The Pilot's Wife - Aviation from the Prospective of a Significant Other: Ep.2

Explore the world of aviation through the lens of a supportive spouse on "The Fly Media" podcast. Join host Osa Aikhionbare, a private pilot, and Tatum (The Pilots Wife), as they candidly share their journey in aviation. From the initial reservations and concerns Tatum had when Osa expressed his desire to become a pilot to embarking on adventures together in the skies, this podcast offers a unique perspective on pursuing a pilot's license while balancing a relationship. Tune in for stories of support, challenges, and laughter as they navigate the skies together. Don't miss this insightful episode and be sure to share it with your significant other to spark conversations about shared dreams and support in the world of aviation.

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Transcript

Clear prop. Welcome to the fly media podcast where we explore the skies through the stories of those who fly them. If you're an aviation enthusiast, a pilot, or someone who looks up every time they hear a plane fly overhead, then you've come to the right place. I'm your host, Osa, private pilot, content creator, and aviation enthusiast. Today's episode, I'd like to introduce a special guest, my wife Tatum, who, as we call her the pilot's wife.

We're going to dive on into it and we're going to talk about pilot training and aviation from the standpoint of a significant other. A brief introduction to my wife Tatum. She is a school teacher, a lover of fun, adventure and laughter and has been enjoying our aviation journey thus far. Definitely. I've been really enjoying flying with you. think it's been an incredible experience and I'm looking back on, think I'm really grateful that you decided to pursue it no matter how it started,

I'm really grateful that you decided to pursue it. It's been really fun. I've been enjoying every little aspect of it. So tell viewers a little bit about how we met and then how that conversation went when I initially said, Hey babe, I want to be a pilot and fly airplay. Well, we've been together for almost like 11 years now, married a year. So it's been a wild, wild journey, wild ride,

we met in college, you were on the football team. was a cheerleader and, met at a football party, very cliche story. College romance. Some big corny from a movie. It's called cliche. Everyone I talked to about is like, what a cliche the two of you are. And yeah, whatever cliche, but, it had been fun because I feel like I've seen you in every part of your life. I've seen you through college and then into your first job aspect and then also going to fire.

And then all the hobbies that have come with you being a firefighter too, which has been really fun. So it's been fun to see all of that. Awesome. So let's unpack a little bit of that initial conversation when I came home and said I wanted to be a pilot. Talk a little bit about where we were and what was going on in our life around that time. Yeah. We had just moved into our new house.


Just moved in, just bought a house and that's obviously nerve -wracking in and of itself because that's a lot of money being put forth. That's a lot of different financial responsibility than we're used to. And I remember when you brought it up, I was like, you're crazy. That was my first initial, I was like, you're crazy. I understand you need hobbies, but this is not what I don't think you should embark in. The only thing I'd ever heard about aviation is how expensive it was to get into it. And that's my initial thought was the financial burden that it was going to put on you.

Or we're also taking on this huge financial burden of moving into our new home as well. And that I think panicked me as you know, because I'm a bit of a panicker in some ways, but also just thinking financially, I'm I think one of the people between the two of us on the saver. I don't know if you'd agree with me there, but I would agree with you 100%. My whole concept of money is you can't take it with you when you die. So you might as well blow it. And we all know aviation isn't cheap as it is. So have fun and live while you

Yeah, which I love your perspective on life. I think that's why we balance each other out so well, because you have that kind of live life now the way it is perspective. And I'm more of a reserved perspective. So you put the two of us together and we live a little bit of both ways. And I think that's perfect. But of course, I panicked in the financial sense because I'm Tatum.

No, I think that makes perfect sense. You definitely do help keep me grounded as I'm a bit of an adventurer and a wild child. I'm more of a, you know, jump off this building, hit the ground, break every bone in your body, heal and figure it out later. Yeah. But I think there is also the sense of my nervousness around knowing, although it's not necessarily a dangerous profession or dangerous hobby, I should say, not profession, you know, it still has

accidents and issues with it and you already having a dangerous job putting a dangerous hobby on top of your dangerous job was the other thing I think that really panicked me. So financial and the potential for danger is kind of what got me I think initially and that initially came out very reserved about the whole thing and almost not try to talk you out of it because I don't think I ever try to talk you out of things but trying to just be like, hey, these are some points I think you should think about before you really enter into this hobby. That's a great point and that makes a whole lot of sense.


I have to agree with you there. It's definitely a dangerous hobby. You do hear about general aviation planes going down quite often. Usually it's, you know, pilot error and that's not the point of finger. That's just kind of how things work out. Just to kind of dig a little bit deeper. Another aspect of that, you mentioned my job being kind of a dangerous one as it is. It also is one that takes me away from home quite a bit. Yeah. So how does that factor into a hobby that, you know, is going to take a lot of studying and training

you know, hours on end, just kind of being who knows where up in the sky. I don't did that part didn't super bother me in some ways. I think I'm I mean, I'm used to being gone for 24 hours shifts for your for your fire job, but I didn't really you do and you ended up doing a lot of it when I was working because you have those full days off. So a lot of you really made sure to put it during that time period. And I don't think I had any trepidation with you being

hold away. I don't think that was any of my initial thoughts when you first entered into it. I wasn't worried about you spending less time with me. Just because I know that you need hobbies too. Quick question. So what advice would you give to the significant other of someone who comes home and says I want to be a pilot whether it be for recreation or a new career? I think the financial bit is a huge question to ask and just make sure I think every flight school has a different idea

pricing for the amount of hours as do your flight instructors as well. So I think just having that general question and how long do you think it's going to take for you to be able to pursue this certificate that you're trying to achieve. It is important to talk about the amount of time I I already kind of mentioned about the amount of time it takes someone to do it is important. Especially if you have children, we don't have children. So that's not even something I was worried about necessarily, but I could see especially if you have children at home that you're both trying to take care of. That's a huge conversation to have around.

How is this going to work with breaking down responsibilities that you might have to kind of take a back seat on right now because you're doing something and pursuing this? I could see that being a conversation that some people could have as well. So you're saying if I came home and said, hey, I'm going to start flying airplanes and such, I need you to watch little Timmy for the next, I don't know, six months. I don't think it'd be quite that kind of a conversation, but I think it's more how are we going to break down these duties a little differently so you can do the things when you


You can do other things that are more maybe like background work to take the load off of me. I think just sharing the load is the biggest thing. And I don't think we necessarily had to have that conversation, but I could see that being a conversation that some depending on your situation where you're at in life, that could be a major conversation. Now that you're on the other end of things and we've got the certificate or license and we're flying around and enjoying ourselves. Has that changed any of your reservations going in or do you think that your feelings?

would still be the same knowing what you know now? I think they would still be the same. I think I would still ask the questions just to make sure that you fully have like realized what's going to take to be able to do something like this. I don't think my questions necessarily would have changed. I may have asked the question like how am I going to be involved in this since it's such a big thing that you're doing such a big financial responsibility that you're taking on. How am I going to be involved in this as well? How am I going be able to reap the benefits of being a as we say a pilot's wife or a pilot's partner?

Like what is in it for me because I think that's you're taking on such a huge thing and of course always going to be here to support you. But what do I get from it would be kind of a nice thing to know too. What is your outlook on this with your like reasoning or purpose? And I don't remember if I asked you that question or not. I just knew that it was something you were super interested. You've been talking in it not in it, but you've been talking about it forever. And so I know you would put a lot of thought into it,

I also know you're the type of person who I don't have to worry about you. You think about things before you do them. especially when it's something big like this, you done your research and you had figured it out, thought about it. and you also know I'm a little bit more analytical. You presented facts to me too, when you were thinking about going into it. So you approached it in the right way. I have to say it really helped me with those questions. My sales pitch worked. Okay. My sales pitch worked my background in business analytics and sales.

came in big and here I am a pilot. That's funny. But no, I think I would have just asked like, what are we going to do with this? What's our goal? And I think we both love to travel. And so I already knew that going into it. And so I think it was, that wasn't, I mean, I kind of figured out it's like, we're just going to use this to have fun and have a good time. Cause that's kind of our goal in life is just to enjoy ourselves. So now that we're on the back end and you did mention that our goal is to travel and have fun.


How have you been enjoying our adventures thus far? It's been great just to see places that I don't feel we've ever or would have ever even thought of going to is so cool. It's the idea of being able to kind of fly in wherever and explore a little town that no chance we would have done previously is is really really cool. So you mentioned some little towns and places that we went to go eat, you know, the hundred dollar burger, which is kind of something I'm super fascinated with and kind of addicted to. Yeah.

You know, the concept of just flying around to brunch, lunch, working on your skills by flying into a new airport. How have those adventures been? How has the food been? How have the views been from, you know, 5 ,500 feet or so? It's awesome. I think the water views are probably some of my favorite views. I think that comes from me growing up near the coast my entire life, but just those lakes that we've flown over. We've flown over quite a few lakes, I think, at this point, and they're beautiful and gorgeous. I love watching where that land goes into the lake and you can see.

the lake under another lake, the land under the lake, which is really cool to be able to see that aspect of it. My science brain geeks out a little bit. but those have been really cool and we're both foodies. We love food and I love trying new foods. Might as well go to little places. And the concept of the hundred dollar burger is awesome in my opinion. So, of the places we've gone for lunch, I know we flew to Columbia and went to, I believe the place was called Maddie's, which is just a short walk down from the airport.

And then about a week ago, we flew up to Lamson outside of Clear Lake and went to Red's of those two, which had better food given we had breakfast at one and kind of lunch burgers at the other. Yeah, it was a tough choice. I think I liked the concept of Red's a little bit better because it was a chef's focus restaurant, which is really cool. I got the grilled cheese when we went and I thought it was so interesting. It scared me. But they were like, you know, little special tidbits. I'm like, what are these tidbits that are going to be in this grilled cheese turns out?

It was whatever the chef wanted to put in that day. So trepidatious. Sure. Because I don't like mushrooms. There's like certain things. I'm like an absolute no one. Mushrooms are one of them and bell peppers tend to be the other, which you know, and that didn't happen, but it was a food that chef focus restaurant was really cool. I think that was a really cool little airport too. I liked flying in. initial landing was absolutely horrible in my eyes. You were always like, it was fine. I hated

So of course I made us do another quick lap, get another landing in before we took off. What did you think about the layout of that airport? Being able to park the airplane right by the restaurant was cool. I mean, that was awesome. You can literally just leave the plane and we were sitting there staring at the plane basically the entire time that we were eating at the restaurant, which was awesome. Yeah, that definitely made life easy. We didn't have to take off any of the GoPros or cameras off the plane because we were sitting, I don't know, 30 feet away from

able to watch it. that saved probably, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes on each side, both going and coming. And which was nice. As much as I appreciate the fact that I don't know how to put all the cameras up for the most part, besides the one on the wing. Yeah, doing it that many times sometimes a little bit. It's so fun. I love it. It's the best, especially when I'm in a dress.

I think I'm noticing a little bit of sarcasm from my wife. She doesn't like helping apparently. No, that's not what I'm saying. I like helping. I know nothing wrong with helping. I'm just saying that it's having to, you know, especially when you're hungry and we landed. I was starving when we were landing, which doesn't change my recommendation on the food by the way, but I was starving when we landed. So having to take all the cameras off when you're hungry, you know me. I don't function well when I'm hungry. Little gremlin when I'm hungry. You're functioning pretty well right now. And you've told me a few times you're

I am hungry, but I'm pushing through. greatly appreciate that. Of the adventures that we've gone on so far, I have an idea of what your favorite adventure is, but I'm going to let you tell me and maybe confirm that. My birthday surprise. That was a great adventure and I didn't know what we were getting into initially, which I just love not knowing what we're doing. It's my favorite. I think I asked you, I don't know how many times what the surprise was because I hate being surprised. I don't hate being surprised. That's a lie. I like being surprised,

Traveling is one of my biggest anxiety factors. Not knowing was scary. The initial thing you had told me was Santa Barbara. We flew down to, we flew into Fallbrook to be able to spend a weekend with my family, which was awesome. We had a surprise party down there for me, which was even better to be able to see all of my family, including one of my best friends from high school. I initially thought, I was thinking in my head, you said Santa Barbara. I was like, great, we're going to fly into somewhere on the coast, in Southern California, which would be awesome.


and spend like a weekend away together. And I was thinking beach, you told me to pack some suits, et cetera. We were staying at a beach is just Carlsbad Beach, not Santa Barbara. So which was totally great because I love Carlsbad. So I grew up going to the beach. So for me, it's very nostalgic and like feels like home. That flight was interesting to say the least. I think you pulled it off so well, but it's the longest flight you've done, right? It was what, like four hours going

I think the total trip going down took us about five hours and that's plugging in the stop in Paso Robles to use the restroom. You want to talk about what happened there? Yeah. Well, I didn't know what our final goal or plan was. So in my head, I'm like, Santa Barbara, not that far. I'll be fine. And then I had to really ask him. We were near Paso Robles and I knew that was the next airport we were going to be flying over at least. And my question to you, I was like, kind of bathroom, like kind of not like it's not an emergency.

You know, when are we landing? What's happening next? So we'll land probably in the next like hour and a half, maybe like, great. I could hold that. I'm so grateful that you were like, you need to make a decision right now. Do you go? I said, yes, take me to the bathroom. Absolutely. Please. Because we didn't end up landing in Santa Barbara. And I would have been panicking if we had just flown over. Like that overcast skies, they were so bad. There's zero percent chance you would be able to land. And then I would have been screwed.

That is 100 % true. It was IFR conditions the entire way down along the coast with low hanging clouds. And a big part of the issue there was June gloom in California. We've got it bad here on the West coast. It was all the way down and we could see it as we were in Hollister looking West. You could see the clouds. However, the forecast kept telling us that clouds are supposed to burn off by 10, then by noon, then by one o 'clock. And by the time we got towards Santa Barbara,

They absolutely did not burn off. That was a big adventure and a big lesson and learning happened for both of us. Never trust the weather. Always have an alternate, which is exactly what we had to do. We diverted our original plan was to fly into McClellan Airport, which is in Carlsbad. Beautiful airport. Great, great FBOs. I called ahead, had them ready for me, could have parked the plane inside in case it rained. All of those things as we approach were maybe 10, 15 miles


And we're seeing that it's overcast. So I had to divert and we ended up going about 20 or so miles east to Fallbrook, which we were able to land again. I hated my landing there also, but we had about a 30 minute wait or so until my parents were able to pick us up. So naturally, what did I do? You did the landing again, which is very, I think we filled the plane up and then you immediately got back on the taxiway and got back to trying it out. I think what's your motto around if you have a bad landing?

I do have a motto after a bad landing and that motto goes, get your candy ass back in that plane and land it again. Stick that landing. Don't walk away from the aircraft after a bad landing because it's going to be on your mind. You're going to be thinking about it, doubting yourself. And to me, it's very important to walk away with a landing that you're proud of and that leaves you feeling confident and happy. With that being said, I'm not telling you to go out and fly.

in conditions that you're not capable of. If you had to kind of do some sort of an emergency landing in a situation where the winds are more than you would say your limits are, but you had no other options. I'm not saying go around and do that again. Just to be clear. That makes sense. But I think it was right around once you realize there's no chance we're going to land in Santa Barbara. You handed me your iPad and you're like, okay, here's what we're actually doing. Cat's out of the bag. I just have to tell

I think it was in that moment I realized why it's so important to have a co -pilot who is willing to step in and help, has enough knowledge and understanding of what we're doing to be able to help. And I just felt very useful. I think that was one of my things I was like, I can be very useful to you. like, it's a stressful situation when the LAX airspace. What can I do to help you? What's the next step? Like, what can I do? And I remember I think I put in all the waypoints going down and we did still log it into the Palomar airport, but we ended up switching

once you realize there was no chance it was going to clear up by the time we actually got down there. but I would like to, I know I said I was have a problem with being hungry. Did we land for lunch? No, our original plan, the original hoax was to land for lunch, but due to IFR conditions, she definitely understood. We had snacks. We tore those snacks apart, drank water, didn't have to use the restroom thankfully until we landed. All in all, I think it worked out perfectly. The whole thing was amazing. It was a really fun trip. and it's something that


definitely think we should do again. It was a great time. It was a great surprise for me. I loved being able to hang out and be with my family and your parents. And I think overall just a good experience for the two of us. You obviously for flying that long distance, but me just being able to be your partner in the sky. Don't necessarily, I don't know if I'd call myself a co -pilot because I don't have a license or a certificate, but you know. Pilot passenger princess. Hell yeah. If I was a passenger princess, I'd be sitting there just reading my book. La dee da.

Not if you wanted to live, you would. Yeah. I was not reading my book. was paying attention, looking for traffic, uh, plugging in way points, those kinds of things. yeah, things got kind of hairy as she was saying, not airy in a scary way, but just the aspect of, Hey, we're going to be entering the class Bravo airspace in probably about 15 minutes or so. I definitely reached out and talked to ATC.

and said, Hey, my original plan is to fly the VFR special flight rules area over LAX. Is that still available or an option? They told me, no, that is what I had prepped. That is what I had known. That is what I was ready for. already had the VR dialed in, but I couldn't see the ground. So they actually gave us the coastal route at 5 ,500 feet. And that is off of one of the LAX VORs. I don't remember off the top of my head, but Tatum was huge in helping to plug those waypoints in as we were flying by way of

the ORS using the GPS and even the autopilot, which was definitely awesome. So she learned how to do and use both. I remember something funny with the autopilot. Do you remember what happens when you turn it off? It's terrible. I don't know why they designed it this way. I mean, I understand, but I also don't get it. It like screams at you. It's this bleeping sound and then it goes autopilot off or autopilot on. I don't know what it says. They honor off or does it just say

I think it just screams when it's going off to let you know it's disengaging. No, no, it screams. It doesn't scream both ways. I believe it screams going off. goes autopilot on the on it might beep. Okay. But either way, it's extremely loud. It's scary. I think it scared me pretty. You warned me and it still freaked me out. And like every time, okay. And it's also louder in my headphones than, I guess talking to each other or the just.


the general chatter on the radio. You talked about noise and the general chatter on the radio. Do you care to elaborate a little bit about what was going on through that LA Bravo area? was LA and all the way down to John Wayne. I feel like that whole section, it was just constant. You could not get a word in edgewise. Like it was constant, constant, constant, constant. I think even you declaring that you were in a different airspace at one point, you couldn't do it for a couple of minutes because it was just so consistent with chatter.

ridiculous. We couldn't talk to each other. We I mean it was really like silent. There was we're just listening to other people talk about but it was interesting to hear like oh Southwest this Alaska this United this that was really interesting to be able to like I never thought I was going to be hearing that kind of stuff over. I don't know while I'm in a plane flying over lax never thought that was going to happen. So interesting right that was a great 10 hour or so adventure flying to and from we had an amazing weekend. I'm glad that you part

You've definitely been learning a lot about aviation in terms of flying, how the controls work, the GPS, the autopilot, just even inspecting the plane and doing a pre -flight. And how would you say that process has been? Pretty good. I feel like I have a good understanding and I like to have an understanding of what we're doing when we're flying. Just so again, I think it's a safety thing too, as a partner of someone who is a pilot, it would make sense that I know enough that if something was to go wrong, I could take over, I could

I know general rules and things and I think it's not fun because I did a lot of that too when I was helping you study for your exam. I spent a lot of time quizzing him, giving him questions. And I did the same thing for you when you were in the Academy for the fire department. So I feel like we're really good at quizzing each other and helping each other study. But it was constant. mean, for like weeks there before you took your test, I feel like I had this book. man. I this book or this thing, but I had it constantly and I was like flipping through

I would just like flip to a random page. One of my favorites is this one here. It says, what four strokes must occur in each cylinder of a typical four stroke engine in order for it to produce full power? And now the answer seems pretty innocent. It's intake, compression, power, and exhaust. But my favorite note, and it's even highlighted in here, it says, remember, suck, squeeze, bang, blow. Yo!


like consistent joke for a while. was just like, yeah, don't, don't forget. Suck, squeeze, bang, blow. It was hilarious. Thanks to that. note there when that question came up about, you know, the four strokes of an engine came up on my check ride. I looked at the man. said, suck, squeeze, bang, blow. He looked at me and said, what? I said, my bad. And then, you know, repeated what it actually was. And he, we both giggled and laughed about that for a while. So I, I definitely appreciate

Despite the funny part, I think it definitely helped me helping you study helped me understand more about the airplane, which I would recommend for anybody who is going to be a partner of someone, whether you are a good friend of someone who's going into aviation or your spouse, whatever your partner, you should know something. You should not go in blind. It would just naturally is something I'm a curious person by nature. And so I want to know more about what you're doing and how you're spending your off time. And so I think for me, that was just an important safety thing to beyond.

being interested in what you're doing. you remember your reaction the first time that I was trying to show you how flying works in terms of the flight controls and hand them off to you? Of course I remember. Did not like it. I just don't feel like I'm qualified to take over the controls. Like why give me the controls? I'm not qualified. And I understand that I should know the basics of it, but does it panic me? Absolutely. It's like when I'm playing a video game with you.

And you give me the controller, like you go to bathroom and you're playing, I don't know, Call of Duty with your buddies. And you give me the controller because you're going to the bathroom and I just am sitting there like in a corner. I like throw the controller. I can't handle myself. I'm just too anxious to handle it. Like, no, I can't do it. Don't make me do it. Same thing happened with like, I mean, I was calmer about it because I knew it was a serious situation. I knew you had the controls too. It wasn't like you were giving it completely over to me. The panic was definitely there. I was panicking 100%. Speaking of panic.

I remember our first flight. There was a moment of we were flying. No, that's not. That's a different moment. That's hilarious. The moment I'm talking about you. You and I were flying. We're heading out to Petaluma. just passing over your friend Amanda's house, pointing out the Richmond Bridge and we hit a bit of turbulence. It had a quick bounce. yeah, definitely. And there's I think you caught it on camera too. I definitely like grabbed my chest and then let out a little squeak for sure. She definitely went,


man, I was busting up laughing. Nothing like the time I was dancing in the back of the plane, right? That was so funny. That was going to be a big problem. That's funny. So a little bit about that story. I was still a student pilot at the time. We were flying with my flight instructor, who's one of our best friends. We went out to Rio Vista for Airport Day, which has, you know, a car show, flying event, food trucks, a lot of fun. And I actually only had one headset. We couldn't get our hands on another

to borrow rent from anybody. So she's in the back listening to music with her Apple AirPods in and we're flying back home and Gull's looking at me. He's wondering why the plane is like rocking. He's like, what are you doing with your feet? Are you on the rudder pedals dancing? You know, WTF bro, whiskey tango foxtrot. What's going on here? Right. So finally I'm like, it's not me that we look back and Tatum is back there doing what now? I was like full on just dancing. I was like shaking back and forth.

didn't realize that I was shaking the entire plane by dancing to the music. I'm sorry. I just like dancing to music, but Tatum's back there just rocking the whole aircraft, not realizing the plane itself weighs about the same amount as the three of us combined, but it was hilarious. We all got a great laugh out of that one. I remember seeing Gaul start to panic. I remember seeing it on his face. It's look at panel. Like what is going on? I was like, that's weird. I wonder what's happening. And I just kept dancing and they looked at it. was like, it's me. I'm the problem.

Bro madness. That was way too funny. Are there any places or destinations that you're excited to go airports on your list or places to visit and stay? Yeah, I think it would be I think I mentioned this to you multiple times now, but Monterey I think would be really cool. I know with the cloud coverage that can be really tricky to pull off. I'd love to be able to do that though. I think just exploring the little places we've been and I don't

You do such a good job looking up the places and finding places to eat too. But just like those little places we've been to, the little airports, the little cafe or diner has been so cool. I want to do more of that too, which I'll take anything. I'll be honest with you. Any adventure in the sky has been fun so far with you. So I think Monterey is one of my biggest like wants to, because I'd love to see that from the sky as well. But I know that's a hard one to pull off with the typical conditions that you get. Hopefully things clear up in

later July or August so we can make that flight happen. I'm excited for that as well. I also really want to fly into a Watsonville which is actually right outside of Santa Cruz, so kind of the same bay as Monterey. They're supposed to have some of the best food at Ella's which is a diner on their airfield that a few pilots in the flying club I'm looking to join have been talking about. So that's high up on my

You already know my number one destination that I want to fly into. there's two, the number one is definitely Catalina Island for me. That approach looks amazing. we can get away trip. I was thinking Belize. That's I mean, I know that's a long term goal, but I think flying into like a Caribbean country like that, especially your home country would be really cool. I think that would be an awesome. I I that's probably down the line quite a bit for us, but that's something I'm looking forward to those adventures as well. The little ones and the big ones. I think they're all have their own.

I don't know uniqueness to them. like all of them. I think it's gonna be amazing. I definitely do want to fly into the Caribbean. one of the challenges with that though is those trips usually would be, you know, two, three weeks at least. for things like that, it's kind of better to have your own aircraft. You can get away with it in a flying club here and there, but to be fair to the other members who are flying and also partial owners in the planes, it's not necessarily a well received for you to use the plane for a full

That makes sense. can be done here and there, but I think at that point we'd want to be closer to exploring airplane ownership. Mooney M 20 J here we come. I'm super pumped. We're talking down the line down the line. Maybe sooner than later. We'll figure that one out. It's a debate in argument for another day. So most definitely, most definitely, but airplane ownership is definitely in the future for us. You know how I feel. I feel very reserved, but I think again, it has to do with, know, we still are only

two years into like not even two years into owning our house and closing. Do you have any wisdom you'd like to impart on the significant other of a pilot or someone becoming a pilot that they can show again this podcast share with their significant other to say, hey, look, here's the situation. I fully understand your reservations. Here's a fellow pilot. His wife had the same and now look at what they're doing. I think it's all about communication. I think that's true for anything you do with your partner or with your significant other,


And just communicate with them. Talk about where you're nervous about it. Are you even someone who's going to want to go in the airplanes? I know there's a lot of people who I talked to that are like, absolutely not. I would never go in an airplane like that small. Where I had no problem with it. It didn't bother me in the least bit. I knew I would be comfortable going up with you. So I think just communicate about it. Everything. Whether it's about what you want to do with it. How are you going to be involved in it? How much time is this going to take you? What's the financial responsibility you're now taking on because of this?

And obviously it's going to look different from partner to partner. It's all about just talking together and figuring it out, making sure it's working. And I think for us, it worked beautifully. Sure, it took you a lot of time, took you a lot of money, but I think in the long run, it's been a really fun adventure for us to do as a couple. And just like a fun new thing for us to explore together, which is always something I'm looking for. So I've been very happy about it. I think it's been a really fun experience for both of us. Awesome.

I'm super pumped to explore. Can't wait to start doing it in an aircraft that travels faster than 107 knots so that we can make that trip down to LA, San Diego, Palm Springs in sub three hours. That would be truly amazing. Yeah, that would be incredible, especially thinking about like how much time it takes you when you do a regular airplane. You know, two hours early and then you have to go through TSA and then you have to wait for your plane. Your plane could get delayed and you know me, I always end up with delayed planes. That seems to be my typical issue. Yeah, so I'm

very pleased with only takes me three hours because realistically that flight should only be an hour max from San Francisco and you know it ends up taking half a day because that's how airplanes work these days. So seeing that you were talking about a commercial airplane and flying commercial what is the biggest adjustment that you've had to make flying in a small Cessna? I'm used to drinking coffee right before I get on an airplane because I can use the restroom can't do that in a small plane also there's no food service like where's my flight attendant?

Yo, you are. She just come with us. Yo, you are the food service. You're the one that reaches in the back seat and grabs the snacks. OK, I know you're the food service. But a bit more what I was getting into or asking was what skill have you been forced to develop? I always tease you about something when you travel. packing. You're great at packing, but you overpack. There is just this idea of


comfortability with the outfits you choose. And I'm not one to pack an outfit for an event. I'm one to pack three outfits for an event because I never know how I'm going to feel when I get there. Not having not being able to just pack a huge suitcase and be like, I'm checking it. Who cares? Because it's free checked baggage and my big suitcase doesn't even fit in a set. Not alone. wouldn't even it would weigh way too much as well. So that's I think definitely a huge adjustment for me. kind of forgot. I see how I've just like pushed the back in my head.

forgotten that that's something I have to work on. Oh, I'm aware. Yeah, I'm well aware. Normally for a weekend trip, you pack a big 55 pound roller bag that would have to be checked and then you pack another roller carry on. Yeah. And now we're down to roller carry on and a bag. That's a huge adjustment that I will have to start getting more used to. Although I did a decent job, I feel going down San Diego. No, I agree. 100 % you packed appropriately. You didn't overpack.

We made weight. were never worried about weight because the useful load on the airplane we were flying is something like 886 pounds. You put our two weights together plus full fuel or somewhere around 700 leaving us 180 something pounds for luggage and baggage and whatever else. My mom did think of that when she was getting, which is so funny. My mom's so supportive of all of this too, but she definitely, I think thought of all of that when she was doing all my gifts for my birthday, which is hilarious. Even to the point

you know, I can always ship it up to you if need be, which I greatly appreciate. Speaking of the support from your family and parents, when I got my certificate a handful of months ago, they actually were the first ones to send me up a card and they wrote inside inside the card. says, say pilot, I'm free. Wow. so what a feat. May the wind always be at your way under your wings. And I can't wait to fly with you someday. Lock. That's her father's name and her

wrote, also firefighter and pilot. Amazing. Great job. We know you worked really hard on this. Congrats. And boy did I, I struggled with landings for probably 50 hours banging and banging. And I'm pretty sure in the next episode I will have my CFI go on and he'll be able to share some laughs and tell you about some of these rough ass landings. He's insane for staying in the plane with me for that long. Cause I would have been like,


Not doing this shit again. Yeah, but I think that just speaks to your support system that had around you while you were undergoing your pilot. I think that's so important to you is to have a good support system. And when you hit those frustration points, what are you going to do? Who's going to get you out of it? Who's going to talk you down? And you definitely would come home. I remember there's the days you'd come home super frustrated and I just let you talk it out and hear what you had to say. All right. Well, as we wrap this thing up, or as I like to say, as we land the plane and bring this thing home, thank you guys for listening.

Tatum, thank you for sharing your experiences, your fun and the laughter. Please like, comment, share with your significant other, share with any friend that you have that is looking to get into aviation. Maybe they have to have this similar conversation with their wife or significant other. Again, thank you so much. I'm your host, O.