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Episode 23 of Aviation-Quest.cc – Stories from Above features an exceptional guest: Captain Gerhard Gruber (born 1954) — pilot, airport manager, safety expert, and one of Austria’s most experienced voices in aviation.

In this deeply personal conversation, Captain Gruber takes listeners back to his earliest childhood memories of flight and walks through the defining chapters of his career. Beginning as a glider pilot — even having to add weight to meet center-of-gravity limits — he traces his path through private and commercial flying, flight instruction, and jet operations around the world.

Alongside his flying career, Captain Gruber joined Vienna International...

Winter operations are among the most demanding situations airline crews regularly face. While passengers may simply see snow on the runway or experience a departure delay, pilots must manage a carefully coordinated chain of procedures designed to keep the aircraft safe in freezing conditions.

In Episode 22 of Aviation-Quest.cc, host Jürgen Reis sits down with co-host Stefan Lorenz, who shares his professional experience as an Airbus A320 First Officer. Guided by Jürgen’s questions, Stefan takes listeners through a realistic winter operations day on the flight deck — from early weather briefings and aircraft inspections to de-icing procedures and winter landings....

Episode 21 completes the FlightSim Adventures trilogy and marks Part 5 of the ongoing FlightSim Series. In this final installment, host Jürgen Reis and Airbus A320 first officer Stefan Lorenz present six bucket-list experiences that capture the full spectrum of flight simulation — from endurance challenges and iconic aircraft to mountain flying and precision formation work.

Stefan opens with one of the most ambitious undertakings imaginable in a simulator: flying around the world using only short-haul legs. Departing Europe eastbound, the challenge quickly evolves into a complex logistical puzzle as geography, range limits, and route planning turn the journey into...

Episode 20 continues the ongoing FlightSim Series (Part 4) and moves deeper into the dedicated sub-series FlightSim Adventures. In Part 2, Jürgen Reis and Airbus A320 first officer Stefan Lorenz each bring three new standout experiences — blending study-level realism with creative exploration.

Stefan opens with a true Flight Team highlight: the legendary Level-D Boeing 767. Still admired years after its release, the aircraft remains a benchmark for immersive 3D cockpits and system depth. From a real-world pilot’s perspective, the 767 stands out as a masterpiece of airliner engineering — responsive, elegant, and rewarding to fly even by today’s standards....

Episode 19 continues the ongoing FlightSim Series with Part 3 — and marks the beginning of a dedicated three-part sub-series: FlightSim Adventures. In this first installment, Jürgen Reis and Airbus A320 first officer Stefan Lorenz each present three unforgettable flight simulation experiences that shaped their aviation journey.

Stefan opens with a professional F-16 simulator session from nearly a decade ago — one of the early virtual reality setups that brought immersive fighter flying to a new level. The discussion explores how modern VR can recreate that classic “fighter pilot spirit” inside your own office — and why that fascination remains...

Episode 18 continues the flight simulation journey — this time shifting from nostalgic origins to modern realism. Picking up where Episode 17 left off, host Jürgen Reis and Airbus A320 first officer Stefan Lorenz trace the evolution of flight simulation from Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 through FS2004, FSX, X-Plane, Aerofly FS, Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) and up to today’s Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

The conversation explores what changed — and what didn’t. While graphics and performance took enormous leaps, the true value of flight simulation has always lived elsewhere: in procedures, systems thinking, and disciplined flying. Stefan shares why modern...

Episode 17 launches a new multi-part flight simulation special — and goes back to where it all began. Long before glass cockpits, streaming scenery, and powerful PCs, flight simulation meant floppy disks, one megabyte of RAM, and imagination.

Host Jürgen Reis revisits his very first flight simulation experience at a late-1980s trade show, flying an early simulator on an Atari ST — a moment that sparked a lifelong fascination with aviation. From there, the conversation moves into the Amiga 500 era, where 880-kilobyte floppy disks powered legendary titles like F-18 Interceptor and, later, the groundbreaking A320 Airbus by Thalion —...

In this special 16th episode of aviation-quest.cc – Stories from Above, host Jürgen Reis welcomes Petter Hörnfeldt, widely known as the creator of Mentour Pilot, and today the driving force behind a growing aviation media ecosystem.

What started more than ten years ago as a single YouTube channel has evolved into what Petter now calls the Mentour Group — including Mentour Pilot, Mentour Now!, and The Captain’s Speaking – An Aviation Podcast. Behind these projects stands a dedicated team, clearly defined roles, and countless hours of preparation, research, and production to deliver aviation content at the highest professional level.

In...

Episode 15 of Aviation-Quest.cc – Stories from Above

Few YouTube channels can claim a 20-year history — and even fewer have aged as gracefully as FSClips. In this episode, Stefan joins host Jürgen Reis for a rare, honest, and deeply insightful conversation about what it really means to run a high-quality aviation channel across two decades of constant platform change.
Recorded in January 2026, ahead of FSClips’ 20th anniversary in early July, this episode also serves as a small piece of YouTube history: Stefan explains how the platform worked in its early days, why FSClips didn’t start as a clockwork-style...

Episode 14 of Aviation-Quest.cc – Stories from Above brings a special guest into the cockpit: Christoph Barszczewski, one of Europe’s most experienced seaplane instructors and the founder of Seaplanes.at.
At 68 years old, he continues to fly — and teach — with the spirit of an explorer, splitting his time between Austria, Poland, and floatplane adventures in Alaska.

Together with host Jürgen Reis, Christoph dives into:
- His remarkable journey into the world of seaplanes
- Water flying from Europe to Africa to Alaska
- How pilots can obtain the EASA SEP(sea) rating
- What landplane pilots gain from training...