Ben is about to climb into a Piper Apache, which our own blog has definitively declared the official airplane of twin-engine Russian roulette, and he's doing the responsible midlife thing: writing down the flows, chair flying in his hotel room until his shoulder gives out, and showing up prepared anyway. Brian is deep in commercial checkride prep mode, synthesizing seven sources of information into cheat sheets that actually make sense to a human brain, and Ted — man flu survivor — is keeping everyone grounded as only Ted can. The topic tonight is what it actually takes to reenter the atmosphere of training after a gap: the ego check, the clipboard anxiety, the moment you realize you don't understand something and instead of walking away, you just read it again slower. Also: Neil deGrasse Tyson drops some wisdom, a five-star review nails all three hosts in one sentence, and we make the case that your private certificate is just a learner's permit for everything you're about to get wrong. Safety third. Always.Mentioned on the show:

* Piper PA23 Apache: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-23

* Gary Vaynerchuk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Vaynerchuk

* Blog- The Ultimate "Official Airplane Of" Guide: https://midlifepilotpodcast.com/blog/the-ultimate-official-airplane-of-guide

* Brian Schiff on The Calm Cockpit podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnSCpa2weUs

* Transair Flight 810 - 737, shut down the good engine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transair_Flight_810

* Beechcraft Baron 55: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Baron

* Beechcraft Dutchess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Duchess

Support the show!

https://www.patreon.com/MidlifePilotPodcast