This was an early discussion recorded for inclusion on the now (semi-retired) FlyingTraining.net. The flight training site was always intended to be a media resource for student pilots but was ‘consolidated’ into flight.org (along with CrewResourceManagement.com) for no other reason than time management purposes.
In this audio file, we chat with Karlene Petitt and Ken Pascoe about their early flight training efforts in addition to a broad range of flight training topics.
Since this isn’t a true ‘podcast’, the audio was encoded in a format to ensure a workable download size. As such, it’s compromised on the quality of sound.
About Karlene Petitt
Karlene has flown with Coastal, Evergreen, Braniff, America West, Guyana, Tower, and Northwest Airlines… and she describes her life as “an incredible ride”. Karlene is now flying the 8th leg of her airline journey as an International A330 pilot. She has 6 type ratings, two masters degrees (and a third she describes as a Ph.D of life) and is in the final stages of her first novel – Flight For Control.
Karlene describes her mission statement as follows: To inspire new pilots, share the love of aviation, and navigate our profession to a promising future.
You can read Karlene’s personal blog at Flight To Success and you’ll find her tweeting away at @KarlenePetitt. Karlene is also part of the @FlightPodcast team.
About Ken Pascoe
Ken Pascoe was born in Victoria in 1969 and grew up within sight of aircraft taking off and landing at Essendon Airport (and later at Tullamarine Airport). His father was a flying instructor (to this day he’s an A320 Captain with a wealth of international experience) so, as a bit of an aviation nut, he would often scale the roof of his house with Ken in tow so he could point out aircraft taking off and landing nearby. One of Ken’s earliest memories include sitting in the back of light aircraft (whether or not there were seats is a question Ken can’t answer) watching his father teach others to fly. From all of this a lifelong obsession with aviation and flight began.
Ken has flown Boeing 747-400’s for Cathay Pacific based in Hong Kong and the A310/A300/B777 for Emirates based in Dubai. He currently operates as the Boeing 777 Fleet Training manager for Virgin Australia based in Sydney, Australia.
Ken blogs at flight.org and tweets from @FlightPodcast, @flightorg and @KenPascoe.
Audio Index
Following is a very general index.
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00:00 Start 00:16 Introduction 01:19 Karlene Petitt and her early life in aviation 08:59 Research flying schools (aircraft, airport, instructor) 11:05 Karlene’s career path 13:30 Karlene paying for her lessons 15:49 Continuity of training 18:57 1500 hour requirement 21:05 Importance of school selection 22:50 Pilot conditions 23:47 Choice of flying instructor 25:47 Ken Pascoe joins the conversation 26:00 Importance of instructor selection 34:15 Commercial, Instrument, ATP… and a family 40:28 Flying or family? 45:25 Women in Aviation 46:51 7 aircraft, 5 airlines (preferences) 50:10 Laptops in the cockpit! 51:55 Final words of advice 54:18 Importance of an education 57:13 Is it worth it? 58:49 How to contact us 59:23 Disclaimer 59:42 End |
You can find us all on FlightPodcast.com. We also have a podcast Facebook page.
If you think there’s a market for a flight training podcast, please let us know.
Related posts:
About Marty
Do a podcast! Do a podcast! It would be so refreshing to hear a program by you two. The world of media is so contaminated by clueless airliners.net photographers/wannabe pilots that the value of information has the consistency of porridge. I would be delighted if you chose to take that route although I understand you’re both busy.
Karlene, Ken and Marty, you’re all a true delight to listen to and I can’t wait to catch up on your other podcast.
Jody
Dept. of Education (Aus)
I’m in the process of gathering information for my husband so he (and later we) can learn to fly. We’re planning on touring around the flying schools of Brisbane this week with the goal of finding a good school and booking in his first lesson. I can’t begin to tell you how much listening to this post helped me in working out what I should be considering and looking for. I’ll be starting flying training in a few months once Ben has established his footing so we’re not both taking time away from the family at the same time during training. Our plan is to buy a small plane and travel around Australia. I plan on asking you guys LOTS of questions :)
I agree with the podcast idea. There’s not much out there in the way of reliable flight training content so I think it would do quite well.
Thanks for the comment, Cassey. We’d love to hear of your progress. Keep us informed.