Our very own Bobby Doss appeared on a radio station in his hometown to discuss some recent aviation incidents in the news.
00:00
Nick Alan
Hey, y', all, it's Nick Allen, the voice and producer of the behind the Prop podcast. Something kind of special for you this week, our very own Bobby Doss got to do a guest spot on a radio show in West Virginia to talk all things aviation and some recent aviation incidents that have been going on you've probably seen in the news. So here it is, special bonus episode this week, Bobby Doss and his radio debut.
00:20
Radio Speaker 1
All right, there was a bit of a scare in the air yesterday at Huntington Tri State Airport in a Legion flight bound for Florida. Of course, lots of people heading on vacation. They were making their way. They were about 15 minutes into the flight when the pilot noticed and something wasn't right. And subsequently some of the people realized that something wasn't right on that flight as well. They noticed there was an engine problem. And so the calm, cool and collected pilot turned things around. Basically, they had gone from a tri state airport to Pikeville, turned it on around, landed with 140 people on the plane. Everybody was safe but that engine failure. We've been hearing a lot of things happening in the airline world right now, so we want to talk a little.
01:00
Radio Speaker 2
Bit more about that indeed. And we've got with us, Bobby Doss. Bobby Doss is originally from the Barbersville area, but he's now in Houston and he also hosts a very popular podcast about flying. Bobby, welcome to the show.
01:15
Bobby Doss
Thanks for having me.
01:16
Radio Speaker 2
So let's talk about the. I don't want to get specifics about this, about the incident yesterday, but I do want to get into specifics about these sorts of things when we hear them in the news. You know, I mean, and we got to remember that hundreds of thousands of flights take off every day without a hitch. You jump on a, you go to wherever and you only hear about it when something happens that's not good. This was not a horrible situation yesterday, but I'm sure there were some frayed nerves a little bit. How common is this sort of thing like we saw yesterday? How common is that in day to day airline travel?
01:51
Bobby Doss
I would think it's probably more common than most people realize. It's just we don't hear about all of them because it is inherently very safe. An engine failure on a plane from Allegiance, not a really big deal to them. It's the mechanical issue and they have two engines for a reason. They can all fly just as well one as they can on two. And that's why they're built like the way they are. But I would think that the it probably happens daily. We just don't hear about every one of them. What?
02:18
Radio Speaker 2
Talk about the training that you go through in your flight schools and things of that nature with the airlines. I mean, what, how do they work with pilots to train them what to do in these type of situations?
02:31
Bobby Doss
Yeah, I mean, I own a flight school. We train hundreds of students every year to become pilots and they start at my school and end up at the airlines. And they are probably learning about engine failures on the eighth or ninth lesson. They probably start very early on, understanding that in our single engine aircraft, when that engine quits, they're going to end up on the ground and normally very safely. These planes have a 10 to 1 glide ratio. A little training aircraft can glide 10 times as far as it is up in the air. So if we're flying at 3,000ft, that plane is going to glide at least five miles. And in the greater Houston area, that probably means they're going to glide to another airport and land. Twin engine aircraft obviously can continue flying and find a destination.
03:14
Bobby Doss
But the, the education that we're giving student pilots all the way through their airport, tr airplane transport, pilot certificate, they are learning how to manage every situation, whether it's an emergency or whether it's just an indication that says something might be wrong.
03:31
Radio Speaker 1
So what goes through a pilot's mind in those moments? Because I can imagine, you know, you train for those moments, you hope that they never happen. But what kind of training do pilots have to remain calm?
03:45
Bobby Doss
Well, we all train to remain calm, but I doubt any of us will be in that moment. We jokingly say that these kids nowadays don't understand. But wind your watch before you take any action. It's, it's kind of a mental step. It just says calm down. You don't, you don't have to jump through a hoop right away. You can take a deep breath. We all have this reactionary time. If people have seen the Sully movie, you know, they accounted almost 40 seconds for his reaction time after they had the bird strike, simply because you don't know what's going on, you don't know what the situation is. A lot of times a rough running engine in a single engine Cessna is a pretty big deal, but it doesn't always mean you're going to have to go down. Same thing.
04:28
Bobby Doss
Those pilots had some troubleshooting to do and they were apparently very calm about that troubleshooting and made the decision to come back one engine. But every situation's a little different and I think we all try to take that deep breath and then refer to the checklist if we have time. Every plane has a checklist for every emergency. And if there's not time, then pick a good spot and land that plane.
04:50
Radio Speaker 2
Bobby, how long have you been in the flight business?
04:54
Bobby Doss
Just over 10 years. I started late in life. I started training at the school that I now own and bought it a few years later and then started this podcast called behind the Prop and it is listened to on five continents every day. And we just try to make better, safer pilots through podcasts.
05:09
Radio Speaker 2
Talk about this podcast. And by the way, I want to give big props to a good friend of a mutual friend of ours. My good friend Tony helped us land you, no pun intended, for this interview, but you do have a very popular podcast called behind the Prop. Tell us about that.
05:26
Bobby Doss
Yep. I'm a flight school owner and my co host is Wally Mulhern. He is a DPE designated Pilot examiner and a captain for a major airline. He's been flying for over 39 years as a paid pilot, well over 40 as just a recreational pilot. And we just tell stories and teach lessons from behind the Prop. It's mostly about general aviation, mostly about the flight training industry and what's going on in these students minds, how to do better on their checkrides. And it's got, it's become quite popular.
05:57
Radio Speaker 1
We have about 30 seconds left. Is there anyone in Barbersville in the home plate that you want to. That was pivotal in your aviation career?
06:06
Bobby Doss
You know, there's nobody from Barbersville, but I can say my family, most of my family that's in West Virginia still lives in Chapmanville. So I'll shout out to the Conley's and some other family members in the Chapmanville area. I haven't been back in a while, but we'll probably make it up there in a few years. All right.
06:24
Radio Speaker 2
Well, Bobby, you're talking to a fellow Logan county in here. I don't know whether you knew that or not. I'm a, I'm a Logan.
06:29
Bobby Doss
Logan.
06:29
Radio Speaker 2
I'm a Logan gal.
06:30
Bobby Doss
Right.
06:31
Radio Speaker 2
Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule. Be here. We appreciate it, buddy. Thanks a lot.
06:34
Bobby Doss
Of course. Thank you.
06:35
Radio Speaker 2
Have a great day. We're back after this.
06:37
Nick Alan
All right. There you go. Our very own Bobby Doss, now a radio star. Pretty cool. Bobby did a great job there. The guys will be back with a brand new show next week. Don't miss it. On behalf of Wally Mulhern and Bobby Doss. I am Nick Allen. Stay behind the Prophet.