June 17, 2025 • 32 mins
This week on The VIP Seat, Jessie Naor and Preston Holland cover a fast-moving week in business aviation, defense, and international controversy. From Israel’s F-35 range secrets to the aging Iranian air fleet, we unpack what air superiority really means in the Middle East. Jessie shares a firsthand reaction to the Paris Air Show’s controversial blacked-out Israeli booths, an action French courts have ruled against in the past. Plus:
-Is Grant Cardone negotiating a jet purchase via Twitter?
-Why FlexJet’s new interiors are breaking boring design norms
-A zebra gets an aerial ride (yes, really)
-Charter discrimination allegations at White Plains
-Mental health and the FAA: Is $40M enough to shift the system?
-The never-ending 1500-hour debate, and why it might not be the right measure of pilot safety
Aviation news, hot takes, and some first-class rants: this is your weekly jumpseat for what matters in private flight.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good morning and welcome back tothe VIP seat.
Today is June 17th. We've got your top business
aviation news stories today. I'm your host as usual, Jesse
New York and Preston Holland as our Co host.
Welcome back, Preston. Jesse, here we go.
It is an exciting week in business aviation, you know, for
the summer, it seems like there's a lot of stuff going on.
So we've got some stuff to talk about and I'm excited for that.
(00:22):
Back from the beach, back back in the seat, back in the VIP
seat and excited to get started.Ready to roll.
All right. Well, I think the thing that's
it's really on a lot of people'sminds these days is the conflict
in Iran and Israel. And you and I were talking last
week, we don't get political on the show.
It's a business aviation show. But at the same time, we love
(00:43):
airplanes. So we wanted to talk a little
bit about, OK, what are these two air forces look like?
You know what the the the battlehas begun, has long begun.
But it's it's interesting to compare the two and say, OK, who
has air superiority here? Obviously Israel does.
But it's kind of shocking to also know how old some of Iran's
(01:03):
aircraft are. We're talking 35 years, some 60
years old in their fleet. Yeah, I am not surprised to be
completely honest with you. But I I will say that I didn't
recognize how old the fleet really was.
Like we're talking like, there'sprobably not much.
Like you think you got supply chain problems with the Hawker
(01:25):
400 windshields. Like try flying a 1980s Russian
fighter jet like that sounds wayworse.
Yeah, yeah, Actually, technically speaking, Iran's
fleet is larger than Israel's. But when you're talking about
aircraft that came before the revolution in the 70s,
functional airplanes is an entirely different question.
(01:46):
I mean, Israel has the F35. Iran has no fifth generation
fighters. They've got some.
Iran has some Migs, some F fourteens.
But again, you know, these things are very, very old.
In sixties, 1980s, they had plans to actually buy some more
Russian aircraft, but I don't think they've been delivered
yet. And so far, I have not seen any
evidence of these planes flying in the region.
(02:10):
I think it's Israel. Yeah, it's.
Pretty crazy, although I did see, I don't know if you've been
following the air tanker situation.
For those that don't know, it's Monday.
So let's preface this with if it's Tuesday morning and
something crazy has happened, werecord this on Monday afternoons
at the end of the day. So something totally crazy could
happen overnight, but as of yesterday, there was 30
(02:31):
something free tankers moving toEurope for a like a planned
activity in the region. And I'm like, that's convenient
timing. Right.
Yeah, that's there's a lot of airplanes in the sky.
And, you know, people don't realize how far away Israel is
from Iran. I mean, we're talking 2300
kilometers on one of the missions they just completed.
(02:53):
But that also ties into the F35 and I didn't even realize this
until I started digging deeper, but the F35, Israel is allowed
to make modifications to it of some pretty significant
modifications compared to the version that we have in the US.
There's been hearsay and conversations about them
extending the range of the F35, and after seeing all of the
(03:15):
activities of the last few days,we're all pretty sure that
Israel has added some additionalfuel tank capacity and could
have extended the range by like 200 to 500 nautical miles, which
is pretty wide. Yeah.
That is when you consider weightand balance and the amount of
payload that those things are carrying.
That is pretty significant. So see, we'll see what happens.
(03:40):
I just really hope we don't end up in a proxy war.
Again, not a political podcast, but I think we can all agree
that the United States getting into a conflict is probably less
than ideal. Unless you're unless you're
Lockheed Martin shareholder, then not financial advice, but
it might not be too bad for you.Yeah.
Well, I will just say that the defense industry in the United
(04:00):
States is very heavily supportedby Israeli consumption of
aircraft and missiles and. Yeah, interesting.
I don't know could, could net net be positive for the American
economy? I don't know.
We'll see. But we it does appear that we
are at the very least flexing the muscles a little bit with
the refuelers moving over into Europe.
(04:20):
Yeah, and it's actually a good tie in for my rant of the week.
Usually don't have a rant, but the Paris Air Show is happening
this week and anyone who's been on my LinkedIn page the last day
has noticed how annoyed I currently am with the Paris Air
Show. So it's a heavy defence show for
anyone who hasn't been to the Paris Air Show, which I've been.
I was just there in 2023 because, you know, it's like a
(04:42):
dream to go to the Paris Air Show and go eat your Beckett and
Croissal and go see all the airplanes.
Like, it's awesome, right? But apparently someone in Paris
has put some political pressure on the show organizers, and they
have actually put up black wallsaround almost all of the Israeli
defense booths, which is pretty ironic to me because there are
(05:04):
plenty of other similar kinds oftechnology, including those
produced by France, on display there.
And it feels pretty Dang discriminatory.
And I can't understand how anyone is getting away with
this. It's inflamed a lot of people, I
think, fairly. And don't know if I'll be making
it back to the Paris Air Show, because I'm going to call BS on
that one, that you're blocking the Israeli people and nobody
(05:25):
else at the show that produces the same kind of weapons and
equipment. Yeah, it's, you know, you try
and see the other side and it's like, ah, maybe they're trying
to block anybody from seeing theSuper secret technology.
But let's be honest, the show floor stuff is so dumbed down.
If you've ever been to Oshkosh and you've been around any of
the like modern day fighting aircraft, like you can't get
(05:47):
close to them for a period of time after they land because
they're like covering up the stuff that you're like not
supposed to see, right? So like any of this stuff on
public display is not confidential information.
It's not like, wow, you could totally go and like find super
secret stuff about our defense, you know, systems and things
(06:07):
like that. So I don't know, that's a
bummer, unfortunately, like what?
I call it surprising, not sure I'd call it super surprising,
but here we are and hopefully they get that resolved pretty
quickly. But I'll say this, not the first
time and probably not the last time that kind of European
(06:28):
aviation clashes have happened. If you remember back to the
orange paint debacle at Ebase a couple of years ago, you've got
demonstrators like there's just a lot of madness that goes on
over there across the pond. Makes me glad that I'm here in
the United States. And you know, we have have our
freedoms. It's July 4th coming up in a
(06:48):
couple weeks and let's all be thankful for that.
Yeah, I think we we underestimate how many freedoms
we have, especially when we see,you know, conflicts that we see
arise across the world. But yeah, it's it's
disappointing. I think the French will
definitely want those systems intheir backyards if something
ever was happening to Europe. So maybe they should be a little
kinder to Israel, who's producing some pretty amazing
(07:11):
technology that's saving a lot of lives.
I will digress and we will move into something more positive.
And finally this week, which is our Mile High Madness segment.
And Jesse, I think you you picked one that was in my neck
of the woods. Yes, so my favorite video this
week was Ed, the zebra, which had escaped from I don't know
(07:32):
which zoo it is that you're. Pretty sure.
But Ed National Zoo Ed escaped. They finally found Ed, but the
best thing was to get Ed back home.
They were picking him up in thishelicopter and swinging him
across, getting him back to his place.
But I think that's just another example of how business aviation
(07:53):
just does amazing things like moving zebras from here to there
when they. That's a good point.
I can totally see Belle or Sikorsky or whoever was the
manufacturer of the helicopter sticking this in a brochure.
And if you don't, I think that'sa missed opportunity.
And if you're the operator that went and picked them up, you
have for those that don't mess with utility helicopters, it's
(08:15):
like, here's our capabilities briefing and it's like we can
move heavy rocks for you or we can put air conditioners on top
of roofs. And if you don't put that we can
go pick up your zebra when it gets lost in your in your OP
spec, I'm going to be severely disappointed.
I just hope that that pilot had kids to come home and tell that
(08:36):
story too, because they will always think he's like the
coolest dad or mom ever. Yeah, it's such a pretty, pretty
legendary. So kudos, kudos to that
helicopter operator. And you're welcome for having
like your next three years of Facebook ads taken care of.
Like, hey, if you if you need us, call us.
So my Mile High segment is, is aphoto that was tweeted not
(09:02):
yesterday, but it was I think last week.
So Grant Cardone tweets the G800or the Global 7500.
And look at look at the pointinghe's pointing which one
subliminal messaging. I don't know.
That's very interesting. I'll tell you this.
It appears he did not want to wait for the 10X to 10X his
(09:26):
business and if you listen to any Grant Cardone you'll realize
why that is kind of funny. The 10X hasn't been certified
yet. Hopefully it will someday.
But it appears he did not want to wait for the 10X so he is
deciding between the G800 and the Global 7500.
So this is my this is my photo of the guy from X of course.
(09:46):
Well, and not only did he post that image, but he also wrote he
or maybe a bot, an AI assisted writing about this.
Oh yeah, there it is. The M dashes.
Just give it away. I just have to tell everyone
watch your M dashes. If you're going to start writing
something with AI, maybe think about curating it.
(10:07):
The other the other dead giveaways.
For me, the word high flying, dead giveaway.
I mean, dead giveaway if it evertalks about luxury, it usually
is a dead giveaway. But this is this is a really,
really long tweet that was very clearly written by AI and that
(10:28):
has good for I. I use AI like every day.
But you know, you got to you gotto tell AI like, hey, don't
sound so much like an AI before you before you write this, a
skimpy skirmish in the skies in the skies.
Dead giveaway ChatGPT. Only half of 1% became buyers.
(10:52):
Its billions and the marketing lasts for years.
The rivalry between Gulfstream and Bombardier is heating up,
with Cardone's potential switch adding fuel to the fire.
Like, come on, it's not. This is a negotiation is what
this is. He doesn't like the price or the
terms or the delivery time of the Gulfstream product that he's
(11:14):
been loyal to and he feels abused.
But unfortunately, I think that's the world that we're all
living in, man. I mean, it's the OEMs, they
control the delivery times. I mean what it takes you at
least two years right now to geta business jet of almost any
type, you know, and if you want to discount like good luck, you
know, there have no shortage of customers today.
I mean, I think part of The thing is, is that he probably
(11:38):
was too late to the order book and he's just mad that he can't
skip the line like he's used to.I mean, I know he's, I've heard
rumors that he skipped the line on a 550.
I've heard rumors that he skipped the line a couple of
different times. And probably what's happening is
he can't skip the line. And you know, the interesting
thing is, is he's talking about going to the G700 versus the
global. And we talked a couple weeks ago
(12:00):
if he's tall, there might be a reason why he might be going
global over Gulfstream. I don't know how tall Cardone
is. That's a really good question.
Get up. Our audience right now is also
fumbling in their cell phones trying to Google how tall is
Grant Cardone. I don't think he's that.
Tall. He's 59.
I'm 59, like that's not that tall.
I would I would not consider myself.
(12:21):
Tall and I feel comfortable in agolf Yeah.
I'm comfortable with the short one, yeah.
I mean, that's kind of that's average, that's average height,
yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think his 20 million
followers aren't just casual viewers.
They're entrepreneurs, investorsand high net worth individuals
who trust his business acumen. Like if 2000.
OK, this is my favorite part actually.
His 20 million followers aren't just casual viewers.
(12:43):
They trust his business acumen. If just point OO 1% of his
audience, 2000 people purchased a jet at 73 million Global 7500
or 81,000,000 G 700, the revenuewould be staggered.
There are not 2000 buyers for either of those aircraft.
I'm sorry but there's just not ChatGPT.
(13:06):
If you're listening, do better. Bad arguments, very bad
arguments. All I would say is I feel your
pain. I know what you're going
through, but it's not you. I promise.
It's not that they don't love you, it's just not enough
airplanes and plenty of buyers. So sorry man.
Yeah tough go, but you know, first world problems.
(13:26):
I mean I have the same issue. My G700 is like is like 3 years
out so I hate having to wait. Forever sucks.
Ken, Ricky. Ken, Ricky.
Took them all. Charter, Ken, Ricky took them
all. Speaking of which, this is
totally unrelated and didn't plan, but I'm going to throw
your curveball. Have you seen the designs from
Flexjet? They're like they crowdsourced
(13:47):
the design of their next like LXI interior.
They are. I remember hearing about Oh my.
Goodness, like if you don't follow Ken on Instagram, like
I'm going to totally sound like a stand because IA 100% am I
think Ken Ricky's the bomb go follow him on Instagram and
he'll like post about it sometimes and he'll post the
videos from it. They are gore just because you
(14:08):
can tell that it wasn't like aircraft designers designing the
inside. Like one guy put a potted plant
like behind the divan and I was like, that's and then he did
like a like a Moss wall like in kind of like the no, I don't.
That's like probably an FAA certification nightmare.
But like the ideas I'm like, this is so smart.
(14:29):
Like I just, I love seeing like creative interiors because so
many interiors look like the inside of a prison.
Like unfortunately, like they'rejust so boring.
Yeah, they're boring and they'reoften yellow, and I'm everyone's
very much moving away from yellow, I feel like.
But it needs to happen a lot faster than it's happening.
(14:49):
I don't like it. Tan seats.
Gross. You heard it here, the VIP seat
does not need to be tan. Absolutely not if like need like
blue colored glasses to get on your airplane and like make it
look normal, like that's not that's not the look you want to
go for it just clean modern. But yes, flex Jed has a habit of
making some really nice interiors and I'm going to have
(15:09):
to go check out these designs. That sounds pretty cool.
So Speaking of big ultra long range business jets, they can
land at White Plains. I was at White Plains a couple
of weeks ago. I saw a variety of aircraft
including a couple helicopters. And if you haven't been the the
valet parking was a nice touch, something that you don't get at
the Orlando 1 so that the valet parking at White Plains for the
(15:30):
White Plains Regional NB AA nicetouch, but White Plains has made
the news in a bit of a differentway.
Yes. So a lawsuit has been filed from
Private Jet Services Group, but they're alleging discriminatory,
discriminatory practices on their charter flights because
Delta has been able to take in sports teams and do all sorts of
(15:51):
stuff at HPN versus Private Jet Services Group, who actually,
actually does have damages in this case because they had an
agreement for almost a $5 million contract to fly sports
teams in and out of that location.
A lot of people are telling me, like, Jesse, you're on the wrong
side of this issue. You don't know what you're
talking about. But like, when I'm looking at it
from the outsiders perspective, I go, why is this plane that's
(16:14):
the same size and that plane that's the same size not equally
allowed to go into the field? I don't know what all the
background is, but it's definitely interesting.
And we'll have to see what happens with this.
Yeah. The world of big charters is
just a like it's a 1% of 1% of 1%, right?
Like you got like the charter world, which is like relatively
big. And then like you get into the
(16:36):
VVI, like not even the VVIP, like the like all first class
lay flat airliner service is like that's it's such a niche
market. You know, I, I just, you can't
help but wonder. It's like, in my mind, it's
almost binary. And this is one person's
opinion. So don't, don't take this as
gospel. But there's either way more to
(16:57):
this story. And the headline is it's 757
versus 757. And like, why is this?
So, or like there's either way more to this story.
And it's like, there's a lot that we don't know.
And it's just a lawsuit that hits headlines and Delta can't
afford to come out and basicallysquash it, right?
And be like, actually like, here's the difference.
Or maybe it is, you know, maybe it literally is a bit of
(17:20):
favoritism that's happening towards Delta because they've
done it for longer and they're the operator and not a broker.
But I don't know. It's, it's it, it'll be an
interesting one. I am very curious to see the
actual outcome of this. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing.
These airports are publicly funded, you know, a lot of money
and a lot of things that get putinto airports.
(17:40):
It's, it's all public funds. Even if there's private
companies running some of these locations, like at the same
time, you still need to live by the principles of competitive
fairness. And so many times I have seen,
you know, this person gets the hanger and that person doesn't
because of some like back dealings or relationship.
And yes, I know they're private companies, but like there are
(18:01):
transparency issues. I'm not saying that's
necessarily the case in this one, but I've seen it before and
I'm curious, you know, to see what they put in the public
jacket because it's going to be very interesting.
The county is claiming that there's more to the story, so I
guess we'll just have to wait and see.
We will, but I think it's a hazardous thing for these types
of operations and those thinkingabout doing, you know, the jet
(18:21):
suite thing where you put a whole bunch of 135 passengers on
these airplanes, they're not really meant for these small
airports and the outcome that can come from that.
So investor beware and buyer. HPN has commercial air service,
though. Breeze flies out of there,
American flies out of there. Like it's not, it's not a, it's
you're not flying in a Teterboro, right, which is like
(18:43):
complete private only air service.
So I don't know, I guess we'll see.
It's, you know, that's a bummer on the $5 million contract,
probably $1,000,000 worth of margin on that.
That hurts. That does not hurt.
That does not help anybody. Yeah, we shall see, indeed.
All right. So next story of the week, the
FAA Administrator, Administratorconfirmation is ongoing.
(19:06):
So it's the former CEO of Republic Airways.
This is a little bit contentious.
I think all the aviation groups are really behind him and want
him to be confirmed. But there's some consumer
advocacy groups that are a little concerned because he was
pushing at Republic to lower the1500 hour rule for pilots, which
(19:26):
is a big, big, big, big hot topic in the commercial flying
space. So I don't know, do you think
he's going to go for? It Preston, here's my personal
opinion is if I had a dollar forevery FAA administrator hearing
that I have tried to watch in the last three years, I'd be
able to afford a private jet at this point.
It's like we just keep we keep cycling through.
(19:48):
I mean, you look at all of the different folks that have tried
to sit in this seat at the FAA administrator and this is the
unfortunate side of government is that one, everybody's going
to have different opinions on who the person is and they're
going to be very strongly held. 2 is that the government moves
at the pace of molasses. And so it's like to do anything,
(20:10):
it's like it just takes forever.I think some of that's a little
bit of a good thing, right? You want a little bit of
friction there. I you know, I have such a hard
time with this because as you have.
Technology slope, the B slope inthe whole world is at 1 angle it
feels, and then the aviation slope tends to lag a pretty
(20:34):
significant amount. Chamath Polyhopathy, for those
who listen to the All In podcastor follow who he is at all, went
on an absolute rant about aviation safety and how we have
all of these near misses and like, why does it keep happening
and all this kind of stuff? And does the 1500 hour rule
(20:55):
prevent near misses? Probably, definitely in the left
seat. But like there's so many other
issues to like I feel like work out and can technology help
supplement those pilots that have less hours?
Probably. But I think it's like, I think
it's more of you have to have like a sequence of events.
What I don't want to see happen personally is get rid of the
(21:19):
1500 hour rule before the advancements in technology are
such that you can supplement thelack of experience for the
person in the right seat. Yeah.
And I was on for a brief period before I retired from Grandview
a couple years ago. I was on the FAS work work
group. It was the pipeline's pathways
basically like pilot training, you know, and how do we
(21:40):
determine what makes a safe pilot and absolutely not, you
know, it's not 1500 hours period.
That's not what we could take the pilot safe.
If someone can have 40,000 hoursand be completely unsafe.
I've seen it with my own eyes and had to let people go in
those situations. But the question is, you know,
where do you draw the line? Obviously pilot and experience
(22:01):
was a huge contributing factor that Cole could crash.
We know that. But yeah, how do we keep, how do
we, first of all, create a modern scorecard for a pilot?
You know, and some of that couldhappen through flight data
monitoring and all sorts of other amazing tools that we
have, but those tools just don'tget implemented in aviation.
And so we end up with these archaic rules because we haven't
(22:22):
adapted to new technology either.
Yeah, it's a quagmire. And I don't necessarily agree
with the 1500 hour, but I also don't think we have anything to
like default back on right now that really guarantees safety
either. So where do you go?
Yeah. I think if you ever read the
Innovator's Dilemma, I think that we're experiencing exactly
(22:43):
that problem where the cost to iterate on even governmental
technology and the opportunity cost, right.
The concept of the inventor's dilemma is the reason why, for
instance, makers of the eight track, we're not the same makers
as the CD because you have this like corner of the market and
(23:05):
the R&D cost and the opportunitycost to wipe out your cash cow
is like so high that you're not going to invent the CD.
But somebody else comes and invents the C DS and all of a
sudden wipes out the whole need for 8 tracks or for, you know,
vinyl or whatever. And so I think we're
experiencing a little bit of innovator's dilemma in
(23:26):
government because the 1500 hourrule gives a good defined box
and the opportunity cost of saying, well, if we remove that,
what if we're wrong and we implement technology, right?
But then if we implement technology, then can we do the
1500 hour rule etcetera or you know, you look at the other end
(23:49):
of the spectrum, right. So I think I think aviation is
going through an interesting, especially commercial aviation,
right? Is, is kind of has these
bookends, you have 1500 hours inthe bottom end and then you have
the 62 retirement, 62 retirementage.
Am I right there 62 retirement age because they were trying to
move it up. So those are your book ads in
commercial aviation they've worked up until this point we
(24:11):
think, but maybe those are not like maybe they're faulty
metrics. Maybe that's not exactly how we
should be thinking about it. I hope that we get an FAA
administrator in whoever it is and somebody that understands
that like there are some pretty significant priorities and
there's a lot of deferred, there's a lot of deferred
decisions that we're kind of going to have to come to terms
(24:33):
with. And it's got to we got to come
to terms with them. Like now you look at what's
happened over the last 12 monthsin aviation safety and you look
at kind of the verge of EV tall potentially maybe coming to
market. Like you look at the whole, you
know, all the copper systems breaking and outages at Newark.
You have all of these decisions and it's like, we've got to make
(24:54):
them like right now, like you can't push off these decisions
anymore. So I the way that I filter
through is are they going to be thoughtful?
Are they going to be, are they going to have the right
framework? That's what I want in an FAA
administrator. Who is that?
I don't know. We'll see.
Yeah. I also just want someone who
actually sticks around every time because that would be
(25:16):
refreshing. Yeah, I mean, and Brian Bedford,
so he is the CEO that's up for nomination.
The other kind of funny thing over this last week, which was
kind of like a gotcha, but also not apparently on a bio on a
website, it's said that he was acommercially rated pilot when in
fact he didn't own or didn't hold a commercial certificate.
(25:36):
But you had some color on that, which I actually thought was
kind of. Interesting.
Politico kind of ran this piece that said, hey look we pulled
his pilot record and he does nothave his commercial ticket.
He is IFR rated. He does have his multi engine
rating to his private pilot certificate.
So he is, you know, the next logical step there is commercial
rating according to according tothe dot, he did pass the written
(26:01):
and the oral portion of his commercial rating.
He means he didn't fly some Chandells and turns around a
point and whatever else that youhave for the commercial
maneuvers to get his full ticket.
So is he actually a commercial pilot?
Technically, no. Does he meet most of the
qualifications? Yes.
Does the CEO of the airline needto be like ATP rated no or
(26:25):
commercially rated? No, I don't think so.
I don't think that is prerequisites to running an
airline. And I think the other thing is,
is it's like, but the flip side of that is every time my head
pops up on a website with a bio,like I definitely read it like I
want to go make sure that nothing crazy was said.
And like, you know, I think it was like it was like on the
(26:45):
website for a long time like that he was a commercially rated
pilot. So like, you wonder like, yeah,
did you never you ever like Google yourself?
Like like what pops up about me?Yeah, like maybe like you got to
have like a team or something topay attention to that sort of
thing. I don't know.
Yeah. So.
I don't know. We'll see.
Well, at the end of the day, youknow, modernizing air traffic
(27:05):
control, addressing a whole bunch of other issues at the
moment are more important. And that also brings up just one
little point that always makes me crazy.
You know, a lot of people like to pull this like pilot card
when addressing aviation safety and saying that pilots are the
only people who can contribute to safety organized
organizational excellence. I take real issue with that
because I think it takes a lot more people in the chain to
(27:27):
create a safe environment and it's not just about being a
commercially rated pilot to do it.
So another rant for today. OK, I'm done.
I'm done ranting. You have ranted the rant, so
maybe we should maybe we should avoid anymore ranting topics.
And we're we're totally going toThat's a that is a ranting
topic. You want to talk about ranting?
(27:48):
Mental health for pilots is a ranter.
God well, OK, last topic of the day.
Promise we won't rant about thisone, but it's good for everyone
to kind of know what's going on.So mental health care for pilots
has obviously been a big issue, big ranting topic over the last
few years, but fortunately thereis movement happening.
The House has just put together a bill saying that they need
(28:09):
spend $40 million over the next three years to de stigmatize
mental health and pilots and getthem resources and help.
And they're actually taking the advice of a rulemaking committee
on this. So I won't get deep into it, but
it's good news for people that are concerned about mental
health care for pilots and controllers.
There is a couple of big champions in the business
aviation space for this there. They are too many to name and
(28:32):
I'm going to totally miss half of those that have been big
advocates for this in business aviation.
So I'm not going to try and namea few of them, but I think it's
been and it's been something that has been top of mind and
has had a lot of support behind it.
And I'm glad to see some actual progress here.
I hope that it's actual progressand not a lot of studies that
(28:52):
kind of turn out to be nothing. But I'll say this to lighten the
mood just a little bit. Unfortunately, it's going to
mean the end of the hilarious memes about being sad and the
FAA like coming to get you. It's like one of my favorite
ones was like, there's like the puppet she was like, are you
feeling sad? Yeah.
(29:14):
And then it's like FAA like busted.
So like, it's, it's it's you know, you look at humor and it's
it's definitely poking fun at a serious issue.
Hopefully those memes don't stopthough, because they are very
funny. You know, when when you're
talking about making fun of the FAA and their archaic approach
thus far to mental health. Look, we want pilots and air
(29:36):
traffic controllers to have positive mental health
experiences. And I think it's also about
taking a holistic like not just like, Hey, how do we address
those that are sad? But like, how do we make sure
that like you don't get to the point where it's like you're to
the extreme, right? It's like, hey, you can take
steps to, you know, make sure that you're in a good headspace
(29:58):
to continue on with your job. And this is, you know, like side
rant. This is like transportation in
general. It is not exclusive airlines
into pilots. It's anybody who drives
something big, trains, boats, like it is it is kind of across
the board the like stigma on mental health and it's like suck
(30:19):
it up and get over it. I think the faster we can do
away with that, the better off we are going to be as a society.
There's my rant. It's not really a rant, it's
kind of a rant. So sorry.
Sorry people. We promised no more rants, and
that was a little. Bit we're just emotional today.
I don't know what else to tell you.
It's all exciting. There's so much news, so many
things happen. Exactly.
I don't know. Did you when you were at
(30:40):
Grandview? I mean, was it something, I
mean, obviously you have to likedance, even employers have to
dance the line, right? Like, hey, don't tell us that
you're sad because like, we haveto report you to the FAA, right?
Yeah, I will tell you, and this is not, I mean, it's alcohol
abuse related, but there were times where, you know, I knew
the consequences of what could happen to someone if, you know,
(31:03):
certain things are reported. I mean, it's it's very
difficult. You have to walk this line
between how do I make sure me asa human is taking care of this
human versus making sure it getsreported and then it goes
through this terrible system that isn't actually effective.
Yeah. It's sticky and it needs to be
fixed. And I'm glad someone's looking
at it. I hope it doesn't take another
decade to fix it. Agreed.
Maybe the government will spend money efficiently.
(31:27):
We'll see. All right, well, with all of our
rants today, thanks for your patience.
Maybe you're ranting with us, I don't know, maybe you enjoyed
it. Maybe you want more rants.
You should give us some feedbackand let us know what you liked
and what topics you want us to cover in the future.
And we hope that you have a goodcommute this morning.
Yep, don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter so that you
can get this in e-mail form in case you missed the podcast.
(31:47):
And be sure to leave us a five star rating.
It helps us with the algorithm we want to get found.
And go follow us on LinkedIn if you are in the mood for some
good clips and, and go connect with us there.
We'd love to hear from you. And it's always a pleasure.
I know, I know, I get a lot of DMS about this show, and I'm
sure you do too, Jesse, but it really is a pleasure to get to
bring the news to business aviation.
(32:09):
I love it. All right, we'll see you next
time on the VIP seat.
Good morning and welcome back tothe VIP seat.
Today is June 17th. We've got your top business
aviation news stories today. I'm your host as usual, Jesse
New York and Preston Holland as our Co host.
Welcome back, Preston. Jesse, here we go.
It is an exciting week in business aviation, you know, for
the summer, it seems like there's a lot of stuff going on.
So we've got some stuff to talk about and I'm excited for that.
(00:22):
Back from the beach, back back in the seat, back in the VIP
seat and excited to get started.Ready to roll.
All right. Well, I think the thing that's
it's really on a lot of people'sminds these days is the conflict
in Iran and Israel. And you and I were talking last
week, we don't get political on the show.
It's a business aviation show. But at the same time, we love
(00:43):
airplanes. So we wanted to talk a little
bit about, OK, what are these two air forces look like?
You know what the the the battlehas begun, has long begun.
But it's it's interesting to compare the two and say, OK, who
has air superiority here? Obviously Israel does.
But it's kind of shocking to also know how old some of Iran's
(01:03):
aircraft are. We're talking 35 years, some 60
years old in their fleet. Yeah, I am not surprised to be
completely honest with you. But I I will say that I didn't
recognize how old the fleet really was.
Like we're talking like, there'sprobably not much.
Like you think you got supply chain problems with the Hawker
(01:25):
400 windshields. Like try flying a 1980s Russian
fighter jet like that sounds wayworse.
Yeah, yeah, Actually, technically speaking, Iran's
fleet is larger than Israel's. But when you're talking about
aircraft that came before the revolution in the 70s,
functional airplanes is an entirely different question.
(01:46):
I mean, Israel has the F35. Iran has no fifth generation
fighters. They've got some.
Iran has some Migs, some F fourteens.
But again, you know, these things are very, very old.
In sixties, 1980s, they had plans to actually buy some more
Russian aircraft, but I don't think they've been delivered
yet. And so far, I have not seen any
evidence of these planes flying in the region.
(02:10):
I think it's Israel. Yeah, it's.
Pretty crazy, although I did see, I don't know if you've been
following the air tanker situation.
For those that don't know, it's Monday.
So let's preface this with if it's Tuesday morning and
something crazy has happened, werecord this on Monday afternoons
at the end of the day. So something totally crazy could
happen overnight, but as of yesterday, there was 30
(02:31):
something free tankers moving toEurope for a like a planned
activity in the region. And I'm like, that's convenient
timing. Right.
Yeah, that's there's a lot of airplanes in the sky.
And, you know, people don't realize how far away Israel is
from Iran. I mean, we're talking 2300
kilometers on one of the missions they just completed.
(02:53):
But that also ties into the F35 and I didn't even realize this
until I started digging deeper, but the F35, Israel is allowed
to make modifications to it of some pretty significant
modifications compared to the version that we have in the US.
There's been hearsay and conversations about them
extending the range of the F35, and after seeing all of the
(03:15):
activities of the last few days,we're all pretty sure that
Israel has added some additionalfuel tank capacity and could
have extended the range by like 200 to 500 nautical miles, which
is pretty wide. Yeah.
That is when you consider weightand balance and the amount of
payload that those things are carrying.
That is pretty significant. So see, we'll see what happens.
(03:40):
I just really hope we don't end up in a proxy war.
Again, not a political podcast, but I think we can all agree
that the United States getting into a conflict is probably less
than ideal. Unless you're unless you're
Lockheed Martin shareholder, then not financial advice, but
it might not be too bad for you.Yeah.
Well, I will just say that the defense industry in the United
(04:00):
States is very heavily supportedby Israeli consumption of
aircraft and missiles and. Yeah, interesting.
I don't know could, could net net be positive for the American
economy? I don't know.
We'll see. But we it does appear that we
are at the very least flexing the muscles a little bit with
the refuelers moving over into Europe.
(04:20):
Yeah, and it's actually a good tie in for my rant of the week.
Usually don't have a rant, but the Paris Air Show is happening
this week and anyone who's been on my LinkedIn page the last day
has noticed how annoyed I currently am with the Paris Air
Show. So it's a heavy defence show for
anyone who hasn't been to the Paris Air Show, which I've been.
I was just there in 2023 because, you know, it's like a
(04:42):
dream to go to the Paris Air Show and go eat your Beckett and
Croissal and go see all the airplanes.
Like, it's awesome, right? But apparently someone in Paris
has put some political pressure on the show organizers, and they
have actually put up black wallsaround almost all of the Israeli
defense booths, which is pretty ironic to me because there are
(05:04):
plenty of other similar kinds oftechnology, including those
produced by France, on display there.
And it feels pretty Dang discriminatory.
And I can't understand how anyone is getting away with
this. It's inflamed a lot of people, I
think, fairly. And don't know if I'll be making
it back to the Paris Air Show, because I'm going to call BS on
that one, that you're blocking the Israeli people and nobody
(05:25):
else at the show that produces the same kind of weapons and
equipment. Yeah, it's, you know, you try
and see the other side and it's like, ah, maybe they're trying
to block anybody from seeing theSuper secret technology.
But let's be honest, the show floor stuff is so dumbed down.
If you've ever been to Oshkosh and you've been around any of
the like modern day fighting aircraft, like you can't get
(05:47):
close to them for a period of time after they land because
they're like covering up the stuff that you're like not
supposed to see, right? So like any of this stuff on
public display is not confidential information.
It's not like, wow, you could totally go and like find super
secret stuff about our defense, you know, systems and things
(06:07):
like that. So I don't know, that's a
bummer, unfortunately, like what?
I call it surprising, not sure I'd call it super surprising,
but here we are and hopefully they get that resolved pretty
quickly. But I'll say this, not the first
time and probably not the last time that kind of European
(06:28):
aviation clashes have happened. If you remember back to the
orange paint debacle at Ebase a couple of years ago, you've got
demonstrators like there's just a lot of madness that goes on
over there across the pond. Makes me glad that I'm here in
the United States. And you know, we have have our
freedoms. It's July 4th coming up in a
(06:48):
couple weeks and let's all be thankful for that.
Yeah, I think we we underestimate how many freedoms
we have, especially when we see,you know, conflicts that we see
arise across the world. But yeah, it's it's
disappointing. I think the French will
definitely want those systems intheir backyards if something
ever was happening to Europe. So maybe they should be a little
kinder to Israel, who's producing some pretty amazing
(07:11):
technology that's saving a lot of lives.
I will digress and we will move into something more positive.
And finally this week, which is our Mile High Madness segment.
And Jesse, I think you you picked one that was in my neck
of the woods. Yes, so my favorite video this
week was Ed, the zebra, which had escaped from I don't know
(07:32):
which zoo it is that you're. Pretty sure.
But Ed National Zoo Ed escaped. They finally found Ed, but the
best thing was to get Ed back home.
They were picking him up in thishelicopter and swinging him
across, getting him back to his place.
But I think that's just another example of how business aviation
(07:53):
just does amazing things like moving zebras from here to there
when they. That's a good point.
I can totally see Belle or Sikorsky or whoever was the
manufacturer of the helicopter sticking this in a brochure.
And if you don't, I think that'sa missed opportunity.
And if you're the operator that went and picked them up, you
have for those that don't mess with utility helicopters, it's
(08:15):
like, here's our capabilities briefing and it's like we can
move heavy rocks for you or we can put air conditioners on top
of roofs. And if you don't put that we can
go pick up your zebra when it gets lost in your in your OP
spec, I'm going to be severely disappointed.
I just hope that that pilot had kids to come home and tell that
(08:36):
story too, because they will always think he's like the
coolest dad or mom ever. Yeah, it's such a pretty, pretty
legendary. So kudos, kudos to that
helicopter operator. And you're welcome for having
like your next three years of Facebook ads taken care of.
Like, hey, if you if you need us, call us.
So my Mile High segment is, is aphoto that was tweeted not
(09:02):
yesterday, but it was I think last week.
So Grant Cardone tweets the G800or the Global 7500.
And look at look at the pointinghe's pointing which one
subliminal messaging. I don't know.
That's very interesting. I'll tell you this.
It appears he did not want to wait for the 10X to 10X his
(09:26):
business and if you listen to any Grant Cardone you'll realize
why that is kind of funny. The 10X hasn't been certified
yet. Hopefully it will someday.
But it appears he did not want to wait for the 10X so he is
deciding between the G800 and the Global 7500.
So this is my this is my photo of the guy from X of course.
(09:46):
Well, and not only did he post that image, but he also wrote he
or maybe a bot, an AI assisted writing about this.
Oh yeah, there it is. The M dashes.
Just give it away. I just have to tell everyone
watch your M dashes. If you're going to start writing
something with AI, maybe think about curating it.
(10:07):
The other the other dead giveaways.
For me, the word high flying, dead giveaway.
I mean, dead giveaway if it evertalks about luxury, it usually
is a dead giveaway. But this is this is a really,
really long tweet that was very clearly written by AI and that
(10:28):
has good for I. I use AI like every day.
But you know, you got to you gotto tell AI like, hey, don't
sound so much like an AI before you before you write this, a
skimpy skirmish in the skies in the skies.
Dead giveaway ChatGPT. Only half of 1% became buyers.
(10:52):
Its billions and the marketing lasts for years.
The rivalry between Gulfstream and Bombardier is heating up,
with Cardone's potential switch adding fuel to the fire.
Like, come on, it's not. This is a negotiation is what
this is. He doesn't like the price or the
terms or the delivery time of the Gulfstream product that he's
(11:14):
been loyal to and he feels abused.
But unfortunately, I think that's the world that we're all
living in, man. I mean, it's the OEMs, they
control the delivery times. I mean what it takes you at
least two years right now to geta business jet of almost any
type, you know, and if you want to discount like good luck, you
know, there have no shortage of customers today.
I mean, I think part of The thing is, is that he probably
(11:38):
was too late to the order book and he's just mad that he can't
skip the line like he's used to.I mean, I know he's, I've heard
rumors that he skipped the line on a 550.
I've heard rumors that he skipped the line a couple of
different times. And probably what's happening is
he can't skip the line. And you know, the interesting
thing is, is he's talking about going to the G700 versus the
global. And we talked a couple weeks ago
(12:00):
if he's tall, there might be a reason why he might be going
global over Gulfstream. I don't know how tall Cardone
is. That's a really good question.
Get up. Our audience right now is also
fumbling in their cell phones trying to Google how tall is
Grant Cardone. I don't think he's that.
Tall. He's 59.
I'm 59, like that's not that tall.
I would I would not consider myself.
(12:21):
Tall and I feel comfortable in agolf Yeah.
I'm comfortable with the short one, yeah.
I mean, that's kind of that's average, that's average height,
yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think his 20 million
followers aren't just casual viewers.
They're entrepreneurs, investorsand high net worth individuals
who trust his business acumen. Like if 2000.
OK, this is my favorite part actually.
His 20 million followers aren't just casual viewers.
(12:43):
They trust his business acumen. If just point OO 1% of his
audience, 2000 people purchased a jet at 73 million Global 7500
or 81,000,000 G 700, the revenuewould be staggered.
There are not 2000 buyers for either of those aircraft.
I'm sorry but there's just not ChatGPT.
(13:06):
If you're listening, do better. Bad arguments, very bad
arguments. All I would say is I feel your
pain. I know what you're going
through, but it's not you. I promise.
It's not that they don't love you, it's just not enough
airplanes and plenty of buyers. So sorry man.
Yeah tough go, but you know, first world problems.
(13:26):
I mean I have the same issue. My G700 is like is like 3 years
out so I hate having to wait. Forever sucks.
Ken, Ricky. Ken, Ricky.
Took them all. Charter, Ken, Ricky took them
all. Speaking of which, this is
totally unrelated and didn't plan, but I'm going to throw
your curveball. Have you seen the designs from
Flexjet? They're like they crowdsourced
(13:47):
the design of their next like LXI interior.
They are. I remember hearing about Oh my.
Goodness, like if you don't follow Ken on Instagram, like
I'm going to totally sound like a stand because IA 100% am I
think Ken Ricky's the bomb go follow him on Instagram and
he'll like post about it sometimes and he'll post the
videos from it. They are gore just because you
(14:08):
can tell that it wasn't like aircraft designers designing the
inside. Like one guy put a potted plant
like behind the divan and I was like, that's and then he did
like a like a Moss wall like in kind of like the no, I don't.
That's like probably an FAA certification nightmare.
But like the ideas I'm like, this is so smart.
(14:29):
Like I just, I love seeing like creative interiors because so
many interiors look like the inside of a prison.
Like unfortunately, like they'rejust so boring.
Yeah, they're boring and they'reoften yellow, and I'm everyone's
very much moving away from yellow, I feel like.
But it needs to happen a lot faster than it's happening.
(14:49):
I don't like it. Tan seats.
Gross. You heard it here, the VIP seat
does not need to be tan. Absolutely not if like need like
blue colored glasses to get on your airplane and like make it
look normal, like that's not that's not the look you want to
go for it just clean modern. But yes, flex Jed has a habit of
making some really nice interiors and I'm going to have
(15:09):
to go check out these designs. That sounds pretty cool.
So Speaking of big ultra long range business jets, they can
land at White Plains. I was at White Plains a couple
of weeks ago. I saw a variety of aircraft
including a couple helicopters. And if you haven't been the the
valet parking was a nice touch, something that you don't get at
the Orlando 1 so that the valet parking at White Plains for the
(15:30):
White Plains Regional NB AA nicetouch, but White Plains has made
the news in a bit of a differentway.
Yes. So a lawsuit has been filed from
Private Jet Services Group, but they're alleging discriminatory,
discriminatory practices on their charter flights because
Delta has been able to take in sports teams and do all sorts of
(15:51):
stuff at HPN versus Private Jet Services Group, who actually,
actually does have damages in this case because they had an
agreement for almost a $5 million contract to fly sports
teams in and out of that location.
A lot of people are telling me, like, Jesse, you're on the wrong
side of this issue. You don't know what you're
talking about. But like, when I'm looking at it
from the outsiders perspective, I go, why is this plane that's
(16:14):
the same size and that plane that's the same size not equally
allowed to go into the field? I don't know what all the
background is, but it's definitely interesting.
And we'll have to see what happens with this.
Yeah. The world of big charters is
just a like it's a 1% of 1% of 1%, right?
Like you got like the charter world, which is like relatively
big. And then like you get into the
(16:36):
VVI, like not even the VVIP, like the like all first class
lay flat airliner service is like that's it's such a niche
market. You know, I, I just, you can't
help but wonder. It's like, in my mind, it's
almost binary. And this is one person's
opinion. So don't, don't take this as
gospel. But there's either way more to
(16:57):
this story. And the headline is it's 757
versus 757. And like, why is this?
So, or like there's either way more to this story.
And it's like, there's a lot that we don't know.
And it's just a lawsuit that hits headlines and Delta can't
afford to come out and basicallysquash it, right?
And be like, actually like, here's the difference.
Or maybe it is, you know, maybe it literally is a bit of
(17:20):
favoritism that's happening towards Delta because they've
done it for longer and they're the operator and not a broker.
But I don't know. It's, it's it, it'll be an
interesting one. I am very curious to see the
actual outcome of this. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing.
These airports are publicly funded, you know, a lot of money
and a lot of things that get putinto airports.
(17:40):
It's, it's all public funds. Even if there's private
companies running some of these locations, like at the same
time, you still need to live by the principles of competitive
fairness. And so many times I have seen,
you know, this person gets the hanger and that person doesn't
because of some like back dealings or relationship.
And yes, I know they're private companies, but like there are
(18:01):
transparency issues. I'm not saying that's
necessarily the case in this one, but I've seen it before and
I'm curious, you know, to see what they put in the public
jacket because it's going to be very interesting.
The county is claiming that there's more to the story, so I
guess we'll just have to wait and see.
We will, but I think it's a hazardous thing for these types
of operations and those thinkingabout doing, you know, the jet
(18:21):
suite thing where you put a whole bunch of 135 passengers on
these airplanes, they're not really meant for these small
airports and the outcome that can come from that.
So investor beware and buyer. HPN has commercial air service,
though. Breeze flies out of there,
American flies out of there. Like it's not, it's not a, it's
you're not flying in a Teterboro, right, which is like
(18:43):
complete private only air service.
So I don't know, I guess we'll see.
It's, you know, that's a bummer on the $5 million contract,
probably $1,000,000 worth of margin on that.
That hurts. That does not hurt.
That does not help anybody. Yeah, we shall see, indeed.
All right. So next story of the week, the
FAA Administrator, Administratorconfirmation is ongoing.
(19:06):
So it's the former CEO of Republic Airways.
This is a little bit contentious.
I think all the aviation groups are really behind him and want
him to be confirmed. But there's some consumer
advocacy groups that are a little concerned because he was
pushing at Republic to lower the1500 hour rule for pilots, which
(19:26):
is a big, big, big, big hot topic in the commercial flying
space. So I don't know, do you think
he's going to go for? It Preston, here's my personal
opinion is if I had a dollar forevery FAA administrator hearing
that I have tried to watch in the last three years, I'd be
able to afford a private jet at this point.
It's like we just keep we keep cycling through.
(19:48):
I mean, you look at all of the different folks that have tried
to sit in this seat at the FAA administrator and this is the
unfortunate side of government is that one, everybody's going
to have different opinions on who the person is and they're
going to be very strongly held. 2 is that the government moves
at the pace of molasses. And so it's like to do anything,
(20:10):
it's like it just takes forever.I think some of that's a little
bit of a good thing, right? You want a little bit of
friction there. I you know, I have such a hard
time with this because as you have.
Technology slope, the B slope inthe whole world is at 1 angle it
feels, and then the aviation slope tends to lag a pretty
(20:34):
significant amount. Chamath Polyhopathy, for those
who listen to the All In podcastor follow who he is at all, went
on an absolute rant about aviation safety and how we have
all of these near misses and like, why does it keep happening
and all this kind of stuff? And does the 1500 hour rule
(20:55):
prevent near misses? Probably, definitely in the left
seat. But like there's so many other
issues to like I feel like work out and can technology help
supplement those pilots that have less hours?
Probably. But I think it's like, I think
it's more of you have to have like a sequence of events.
What I don't want to see happen personally is get rid of the
(21:19):
1500 hour rule before the advancements in technology are
such that you can supplement thelack of experience for the
person in the right seat. Yeah.
And I was on for a brief period before I retired from Grandview
a couple years ago. I was on the FAS work work
group. It was the pipeline's pathways
basically like pilot training, you know, and how do we
(21:40):
determine what makes a safe pilot and absolutely not, you
know, it's not 1500 hours period.
That's not what we could take the pilot safe.
If someone can have 40,000 hoursand be completely unsafe.
I've seen it with my own eyes and had to let people go in
those situations. But the question is, you know,
where do you draw the line? Obviously pilot and experience
(22:01):
was a huge contributing factor that Cole could crash.
We know that. But yeah, how do we keep, how do
we, first of all, create a modern scorecard for a pilot?
You know, and some of that couldhappen through flight data
monitoring and all sorts of other amazing tools that we
have, but those tools just don'tget implemented in aviation.
And so we end up with these archaic rules because we haven't
(22:22):
adapted to new technology either.
Yeah, it's a quagmire. And I don't necessarily agree
with the 1500 hour, but I also don't think we have anything to
like default back on right now that really guarantees safety
either. So where do you go?
Yeah. I think if you ever read the
Innovator's Dilemma, I think that we're experiencing exactly
(22:43):
that problem where the cost to iterate on even governmental
technology and the opportunity cost, right.
The concept of the inventor's dilemma is the reason why, for
instance, makers of the eight track, we're not the same makers
as the CD because you have this like corner of the market and
(23:05):
the R&D cost and the opportunitycost to wipe out your cash cow
is like so high that you're not going to invent the CD.
But somebody else comes and invents the C DS and all of a
sudden wipes out the whole need for 8 tracks or for, you know,
vinyl or whatever. And so I think we're
experiencing a little bit of innovator's dilemma in
(23:26):
government because the 1500 hourrule gives a good defined box
and the opportunity cost of saying, well, if we remove that,
what if we're wrong and we implement technology, right?
But then if we implement technology, then can we do the
1500 hour rule etcetera or you know, you look at the other end
(23:49):
of the spectrum, right. So I think I think aviation is
going through an interesting, especially commercial aviation,
right? Is, is kind of has these
bookends, you have 1500 hours inthe bottom end and then you have
the 62 retirement, 62 retirementage.
Am I right there 62 retirement age because they were trying to
move it up. So those are your book ads in
commercial aviation they've worked up until this point we
(24:11):
think, but maybe those are not like maybe they're faulty
metrics. Maybe that's not exactly how we
should be thinking about it. I hope that we get an FAA
administrator in whoever it is and somebody that understands
that like there are some pretty significant priorities and
there's a lot of deferred, there's a lot of deferred
decisions that we're kind of going to have to come to terms
(24:33):
with. And it's got to we got to come
to terms with them. Like now you look at what's
happened over the last 12 monthsin aviation safety and you look
at kind of the verge of EV tall potentially maybe coming to
market. Like you look at the whole, you
know, all the copper systems breaking and outages at Newark.
You have all of these decisions and it's like, we've got to make
(24:54):
them like right now, like you can't push off these decisions
anymore. So I the way that I filter
through is are they going to be thoughtful?
Are they going to be, are they going to have the right
framework? That's what I want in an FAA
administrator. Who is that?
I don't know. We'll see.
Yeah. I also just want someone who
actually sticks around every time because that would be
(25:16):
refreshing. Yeah, I mean, and Brian Bedford,
so he is the CEO that's up for nomination.
The other kind of funny thing over this last week, which was
kind of like a gotcha, but also not apparently on a bio on a
website, it's said that he was acommercially rated pilot when in
fact he didn't own or didn't hold a commercial certificate.
(25:36):
But you had some color on that, which I actually thought was
kind of. Interesting.
Politico kind of ran this piece that said, hey look we pulled
his pilot record and he does nothave his commercial ticket.
He is IFR rated. He does have his multi engine
rating to his private pilot certificate.
So he is, you know, the next logical step there is commercial
rating according to according tothe dot, he did pass the written
(26:01):
and the oral portion of his commercial rating.
He means he didn't fly some Chandells and turns around a
point and whatever else that youhave for the commercial
maneuvers to get his full ticket.
So is he actually a commercial pilot?
Technically, no. Does he meet most of the
qualifications? Yes.
Does the CEO of the airline needto be like ATP rated no or
(26:25):
commercially rated? No, I don't think so.
I don't think that is prerequisites to running an
airline. And I think the other thing is,
is it's like, but the flip side of that is every time my head
pops up on a website with a bio,like I definitely read it like I
want to go make sure that nothing crazy was said.
And like, you know, I think it was like it was like on the
(26:45):
website for a long time like that he was a commercially rated
pilot. So like, you wonder like, yeah,
did you never you ever like Google yourself?
Like like what pops up about me?Yeah, like maybe like you got to
have like a team or something topay attention to that sort of
thing. I don't know.
Yeah. So.
I don't know. We'll see.
Well, at the end of the day, youknow, modernizing air traffic
(27:05):
control, addressing a whole bunch of other issues at the
moment are more important. And that also brings up just one
little point that always makes me crazy.
You know, a lot of people like to pull this like pilot card
when addressing aviation safety and saying that pilots are the
only people who can contribute to safety organized
organizational excellence. I take real issue with that
because I think it takes a lot more people in the chain to
(27:27):
create a safe environment and it's not just about being a
commercially rated pilot to do it.
So another rant for today. OK, I'm done.
I'm done ranting. You have ranted the rant, so
maybe we should maybe we should avoid anymore ranting topics.
And we're we're totally going toThat's a that is a ranting
topic. You want to talk about ranting?
(27:48):
Mental health for pilots is a ranter.
God well, OK, last topic of the day.
Promise we won't rant about thisone, but it's good for everyone
to kind of know what's going on.So mental health care for pilots
has obviously been a big issue, big ranting topic over the last
few years, but fortunately thereis movement happening.
The House has just put together a bill saying that they need
(28:09):
spend $40 million over the next three years to de stigmatize
mental health and pilots and getthem resources and help.
And they're actually taking the advice of a rulemaking committee
on this. So I won't get deep into it, but
it's good news for people that are concerned about mental
health care for pilots and controllers.
There is a couple of big champions in the business
aviation space for this there. They are too many to name and
(28:32):
I'm going to totally miss half of those that have been big
advocates for this in business aviation.
So I'm not going to try and namea few of them, but I think it's
been and it's been something that has been top of mind and
has had a lot of support behind it.
And I'm glad to see some actual progress here.
I hope that it's actual progressand not a lot of studies that
(28:52):
kind of turn out to be nothing. But I'll say this to lighten the
mood just a little bit. Unfortunately, it's going to
mean the end of the hilarious memes about being sad and the
FAA like coming to get you. It's like one of my favorite
ones was like, there's like the puppet she was like, are you
feeling sad? Yeah.
(29:14):
And then it's like FAA like busted.
So like, it's, it's it's you know, you look at humor and it's
it's definitely poking fun at a serious issue.
Hopefully those memes don't stopthough, because they are very
funny. You know, when when you're
talking about making fun of the FAA and their archaic approach
thus far to mental health. Look, we want pilots and air
(29:36):
traffic controllers to have positive mental health
experiences. And I think it's also about
taking a holistic like not just like, Hey, how do we address
those that are sad? But like, how do we make sure
that like you don't get to the point where it's like you're to
the extreme, right? It's like, hey, you can take
steps to, you know, make sure that you're in a good headspace
(29:58):
to continue on with your job. And this is, you know, like side
rant. This is like transportation in
general. It is not exclusive airlines
into pilots. It's anybody who drives
something big, trains, boats, like it is it is kind of across
the board the like stigma on mental health and it's like suck
(30:19):
it up and get over it. I think the faster we can do
away with that, the better off we are going to be as a society.
There's my rant. It's not really a rant, it's
kind of a rant. So sorry.
Sorry people. We promised no more rants, and
that was a little. Bit we're just emotional today.
I don't know what else to tell you.
It's all exciting. There's so much news, so many
things happen. Exactly.
I don't know. Did you when you were at
(30:40):
Grandview? I mean, was it something, I
mean, obviously you have to likedance, even employers have to
dance the line, right? Like, hey, don't tell us that
you're sad because like, we haveto report you to the FAA, right?
Yeah, I will tell you, and this is not, I mean, it's alcohol
abuse related, but there were times where, you know, I knew
the consequences of what could happen to someone if, you know,
(31:03):
certain things are reported. I mean, it's it's very
difficult. You have to walk this line
between how do I make sure me asa human is taking care of this
human versus making sure it getsreported and then it goes
through this terrible system that isn't actually effective.
Yeah. It's sticky and it needs to be
fixed. And I'm glad someone's looking
at it. I hope it doesn't take another
decade to fix it. Agreed.
Maybe the government will spend money efficiently.
(31:27):
We'll see. All right, well, with all of our
rants today, thanks for your patience.
Maybe you're ranting with us, I don't know, maybe you enjoyed
it. Maybe you want more rants.
You should give us some feedbackand let us know what you liked
and what topics you want us to cover in the future.
And we hope that you have a goodcommute this morning.
Yep, don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter so that you
can get this in e-mail form in case you missed the podcast.
(31:47):
And be sure to leave us a five star rating.
It helps us with the algorithm we want to get found.
And go follow us on LinkedIn if you are in the mood for some
good clips and, and go connect with us there.
We'd love to hear from you. And it's always a pleasure.
I know, I know, I get a lot of DMS about this show, and I'm
sure you do too, Jesse, but it really is a pleasure to get to
bring the news to business aviation.
(32:09):
I love it. All right, we'll see you next
time on the VIP seat.
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