The Fearless Flyer

The Fearless Flyer

Our podcast is for people who have a fear of flying or, an anxiety associated with being in an aircraft. In our first series (S1), we will take you from the basics about how an aircraft works with an insight as to what is happening and why during a flight, to the stuff you don't see behind the scenes. The aim is to remove the myth of flying and arm you with the knowledge to make you into a Fearless Flyer. We then run a mini-series S2, the first episode is "Going on a Flight," explaining the preparation you should consider before a flight and, talking you through the process and the noises etc you will hear on an actual flight. We will then use the S2 series as an opportunity to update you on what we feel are important events in the industry. We then move onto series 3 (S3), an on-going series discussing historical aviation events, what we learnt from these events and how these lessons were implemented into the aviation industry in order prevent them happening again. These historical lessons have made a significant contribution as to why the aviation industry is now so regulated and, why flying is one of the safest forms of transport today. Series 4 (S4), "There I was with Al," Al joins the team with his own series discussing various pilot's careers, from the beginning to where they are now and what they've learnt throughout their careers. You Hosts are James, Grant and Al. James studied Aviation Management at a New Zealand University and is now employed in a commercial role for a major airline. Grant is a Boeing 777 Captain with a major airline in the Middle East, he spent the first 8 years of his career as an Aircraft Engineer before taking up flying full time. Previous aircraft Grant flew were the Boeing 757, 767 and 737, he currently has over 20,000 hours of flying time. Al was an Air Traffic controller who went onto flying in South Africa where he flew the Boeing 727 and Boeing 737. He subsequently moved to the middle east to fly the Boeing 777 and Al is also a crew resource management (CRM) trainer for the same airline.

Episodes

June 30, 2025 42 mins

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Hello Fearless Flyers, Stefan joins us again as a guest host to discuss the Boeing 747 which he flew for many years. Using his knowledge, we delve into the loss of a Boeing 747 forward cargo door climbing out of Hawaii. 

As per usual, you can contact us on email or social media at:
Email: contactus@thefearlessflyer.net
Twitter: @FearlessFlyPod
Facebook: The Fearless Flyer
Instagram: FearlessFl...

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Hi Fearless Flyers, welcome to, "There I was... with Al." In this episode, part 1, I talk to Mark about his aviation career involving helicopters, his initial flying experiences and what he has experienced throughout his career, this will be part one of a two-part episode with Mark and the second part will be about his fixed wing career. 

So join me, Allan, in the middle of every month for a new jou...

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May 31, 2025 39 mins

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Hello Fearless Flyers, welcome back to part 2 of the DC10 cargo door fiasco. Stefan also joins us to continue with second part as we try to understand why it was allowed to happen. 

As per usual, you can contact us on email or social media at:
Email: contactus@thefearlessflyer.net
Twitter: @FearlessFlyPod
Facebook: The Fearless Flyer
Instagram: FearlessFlyPod

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May 14, 2025 45 mins

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Hi Fearless Flyers, welcome to my new series on the Fearless Flyer Podcast, "There I was... with Al." In this episode, part 2 of talking to Shorty about his aviation career, his brushes with the poison, tree branches and what he has experienced throughout his career, the lessons he had learnt and finally asking Shorty, "what makes a good pilot?"

So join me, Allan, in the middle of every mo...

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April 30, 2025 40 mins

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Hello Fearless Flyers, we welcome Stefan onto this episode to discuss what happens when a new aircraft design is pushed too fast by an aircraft manufacturer. 

As per usual, you can contact us on email or social media at:
Email: contactus@thefearlessflyer.net
Twitter: @FearlessFlyPod
Facebook: The Fearless Flyer
Instagram: FearlessFlyPod

A request for help from Apple podcast users: Our podcast d...

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April 14, 2025 49 mins

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Hi Fearless Flyers, welcome to, "There I was... with Al." In this episode I talk to Shorty about his aviation career, initial flying experiences and what he has experienced throughout his career, this will be part one of a two-part episode talking to Shorty. 

So join me, Allan, in the middle of every month for a new journey into the fascinating careers of everyday individuals who you rarely get to i...

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March 31, 2025 34 mins

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Hello Fearless Flyers, we welcome Charlie onto this episode to discuss what was going to be done about all those non-precision approaches that were the cause of many accidents that categorised as controlled flight into terrain. 

As per usual, you can contact us on email or social media at:
Email: contactus@thefearlessflyer.net
Twitter: @FearlessFlyPod
Facebook: The Fearless Flyer
Instagram: Fe...

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March 14, 2025 65 mins

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Hi Fearless Flyers, welcome to my new series on the Fearless Flyer Podcast, "There I was... with Al." In this episode I talk to Hennie about his aviation career, initial flying experiences and what he has experienced throughout their career, the lessons he had learnt and finally asking Hennie, "what makes a good pilot?"

So join me, Allan, in the middle of every month for a new journey into...

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February 28, 2025 24 mins

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Hello Fearless Flyers, we finish our discussion with Adrian about the GPWS with how the Enhanced GPWS saved a flight from disaster.

As per usual, you can contact us on email or social media at:
Email: contactus@thefearlessflyer.net
Twitter: @FearlessFlyPod
Facebook: The Fearless Flyer
Instagram: FearlessFlyPod

A request for help from Apple podcast users: Our podcast does not register in the fea...

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February 14, 2025 41 mins

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Hi Fearless Flyers, welcome to Al's new series on the Fearless Flyer Podcast, "There I was... with Al." Grant will be interviewing Al about his aviation career, his flying experiences and what he has experienced throughout his career, the lessons he has learnt and finally asking Al, "what makes a good pilot." 
Then episode 3 onwards, join Allan, in the middle of every month for a new journ...

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Hello Fearless Flyers, we continue our discussion with Adrian about the disastrous effects of when flight crew lose their situational awareness, this time the aircraft had GPWS installed but it was still using the basic GPWS, new technology that was available had not yet been mandated into the industry to save this particular flight. This accident led the industry to implementing Don's more advanced version of th...

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January 14, 2025 43 mins

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Hi Fearless Flyers, welcome to my new series on the Fearless Flyer Podcast, "There I was... with Al." I will be interviewing pilots about their aviation careers, their initial flying experiences and what they have experienced throughout their career, the lessons they have learnt and finally asking them what makes a good pilot.
So join me, Allan, in the middle of every month for a new journey into the fas...

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Hello Fearless Flyers, we continue our discussion with Adrian about the disastrous effects of when flight crew lose their situational awareness, this time the aircraft had GPWS installed but it was still using basic GPWS, new technology that was available had not yet been mandated into the industry to save this particular flight. Let's listen to what happened as Don and his team that developed the GPWS probably l...

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November 30, 2024 29 mins

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Hello Fearless Flyers, we continue our discussion with Adrian about the disastrous effects of when flight crew lose their situational awareness, the good news however was that the regulators had sat up and mandated that new technology be applied to reduce this ongoing issue. And a brilliant avionics engineer Don Bateman and his team would ultimately come to the rescue. 

As per usual, you can contact us on ema...

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Hello Fearless Flyers,
We have a new host joining the Fearless Flyer, bringing his own series to the podcast, "Series 4, There I was.... with Al." Al is a Boeing 777 Captain and also a Crew Resource Management (CRM) instructor. In his series he will be chatting to experienced pilot's about their careers, interesting events that had occurred and what was learnt from them and, what gems they can pass ...

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October 31, 2024 25 mins

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Hello Fearless Flyers, in this and the next four episodes we are going to be discussing the disastrous effects of when flight crew lose their situational awareness, the good news however was that a brilliant avionics engineer would ultimately come to the rescue. We are fortunate enough to have Adrian back with us for these episodes, so we hope you enjoy them.

As per usual, you can contact us on email or socia...

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September 30, 2024 50 mins

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Hello Fearless Flyers, in this episode we welcome Al as a guest host, Al has a special interest in CRM and in this particular episode, the pilots used those skills to land an aircraft with absolutely no flight controls.
Click here to watch a short video on testing a jet engine and see what happens when a fan blade is intentionally separated whilst the engine is running at high speed. 
You can contact us on ema...

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August 31, 2024 27 mins

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Hello Fearless Flyers, in this episode we chat about an aircraft that had a complete engine failure and, how the pilots managed to get the aircraft onto the ground in one piece without any injuries or damage to the aircraft itself.
A request for our Apple Podcast listeners, if you get the chance could you please write us a small review on apple podcasts reviews. Thank you from James and Grant.
You can contact ...

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July 31, 2024 43 mins

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James and Grant welcome guest host Stefan to discuss what happens when what the largest aircraft in the world turns into the largest glider in the world mid-flight.
Click this link to look at the Flight Engineers lament, a humorous 3:30 video about the Flight Engineers position that is no longer part of today's modern aircraft. 
If you are enjoying our podcast, please leave a short review. If you are not ...

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June 30, 2024 31 mins

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In this episode James and Grant discuss what happens when a computer takes control of an aeroplane. 
If you are enjoying our podcast, please leave a short review. If you are not enjoying it, then please also tell us.
If you want us to talk about a particular aviation event, then please do not hesitate to contact us at any of the contact details below here.
You can contact us on email or social media at:

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