SMAC039 – Behind the Scenes of Flying Wild Alaska with John Ponts – Part 1

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First and foremost, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Because of your support and listenership 2012 was a record breaking year as we out grew ourselves nearly month over month. Thank you from the bottom our our props for tuning in week in and week out. We couldn’t do it without you! Cheers 🙂

Welcome to one of our favorite editions of the Stuck Mic AvCast! Today we had the distinct honor of interviewing ERA Airlines Captain and co-host of the Discovery Channel’s Flying Wild Alaska show, John Ponts. In a chance encounter in late 2012 co-host Carl Valeri bumped into Ponts at the Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, NJ which lead to this interview opportunity. At the time, Ponts was traveling to Germany for vacation but not before agreeing to come on the show and talk about his passion for aviation.

This audio interview is Part 1 of a 2 part series with Ponts as we cover everything from his desire to be a professional athlete to his transition into flying. Join us for this tell-all show as we get down and dirty with the real John Ponts!

Pre-Flight

Women of Aviation week is March 4 – 10, 2013 and Victoria is still looking for volunteers in the United States to host events. As the US team leader she’s currently responsible for managing such events in over 30 states so far! To get in involved or request information on how you can host an event in your city or state visit: Organizing A Women of Aviation Event.

Cruise Flight

Stay tuned for Episode 40 and Part 2 of our interview with John Ponts including listener questions answered by Ponts on the air!

***UPDATED JANUARY 15, 2013***
Now Available: Part 2 of Behind the Scenes of Flying Wild Alaska with John Ponts

After Landing Checklist

~ Picks of The Week ~

No Picks of the Week were included in this interview episode.

SMAC035 – Lost Comms, Squawking 7600, Track Up Vs North Up

Todays show discussions involved what to do when losing radio communication in Class Bravo and Charlie airspace and the results of a survey involving the topic of Track Up vs North Up when flying and navigating with moving map displays.

Pre-Flight

First flying video of Rick’s bird dog flight with Paul Santopietro that brought us the interview in Episode 32a is NOW available on YouTube! Be sure to check that out and stay tuned for some additional videos to come from that fall flying day.

NBAA 65th Annual Meeting and Convention in Orlando is just finished up today, November 1st. Hopefully you had a chance to visit and check out everything they had to offer.

For our airshow lovers on the west coast we bring you the Jackie Cochran Airshow in Thermal, CA on November 3rd. On the east coast we bring you the Wings Over Homestead airshow in sunny Florida also on November 3rd and 4th featuring the US Air Force Thunderbirds.

A friend of the podcast is conducting a survey on GA Pilot Starts to help identify how we, as a pilot group, can improve and grow our beloved industry for the future. Please take a few minutes to submit your answers. The data is being used privately and no person or entity is profiting from the survey results.

For the What’s Great About Greenland segment today, Rick Felty shares “hiking”. Greenland offers amazing opportunities for hiking adventures to near, untouched areas of the country where no man (or woman) has gone before. But only in the summer months, so please, pretty please, don’t go hiking there in the winter…

Cruise Flight

After Landing Checklist

~ Picks of The Week ~

Victoria – book: Jungle Pilot and accompanying movie: End of the Spear

Carl – Max Trescott’s website

Len – Boost Oxygen portable O2 canister

Rick – Hint.fm Wind Map

Listen to Episode 35 Below