Opposing Bases: Air Traffic Talk

What you might think are audio issues on your end is not, in fact, the case. If you think your audio is cutting in and out give it a few seconds and you’ll realize it’s just the two hosts trying to speak through their own laughter or sound out a difficult word. Listen a little longer and you’ll be stifling your own laughter along side them. Seriously though, RH and AG do such a good job of keeping things light hearted while discussing very serious topics and giving me something to consider for my own flying journey. Their support of the community, from students to veteran pilots, has been a major motivator and a priceless learning tool. When I’m an instructor someday OB will be required listening for all of my Students. (Signed NT)

I was listening to OB as I completed some tasks around the house, something I’ve done for many years, and happened upon my framed solo certificate from the U.S. Navy dated Halloween 1978 along with retirement memorabilia from the Navy and airline careers. Wow, that long ago? Continuing to work part-time as a CFI and Instrument ground instructor, this show frequently reminds me of some situation or question encountered during my nearly 5 decades of flying and instructing. Your excellent commentary really serves the `Application and Correlation’ levels of the learning process and I always recommend it as a resource for my students. It often gives me some good `what-if’ scenarios to pose to students to evaluate how well they are putting it all together.

As a longtime listener of the Opposing Bases podcast I have heard it all. Which is to say I have heard countless entertaining reviews about how great the show is. So much so that I’m afraid I can’t come up with anything new and refreshing to say. So instead, I will just add my two cents. This show is seriously amazing. As an Advanced Ground Instructor and recently minted Instrument Ground Instructor, the advice I receive from AG and RH every week that I can use for myself, and that I can also convey to my students and fellow pilots, is priceless. It is more and more common with each passing day that when I bring up the name of the show, the person I am talking to gets excited because they are also a listener. So then - as many have said in the past, and as unoriginal as it is to say this, I am truly grateful for the continued and significant efforts our beloved hosts bestow on us faithfully and graciously! Thanks, guys, for everything you do.

Opposing Bases avaition gurus, Penguin Explorer Mike Echo Delta providing a 5-star review from the Lake of the Woods uncontrolled in the Great White North where I have migrated from the Breaking Bad Charlie (aka Watermelon) for the summer (intentional mouth-full). I only recently found your program after exhausting the backlog of aviation survival story podcasts. What a relief to hear talk about anything other than in flight emergencies, near fatal mistakes and tragically bad decisions. I obtained the coveted flying blind instrument rating this June a little under one year after receiving my License to Learn at the Paul Bunyan and the Big Blue Ox uncontrolled – all at the ripe young age of sixty two. You have created something special and unique with Opposing Bases – a place where a rookie can go to expand their knowledge and not feel belittled or dumb for not knowing (or remembering) the nuances of one of the most complicated activities humans have yet to devise. From a business-person perspective, I’m also very impressed with your model which provides so much value your listeners gladly fork over support any podcast would envy – I hope you guys get rich off of this – you deserve it!!! While I have you (assuming I still do), I am piling onto the Track up vs. North up thread to thank you for allowing me to do just one thing that makes flying easier – going track up. I have to date, forced myself to fly north up thinking that any self-respecting aviator should be able to do the mental gymnastics required to view the map in the most uncomfortable way possible. One of my fears in becoming a pilot has been my oft demonstrated geographic disability. At some point in my development, I acquired geographic dyslexia most pronounced by my internal, broken, compass which always sees west as north. Yes, this is a thing. When I think I’m driving, flying or looking north, I’m usually looking west – a malady that I fear will be with me for the duration and hope, will not cost me my life. Hearing you two, who are clearly powerful gods of the NAS, argue for track-up, has convinced me it is OK to ease my geographic pain and flip the map so that it points to what I will now think of as the “right” way. Thanks for all of your help now and in the future. Mike Echo Delta