The Airline Pilot Guy Podcast, a view into the cockpit.

APG podcast, playing on the old Ipad.

There is nothing more enjoyable than learning about the world of aviation straight from the horse’s mouth.  That is exactly what you get with each podcast from Captain Jeff (The Airline Pilot Guy).  The Captain is a real world pilot for a US legacy airline.   For obvious reasons, Captain Jeff does not disclose his employer. 
But we do know that he is currently employed as a captain and  he flies the Mad Dog MD82.    His motto is "The view from my side of the cockpit door".  

The typical Airline Pilot Guy podcast is about 2 hours long.  Each podcast is filled with many tidbits of information.   From Captain Jeff, we get a feel for what it really is like on the other side of the door.  We get the inside scope on the latest aviation news from accidents to changes in the airlines.  Captain Jeff regularly chats about everything from his latest flights, to his views on the airline industry, and aviation as a career.  He speaks many times about his concerns regarding the use of automation and safety in general.   Not to mention we also get a glimpse into his old days flying for the Air Force and flying the Tristar L1011.

       Captain Jeff's website

There are three requirements that I have for subscribing to a podcast.   The podcast must be produced on a regular basis, well produced, and well organized!  The Airline Pilot Guy’s podcast fulfills each of these requirements and then some.  Each week a new show is produced and ready to download and the sound quality is always good!  Captain Jeff rarely drones on about any topic.  His show is well organized with a news section, updates, and listener questions and feedback.   The fact that some shows are almost 2 hours long is an added bonus.  

While Captain Jeff is not a flight sim enthusiast, he fields  many questions from flight sim fans on his show.  Flight simulation has been discussed numerous times on his podcast and Captain Jeff has shown his admiration for it.  On a personal  level, flight simulation for the good Captain consist of being tested in a large metal box on what he might or might not, do wrong.   Simming, is not a fun part of his job, as he would probably say.     

                                                           Airline Pilot Guy on Youtube

As aviation enthusiast, we almost owe it to ourselves to subscribe to Captain Jeff’s podcast.   For aviation enthusiast such as myself and others, the PC flight simulator opens the door to the world of airline aviation.   We love to pretend we are captains of airliners like the MD82, 737 and 777.  But Captain Jeff’s podcast slams the door open with a lot of firsthand knowledge about what it is really like to be and airline pilot.   We also learn about all the real world responsibilities he has to shoulder.

Personally, I really enjoy when Captain Jeff discusses the recent aviation accidents and events.  His discussions about the Malaysian Air and the Air Asiana  accidents have been very insightful.   For example, he was the first person I know of to point out that a lot of the CNN reporting related to the disappearance of MH370 was full of a lot of BS.

Aviation related links on the APG website.

A good point that Captain Jeff made was that many of their so called “Aviation” experts had no real background in aviation at all!  Some of us flight simmers probably had more qualifications.
 I would bet that few of the PMDG T7 flyers know more about the 777 systems than some of those CNN jokers!

Captain Jeff has been quite vocal about the dangers of automation.   As he would say, "disconnecting the auto-pilot at 500 feet AGL before landing, is not flying" (Heavily paraphrased).
While he might laugh, (because I am not a real pilot), I have tried to follow Captain Jeff's advise in the simulator by disconnecting the autopilot in the Majestic Dash 8 in FSX, when ever possible.  My landings in the Q 400 might not be greasers, but many of them have been hand flown, greatly increasing my ability and confidence.

Hand flying the Q into EGBB

So I advise every aviation enthusiast to head over to the Airline Pilot Guy website at www.airlinepilotguy.com .   The website also includes various aviation related links relevant to each show!  Its worth mentioning that Captain Jeff has active communication with fans through Facebook.  You can also donate to Captain Jeff's Coffee Fund which helps pay for the cost of hosting the show and equipment.   Given the Captain's donation to the aviation community, that is money well spent!

The Airline Pilot Guy show can be downloaded from ITunes and Stitcher.    Episodes can also be found on Youtube.

Links:
www.airlinepilotguy.com
Airline Pilot Guy on Itunes
Airline Pilot Guy on Stitcher.com
Airline Pilot Guy on Youtube
Airline Pilot Guy on Facebook.