Squawk Ident - an Aviation Podcast · Av8rTony

Flight 149 - Brief Briefings

·1 hr 55 min·5 clips

Rob says recurrent training now centers on SOPs, exact wording, and a Miami wingtip-strike case.

Squawk Ident opens its seventh season from the mobile Aviator Sound Studios in Birmingham, Alabama, with Tony welcoming listeners aboard Flight 149, recorded on January 20, 2025. It is framed as the first Squawk Ident flight of 2025 and the first show of season seven. Tony starts by revisiting the 2024 holiday season and the record-setting year the show has been living through. From there, the episode moves into recurrent training and the practical rhythm of the check. Tony describes day two as a warmup and says the simulator work is there to set the tone for the evaluation. He notes that the program covers four different airplanes: the 752, 753, 763, and 764. The discussion stays tied to fundamentals. Landings and go-arounds get special attention, along with first-look maneuvers such as slow flight, stalls, and upset recovery. One example centers on an Austin-to-Houston leg with thunderstorms in the area, where a cargo fire forces an immediate diversion and a focus on getting the airplane on the ground safely. Tony treats that kind of scenario as part of the job: handle the emergency, keep the cockpit organized, and choose the safe exit when it is there. He also notes that the same session can put a trainee in different roles, including captain work in the LOE. The tone stays informal, conversational, and a little rough-edged, with side comments and self-corrections that make the episode feel lived in rather than polished. The closing segment returns to the show’s familiar signoff, thanking listeners and settling back into the warm, hangar-radio identity that has carried the show through seven seasons.

As heard by us

A loose cockpit chat that lands on holiday ops, simulator training, and why the basics still matter.

The episode opens season seven by folding the 2024 holiday season into aviation talk that feels practical and grounded. The best stretch is the simulator section, where a cargo fire, an Austin diversion, and repeated attention to landings, go-arounds, and other first-look…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Start season seven with a loose aviation chat that turns simulator training, emergencies, and landing practice into real cockpit judgment.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Squawk Ident - an Aviation Podcast