From First Flight to 3,000 Hours – James Parks on Building an Aviation Career

00:00:00:

00:00:27: The views shared in this podcast are personal and for informational purposes only.

00:00:31: They do not reflect any employer or aviation authority and nothing discussed here should be considered flight training or regulatory guidance.

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00:00:42: for further information visit our website aviation-quest.cz.

00:00:48: Hello and welcome everyone!

00:00:50: This is Aviation Quest CZ Our weekly podcast about everything aviation & Flight Seaming stories from above And once again, we have a podcast jam packed with lots of really cool and interesting stories.

00:01:09: But before we get to that I want to introduce you to my fellow host our professional podcaster here the only one who knows what's going on.

00:01:18: those of you listen regularly know what your talking about.

00:01:24: so Jürgen how are?

00:01:27: We were just laughing before we hit the record button here.

00:01:41: not everything here is scripted, but especially for the new listeners.

00:01:45: So Stefan has an A-Street-Twenty palette in the moment we record this in the middle of July hopefully enjoying flying a lot holiday makers all around Europe and to the Mediterranean.

00:02:01: I am a mental coach, so my name is Jürgen Reis.

00:02:04: I'm a mental Coach focusing on ballads especially in assessment simulator and training environments.

00:02:10: yeah!

00:02:11: And we started this podcast with episodes between the two of us... ...and then we were lucky because We were joined by more and more guests.. ..and at that moment it's really amazing.

00:02:25: I just spent more than an hour before recording this on LinkedIn.

00:02:31: This was also something that happened unintentionally, my own personal LinkedIn profile is Jürgen Reis.

00:02:41: it's quite straightforward to find.

00:02:43: turned into our professional social media platform and today there were numerous messages about podcasts, a podcast guest and then also with the coachings.

00:02:54: And yeah it became... It started like a normal little podcast

00:03:10: Before and after every interview.

00:03:11: So today, of course we'll have another interview with a super interesting guest.

00:03:17: A big thank you I guess from both of us to everyone who is willing To come onto our podcast.

00:03:23: Who is?

00:03:25: You know willing to give us their time to talk to us.

00:03:29: We've had some amazing guests And we are still Finding more and most super cool people that want to speak to us.

00:03:38: We are really happy because it's gone way beyond what either was expected would happen with this little podcast.

00:03:47: It has grown, we have a lot of interest and yeah...it is always cool to have people here that have the story to tell which takes us into todays' podcast right?

00:03:59: We had another guest here, Jürgen as always did an amazing interview.

00:04:05: Do you want to lead us into what we're talking about today, Jürgen?

00:04:11: Yeah.

00:04:11: I mean in this episode... We are joined by James Parkes-Stefan a professional pilot from Arizona who shares his journey through more than three thousand flight hours and from cargo flying to skydiving operations and movie flying!

00:04:28: James offers an honest and insightful look at building an aviation career step by step and in a quite unique manner.

00:04:40: Yes, exactly!

00:04:42: So three thousand hours but none of them what we would call is it fair to say conventional flying?

00:04:50: I don't know everything he

00:04:51: did... At least he did that little bit another way.

00:04:54: like you the new Stefan.

00:04:57: i would say this is fair.

00:04:58: Yeah, absolutely.

00:04:59: I did the bog standard route that every other pilot does you know flight school, flight club and then into the airlines.

00:05:06: I mean certainly America in Europe.

00:05:09: it's a little bit an unfair way to compare but i think also for you is quite yeah It´s the American Way!

00:05:19: I love it.

00:05:20: its all podcast.

00:05:22: there are so many ways to enjoy aviation.

00:05:27: Yeah, I love this conversation with James.

00:05:30: Thank you for taking the time and by the way also for a great photo.

00:05:35: that will be two days after this podcast goes online.

00:05:38: so it is on August.

00:05:44: This will show up on the LinkedIn profile.

00:05:47: So in my profile with the LinkedIn version of the teaser and also our Discord server, you can find by the way linked in channel as direct link As well as the discord server In the show notes below.

00:06:02: And Stefan before I forget i think this amazing skydiving photo Will be Also The cover photos so to say Of your very special YouTube version of our podcast because Stefan is already famous, he was famous twenty years before the podcast even went online.

00:06:23: He's running his FS Clips Podcast channel now officially for over twenty year.

00:06:29: congratulations to this.

00:06:31: But besides this, we also started an ongoing growing YouTube channel to our podcast of.

00:06:38: Stefan started it.

00:06:39: It's aviation-quest podcast and there is so the city audio version.

00:06:45: in the background There are some simulator flying on going on thanks to Stefan Yeah And I think This flight is quite unique.

00:06:56: Also special A special version for the guest.

00:06:59: Can I see it like this, Stefan?

00:07:02: Yeah absolutely!

00:07:06: Not sure if I'm gonna do it again.

00:07:09: Let me explain, so today we're not going to an airliner flight.

00:07:13: We are taking off from Friedrichshaven which is at Lake Constance in Germany and will be flying to Altenrhein Which also on Lake Constanz in Switzerland.

00:07:23: Now you Jürgen this your neck of the woods.

00:07:26: You know that's a very short flight.

00:07:28: So obviously we aren't just doing flights.

00:07:31: So takeoff, fly into Swiss Alps.

00:07:34: We're gonna do a big tour around some of the nice mountains like Santis.

00:07:40: Then we fly through the Rhine Valley in Austria, will do low pass at Hohenheim Airport and then we fly over Dombien your hometown to Lindau across the lake and finally land.

00:07:54: so a nice big tour round beautiful parts of world.

00:07:59: I actually had alot fun doing this because it's very different from what I'm normally doing but uh i don't know who is watching.

00:08:07: if any of you are people that fly propeller planes in the real world yeah, don't watch too closely.

00:08:12: I haven't flown a single engine piston for over a decade!

00:08:20: I am just used to big jets and both takeoff and landing were not exactly a bit ropey.

00:08:28: But anyway...I thought It was a lot of fun and something different to watch while still listening.

00:08:35: You flew it, I think with James Skydiving playing the caravan?

00:08:40: The famous caravan!

00:08:42: Yes exactly Cessna Caravan.

00:08:44: i found this Swiss livery which is very fitting since we're flying mostly in Switzerland.

00:08:51: that's what Anyway, you will see lots of beautiful scenery mountains lakes all that stuff.

00:08:59: but don't look too closely at my speed control or anything like that because That's not really existent especially on the landing.

00:09:08: But anyway

00:09:11: It sounds like you came up with a present for James and myself because I am really looking forward, Because i'm here in the eighth story of a building.

00:09:22: And right at the window of my podcast studio offers me the view to Lake Constance.

00:09:30: They are far distant somewhere where there is Fridgeshaven and Altenrhein.

00:09:36: The chats they come into the evening often see them Yeah, and Hoennem certainly.

00:09:42: This is twenty minutes per bike And this the place where I used to fly gliders and motorgliders.

00:09:49: But it was part of another podcast in our already growing archive with today.

00:09:55: Yeah, we are at podcast forty one.

00:09:58: What do you think Stefan should be saying now without any further ado like UNFS clips?

00:10:07: Let's go to James let switch to James Arizona?

00:10:11: Yes exactly so.

00:10:12: Without further ado We'll start the interview which was recorded on a different day.

00:10:18: But Jürgen and myself will be back after the interview And just with some final words.

00:10:24: okay Everybody enjoy the interview.

00:10:29: Today's guest is James Barks from Arizona USA.

00:10:34: with more than three thousand flight hours, extensive Cessna two eight caravan experience and a career built through instructing skydiving operations and cargo flying he is currently looking for his next opportunity in professional aviation.

00:10:49: james welcome to aviation quest to see it.

00:10:52: my honor.

00:10:55: Thank you for having me.

00:10:56: You're good and Stefan I'm honored to be here.

00:10:59: Yeah, i mean stefa.

00:11:01: uh yeah stefan certainly was in the intro an outro And also listening now to um through a podcast obviously.

00:11:08: but um james What's currently going on?

00:11:12: In your flying career?

00:11:13: as we record this by the way it's july the seventh today.

00:11:20: Yes definitely so.

00:11:22: right now i am currently in the search for my next flying position.

00:11:26: I'm looking for a multi-engine turbine job or jet job.

00:11:31: And my ultimate goal is to become a Southwest Airlines captain, so that's been the goal for a while now.

00:11:42: So you mean your next goal is pretty solid here?

00:11:49: Blind us on and South West Captain.

00:11:52: That exactly right.

00:11:54: I just love the culture over there.

00:11:56: I was an unaccompanied miner as a child way before TSA, you know The Transportation Safety Authority

00:12:04: and

00:12:06: when we had plastic boarding passes.

00:12:08: so those are good times.

00:12:10: Yeah And i mean from the future.

00:12:14: You already skipped a little bit into the past with your childhood in aviation.

00:12:19: But how did aviation first find you?

00:12:22: In the first place James

00:12:25: Yeah, so I lived in Sacramento California which is around many different airports.

00:12:31: So i just remember looking up and seeing different airplanes.

00:12:35: And also I live close enough to a air force base where I went to A flight museum as the young child and I still have pictures from when I was walking around these fighter planes.

00:12:50: Just things like that are just singed into my memory.

00:12:54: And then also there was this movie that came out catch me if you can and I remember this particular scene with Leonardo DiCaprio being surrounded by eight wonderful dressed flight attendants.

00:13:07: He's in his pilot uniform swapping, they're like backlit with the sun.

00:13:11: it is just a romantic scene that was just cinched into my memory.

00:13:16: You thought This Is Me, This Is My, and two thousand

00:13:21: thirty I'm going to be this guy right

00:13:25: here.

00:13:25: Was there maybe also a real world flight, you know like an intro flight or something that took two in the very beginning?

00:13:33: Oh yes!

00:13:35: Don't really remember my solo flight but i remember more is my first flight than it ever did and that was through The Young Eagles Program through the Experimental Aircraft Association.

00:13:49: I lived in Sacramento, so we drove up to Auburn California and it was like a foggy morning.

00:13:56: And this...I remember the grandpa person super nice gives me my friend to ride from school.

00:14:03: At that particular time during flight.

00:14:06: This older man gave me an opportunity fly it The airplane which is a V-tail beach bonanza.

00:14:13: So i flew his plane for little bit.

00:14:16: there's cloud.

00:14:21: I think i must have put this plane in a forty five degree bank because grandpa took the controls.

00:14:26: he's like all right my controls but that flight was.

00:14:30: it wasn't one that i remember more than my solo.

00:14:32: My solo is like a breeze

00:14:35: and i mean looking back today, from nowadays perspective from july twenty-twenty six what were the biggest milestones on your way to three thousand hours change?

00:14:51: Yes definitely there are few milestones.

00:14:54: Definitely the solo was a milestone because I slept with my flight instructor and i liked having someone there.

00:15:02: And...I didn't want to solo, I really did it.

00:15:06: but at some point he's like James.

00:15:08: you're in his solo?

00:15:12: He finally said James your going to solo today!

00:15:17: So the weight got rid of by instructor into the solo.

00:15:23: The plane was a lot lighter.

00:15:25: You know It is alot lighter A lot loner But..i got it done.

00:15:30: also.

00:15:31: the next milestone i'd have to say was getting my first job because after flight school it was right around a time where they had a colgan air crash.

00:15:40: uh three four zero seven out of new york and that was when around the time where the f.a changed their aircraft he airline transport pilot writing instead of being two hundred fifty hours they brought up to fifteen one

00:15:58: hundred Yeah, so during that time it was

00:16:03: kind of challenging to get a flying job with my two hundred eighty-five hours.

00:16:12: Quite difficult.

00:16:14: Canimation must have been quite a surprise and I mean you had a couple of flying jobs since then.

00:16:20: certainly what would they say?

00:16:22: which job taught the most?

00:16:24: Which flying job?

00:16:26: obviously

00:16:28: Okay.

00:16:30: flying skydivers in Santa Barbara, California and Santa Barbara County.

00:16:35: And this is a Skydive job where I flew a Cessna caravan which had quite a bit more power than what i was used to.

00:16:43: but What I liked about the job?

00:16:45: Is like it flies skydiving to plane...I even flew for a movie..and just different jobs like that.

00:16:53: It's cool and challenging at same time.

00:16:56: You flew for A Movie.

00:16:57: your Movistar

00:17:00: Yeah, the movie yeah just like a couple seconds.

00:17:03: It's not like I have any speaking roles or parts are accredited but it was called June and John Made by these famous French director Luc Bisson?

00:17:14: Hope i'm saying that correctly.

00:17:16: anyways They had this skydiving sequence where The young lady jumps out without a parish.

00:17:21: I hope I'm not giving spoilers But anyway That during them who be oh one of the photographers in the back.

00:17:28: they cinematographer is like hey give me a reaction shot.

00:17:31: so I kind of look back and get my thumbs up, kinda like an awkward situation but kinda funny.

00:17:37: Yeah i mean looking back this was also the job that... at least it sounds like this?

00:17:42: Was just the job most fun for you?

00:17:47: Yes!

00:17:47: So I got to meet all kinds people.

00:17:49: there were.... That was uh.. The first flight where I got two fly my dad on the skydive plane.

00:17:55: so its kinda full circle.

00:17:56: It's like the one when they started aviation.

00:17:58: I finally got to fly and we took a picture.

00:17:59: It was it's kind of cool.

00:18:05: Yeah,

00:18:05: my dad for the first time

00:18:07: Let's let's stay with skydivers And obviously D Skydiving plane also here active at my local airfield nearby.

00:18:17: But the Cessna Caravan.

00:18:19: What did the Cesna caravan teach you about responsibility James?

00:18:25: Oh Yes Its its like one those situations that is like sink or swim because there's so much responsibility with the plane.

00:18:34: With those situations, we would carry just enough fuel to go up and go down.

00:18:43: And also you had time everything correctly.

00:18:47: So You get the jumpers out at a right time.

00:18:51: Then immediately after last jumper is out They're clear looking for the jumper then making it into airport quickly.

00:19:00: So it taught me a lot about efficiency, planning timing and you know I didn't get everything right.

00:19:07: there was one time where There were they a jail down below And the jumpers got blown into the prison.

00:19:14: so we tried to stay away from those situations.

00:19:16: But for the most part yeah things work out.

00:19:20: Yeah

00:19:22: Hope i hope They Didn't Get Into Too Much Trouble.

00:19:26: Skydiving Into A Jail Sounds Like adventurous.

00:19:30: Let's call it like this.

00:19:32: Yeah,

00:19:33: very adventurous.

00:19:35: It was either a jail or the Air Force base.

00:19:38: but yeah

00:19:39: not good

00:19:40: story.

00:19:40: great

00:19:42: stories and I mean from skydiving to cargo tell us a little bit about reality of cargo flying James

00:19:52: all right.

00:19:53: so cargo

00:19:53: is uh

00:19:54: A Little bit situation

00:19:56: than

00:19:56: scottabbers because with scott having you get to talk your passengers any drop off passengers mid-flight with cargo, you seem to keep your boxes the whole time and then land with those boxes.

00:20:10: And with cargo it's similar to skydiving where its very time efficient things like that.

00:20:17: but something I learned from cargo is there are small windows so they're waiting on the box trucks In an hour at the other airport.

00:20:34: So it's very, Very time crunch.

00:20:37: I

00:20:38: don't often like to be in a time crunched Like that but That was my life.

00:20:41: I was like Hurry up and wait And then Wait and hurry Up!

00:21:04: first to go for takeoff.

00:21:06: So, you know everyone's watching and they're like oh I better get this take off correct!

00:21:12: The pressure is on the heat is on but i enjoyed working with the drivers there and working about two or three hours a day.

00:21:22: then taking hiking.

00:21:25: it reminds me of European lifestyle.

00:21:28: maybe with cargo flying Three hours a day you'll take chocolate.

00:21:33: You take tea eat lunch go for hike and then come back and fly.

00:21:39: So I enjoyed it.

00:21:42: was there maybe anything specific cargo flying thought to about professionalism in aviation James?

00:21:52: Yes, definitely so.

00:21:54: communication is the very big part of cargo flying because sometimes the airport you're going to will be weathered out, or the wind would be too high.

00:22:03: Or just something goes on and so... You gotta communicate a lot more than perhaps smaller operations.

00:22:12: Also flying with like flows in checklists.

00:22:22: It's very important there especially if it has lots of things going on On-the-ground With people moving around.

00:22:30: Gotta pay attention that much.

00:22:33: Is there maybe also one flight?

00:22:36: You know, you're just this one flight.

00:22:39: You'll never forget looking back in your career.

00:22:44: Oh There's a couple of those One that I want to mention this time is I was flying with my instructor Doing along cross-country and they're this we flew overnight And now if you know about circadian rhythms but Your body likes to be awake at certain times and sleep at certain And we flew through all the night, and around morning time it was about seven thirty a.m.. The sun was coming up...the fog was across the ground....The flying was smooth.....and I-I was in Lollaland!

00:23:19: I was

00:23:19: sleeping!...And

00:23:20: then for some reason i woke up and look at my instructor.

00:23:24: he's just like waking up as well.

00:23:26: We were both sleeping and had no

00:23:29: autopilot!!

00:23:30: We're just sleeping and

00:23:32: flying!!!

00:23:33: That kind of looked like a wakeup call.

00:23:35: Pun intended.

00:23:38: Literally speaking, huh?

00:23:43: Yeah so after that flight they made the no-flying after midnight rule After my flight there.

00:23:50: Okay So they changed the safety rules.

00:23:55: Yes Which is good.

00:23:57: I guess I'm glad i was the pioneer of that role

00:24:00: Right

00:24:01: there.

00:24:03: And yeah, I mean everything went well but it was a serious situation i can imagine.

00:24:10: Yes for sure!

00:24:13: Yeah every pilot faces setbacks in the K-Year.

00:24:17: What were yours?

00:24:18: Because certainly you're also during games since couple of years.

00:24:25: So that's one to remember.

00:24:30: Let see what else.

00:24:32: Oh okay When I was on my job training for cargo operation.

00:24:37: I just remember being in the most winter situation ever.

00:24:42: It was at night, it was thick snow kind of like dry snow.

00:24:49: but we

00:24:49: came into

00:24:50: this smaller airport and...it was right after snow or as the snow is going.

00:24:58: so they had just piled up the runway But the snow was still heavy.

00:25:03: i remember us coming down on the I guess the ILS.

00:25:08: As we landed, there was just enough room for the wings to get in and I remember it being windy with a bunch of snow.

00:25:18: And man!

00:25:20: I'm glad someone else is here but that's my intro into real flying not just being an simulator or visual

00:25:32: flight conditions.

00:25:34: Yeah imagine also situations where you learn afterwards.

00:25:39: What plane was this where you had the winter situation?

00:25:43: This is in a beach, air liner

00:25:45: and

00:25:49: it's kind of like an early version of King

00:25:55: Air or Queen Air.

00:25:57: Now we are looking for another opportunity.

00:26:00: How challenging has this transition been to you?

00:26:05: Oh man!

00:26:08: Besides these four years between graduating and finding my first skydive job in Iowa, in the Midwest of United States.

00:26:18: This has been the most challenging situation.

00:26:21: we've had various things happen to united states recently like the spirit airlines which is a budget airline.

00:26:30: they just went bankrupt so you have a lot of pilots coming out of that.

00:26:35: You also have- They had this rumor about not having enough pilots.

00:26:40: But I think the thing was not having enough captain highly qualified pilots to fly these airliners.

00:26:46: So you have a bunch of pilots and little jobs, competition is quite fierce now.

00:26:56: And from your perspective what are employers looking for today?

00:27:04: Yeah when i was coming up back in my day employers were just looking You know, just a body that had two legs.

00:27:14: Two eyes maybe to arms and pilot license.

00:27:19: in these days is like the employers are looking for personality.

00:27:25: They're looking for ethics.

00:27:27: they're looking forward full person A bunch of experience got.

00:27:33: be a weatherman Just all these different things.

00:27:36: And yeah That's what I'm starting to be but yes It's a lot different from back in my day

00:27:43: Okay?

00:27:46: is nowadays a big part of getting your job.

00:27:53: Yeah, I didn't really know what networking was until recent times before.

00:27:58: it's like you could apply get the interview start flying.

00:28:02: now its like you.

00:28:04: go to pilot events or airports.

00:28:07: recently i started going into the EAA external aircraft association.

00:28:14: see guys there and civil air patrol people that fly temporary flight restrictions, you know get involved with that.

00:28:22: and recently I looked into volunteer opportunities.

00:28:28: And just talking to everyone because you never know who could be your next employer or contact.

00:28:39: so always

00:28:39: good to volunteer and meet people.

00:28:40: What i can say from my side here is an Austrian podcaster.

00:28:45: James is for every professional listening.

00:28:49: James is a real professional also on LinkedIn.

00:28:53: So normally every message that ends up within an hour with really, uh, professional answer and I think also linked in this for you to go to place or all I can say it's for everybody who is looking forward to getting contact was James take a look at his really professional LinkedIn page and contact him there because yeah If it's a serious question, you will get a serious answer within hours.

00:29:21: Period!

00:29:21: This is what I can say from working with you the last weeks.

00:29:25: It's incredible.

00:29:26: So this interview preparation was really one of best they ever had.

00:29:33: Thank You very much.

00:29:34: Yeah...I see with LinkedIn that not big percentage people are active on there.

00:29:41: When i've gone to pilot events its like you ask bunch of people if they have a LinkedIn and about half them either don't have a Linkedin or They Don't use it.

00:29:50: And I would encourage the young People as early As you can just put in your milestones Just putting what You've learned and connect with other pilots because It could be, it couldn't Be A possibility?

00:30:02: You may get to a job Or be able To Connect With people later so i Would definitely recommend that to The younger.

00:30:10: Are there any other networking advices you would give to younger pallets nowadays?

00:30:16: Yes, definitely.

00:30:17: I'd say get on these apps.

00:30:20: There's like Instagram and TikTok.

00:30:22: Go ahead and post what your going through.

00:30:25: Your challenges are the things that you're learning And i've seen from social media.

00:30:29: it is a way where you can connect with people.

00:30:32: These

00:30:34: days.

00:30:35: How difficult speaking of challenging challenges.

00:30:39: How difficult was it for you to leave Lean while chasing the dream?

00:30:46: Oh, live Lean While Chasing The Dream.

00:30:49: that should be like a shirt or a song.

00:30:51: Yes That's aviation For You.

00:30:58: there has been times where It's Been Plenty Having Jobs and Place To Stay And Stuff Like That.

00:31:04: Then There Has Been Times Where Its Been Lean.

00:31:06: You're Eating Peanut Butter And

00:31:08: Eating Bananas

00:31:10: And things like that.

00:31:11: it's been extremely challenging But I definitely hold on to the memories That i had from before when times were good, we're good.

00:31:20: Yeah and I definitely.

00:31:22: I definitely strive To return to those times and surpass just The passion my grit and the people I've met.

00:31:30: Definitely keep the dream alive in My life and the powers.

00:31:33: I talked you.

00:31:34: they encouraged me so It's worth it You know?

00:31:37: So this is what kept you motivated.

00:31:39: well you know low times and bananas.

00:31:44: yes peanut butter and bananas have a way of motivating people nice people in

00:31:52: the aviation industry.

00:31:54: okay yeah i mean also I think an interesting part of your life is faith.

00:31:59: how has faith or your face influenced your aviation journey James?

00:32:06: Yeah so faith has has influenced it quite a bit because at the Sabbath.

00:32:13: And in The Good Book and The Commandments, it tells us to work six days and rest a seventh day which is Saturday.

00:32:22: So if you find aviation that aviation is twenty-four seven never stops flying.

00:32:28: people are flying all of time through night with many jobs.

00:32:32: they want pilot on call or fly on weekends especially skydiving With cargo not so much typically like weekday thing But almost every job or position I've come to, there's been a moment.

00:32:46: A moment in my life.

00:32:47: they're like so James is there anything else we need to know about you?

00:32:53: Or do you have any limitations or availability restrictions?

00:32:58: that's a mouthful and There has been the time of our lives for it.

00:33:01: It's like yeah Oh!

00:33:03: There is one thing.

00:33:05: Do you mind if i take off Saturday?

00:33:07: I don't exactly ask it That way but Yeah...I said.

00:33:12: And for a majority of the time, it hasn't worked out.

00:33:15: But praise to Lord.

00:33:17: there's been certain positions like that The cargo operation or skydive operations especially flight instruction.

00:33:23: if you want make your own schedule.

00:33:24: flight instruction will give You That flexibility.

00:33:27: but yeah There have been situations where I've Been able To take my schedule Or at least not work on My day

00:33:37: and thats been great to Have!

00:33:42: That will allow you to get this done together with your dream job.

00:33:51: Yes, that's my faith.

00:33:53: peaking through and just having people around me that encourage has been making a difference.

00:34:00: so I appreciate it.

00:34:02: guys People like you viewers likes You.

00:34:07: Okay And one of the last questions here James What do you know today?

00:34:13: that you wish

00:34:24: available to help you out or take on flights.

00:34:40: And people are super nice airports, even though it may seem daunting at first and also when your younger that's the time where study hard and get information in there

00:35:13: okay?

00:35:15: And

00:35:15: yeah I mean is toward end of this interview.

00:35:19: last question for you as well Is there anything We haven't covered that you'd like to mention in this interview.

00:35:25: And certainly what I want to hear now is, your LinkedIn page already on my other screen here.

00:35:33: but where can people connect with you?

00:35:35: Especially professionals who wanna get in touch with you?

00:35:41: Yes!

00:35:41: That's a great question and yeah we've covered it before.

00:35:45: But LinkedIn James Parks Instagram It'll be In the description I'm sure.

00:35:54: Yeah,

00:35:55: easy going.

00:35:56: so you will send me all the sort of say your connections or your plugs Or whatever it's called and then i'll make sure that at end of the teasers So the podcast for hours there is a teaser text And if you scroll to the end of this teaser you find all information about James.

00:36:19: Let's Make It This Way Yes,

00:36:21: indeed.

00:36:23: And on YouTube CFI James Parks I have some videos that can be beneficial to students and let's see things we haven't covered in this thing.

00:36:36: oh there was a short okay so my advice to the younger pilots is when you're flying don't do anything different dumb or dangerous.

00:36:46: it'll keep your lives and maybe you're about to take off or move the airplane, it's okay to shut down.

00:36:59: And get out and take care of things.

00:37:01: There are some times where people have left chocks on, less of a plane tie-down.

00:37:06: One my favorite memories is having a student not remove a chalk Or something then look over.

00:37:15: You see that realization come across their face.

00:37:18: It's like oh there's something I forgot isn't there?

00:37:21: Then let them take care.

00:37:25: Yeah, it's okay to recheck things.

00:37:28: and there is something funny that my instructor pilot gave me in California.

00:37:34: He said the center line professionals so definitely strive To be your best.

00:37:41: do you're best?

00:37:42: And some of them I did tell my students is a professional pilot is moving coordinated.

00:37:51: I loved We should get into t-shirt.

00:37:54: Yeah, you're right we should get some t-shirts out there with.

00:37:58: You know yeah if we have to talk about this afterwards But your rights change living really leaving lean while chasing the dream.

00:38:07: and you know smooth We got something going on here.

00:38:13: But James, before we finish I'd like to offer you a lifetime voucher for one of my mental performance coaching sessions and certainly it comes without any obligation if i can ever support you Before an interview An assessment or another important step in your career?

00:38:33: I

00:38:39: think almost with this interview, you gave me some pre-interview practice.

00:38:46: So i

00:38:46: appreciate it for that!

00:38:47: Yeah certainly every interview is with Samad Reynolds.

00:38:50: This was also what l love his podcasting.

00:38:52: But yeah It's a professional interview and it was an honor to speak to all of the best James And we'll stay in touch anyway.

00:39:05: Thank You Jurgen & Stefan for your time.

00:39:10: All right, and we are back.

00:39:11: What a lovely young man.

00:39:14: I really enjoyed that.

00:39:15: what about you again?

00:39:17: Yeah just can say dear listeners We hope you enjoy this conversation with James Parks as much as we did.

00:39:24: i mean It's.

00:39:26: it was really a pleasure.

00:39:28: And by the way I mentioned show notes in the beginning In the intro.

00:39:33: they are below the teaser and if you'd like to connect with james You will find all of his social media links now in the show notes below.

00:39:43: And who knows, perhaps a future employer is listening as well?

00:39:47: James would deserve it!

00:39:49: I say like this...

00:39:52: Yeah, he would.

00:39:53: Super cool!

00:39:54: I really enjoyed it.

00:39:56: a young man with a lot of passion but actually some really cool experiences.

00:40:03: flying on the movie set you know?

00:40:06: The story about the prison and the parachute stuff so... Really cool stuff.

00:40:12: It's nice to listen too.

00:40:14: He just seems like very well rounded You know, just a nice guy.

00:40:20: The kind of pilot you would hang out with and do hanger talking as we call it?

00:40:27: I think he loves life much more than aviation.

00:40:29: He is also the American way...I don't know..he fits quite well in this kind of flying.

00:40:40: But yeah, certainly I hope his career moves on and even though it's maybe a little bit harder to get into the next career chance.

00:40:52: James?

00:40:53: I can also be of support for you as a mental coach step by step but in this moment its not that easy.

00:41:09: Yeah Stefan, I think really it was a great interview.

00:41:13: Maybe also in the future we will have second part with James maybe already on our next role?

00:41:21: Maybe!

00:41:22: Who knows who would be nice to have him

00:41:23: back?!

00:41:24: Right i think what we need do now is that both of us are really bad at.

00:41:29: it's the social media thing right where when talking about smashing buttons and liking and subscribing

00:41:39: Don't smash buttons.

00:41:40: We are aviators, but you can gently press them and verify if they're in place.

00:41:45: But certainly If you want to have yeah You don't have to give us a thumbs up.

00:41:50: Give James the thumbs-up on all The channels he will find then.

00:41:55: Yeah I think Stefan you also will agree Flipping here through the cylinder of our podcast.

00:42:03: We are worth a subscription, I can say it like this because there are guests after guest and the summer.

00:42:11: And also already the fall looks everything but boring!

00:42:16: Exactly yeah i totally agree.

00:42:19: so if you liked what we're doing If you like listening to interesting people from both aviation and world of flight simming.

00:42:27: then as always give us a like subscribe.

00:42:31: it helps out the channel, you know how the algorithm works and we will be super happy about that.

00:42:38: And of course if you make sure your never miss an episode because like Jürgen said we have some pretty cool people coming up!

00:42:49: Yeah maybe a last thing.

00:42:50: I mean Stefan also often pointed useless salesperson.

00:42:58: When it comes to my mental coachings, I just can point out the same thing.

00:43:02: It's just answered on LinkedIn a couple of times.

00:43:05: I mean further information.

00:43:07: you will find anything or not everything but A lot of details are linked in profile.

00:43:13: Its Jürgen Reis one more time and if You want to get in touch with me before a coaching or Before deciding?

00:43:20: person, you get coached by the first contact and setup call.

00:43:30: You know Zoom conversation or something like this where we discuss if I might be helpful is always completely free in without any obligation?

00:43:42: Just say it.

00:43:44: just reach out Write your next LinkedIn message and I will... I will not get bored also, in the future.

00:43:53: No it's really a great project here And my goal at this moment is to have also as a mentor coach The most positive influence on aviation community that i can have.

00:44:09: I enjoy this project and I am also Stefan, thank you for your time.

00:44:14: I'm looking forward to future interviews.

00:44:17: Yeah me too of course.

00:44:19: so as always Jürgen we are in different countries.

00:44:25: This is happening via microphones but it's always.

00:44:30: Thank You For Your Time And i look forward to hearing you again soon.

00:44:36: I guess we'll have a quick chat now about future projects, but for everyone listening thank you so much.

00:45:05: We appreciate your time and support.

00:45:13: And we'd love to have you back for the next episode.

00:45:17: until then stay safe, stay curious and keep your passion for aviation flying high.