5x5 with scott corley by Scott Corley

Seth Witcher is a musician/songwriter living in southeast PA.  His energy is contagious.   I loved talking to him.  I think he will achieve his dreams.

Robert Gandt is an award winning author and a highly accomplished pilot. His books have won multiple awards for excellence in history. His pilot skills have elevated him to the upper echelons in every organization in which he has flown. He has experience as a naval aviator, supervisory airline pilot, and general aviation aerobatic team leader. He has written more than a dozen books.

In the following interview with Lamont McClure, Northampton county executive you’ll learn his take on the context of the warehouse development in the Lehigh Valley and more. We discuss his role and responsibilities, and various other issues affecting the the Lehigh Valley today.

Rob Bendall was the lead certification pilot for the launch of Virgin America. Along with certification Rob has had a role in most things involving the pilots at Virgin America.  Hiring, checking, training, and otherwise supporting the pilots; he has acted as certification pilot, check airman, base chief pilot to system chief pilot.  In this interview we talk about what it took to launch the airline from a pilot’s perspective and many other aspects of the airline.  Rob’s integrity is something I have always admired.  I hope you enjoy this conversation.  Bendall Interview  00:00 Role in Certification  6:00  Pre-Virgin Background  12:25 How the FAA tests the operation via scenario cards on test flights.  16:45 Early VX manual sets  19:45 Pilot Culture and uniforms.    25:30 Goatees, FuManchus, and Professional looks.  44:00 The VA Inflight Entertainment System.  47:45 Ken Beiler Cabin 3.0  49:00 Unions and VX  53:00 ALPA organizing drive.  57:00 Biggest Challenges  60:00  Interviewing Pilots  69:00 Consolidation  71:00 B6/NK  76:50 Who owned the Planes  81:00  The Most Virgin Virgin Company  83:15 Own Safety  84:15 Props to Tech Ops  87:00  Protecting the dignity of the airline.

Matt McNeil, Licensed Profession Counselor, MS, LPC, helps pilots.  His company, LiftAffect, provides counseling, consultation, and coaching to pilots who are experiencing various mental health issues.  He talks through many issues, including reporting to the FAA. He was an airline pilot before transitioning to being a full time mental health professional.

Iain Day was 3 years old when his father took him to an airshow at RAF Leuchars outside Dundee in Scotland and he was hooked.

Cover Photo:  Captain Richard Vaux(left), and Brad Kuhn(right): Co-Authors of Dirty Work.

Matt received his bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina in 1994, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Sherman received his master's degree in international relations from Cambridge University in 1996. As a Fulbright Scholar, he worked with the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs on US - Australian trade regulations. He later returned to Chapel Hill and received his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2002. (Source:Wikipedia—But also confirmed by Matt) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Sherman_(lawyer)  Matt’s unique charismatic personality helped him build relationships with all types of players on all sides of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.  His resulting perspective would inform the key decision makers in both wars.  The list of people he advised includes General Stanley McChrystal, General David Petraeus, and General John F Campbell.   12:46 Nothing Simple  14:00 Geography plays huge role in how nations evolve  15:30 Long term force presence  17:00  How to interpret the political views regarding now..  18:50 Forever War isn’t the way to look at it  21:00 How wars end  32:20 Afghani Institutions today  33:46 US Mission in Afghanistan  34:30 Reason for Pride in the mission  35:00 What caused 9/11 and will the Taliban be able to enforce prevention of terrorist training camps.  38:40 Justification for Invading Afghanistan and whether the Taliban could have turned over Osama Bin Laden to the US.  41:00 How Important was finding and killing OBL.  44:45  Perceptions of Force  46:20 The Fierce debate in Washington on the first surge in 2006  51:10 Obama Surge  53:20 The psychological impact of leaving  54:30 How many Americans are in Afghanistan against their will right now  56:20  Afghani helpers to the US left there  56:50 Helping People Out of Afghanistan  78:30 Advertisement  88:00 Dan Carlin  93:20 Wars bringing out the best in people.  94:00  Looking for more or broader perspective  100:00 Round up of Saddam’s AirForce  109:30 Colin Powell’s perspectives  1:58:00 Sister BA   Acknowledgments: Thanks to Matt Sherman for his time and the sharing of his perspectives.  Thanks to Sheila Corley for help in general in life and more specifically to this episode helping me consolidate my thoughts for the Intro.  Chad H for showing up.  The Ninja 9 for the intro music.  (Solstice from the Pandemia album.)  Mike Marts for creative connections.  Parkin Corley for writing/playing drums on the outro music.  Brendan Ruane, who is an outstanding audio engineer, for coaching me over the last year plus to help me get to the point where I was able to create the sound mix from this episode by myself….  Shawn G Smith for demanding better from me.

Jaimie Rousseau was a flight attendant for over a decade before deciding to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a pilot.  In this episode she shares her experiences of her journey as both a pilot and flight attendant and the value of having been a flight attendant in her new role as a pilot.  Flight Attendants are highly trained aviation safety professionals.  They are the often overlooked first-responders, trained to ensure that your flight is a safe as possible when things go right or wrong.  I’m quite grateful for Jaimie’s sharing of her experiences in both roles.  I hope you enjoy this interview with her.  

John Carlson and I have a fun discussion about the Auto Sales industry and life!

Anthony Pascale is the owner and Executive Chef of Saiko Sushi in San Diego.  With two locations, one in Coronado, and one in North Park, he offers sublime sushi. View this episode on YouTube.  There are pictures discussed later in the interview.

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Steve Randall gained his early pilot experience by moving airplanes around the world for hire.  He described his journeys in the book, Rubber Suits & Lukewarm Soup: Surviving Life as an Oceanic Ferry Pilot.  

Ken Simons is the founder and inventor of VeloChair. He is also a good friend. I have admired Ken since I first met him back when I was a flight instructor and charter pilot at Somerset Airport back in 1998. Ken was then an executive for a large home building corporation. I was never a flight instructor of his, but I remember Ken taking tailwheel lessons with a fellow flight instructor. He would come out of each lesson beaming. He would have a glow that only comes from the type of joy that arises from the sense of accomplishment of getting better at a thing that you love to do, and thirst to know more about. Being a young flight instructor around an airport is a great experience. You get to rub elbows with older and wiser people who now have the resources coupled with the sense of adventure to do things like learn to fly. Ken’s success as a businessman earned him sole ownership of a Piper Turbo Aztec, a six seat, twin engine plane. I didn’t realize it then but Ken was a living embodiment of the aspects of great leadership. Ken never takes things personally, is slow to judge, and quick to forgive. Now, having retired from construction, he has turned his disability into a gift to the world, by developing his invention the VeloChair.

Mike Marts is the Editor-in-Chief of AfterShock Comics.