting fires over Utah and IDs them on ADS-B in about ten seconds. Brian preps a 4:30 a.m. departure for West Texas to end-around a brutal heat dome, Tango 82 for a couple nights, then Marfa. Ted lays out the fatigue math of flying high for smoother air and better fuel burn, and when the oxygen comes out.We read an invite to Ed-Air, a Part 137 ag operation in Southern Indiana with a pilot house, six beds, and an 80-year-old founder. Ben recounts his annual five-mile hike up to the Len Foote Hike Inn near Springer Mountain and the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, 19 miles over a weekend that doubles as Oshkosh training. Version two of the website is live at midlifepilotpodcast.com, with the Midlife Pilot Tape Machine and a VU meter that actually works, so go yell into it. Plus the long road to turning Nashville's Super Charlie into a Bachelorette Bravo, a Challenger pilot caught on the wrong frequency, the grace controllers extend to student pilots, bush wheels on a Cessna 140, and a shout-out to everyone with a checkride coming up. Don't scud run, people.Mentioned on the show:Canadair CL-415 Super Scooper: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadair_CL-415T82 airport: https://www.airnav.com/airport/t82I20 Ed-Air Inc. airport: https://edairinc.com/location.htmlI20 info: https://www.airnav.com/airport/I20Len Foote Hike Inn: https://hike-inn.com/Springer Mountain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springer_MountainGita's Calm Cockpit Podcast: https://calmcockpit.com/Capt'n Todd's "portapilot" video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR2HrQGf454www.midlifepilotpodcast.com