Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
This guy, Lieutenant Colonel Allen Bullet Campbell, probably spent more
time in the sky than on ground. And he's written
a book called My Life Above the Clouds, My Life
(00:28):
Above the Clouds, which you can get wherever books are
sold in an Amazon dot com. He flew twenty one
point five years with the United States Air Force and
the Florida Air National Guard, and then thirty seven years
with Delta Airlines. And I tell you what, on this program,
if you can get an aviation expert, there's so much
to talk about constantly, but read about it in his book,
(00:51):
My Life Above the Clouds, or turn up your radio
right now. Thank you for being here, and thank you
for your service to our country.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
It was my pleasure and I appreciate that. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I've got so many things to ask you about. One
is that two United Airlines passenger jets collided on the
tarmac at Ohare Airport in Chicago on Friday. They were
taxiing and the horizontal stabilizer of one jet hit the
other jet. Nobody was hurt or anything, but you know,
you might say, I thought that story was last week.
(01:22):
It seems to be happening very frequently. Is that something
new or why do you think that's happening.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, it is something new to me, and I have
no idea why it's happening. I'm about as stunned as
anybody on the planet, because you know, you're on a line.
Everybody's got their little line. All the wing spans are
measured and that sort of thing, So I don't know
if somebody sneaks a little left or a little right.
It's just one of those very odd things that should
never happen. And I don't know. There's a lot more flying,
(01:50):
there's a lot more airplanes, so maybe there's more possibility.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Thirty seven years with Delta Airlines, did you ever bump
into another aircraft?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Absolutely? Never, you know, and that's just part of the
beauty of my life. I never had a flat tire,
I never lost an engine, I never had a fire.
I mean, it's thirty seven of the most safest years
you'll ever imagine.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Secret Service uncovered a hunting stand in a tree with
a direct line of sight to Air Force one in
Palm Beach, the President's aircraft. There were no individuals at
the scene, and so they're sort of investigating the scene
and what the capabilities would be is that something that
could be perilous to an aircraft like Air Force one,
(02:33):
somebody with a hunting stand in a tree.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
You know. I read that story and it's like Twilight Zone.
It's just crazy stuff. And I kind of wondered why
the Secret Service or somebody didn't just kind of sneak
and watch and see whoever gets up in that thing
and catches them. They're going to check fingerprints, you know,
they're going to just search that thing the world over.
But that is just spooky. I have no idea what's
(02:57):
going on with that. And you know that the president's
doing a great job, but he's got to put up
with extra security because of this nonsense. I don't know.
It's just stunning.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Can someone take a pot shot in an aircraft next
to an airport if they want to? Can you damage
a commercial aircraft with a with a shotgun or you know,
any kind of pistol or anything.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, I hate to admit that, but that's certainly possible.
You know a lot of the airports you go to
down in South Florida and all you know, the highway
goes right by the airport, Interstate highways over you know,
high rise kind of highways. So yeah, that's that's certainly possible.
People can do that all the time, and that it
doesn't happen more often, I guess is just a real plus,
don't I don't know what else to say. It is
(03:41):
a risk.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I'm sorry to hear that answer.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
This one is really spooky. A United Airlines pilot was
forced to make an emergency landing a mystery object smash
the windshield of a Boeing seven thirty seven. The unusual
part is it wasn't a bird strike. It was at
thirty six thousand feet and the pilot's worms were bleeding
and there were glass cuts and the dashboard. What could
(04:11):
you possibly hit at thirty six thousand feet.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
That's the mystery of the day. I have no idea.
I would think it was a windshield, you know, explosion,
They crack and things like that. They had a couple
with the Pete hagg Seth and Marco Rubio, and that's
not uncommon. People have that happen. I never did. But
that something hit it from the outside, that's going to
be under investigation. I don't know if that's been proven yet,
(04:35):
But thirty six thousand feet is incredible. There's nothing up there,
but airliners, so you know, unless it's things from Mars.
I mean, you know, they got all these stories about
UFOs and things. Maybe they finally found.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
One the hard way. There was talk about space debris
or a meteor, but the FAA said the odds of
hitting space debris are one trillion to one one.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Right. That couldn't agree more with that, And that's just
you know, that's just one of the risks you take
when you fly. If you don't worry about stuff like that,
or you go crazy and you know, you better chance
to win in the lottery than have something like that happen.
So I don't know if they'll ever find out what
that was, but you know, meteors and debris and stuff
does come in. Usually it burns up in the atmosphere,
(05:23):
but maybe that's one that kind of made it a
little more solid through the atmosphere. In daytime, they wouldn't
have seen it. You know, at night they might have
seen a streak, but at daytime they probably wouldn't have.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Not much you can do with a commercial airline aer
I'm guessing to avoid hitting something when you see it
at that speed and that height, is.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
There absolutely nothing you'd never see it in the first place,
and even if you saw it, you can't move fast
enough to get out of its way. There's no way.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Well, I'm worried about this. It's you know, on its own,
it's an incident. But when you start to add it
all up, you begin to wonder if suddenly we're getting
closer and closer to you know, meeting them, if you
know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Well, you know, I've just got to go back to
my positive attitude. Because I flew for thirty seven years
and never had a flat tire, You're going to get
much more risk going down the interstate or riding your
bicycle or walking the neighborhood than you are on a
commercial airplane. And so that's my initial spin on every
story I do. I raced boats, I did aerobatics, I
(06:29):
did all kinds of things hugely more dangerous. Flying commercial
airplanes is just nothing. Autopilot speak talk, visit, visit, visit,
and then land. It's just the safest thing on the planet.
And I'm not exaggerating that. That's statistically, that's the truth.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You never saw on what you would consider to be
an unidentified flying object in thirty seven years up there
at delta.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Absolutely not. And I flew like you leave Johannesburg, South Africa,
and it's literally all night long back to Atlanta. There
were something up there, you'd see it. I mean, you
got somebody in the cockpit, you know, twenty four to
seven obviously, and so if there was an event, somebody
would see it and notice it. And never, never, never,
And so when when I hear about the Navy and
(07:13):
they chase something down they have it on radar, that
is unusual. And if there's a record of that, I'd
like to read it. I'd like to hear more about it.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
We'd like to hear more about you and your book,
My Life Above the Clouds, and you can get it.
It's Lieutenant Colonel Alan Bullet Campbell, who was in the
US Air Force too. I took that flight from Johannesburg
to Kennedy Airport one time. That is a long, long,
long trip. How do you manage that as a pilot,
because it looks to me like your seat is the
(07:43):
least comfortable in the house.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, you know it's not. It's a nice comfortable seat
and you're only on duty for four hours. Then you
go on the break, you go upstairs and go to sleep.
Then you go back on duty for four hours and
you eat. You're in one of those breaks, and so
you know you've got two different crews, and so it's
just well maintained. Everybody. You learn how to wake up.
(08:06):
I keep saying that in my book and talks that
it's amazing that you can sleep for four hours, wake up,
throw some water in your face, drink a cup of coffee,
and just go right back to the cockpit totally alert,
and then go back four hours later and go sleep again.
And that's just something humans can adjust to, or at
least I could. It worked great for me.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
You're not human. You're quite an interesting fellow. And we're
going to read about it in my book, My Life
Above the Clouds. And I'm sure you make it sound easy,
but I'm sure there are moments in that book of
unusual situations and peculiar things in the skies. And we
won't even talk about the flight attendants. After all, he
was in the United States Air Force. His book is
(08:48):
My Life Above the Clouds, and Lieutenant Colonel Allen Bullet
Campbell calms everybody down, and we sure appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
This is Chris Buck with Michigan Reimagined podcast and when
it comes to managing your finances and planning for your future,
I suggest you contact my friends at Wagoner Financial. Whether
you're just getting started, getting ready to retire, or anywhere
in between, Wagoner Financial can help you make smart financial decisions.
Don't navigate a complex problem on your own. Wagoner has
the expertise to help you feel confident that you're making
the right financial choices. Contact an advisor by calling five
(09:23):
one seven eight five three three three sixty seven, or
visit their website at wagonerhyphenfinancial dot com.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Our path to a top ten state is only as
strong as our strength of commitment. It's time to compete
to win. When we do better by our kids, invest
in people, accelerate our economy, and get the fundamentals right,
we will feel a powerful win in our sales that
will move Michigan over it. That's a top ten state.
(09:49):
Business Leaders for Michigan is the state's business round Table.
We're committed to make Michigan more competitive. Time to be bold, Michigan.
It's time to compete to.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
When it comes to healthcare costs, we often focus on
one thing. Our insurance premiums but what if we're only seeing.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Part of the picture.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
The truth is our health insurance costs reside downstream at
the end of the cost equation. But to really understand
what's driving up costs, we need to look upstream to
the healthcare system itself. Upstream, there are costs like the
price is charged by hospitals and doctors, and the cost
of prescription drugs, healthcare administration, and technology. These costs flow
(10:30):
downstream directly into your health insurance premium. That's why Blue
Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is advocating for a system
wide solution to address the rising cost of healthcare. Blue
Cross knows that healthcare is personal, needs to work for everyone,
and affordability matters, and that starts with shedding light on
the entire cost equation, from upstream costs to downstream premiums.
(10:53):
Want to learn more, visit miiblue daily dot com slash
Affordability
This guy, Lieutenant Colonel Allen Bullet Campbell, probably spent more
time in the sky than on ground. And he's written
a book called My Life Above the Clouds, My Life
(00:28):
Above the Clouds, which you can get wherever books are
sold in an Amazon dot com. He flew twenty one
point five years with the United States Air Force and
the Florida Air National Guard, and then thirty seven years
with Delta Airlines. And I tell you what, on this program,
if you can get an aviation expert, there's so much
to talk about constantly, but read about it in his book,
(00:51):
My Life Above the Clouds, or turn up your radio
right now. Thank you for being here, and thank you
for your service to our country.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
It was my pleasure and I appreciate that. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I've got so many things to ask you about. One
is that two United Airlines passenger jets collided on the
tarmac at Ohare Airport in Chicago on Friday. They were
taxiing and the horizontal stabilizer of one jet hit the
other jet. Nobody was hurt or anything, but you know,
you might say, I thought that story was last week.
(01:22):
It seems to be happening very frequently. Is that something
new or why do you think that's happening.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, it is something new to me, and I have
no idea why it's happening. I'm about as stunned as
anybody on the planet, because you know, you're on a line.
Everybody's got their little line. All the wing spans are
measured and that sort of thing, So I don't know
if somebody sneaks a little left or a little right.
It's just one of those very odd things that should
never happen. And I don't know. There's a lot more flying,
(01:50):
there's a lot more airplanes, so maybe there's more possibility.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Thirty seven years with Delta Airlines, did you ever bump
into another aircraft?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Absolutely? Never, you know, and that's just part of the
beauty of my life. I never had a flat tire,
I never lost an engine, I never had a fire.
I mean, it's thirty seven of the most safest years
you'll ever imagine.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Secret Service uncovered a hunting stand in a tree with
a direct line of sight to Air Force one in
Palm Beach, the President's aircraft. There were no individuals at
the scene, and so they're sort of investigating the scene
and what the capabilities would be is that something that
could be perilous to an aircraft like Air Force one,
(02:33):
somebody with a hunting stand in a tree.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
You know. I read that story and it's like Twilight Zone.
It's just crazy stuff. And I kind of wondered why
the Secret Service or somebody didn't just kind of sneak
and watch and see whoever gets up in that thing
and catches them. They're going to check fingerprints, you know,
they're going to just search that thing the world over.
But that is just spooky. I have no idea what's
(02:57):
going on with that. And you know that the president's
doing a great job, but he's got to put up
with extra security because of this nonsense. I don't know.
It's just stunning.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Can someone take a pot shot in an aircraft next
to an airport if they want to? Can you damage
a commercial aircraft with a with a shotgun or you know,
any kind of pistol or anything.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, I hate to admit that, but that's certainly possible.
You know a lot of the airports you go to
down in South Florida and all you know, the highway
goes right by the airport, Interstate highways over you know,
high rise kind of highways. So yeah, that's that's certainly possible.
People can do that all the time, and that it
doesn't happen more often, I guess is just a real plus,
don't I don't know what else to say. It is
(03:41):
a risk.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I'm sorry to hear that answer.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
This one is really spooky. A United Airlines pilot was
forced to make an emergency landing a mystery object smash
the windshield of a Boeing seven thirty seven. The unusual
part is it wasn't a bird strike. It was at
thirty six thousand feet and the pilot's worms were bleeding
and there were glass cuts and the dashboard. What could
(04:11):
you possibly hit at thirty six thousand feet.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
That's the mystery of the day. I have no idea.
I would think it was a windshield, you know, explosion,
They crack and things like that. They had a couple
with the Pete hagg Seth and Marco Rubio, and that's
not uncommon. People have that happen. I never did. But
that something hit it from the outside, that's going to
be under investigation. I don't know if that's been proven yet,
(04:35):
But thirty six thousand feet is incredible. There's nothing up there,
but airliners, so you know, unless it's things from Mars.
I mean, you know, they got all these stories about
UFOs and things. Maybe they finally found.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
One the hard way. There was talk about space debris
or a meteor, but the FAA said the odds of
hitting space debris are one trillion to one one.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Right. That couldn't agree more with that, And that's just
you know, that's just one of the risks you take
when you fly. If you don't worry about stuff like that,
or you go crazy and you know, you better chance
to win in the lottery than have something like that happen.
So I don't know if they'll ever find out what
that was, but you know, meteors and debris and stuff
does come in. Usually it burns up in the atmosphere,
(05:23):
but maybe that's one that kind of made it a
little more solid through the atmosphere. In daytime, they wouldn't
have seen it. You know, at night they might have
seen a streak, but at daytime they probably wouldn't have.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Not much you can do with a commercial airline aer
I'm guessing to avoid hitting something when you see it
at that speed and that height, is.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
There absolutely nothing you'd never see it in the first place,
and even if you saw it, you can't move fast
enough to get out of its way. There's no way.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Well, I'm worried about this. It's you know, on its own,
it's an incident. But when you start to add it
all up, you begin to wonder if suddenly we're getting
closer and closer to you know, meeting them, if you
know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Well, you know, I've just got to go back to
my positive attitude. Because I flew for thirty seven years
and never had a flat tire, You're going to get
much more risk going down the interstate or riding your
bicycle or walking the neighborhood than you are on a
commercial airplane. And so that's my initial spin on every
story I do. I raced boats, I did aerobatics, I
(06:29):
did all kinds of things hugely more dangerous. Flying commercial
airplanes is just nothing. Autopilot speak talk, visit, visit, visit,
and then land. It's just the safest thing on the planet.
And I'm not exaggerating that. That's statistically, that's the truth.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You never saw on what you would consider to be
an unidentified flying object in thirty seven years up there
at delta.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Absolutely not. And I flew like you leave Johannesburg, South Africa,
and it's literally all night long back to Atlanta. There
were something up there, you'd see it. I mean, you
got somebody in the cockpit, you know, twenty four to
seven obviously, and so if there was an event, somebody
would see it and notice it. And never, never, never,
And so when when I hear about the Navy and
(07:13):
they chase something down they have it on radar, that
is unusual. And if there's a record of that, I'd
like to read it. I'd like to hear more about it.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
We'd like to hear more about you and your book,
My Life Above the Clouds, and you can get it.
It's Lieutenant Colonel Alan Bullet Campbell, who was in the
US Air Force too. I took that flight from Johannesburg
to Kennedy Airport one time. That is a long, long,
long trip. How do you manage that as a pilot,
because it looks to me like your seat is the
(07:43):
least comfortable in the house.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, you know it's not. It's a nice comfortable seat
and you're only on duty for four hours. Then you
go on the break, you go upstairs and go to sleep.
Then you go back on duty for four hours and
you eat. You're in one of those breaks, and so
you know you've got two different crews, and so it's
just well maintained. Everybody. You learn how to wake up.
(08:06):
I keep saying that in my book and talks that
it's amazing that you can sleep for four hours, wake up,
throw some water in your face, drink a cup of coffee,
and just go right back to the cockpit totally alert,
and then go back four hours later and go sleep again.
And that's just something humans can adjust to, or at
least I could. It worked great for me.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
You're not human. You're quite an interesting fellow. And we're
going to read about it in my book, My Life
Above the Clouds. And I'm sure you make it sound easy,
but I'm sure there are moments in that book of
unusual situations and peculiar things in the skies. And we
won't even talk about the flight attendants. After all, he
was in the United States Air Force. His book is
(08:48):
My Life Above the Clouds, and Lieutenant Colonel Allen Bullet
Campbell calms everybody down, and we sure appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
This is Chris Buck with Michigan Reimagined podcast and when
it comes to managing your finances and planning for your future,
I suggest you contact my friends at Wagoner Financial. Whether
you're just getting started, getting ready to retire, or anywhere
in between, Wagoner Financial can help you make smart financial decisions.
Don't navigate a complex problem on your own. Wagoner has
the expertise to help you feel confident that you're making
the right financial choices. Contact an advisor by calling five
(09:23):
one seven eight five three three three sixty seven, or
visit their website at wagonerhyphenfinancial dot com.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Our path to a top ten state is only as
strong as our strength of commitment. It's time to compete
to win. When we do better by our kids, invest
in people, accelerate our economy, and get the fundamentals right,
we will feel a powerful win in our sales that
will move Michigan over it. That's a top ten state.
(09:49):
Business Leaders for Michigan is the state's business round Table.
We're committed to make Michigan more competitive. Time to be bold, Michigan.
It's time to compete to.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
When it comes to healthcare costs, we often focus on
one thing. Our insurance premiums but what if we're only seeing.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Part of the picture.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
The truth is our health insurance costs reside downstream at
the end of the cost equation. But to really understand
what's driving up costs, we need to look upstream to
the healthcare system itself. Upstream, there are costs like the
price is charged by hospitals and doctors, and the cost
of prescription drugs, healthcare administration, and technology. These costs flow
(10:30):
downstream directly into your health insurance premium. That's why Blue
Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is advocating for a system
wide solution to address the rising cost of healthcare. Blue
Cross knows that healthcare is personal, needs to work for everyone,
and affordability matters, and that starts with shedding light on
the entire cost equation, from upstream costs to downstream premiums.
(10:53):
Want to learn more, visit miiblue daily dot com slash
Affordability
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