164. How Do You Network in Aviation If You're an Introvert?
21.FIVE - Professional Pilots Podcast
Release Date: 04/08/2025
223. What Do Aircraft Mechanics Wish Pilots Understood?
21.FIVE - Professional Pilots Podcast
Doug Taylor, Co-Founder and CEO of Avtopia, joins Dylan and Max to pull back the curtain on aircraft maintenance, AOG headaches, and what mechanics wish pilots understood about keeping airplanes flying. With 35 years of maintenance experience, Doug shares practical insights on writing better squawks, working with maintenance teams, navigating parts shortages, and avoiding the mistakes that make an already stressful AOG even worse. From MELs and elusive “cannot duplicate” discrepancies to Gulfstream maintenance nightmares, the A&P shortage, and AI-powered troubleshooting, the...
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222. Are Your Pilot Logbooks Ready for the Next Job?
21.FIVE - Professional Pilots Podcast
Max goes back to basics in recurrent training, Ted checks in from his increasingly fortified garage, and the guys dig into the FAA’s move away from single-pilot exemptions on legacy Citations. The Mailbag keeps the pilot-marriage conversation going with listener strategies for trust, communication, and life on the road. For Flight Advice, Ben asks how to consolidate paper, Garmin Pilot, and MyFlightbook records before starting his first Part 135/fractional flying job, leading to a discussion about owning your data, backups, and keeping a clean interview-ready logbook. Show Notes 0:00...
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221. Are You Leaving Money on the Table Before Year-End?
21.FIVE - Professional Pilots Podcast
Tim Pope of 360 Aviation Advisors joins Dylan and Max to talk open enrollment, year-end financial planning, and one of the biggest career decisions pilots eventually face: when to upgrade. For professional pilots, the numbers matter—but so do schedule, seniority, reserve, weekends off, and the quality-of-life calculus that never fits neatly into a spreadsheet. They dig into disability coverage, estate planning, 401(k) and Roth strategies, AI-generated financial questions, and whether captain pay is worth trading away a senior FO schedule. Listen in and subscribe for more conversations built...
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220. How Much Adventure Can You Fit Into One Flying Week?
21.FIVE - Professional Pilots Podcast
This week we ditch the usual format and go full storytime, starting with Max’s annual Idaho backcountry mission involving Cub flying, pack rafts, mechanical drama, questionable fuel logistics, hungry foxes, and one extremely unwelcome skunk. Dylan counters with a 24-hour Anchorage layover full of 747s, floatplanes, bush planes, F Street Station, and some proper Alaska aviation sightseeing. Then he brings Gavin along in the right seat of the CJ2 for a father-son run to Roswell, complete with copilot duties and UFO tourism. Mailbag and Flight Advice will be back next episode. Show Notes 0:00...
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219. Why Is the Business Jet Market So Tight Right Now?
21.FIVE - Professional Pilots Podcast
Brooks Pettit of Vaerus Jet Sales joins Dylan and Max to break down what is really happening in the business aircraft market. For professional pilots and flight departments, he covers tight inventory, strong demand, financing, tax-driven transactions, and why planning ahead matters. They also get into Challenger 3500 delivery positions, bonus depreciation, tariffs, AI-driven market research, and the realities of buying and selling aircraft in a fast-moving market. Listen in for a practical look at the transaction side of business aviation, then subscribe for more conversations from the cockpit...
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218. Can You Trust a Pilot on the Road?
21.FIVE - Professional Pilots Podcast
Max checks in from a musty Missouri hotel while earning his Light Sport Repairman certificate, and the guys detour through GA maintenance, Starbase, RTA wizardry, and the ongoing decline of 123.45 as a social network. Mailbag covers Sugar Alpha, Qantas’ ultra-long-haul A350 plans, where Spirit’s pilots and traffic may have landed, and whether 21.Five needs a Discord server. In Flight Advice, Dylan and Max tackle the stereotype that pilots are destined to cheat—and how couples can build trust, recognize real red flags, and keep the hotel-bar lifestyle from becoming a relationship MEL....
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217. Constant Peg: America’s Secret MiG Operation
21.FIVE - Professional Pilots Podcast
Rob Zettel joins Dylan and Max to tell the story of flying MiG-21s and MiG-23s with the USAF’s secretive Red Eagles under the Constant Peg program. For professional pilots, it’s a fascinating look at training, aircraft handling, risk management, and what happens when experienced aviators are handed an airplane with no two-seat trainer and no simulator. Rob gets into fighting frontline U.S. fighters in the MiG-21, taking the MiG-23 to Mach 2.35, handling a serious hydraulic failure, and later trading Cold War fighters for a career at United and the 757. Listen and subscribe for more...
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216. What Don’t Professional Pilots Know About Owning a Small Airplane?
21.FIVE - Professional Pilots Podcast
Max gets wrecked by a closed mariscos truck, discovers there are still 727 flight engineers in the wild, and goes full test-pilot mode in his Cub after finding Bush Air’s backcountry training content. In the Mailbag, we hear about expat pilot furloughs at Cathay, the French art of la bise, Allegiant’s bridge agreement, and a couple of excellent Oshkosh run-ins. Flight Advice tackles how a military/airline pilot with basically no GA background should ease into tailwheels, backcountry flying, airplane ownership, instruction, and the local GA community without making a very expensive first...
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215. Are You Pushing Your Pilot Career Too Hard?
21.FIVE - Professional Pilots Podcast
James Onieal of Raven Careers returns to break down the current pilot hiring market across the majors, regionals, cargo operators, fractionals, and cadet programs. He explains why hiring remains competitive, why ATP-CTP is becoming a practical minimum for first jet jobs, and why changing lanes can sometimes leave pilots farther behind. The crew also digs into NetJets, Flexjet, FedEx, Alaska-Hawaiian, low-time networking, and the danger of grinding for flight time without a realistic payoff. Listen and subscribe for a candid look at building a professional flying career without turning yourself...
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214. Should You Stay for Turbine PIC or Jump to a Regional?
21.FIVE - Professional Pilots Podcast
Dylan and Max return from aggressively vacationing with biplane rides, glacier dog sledding, Telluride approaches, and a real single-engine checkride landing at Prescott. They break down United’s unusual diversion into Luke Air Force Base, swap diversion war stories, and question whether anyone actually wants a 24-hour Qantas flight. The Mailbag covers Skybus, a Harvey Watt-powered ultramarathon, and more listener follow-ups. Flight Advice tackles whether a new dad should stay in a Part 135 Citation job building turbine PIC or jump to a regional—and the verdict is to stay put for now. Show...
info_outlineDylan and Max kick things off with stories of Cub flights and musing about GLS approaches and Starlink’s newest data plans. The Mailbag’s international flair includes a heartfelt message from a UK pilot and some simmering debate on career paths and sim setups. Flight Advice dives into the looming specter of single-pilot airline operations and how to future-proof your career (hint: maybe dust off that CAD software). Plus, the guys grapple with networking challenges for introverts in aviation.
Show Notes
0:00 Updates: Cub, Starlink, GLS Approaches
21:14 Reviews & Comments
25:01 Mailbag: Networking and More!
43:12 Flight Advice: Single Pilot
58:02 Final Flight of the Moose
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Tim Pope is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and a pilot. His financial planning practice provides services to aviation professionals and aviation 401k plans. Tim helps clients pursue their financial goals by defining them, organizing & optimizing resources, planning, implementing, and monitoring their financial plan. Visit https://link.21fivepodcast.com/timothy-pope to learn more. Check out Tim's podcast: The Pilot's Portfolio podcast
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