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Layovers and Lessons: Inside the Life of a United Airlines Pilot
Episode 31829th October 2024 • Pilot to Pilot - Aviation Podcast • Justin Siems
00:00:00 01:12:59

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The discussion with Paul Holte explores not only his professional journey as a pilot but also the personal sacrifices and adjustments he and his family had to make along the way. He reflects candidly on the financial struggles of starting at Continental, where he earned a meager $25 an hour, contrasting it with the more lucrative opportunities available today for new pilots. Volti's experiences illustrate the broader narrative of the aviation industry, including the evolution of pay structures and job opportunities over the years. He emphasizes the value of building relationships within the industry, which often leads to job opportunities that are not publicly advertised. The episode captures the essence of being a pilot today, highlighting the need for adaptability and the importance of maintaining a positive outlook despite the industry's ups and downs.

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Justin Seams:

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Justin Seams:

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To learn more, visit sportys.com sxmoffer that's sporty.com sxmoffer hey, my name is Paul Volti.

Paul Volti:

I'm a 757 and 767 captain for United Airlines, also known online as My Layover Life.

Justin Seams:

AV Nation, what is going on?

Justin Seams:

And welcome back to the Pilot to Pilot podcast.

Justin Seams:

My name is Justin Seams and I am your host.

Justin Seams:

Today's episode is with Paul from My Layover Life.

Justin Seams:

He's probably everyone's favorite United Airlines pilot.

Justin Seams:

Well, maybe except for Swain.

Justin Seams:

I don't know.

Justin Seams:

They can battle it out together.

Justin Seams:

I'll message them both.

Justin Seams:

We'll put up a poll.

Justin Seams:

Actually go to YouTube, Instagram, we'll vote.

Justin Seams:

Who's your favorite?

Justin Seams:

Paul or Swain?

Justin Seams:

I don't know how we got there, but we did.

Justin Seams:

But AV Nation, I hope you enjoy this podcast.

Justin Seams:

I've been wanting to have Paul on for a while.

Justin Seams:

Reach out to the dms.

Justin Seams:

He's like, hey dude, I gotta take a sick vacation with my wife.

Justin Seams:

So I was jealous for a little bit while they're out in Italy and I was hanging out in North Carolina.

Justin Seams:

But you know, it is.

Justin Seams:

He's the Layover Life guy.

Justin Seams:

So I need to Learn some things from him and how to take some sick videos and live the dream.

Justin Seams:

But, AV Nation, I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did recording it.

Justin Seams:

Paul was a lot of fun to talk to.

Justin Seams:

And without any further ado, here's Paul from my layover life.

Justin Seams:

Paul, what's going on, man?

Justin Seams:

Welcome to the Pilot, the Pilot podcast.

Paul Volti:

Hey, man, thanks for having me.

Paul Volti:

This is great.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, anytime.

Justin Seams:

I'm glad we got this to work out.

Justin Seams:

I messaged you, what, about a month ago, and you're like, hey, man, I'm gonna go on a sick vacation for a little bit.

Justin Seams:

So I was paying attention to it.

Justin Seams:

I was like, oh, man, he really did go on a sick vacation.

Justin Seams:

I was like, dang.

Justin Seams:

My wife's like, why'd we go to Ohio to visit our family for our anniversary.

Justin Seams:

And they went all over the place, like, I'm sorry, All right.

Justin Seams:

I'm new to the airlines, all right?

Justin Seams:

Give me a break.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, my wife and I just went to the Amalfi coast in Italy and celebrated 20 years of marriage, which is pretty wild.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, we.

Justin Seams:

We celebrated 11 years.

Justin Seams:

Let's see, two days ago or, wow, three days ago.

Justin Seams:

I hope my wife doesn't watch.

Paul Volti:

Congratulations.

Justin Seams:

Thanks, man, I appreciate it.

Justin Seams:

But they're not here to talk about our anniversaries.

Justin Seams:

We're not here to talk about our lovely wives.

Justin Seams:

Another podcast we will shout out to them.

Justin Seams:

They're amazing.

Justin Seams:

But we're here to talk about you.

Justin Seams:

We're here to talk about your aviation journey.

Justin Seams:

And I always like to start at the beginning.

Justin Seams:

So why did you become a pilot in the first place?

Paul Volti:

So when I was 13 years old, I got a ride in a tow plane, the tow plane that pulls up gliders.

Paul Volti:

And my dad and I were just hanging out at the airport, little grass strip near where I grew up in Minnesota.

Paul Volti:

And my dad actually talked to the tow plane pilot and asked him, hey, could my son go for a ride?

Paul Volti:

And it was literally a five dollar, you know, just ride with the tow plane pilot.

Paul Volti:

And I went up when I was 13 and got hooked on that, you know, eight minute airplane ride.

Paul Volti:

And so the next summer I started taking flying lessons.

Paul Volti:

And my dad saw that I was obviously interested in flying and said, but I was also getting really bad grades in school at the time.

Paul Volti:

So he said, all right, well, for every A you get, you get one hour flying.

Paul Volti:

And for every B you get, you get a half hour flying.

Paul Volti:

So overnight I went from season D's, the A's and B's and started my flying Lessons, of course, back when you're 14, you don't need to fly, you know, four times a week.

Paul Volti:

So I was flying once a month or twice a month maybe, and eventually soloed a couple days after my 16th birthday and then got my license on my 17th birthday and then got my instrument rating while I was still in high school when I was 18.

Justin Seams:

So the bug hit you hard, went.

Paul Volti:

On to college, and.

Paul Volti:

I'm sorry.

Justin Seams:

So the bug hit you hard then?

Paul Volti:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Paul Volti:

I.

Paul Volti:

I think by the time I got to college, I had about.

Paul Volti:

I mean, it was almost 250 hours.

Paul Volti:

So I got my commercial rating shortly after I got to college.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And from there, I was, you know, throughout college, I picked up a bunch of different flying jobs, from flying skydivers to.

Paul Volti:

I flew a Cessna 210 for a company, and.

Paul Volti:

And I.

Paul Volti:

Ultimately, the coolest job I got was sitting in the right seat of assessment citation.

Paul Volti:

There you go.

Paul Volti:

We didn't fly very much, but, you know, for a college kid to be building jet time was a pretty big deal.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

So that was awesome.

Justin Seams:

So when did becoming an airline pilot kind of enter into your brain or that being the end goal of the career?

Justin Seams:

Was it that first flight where like, all right, I love this.

Justin Seams:

How do you make money doing this?

Justin Seams:

Or was it, all right, I love this, let's go for a flight.

Justin Seams:

I'll continue this and kind of see where it goes?

Paul Volti:

Yeah, no, I.

Paul Volti:

I knew I wanted to be a pilot.

Paul Volti:

I didn't necessarily know I wanted to be an airline pilot.

Paul Volti:

And it wasn't until probably I started flying that citation.

Paul Volti:

The guy I was flying with, Neil, he used to be an airline pilot, and then he retired from that and became a corporate pilot.

Paul Volti:

And it wasn't until I really started talking with him more, I didn't know if I wanted to be a corporate pilot or an airline pilot or a cargo pilot or, you know, my biggest ambition was flying a Learjet, flying bank.

Justin Seams:

Checks around and, like, life can't get any better than that.

Justin Seams:

I just want to be in my Learjet flying checks.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And he said, you know what?

Paul Volti:

For a career, you want to be an airline pilot.

Paul Volti:

Corporate flying is really cool, but you're also pumping your own gas sometimes and making hotel reservations and filing your own flight plan, which is not hard or necessarily bad.

Paul Volti:

But, you know, airline flying, you walk down the Jetway, you take a left, they've done everything for you.

Paul Volti:

You just show up and fly airplanes, and it's a great career.

Paul Volti:

And I can't thank him enough.

Paul Volti:

For giving me those words of wisdom because it's turned into a great career.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, I'm relatively new to that style of flying.

Justin Seams:

I came from flying corporate or fractional and the idea of just turning left is so foreign to me.

Justin Seams:

You know, it's.

Justin Seams:

You check your phone in the morning, all your flight plans are done taking care of, but you're chasing catering, you're trying to figure out bags, you're trying to figure out where's the airplane is in the hangar, do I pull it out, what time do I pull it out, how much fuel do we need, all that kind of stuff.

Justin Seams:

And now having the ability to literally just turn left and to sit down and you know, you take a little break, you look at the plane, you're like, I'm gonna do my pre flight flows, do all.

Justin Seams:

I'm the 737, so you know, it's like I'll reach all the way back and try to reach everything.

Justin Seams:

But it really is true.

Justin Seams:

It's.

Justin Seams:

It's hard to beat the idea of just turning left corporate.

Justin Seams:

You can make good money, there can be good lifestyle.

Justin Seams:

Sometimes they run you down pretty hard, but I don't think it can beat.

Justin Seams:

You know, I'm kind of an airline truther now.

Justin Seams:

Granted, I'm getting ready to start my eighth month, so relatively new, haven't been burned too bad yet.

Justin Seams:

But yeah, it's.

Justin Seams:

I'm an airline truther now, man.

Justin Seams:

It's the.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, I never thought I'd ever say that, but here we are.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, it's.

Paul Volti:

I mean all.

Paul Volti:

You know, any pilot loves flying airplanes, so they'll do whatever it takes to fly an airplane.

Paul Volti:

But for a, you know, 30 year career, to just be able to walk down the jetway and hang a left, it just, it makes it so much easier and.

Justin Seams:

Absolutely.

Paul Volti:

And you can really just enjoy the flying and the layovers.

Justin Seams:

Absolutely.

Justin Seams:

Uh, when you were doing your training in high school, the.

Justin Seams:

What did your friends think?

Justin Seams:

I had a friend that was 16 and he was getting his private.

Justin Seams:

And granted, my dad was a pilot, so I was aware of aviation, but I was still like, dude, that's crazy.

Justin Seams:

Like you're only 16, how are you training?

Justin Seams:

Was it similar for you?

Paul Volti:

It was similar to me.

Paul Volti:

I mean it got the.

Paul Volti:

I grew up in a small town, so it kind of caught the town's attention.

Paul Volti:

You.

Paul Volti:

Like, I ended up in the newspaper a couple of times and, and as far as other kids though, I.

Paul Volti:

I feel like I've always kind of stood out from the normal crowd, so it didn't really bother me at all that I, you know, I played tennis a little bit in high school, but I wasn't super into sports or anything.

Paul Volti:

Like, flying was my sport, so I'd go mountain biking in the morning, go to school, and then go out to the airport in the afternoon.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And that was kind of my.

Paul Volti:

That was kind of my deal.

Paul Volti:

And, yeah, a few kids caught on to it, and I think one other kid in high school ended up taking lessons for a little while, but I don't know.

Paul Volti:

I've always kind of liked being.

Paul Volti:

Not that flying airplanes is being an outsider, but, you know, I was the one kid in town that was doing it, so.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Justin Seams:

And, I mean, not everyone does it.

Justin Seams:

And like you said, some people will take up a lesson or.

Justin Seams:

Or even get their private.

Justin Seams:

And then they kind of just fizzle out and they just stop flying all together.

Justin Seams:

It's not something that people continuously do or even make it all the way to the airline pilot.

Justin Seams:

So it definitely is a little bit different.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, for sure.

Paul Volti:

Was the whole lot of, you know, fortitude to put up with, because really, you have to love flying to put up with all the learning and all the lessons and all the stuff.

Paul Volti:

I mean, it's easy to look at you or me now, like, all right, well, you're an airline pilot.

Paul Volti:

That must have been easy.

Paul Volti:

You just sign up and they teach you, and you become an airline pilot.

Paul Volti:

There's a lot of not super fun times, like you're studying and you're working hard, and.

Paul Volti:

And a lot of people don't see those.

Paul Volti:

Those hours spent, you know, not flying an airplane and just sitting on your desk looking over the fars.

Justin Seams:

I remember specifically a certain time when I was flying, when I took a bunch of time off.

Justin Seams:

I was playing football in college, so I was going back and forth, and, you know, I got to a flight and it was so bad.

Justin Seams:

Like, I mean, one of those fights of your cfi, you're like, whoa, this, dude.

Justin Seams:

That's not good.

Justin Seams:

And I was just like, why can't I get this?

Justin Seams:

You know?

Justin Seams:

And I think some people have that moment.

Justin Seams:

It's pretty regular.

Justin Seams:

Like, if you have that feeling, it's okay.

Justin Seams:

You know, I had that.

Justin Seams:

You probably had that.

Justin Seams:

A bunch of people have had it at the time.

Justin Seams:

But it's something that you do forget, and people don't look at when, you know, you're.

Justin Seams:

You're in Italy, you're on a layover, you're living your dream.

Justin Seams:

They forget the fact that you were really.

Justin Seams:

You pretty much sacrificed for For a long time.

Justin Seams:

day, where you could just get:

Justin Seams:

You were flying checks.

Justin Seams:

You're flying whatever you could and not making any money.

Justin Seams:

That's what's amazing.

Justin Seams:

Like, literally no money.

Justin Seams:

In some cases, you were just begging for a ride, and you're like, dude, I don't need to eat.

Justin Seams:

I don't need anything.

Justin Seams:

Just put me in the plane.

Justin Seams:

I'll be good.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, yeah.

Paul Volti:

I mean, flying that system citation, I didn't make money doing that.

Paul Volti:

That was just, you know, two hours of jet time once a day, you know, like.

Paul Volti:

Which was amazing.

Paul Volti:

But, like, that's stuff you can't pay for, you know, college kid.

Paul Volti:

You can't just go pay for two hours of jet time.

Paul Volti:

That would cost thousands and thousands of dollars.

Paul Volti:

So really, to do it for free is like, I mean, I wouldn't do it for free today, but, you know, when you're just trying to build time, it's.

Paul Volti:

It's the way to go.

Justin Seams:

So talk a little about that, because a lot of people message me and they're like, hey, like, you always talk about putting yourself out there, you know, getting that airport job, just talking to people around you.

Justin Seams:

Talk about how you were able to.

Justin Seams:

I don't want to say finagle or finess, but talk your way into a right seat in a citation or 210.

Justin Seams:

Because it's.1 of the best ways is just to be there.

Justin Seams:

If you're consistently there, you show an appetite for aviation.

Justin Seams:

And if they just have an inkling that you're a good person, don't burn any bridges.

Justin Seams:

Opportunities will come to you by literally just being there.

Justin Seams:

So talk a little bit about how you got those jobs, how you found some sweet flying that you can do.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, Literally every job I've ever had has not been an advertisement in the newspaper or, you know, or online or whatever.

Paul Volti:

I'm kind of dating myself.

Paul Volti:

But literally every job I've had has been because I knew somebody associated with that job.

Paul Volti:

So I got a job working at an FBO in St.

Paul Volti:

Paul, and that's how I met the guy who flew the Cessna 210.

Paul Volti:

And when he quit, then he, you know, he knew that I was interested in that, and he called me and I interviewed for the job and got it.

Paul Volti:

And then, you know, that.

Paul Volti:

The citation job.

Paul Volti:

When I was in college, I literally met the guy at a restaurant.

Paul Volti:

I saw him at a restaurant, and he was looking at, you know, airport charts.

Paul Volti:

He was, like, doing a lesson with somebody or something.

Paul Volti:

And I walked over and said, hey, it looks like you guys are pilots.

Paul Volti:

Sam.

Paul Volti:

Paul.

Paul Volti:

I'm a pilot, too.

Paul Volti:

And what do you fly?

Paul Volti:

Oh, I fly a Citation.

Paul Volti:

Oh, okay, cool.

Paul Volti:

Well, if you ever need someone to sit in the right seat, here's my number.

Paul Volti:

You know, like.

Paul Volti:

And just.

Paul Volti:

Literally just being nice to people, being a good human and showing that you're interested is kind of how I got all my jobs.

Paul Volti:

I.

Paul Volti:

My.

Paul Volti:

Even my airline jobs, you know, I met a guy who I.

Paul Volti:

After college, I worked for Pinnacle, which was the Northwest Commuter, which is now called Endeavor.

Paul Volti:

And I met a guy who had just started at Pinnacle, and he told me exactly how to get the interview.

Paul Volti:

He said, listen, all you have to do, send your resume, call them.

Paul Volti:

They won't know where your resume is, but just call them and tell them you're interested and you had sent your resume and you want them to check on it, and they'll invite you for an interview, and then the next day you'll fly down for an interview and you'll get hired.

Paul Volti:

And that's literally what happened.

Paul Volti:

I sent my resume.

Paul Volti:

A week later, I called them.

Paul Volti:

Oh, I can't find your resume.

Paul Volti:

But can you come down tomorrow?

Paul Volti:

Sure.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And then getting hired, going from Pinnacle to, I got hired by Continental, and then obviously, we merged with United.

Paul Volti:

Same thing.

Paul Volti:

I was friends with a guy I had met who didn't even work for Continental or Continental Express, but I knew that he used to work for Continental Express.

Paul Volti:

And so we were friends for two years.

Paul Volti:

And I finally asked him, kind of when I was ready to move on from Pinnacle, I said, hey, do you.

Paul Volti:

Do you know anyone at Continental that would maybe help me get hired?

Paul Volti:

Because this was:

Paul Volti:

They were hiring kind of like we're hiring now, you know, 25 people a week or 40 people a week or whatever.

Paul Volti:

And that was kind of one of the main places to go.

Paul Volti:

And he said, yeah, I think I know a guy at Continental that might be able to help you.

Paul Volti:

So he called that guy, and then I called that guy, and that guy.

Justin Seams:

Called someone else, right?

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And, yeah, that guy walked into the chief pilot's office, and it turned out that my friend, who I'd been friends with for two years used to be the chief pilot at Continental Express.

Justin Seams:

It's hilarious.

Paul Volti:

So he had a great.

Paul Volti:

I didn't know that.

Paul Volti:

He never told me that.

Paul Volti:

That's not why we were friends, you know.

Paul Volti:

But you never Know who you're going to meet along the way.

Justin Seams:

Never.

Paul Volti:

And the, the power, not maybe power, but you know, like the, the influence that they have.

Paul Volti:

And so, yeah, like you said, don't burn any bridges.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And keep all the phone numbers you can.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And you never know who's going to be able to help.

Justin Seams:

That even goes for just like commuting home on an airline or just like in any kind of circumstance.

Justin Seams:

You never.

Justin Seams:

There's.

Justin Seams:

I mean, I've met a chief pilot randomly probably once or twice so far, which may not sound like a lot, but it's more than it should happen.

Justin Seams:

You know, it's like you shouldn't just run it.

Justin Seams:

You think there's so little amount of che pilots for the airlines.

Justin Seams:

It's like there's been no aviation.

Justin Seams:

Like it was at a coffee shop.

Justin Seams:

It was at whatever.

Justin Seams:

It's like, oh, I'm a chief pilot.

Justin Seams:

Like, cool, dude.

Justin Seams:

Hi, my name is Justin.

Justin Seams:

Are you hiring right now?

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And you never know, like if you're, like if you work for a regional, you're trying to get out with a major.

Paul Volti:

When you're commuting somewhere, sitting in the cockpit.

Paul Volti:

I mean, there's certainly a chance that the guy sitting there is the chief pilot or is one of the main check airman or, or whatever and has a lot of pull.

Paul Volti:

And if you have a good conversation, you're like, that could be all it takes to.

Justin Seams:

All it takes.

Paul Volti:

Get your name top of the interview list.

Justin Seams:

So moral of the story, if you didn't take anything away from this podcast, is treat everyone like they're the chief pilot of the airline that you want to go to and you'll be okay.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, that's a great way to say it.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Justin Seams:

Just be nice to everyone.

Justin Seams:

You know, do go above and beyond in the airline.

Justin Seams:

So you are at the airline and I think it's really interesting because obviously Minnesota all the way through and through the A's.

Justin Seams:

The accent isn't really coming out, I'm not going to lie.

Justin Seams:

So someone somewhere has told you how to get or wash out that accent because I don't get much Minnesota from you.

Justin Seams:

oned Continental and you said:

Justin Seams:

And I'm going to put some tune to together that Delta would have been big by now out of Minneapolis.

Justin Seams:

The merger would have gone through.

Justin Seams:

Why not try to go to Delta?

Justin Seams:

Did you want to commute?

Justin Seams:

You wanted to go to Houston or did Continental have a pretty big role in Minneapolis at the time?

Paul Volti:

in Minneapolis at the time in:

Paul Volti:

So, yeah, I think the United Continental merger and the Northwest Delta merger, look it up.

Paul Volti:

We're around the same time.

Paul Volti:

I want to say:

Justin Seams:

Was it really dang?

Paul Volti:

I think so.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

I know.

Paul Volti:

I know it wasn't.

Paul Volti:

I know I wasn't trying to go to Delta.

Justin Seams:

2008.

Justin Seams:

Everyone I.

Justin Seams:

Delta, Northwest:

Justin Seams:

So you're right.

Paul Volti:

So Northwest at the time wasn't hiring anyone from Pinnacle.

Paul Volti:

Basically.

Paul Volti:

I think I knew one or two people out of, you know, a lot of people were leaving Pinnacle, but only one or two went to Northwest.

Paul Volti:

And I think from what I understand, it was the way Northwest saw it was.

Paul Volti:

It was like three training events.

Paul Volti:

Like, they had to train you at Northwest, but now they had to train a new captain at Pinnacle and they had to hire a new first officer at Pinnacle.

Paul Volti:

So they.

Paul Volti:

I think.

Paul Volti:

I mean, I don't know if that's true or not, but that's kind of how I heard that it was a bad idea.

Justin Seams:

Let's not take any of those guys or girls, right?

Paul Volti:

So.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

But really, back then, you know, it wasn't hiring.

Paul Volti:

Wasn't like it is now.

Paul Volti:

United wasn't hiring, or maybe they were hiring, but they're also doing some furloughing.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And Delta really wasn't on my radar because I grew up in Minneapolis.

Paul Volti:

And the only reason Continental popped on my radar is because I knew a few people at Pinnacle that had gone to Continental.

Paul Volti:

And then suddenly I knew a guy who used to be the chief pilot for Continental Express.

Paul Volti:

And really, back then, you just went to the first airline to hire you.

Paul Volti:

The first major airline to hire you.

Paul Volti:

So.

Paul Volti:

So Continental was the first major airline to hire me.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And that's where I went, because getting, you know, getting an interview with Northwest was nearly impossible.

Justin Seams:

So was that the.

Justin Seams:

Let's say, before the idea of Continental, before the connections was the goal Northwest, was that like the dream, fly out of Minneapolis and fly for Northwest?

Paul Volti:

No, it actually wasn't.

Paul Volti:

The one airline that I kind of had in the back of my head since I was, you know, college age was Southwest.

Paul Volti:

And So in early:

Paul Volti:

So a lot of people were just paying for a 737 type rating and then immediately getting an interview with Southwest.

Paul Volti:

And so I did that.

Paul Volti:

I went and paid for a 737 type rating and then got an interview with Southwest, but did not get hired.

Paul Volti:

That was in:

Paul Volti:

And then in the first part of:

Paul Volti:

That's when I got the interview with Continental.

Paul Volti:

And then.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, so then I obviously stayed with Continental and, And yeah, it's been great.

Paul Volti:

But I can't know.

Paul Volti:

Was doing really well back then.

Paul Volti:

And then the merger with United only made it better.

Paul Volti:

And yeah, it's been awesome, man.

Justin Seams:

It's crazy how everything happens for a reason, right?

Justin Seams:

You know, I'm sure there's a lot of disappointment.

Justin Seams:

You're like, I just dropped an absurd amount of money for this type rating just to get this one job.

Justin Seams:

And to not get that, it was $7,370.

Justin Seams:

You'll never forget it.

Justin Seams:

You need that tattooed on you somewhere just for how much.

Justin Seams:

It was just to remind yourself every day and show it to Southwest.

Justin Seams:

Be like, see, look, you messed up.

Justin Seams:

But yeah.

Paul Volti:

And I'm sure, you know, if I, If I had been hired by Southwest, it would have been great too.

Justin Seams:

For sure.

Paul Volti:

People that were hired around the same time, they're.

Paul Volti:

They're captains and they're.

Paul Volti:

They're doing great.

Justin Seams:

Oh, for sure.

Justin Seams:

You're.

Justin Seams:

You're.

Justin Seams:

Maybe your videos would be a little bit different.

Justin Seams:

They want to be my layover life all the way in Italy and Europe and all those fun places.

Justin Seams:

But, you know, Omaha and Tulsa are pretty cool too.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, there's no shade that wasn't.

Paul Volti:

I mean, you, you can have a good layover anywhere, anywhere you are.

Paul Volti:

I mean, it helps to be in.

Justin Seams:

Rome or whatever, but for sure, that's a goal.

Paul Volti:

But if you're with the right people, you can, you can have a good time pretty much anywhere.

Justin Seams:

I want to talk a little about maybe the disappointment that you went through with not getting that Southwest job because it sounded like it was what you wanted, right?

Justin Seams:

Like it was what you look to.

Justin Seams:

It's what you work for and you spent the money to do.

Justin Seams:

To do that.

Justin Seams:

And I'm sure everyone said, hey, you get that type rating, you know, you're pretty much a shoe when it's going to happen.

Justin Seams:

So to not get that job.

Justin Seams:

Talk about what was going through your head.

Justin Seams:

Was it a give up moment?

Justin Seams:

Was it, I can't do this, I'm going to be at a regional forever?

Justin Seams:

Kind of talk about the emotions you had.

Paul Volti:

Um, yeah, it was disappointing.

Paul Volti:

It.

Paul Volti:

Maybe I had.

Paul Volti:

I guess it was more of a learning experience, you know?

Paul Volti:

Like, I remember there was multiple interviews throughout the day.

Paul Volti:

And I remember one of the last Interviews.

Paul Volti:

The guy asked me one of the most basic questions, like, tell me about a time you messed up or whatever, you know?

Paul Volti:

Like, I can't remember what the question was, but I literally had no answer.

Paul Volti:

And I was just like, yeah, I don't know.

Paul Volti:

And he's like, just, anything is fine.

Justin Seams:

He's like, please.

Justin Seams:

Please, anything.

Paul Volti:

I don't know if I was tired or just running out of steam or whatever, but it's just like, yeah, I don't.

Paul Volti:

I don't really have anything for you.

Paul Volti:

He's like, all right.

Paul Volti:

Like, literally just, like, walked me to the door.

Paul Volti:

Like, your flight home now.

Justin Seams:

Like, have a good day, man.

Justin Seams:

We'll see you later.

Paul Volti:

So I feel like.

Paul Volti:

I mean, if there was a reason I didn't get hired, that was probably it.

Paul Volti:

But I don't know.

Paul Volti:

I guess I just.

Paul Volti:

I saw it as a learning experience and for sure and went on from there.

Paul Volti:

And I did.

Paul Volti:

I had done another interview, I think it was with Midwest Express.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

Which was like a.

Paul Volti:

An airline in Milwaukee that.

Paul Volti:

They don't exist anymore, but they flew 717s.

Paul Volti:

And I.

Paul Volti:

I also didn't get hired by them, so.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And I think that was before Southwest, so I don't know.

Paul Volti:

I.

Paul Volti:

I guess I've been used to rejection.

Paul Volti:

You know, a lot of girls said no to me in college and high school.

Justin Seams:

All it took was one, though.

Justin Seams:

All it took was one.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

But.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, I mean, that's kind of how I saw.

Paul Volti:

It's like, it only takes one person to say yes.

Paul Volti:

And there's.

Paul Volti:

There's other airlines out there, definitely.

Paul Volti:

And I saw other people at Pinnacle not getting hired places, and.

Paul Volti:

And I just, I guess, kind of assumed that that was part of the.

Paul Volti:

The process, you know?

Justin Seams:

And I think it still is, to be honest with you.

Justin Seams:

I mean, everyone says how easy it is to get hired, or especially, let's say, like, when I was hired or kind of six months before that, or even the last two years, people kind of have the assumption that it's really easy to get hired, but it's still pretty easy for them to say no to you.

Justin Seams:

You know, it's a.

Justin Seams:

You have this.

Justin Seams:

You're still not guaranteed to get that job.

Justin Seams:

You still have to perform.

Justin Seams:

You still have to come up with an answer for.

Justin Seams:

Tell me about a time.

Justin Seams:

Whatever they ask.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Justin Seams:

So it does happen still.

Justin Seams:

And I think disappointment and not getting the job of your dreams is something you should not.

Justin Seams:

Maybe not disappointment, but not getting your dream airline job is something you should kind of keep in the back of your mind of what you would do next.

Justin Seams:

You know, it's still good to have that goal, to have the place you want to go.

Justin Seams:

But you also need to understand that just because Delta said no, United said no, or American said no, doesn't mean that one of the other ones won't say yes and give you a great job.

Justin Seams:

Because at the end of the day, we do the same thing.

Justin Seams:

We fly airplanes, we take people where they need to go.

Justin Seams:

The planes may be different, the layovers may be different, but you're going to be an airline pilot.

Justin Seams:

You're going to make relatively the same amount of money wherever you go.

Justin Seams:

Just your cities you live in and the cities you go to might be a little different.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And that's not to say that, you know, United says no.

Paul Volti:

That's not to say that they won't call you again in two years.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

As a matter of fact, I, after I got hired by Continental, I re interviewed with Southwest.

Justin Seams:

Oh, really?

Paul Volti:

2008.

Paul Volti:

off class dates because that:

Paul Volti:

And so they, so they, I had a job offer, but they put off class dates until an unknown time.

Paul Volti:

And, and that's when I switched airplanes from the 737 at Continental to the 757 and 767.

Paul Volti:

And I initially, my thinking was I just want to go, you know, grab a couple more type ratings and before I leave Continental.

Paul Volti:

And then we merged with United and.

Paul Volti:

And then I was like.

Paul Volti:

And once I started flying the 757, 767, I kind of fell in love with flying all over again, like, or maybe I fell in love with travel, you know, and then I decided I wasn't going to go to Southwest and I was going to keep flying to Europe and do awesome layovers.

Paul Volti:

fered me a class date, it was:

Paul Volti:

So I would have been giving up five years of seniority at Continental United.

Justin Seams:

So did you make it out of that time without getting furloughed or anything happening?

Paul Volti:

s hired by Pinnacle in May of:

Paul Volti:

So I finished training in August or September.

Justin Seams:

Great timing.

Paul Volti:

Or August.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, September:

Paul Volti:

And so I got furloughed in October and then I was only furloughed for one month, which is crazy.

Paul Volti:

Like, most people get furloughed for years or, you know, a decade or whatever, but I was fortunate.

Paul Volti:

I got furloughed for one month, then I was back.

Paul Volti:

And so September 11th didn't.

Paul Volti:

I didn't lose a lot of flying because of that.

Paul Volti:

But, you know, when you're furloughed, you don't know if it's going to be one month or one year or two.

Justin Seams:

Years, or, like, do I need to get a job somewhere?

Justin Seams:

Like, do I need to learn how to lay brick?

Justin Seams:

Like, what's going on?

Justin Seams:

You know, it's like.

Paul Volti:

Right?

Paul Volti:

Yeah, yeah.

Paul Volti:

Continental, there was about:

Paul Volti:

And then I think in:

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

But I wasn't part of that.

Paul Volti:

And then they all came back.

Paul Volti:

I think in:

Justin Seams:

Nice.

Justin Seams:

When I thought something was really interesting, you said that flying the 7 5, the 7 6, it kind of brought your love back of flying.

Justin Seams:

Would you say that was kind of just like been beaten down by the regional life of a lot of legs, short layovers?

Justin Seams:

Or would you say it's just kind of just, you know, a job in general?

Justin Seams:

You know, eventually every once in a while, you're going to get kind of the stage where you burnt out and you need to take that new step to try something else.

Paul Volti:

I think it was more the.

Paul Volti:

A lot of legs and short layovers and, you know, those kind of struggles that you go through at a regional.

Paul Volti:

Because now I'm doing one leg a day, never deicing, you know, and you're.

Paul Volti:

And then you're going to, like, I went to Bath and went to the Roman baths and.

Paul Volti:

And I went to Stonehenge and I went to Normandy in France.

Paul Volti:

And you, you know, to start doing stuff on layovers that weren't really an option when you were going to Omaha and Des Moines.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, but, I mean.

Paul Volti:

But the flying itself is awesome, too, because it's, you know, seven or eight hours of flying in a regional jet is a lot of work because you're making two to four or five landings a day and you're with the same person, which I know sounds silly, but, like, when we take off and go to Europe, you know, we sit with one guy for two hours or two and a half hours, and then we go back and take a nap, and then we come back and sit with a different guy for two and a half hours.

Paul Volti:

And it makes the flight go by.

Paul Volti:

An eight hour flight, the same eight hours of flying.

Paul Volti:

It makes it go by so fast because you're like you're constantly with someone else to talk to or you're taking a nap or you're watching a movie or whatever.

Paul Volti:

And then you get there and it's now you're in Rome, you know, and you got all day to explore.

Justin Seams:

So let's take a break from today's episode to hear from our sponsor, RAA Justin here.

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Visit RAA.com Pilotopilot that's RAA.com Pilotopilot and now back to today's episode.

Justin Seams:

Talk about your first trip from being, you know, being a regional pilot and then getting on the 757 6, flying across the country and realizing how different your life was than what you just came from.

Justin Seams:

Were you just shocked?

Justin Seams:

Like, I can't believe I'm going to get paid to do this.

Justin Seams:

Like that wasn't real work.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

I think one of the things I was most worried about when I went to the 757 and 767 was how am I going to handle a really long flight?

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And then my first, my first trip was to Paris and I was like, oh, well, from Newark, it's only six and a half hours to Paris.

Paul Volti:

That's.

Paul Volti:

And you get a nap.

Paul Volti:

Like that's super easy.

Paul Volti:

Like that's, you know, it wasn't, I was like I was getting on a 18 hour flight, right?

Paul Volti:

Like six and a half hours.

Justin Seams:

It's like flying from really fast DCA or Dulles to lax, you know, San Francisco or whatever.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, right.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, yeah.

Paul Volti:

And even when I got on the 737, so I started on the 737 at Continental.

Paul Volti:

And even when I got on that, you know, it was a little bit different because we go, you know, we did even like Houston to Anchorage, which is a seven hour flight.

Paul Volti:

So like it was different than regional flying.

Paul Volti:

And you know, at Pinnacle, I basically blew in the upper Midwest or sometimes, you know, as far south as Memphis or whatever.

Paul Volti:

But so just to Be flying to Phoenix or Los Angeles or Seattle.

Paul Volti:

Like, that was all new to me.

Paul Volti:

So that was.

Paul Volti:

I don't know, it was fun.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And we went to places I'd never even heard of before, like Quito, Ecuador, Guayaquil, or, you know, some cities I didn't even know existed.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

Until I started working for Continental, when.

Justin Seams:

I think it's important to talk about what your lifestyle was like personally at home, like, financially, with working at a regional back then and first year pay at, say, Continental, because now they have the idea.

Justin Seams:

Or most pilots that get hired, they can make a hundred grand pretty much.

Justin Seams:

At a regional.

Justin Seams:

First year on airline, you can make 100 grand.

Justin Seams:

But that wasn't the case, you know, 16 years ago or even like eight years ago.

Paul Volti:

Right.

Justin Seams:

I want to say it was closer to like 40 grand.

Justin Seams:

Is that.

Justin Seams:

Is that what it was at United when you got hired, or Continental?

Paul Volti:

My starting pay at Continental was $25 an hour, so that equated to roughly $2,500 a year.

Paul Volti:

And, you know, I had come from captain pay at Pinnacle, which at the time was $80,000 a year, which is crazy today.

Paul Volti:

I thought I was living my best life, and really it was good.

Paul Volti:

I was living in Minneapolis, which is kind of where I grew up and based in Minneapolis.

Paul Volti:

So what was really hard when I went to Continental, especially for my wife, because my wife only knew we were newly married then.

Paul Volti:

She only knew living in Minneapolis, based in Minneapolis, making a decent living.

Paul Volti:

And then I went to Continental, where we had no health insurance for six months.

Justin Seams:

Oh, dang.

Paul Volti:

And we're making $25 an hour, so $25,000 a year.

Paul Volti:

And I'm commuting now to Houston to fly the 737.

Paul Volti:

So I'm gone a lot more not making any money, spending money on hotels in Houston.

Paul Volti:

And yeah, it was tough.

Paul Volti:

It.

Paul Volti:

We had saved up a little bit to.

Paul Volti:

Because we knew that was like, that's what you did back then.

Paul Volti:

You saved up because you knew your first year at an airline was going to be hard.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And so it kind of prepared for it a little bit, but it was still difficult.

Paul Volti:

We made a lot of sacrifices.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And, you know, there was days where there's, you know, $80 in the checkbook and, like, we all get paid again for five days.

Justin Seams:

This isn't good.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Justin Seams:

Your wife's like, this is supposed to be your dream job.

Justin Seams:

Right.

Justin Seams:

Like, you wanted this.

Paul Volti:

Right.

Justin Seams:

Like, this is the pinnacle of your career.

Justin Seams:

When we were just at pinnacle making 80 grand, what's going on yeah, it's, I feel like I'm in a similar kind of stage of that right now because I was a seven year captain where I was last, you know, I had the potential to make pretty good money.

Justin Seams:

Come to the airline I'm at now and I'm taking like 100, $120,000 pay cut for the first year.

Justin Seams:

Flying, gone, more commuting, short call reserve, long call reserve, going back and forth.

Justin Seams:

My wife's like, are we sure this was a good idea?

Justin Seams:

I'm like, it's going to get better, I promise.

Justin Seams:

Just watch my layover life, watch his videos.

Justin Seams:

It's all good.

Justin Seams:

All right.

Justin Seams:

It's going to be us one day.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Justin Seams:

But yeah, it's definitely, it definitely does get better.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And like I said before, like, you have to love flying to put up with a lot of this stuff.

Paul Volti:

And I don't hear this super often, but I have heard people say, oh, I want to get, I want to become a pilot because it pays well or because you go cool places and like you, it's not just that easy.

Justin Seams:

You know, wrongly want to be a pilot.

Paul Volti:

You should really love flying airplanes.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, no, for sure.

Justin Seams:

I mean just, yeah, there's a lot of stuff that goes on and you can get a lot of money.

Justin Seams:

I mean, you hear crazy stories about airline pilots pulling in like $1 million, but they're also playing the system and they're gone all the time.

Justin Seams:

It's like, I don't want that.

Justin Seams:

I want to make like lower to mid salary of what, what that, what you can make based on how hard you're working and just be home as much as possible.

Justin Seams:

That's the goal right there.

Justin Seams:

And have cool layovers.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, I think I told you my schedule this month.

Paul Volti:

I had two weeks of vacation and literally I picked up a trip this coming weekend just to supplement our Italy vacation.

Paul Volti:

But had I not picked up that trip, I would have been off from October 5th until November 7th.

Justin Seams:

That'd be amazing.

Paul Volti:

With two weeks of vacation, that's crazy.

Justin Seams:

You get back in, which is crazy.

Paul Volti:

Like absolutely crazy in getting paid very well.

Justin Seams:

It just takes some seniority, right?

Justin Seams:

Like you said, like just, just wait a little bit.

Justin Seams:

And it does get better.

Justin Seams:

It gets sweeter.

Justin Seams:

Learning how to play, kind of not play the system, but learn the games that are, you are allowed to take advantage of to maximize your days off and pay.

Justin Seams:

It's almost like a doctorate.

Justin Seams:

I feel like trying to figure out.

Justin Seams:

1 PBS 2 How airlines pay, how you need to follow up with the right people to make sure.

Justin Seams:

You get that pay.

Justin Seams:

So there's going on.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

But you know that those years, those years go by are really fast and I feel like it was last week that I was like starting out at.

Paul Volti:

Here I am.

Paul Volti:

You know, it'll be 18 years this year, which is.

Justin Seams:

Dude, that's great.

Justin Seams:

Congratulations.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, yeah, thank you.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, absolutely.

Paul Volti:

It's, it's been a.

Paul Volti:

I mean, it's been awesome so far and I.

Paul Volti:

Hopefully it only gets better.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, let's hope so.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Justin Seams:

We don't want to go down no more down, so we just want to keep rising up.

Paul Volti:

All right.

Justin Seams:

It's time to, to have a solid stretch of 10 plus years of the good times.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, that's right.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Justin Seams:

Have you been, what planes have you flown for United?

Justin Seams:

You mentioned, you mentioned 73 to start.

Justin Seams:

757 6.

Justin Seams:

Or was it 7 5?

Justin Seams:

Sorry, I heard a 7 3.

Justin Seams:

So somewhere in there.

Justin Seams:

e you pretty much been on the:

Paul Volti:

Most of it, yeah.

Paul Volti:

I started on the 737, so I flew that for two and a half years or three years.

Paul Volti:

in:

Paul Volti:

So I've got over 10,000 hours on that airplane and I've been that for 15 years and three, the last three years as a captain.

Justin Seams:

So which one do you like better, 75 or 7 6?

Paul Volti:

Well, the:

Justin Seams:

So that one.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, there's actually a big, there's a big pay difference that I don't, I don't really know why.

Paul Volti:

The:

Justin Seams:

Oh, really?

Paul Volti:

The:

Justin Seams:

Oh, that would piss me off.

Paul Volti:

And there's a, there's a big gap there.

Paul Volti:

So all the767,400 trips go super senior because they, they pay.

Paul Volti:

I mean, literally on one trip it's thousands of dollars more, which is crazy.

Justin Seams:

So it's crazy what the airlines can throw in there in those contracts.

Justin Seams:

You're like, I know that's not much.

Paul Volti:

Different from a flying perspective.

Paul Volti:

I don't know.

Paul Volti:

The 757 is pretty fun to fly.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Justin Seams:

So now the one bad thing, I like it all.

Paul Volti:

It's just, it's fun.

Paul Volti:

I just love it all.

Justin Seams:

says, hey, we're retiring the:

Justin Seams:

They've been around for a while, so it's not going to be there for that much longer.

Justin Seams:

Right?

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

s in:

Paul Volti:

So that's only five years from now.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

Ideally I would maybe go to the Triple seven as a, as a captain.

Paul Volti:

Right now I'm like, I'd be like 99% on the triple seven as a captain in San Francisco.

Paul Volti:

So I, I don't want to do that because I don't, I don't really want to be on reserve again.

Paul Volti:

So I'll, I'll hold out on this airplane until they, probably, until they kick me off of it.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And then.

Paul Volti:

But it'd be fun to go out to San Francisco and do some of the Australia and Asia flying and, and just try something new.

Paul Volti:

It, you know, 15 or 20 years on one airplane is.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, probably, probably too long.

Justin Seams:

Talk a little bit about commuting because someone that lives in a city that's not great for the airline, I would say maybe that's the wrong way to put it, but you're never going to live in base.

Justin Seams:

Living in Minneapolis, working for United, it's just not going to happen.

Paul Volti:

Right.

Justin Seams:

So has commuting.

Justin Seams:

Everyone always tells me airlines are way better when you're in base.

Justin Seams:

And I'm sure you can agree to that.

Justin Seams:

Just makes your life a little bit easier because you got to plan a little bit more, you know, that one trip now you might need to go the night before you lose another night at home.

Justin Seams:

So talk about doing that for a career.

Justin Seams:

Is it something that you think a lot of people can just get used to and it just kind of, you work it in and you make it work or do you think a lot of people, it's kind of a big deterrent in the airline they go to or even their quality of life at an airline.

Paul Volti:

I mean, I think you're going to have, you're for sure going to have a better quality of life and the ability to make more money if you live where you're based because then you can pick up, you know, this one like a one day trip that pays 400% premium pay or whatever, you know, like you have those options to do that.

Paul Volti:

I like living in Minneapolis.

Paul Volti:

This is where I grew up and this is where my family is.

Paul Volti:

And now it's, you know, it's where my kids go to school.

Paul Volti:

And so I don't know that I'm committed to living here forever, but for sure, till our kids are out of high school, and it's.

Paul Volti:

I don't know, it's never bothered me enough to seriously consider moving.

Paul Volti:

We looked at it for a while, looked at moving somewhere, but we like it here.

Paul Volti:

And I don't know, like, especially being on the airplane I'm on, I can fly into Newark in the morning and go to Europe at night, come back at noon and then fly home and be home for dinner most of the time.

Paul Volti:

Not all the trips are like that.

Paul Volti:

Obviously, if I do a domestic trip, sometimes they start early or end late, but, you know, next month I've got 18 days off, and I'm not like the most senior person on the air on the fleet.

Paul Volti:

18, 15 to 18 days off is pretty standard.

Paul Volti:

And you're still home a lot, you know, so.

Paul Volti:

I don't know.

Paul Volti:

I don't mind commuting, but a lot of people do.

Justin Seams:

Do you feel like when you.

Justin Seams:

When you mentioned that you can commute early in the morning and then you fly a trip later to go to Europe, do you think that that takes out of, you know, fatigue?

Justin Seams:

Not saying you are fatigued, but does it.

Justin Seams:

Does it just add an extra toll on it?

Justin Seams:

Are you able to kind of relax in the airline and you don't feel like you're working?

Justin Seams:

Does that make sense?

Paul Volti:

Yeah, I.

Paul Volti:

I feel like I almost always take the first flight to Newark, and I feel like waking up early to take the first flight sets me up for, like, a good nap schedule.

Justin Seams:

There you go.

Paul Volti:

So, like, I wake up early, I take an.

Paul Volti:

If I can, if I'm not in the jump seat, I sleep on the plane to Newark.

Paul Volti:

Then I hang out for a while, and then I take a nap in the crew lounge, and then I go fly, and then I get a nap on the plane to Europe, and then I get to Europe and take a nap when I'm there.

Paul Volti:

So I don't know.

Paul Volti:

I.

Paul Volti:

I feel like if I lived.

Paul Volti:

Say I lived in Newark and I'm home and doing stuff all day or hanging out with my kids or whatever, well, I might not be taking a nap before I go to the airport.

Paul Volti:

So I still might be up in the morning and up all day and then go to the airport.

Paul Volti:

So I.

Paul Volti:

I don't know.

Paul Volti:

I.

Paul Volti:

I don't feel like I'm more fatigued than if I lived in Newark.

Justin Seams:

That's a good point, because I feel.

Paul Volti:

Like I'd just be doing different things.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, you'd be doing your Honey to do list.

Justin Seams:

You know, you'd be building something or fixing something like, oh, I gotta go to work.

Justin Seams:

I gotta fly to Europe.

Justin Seams:

Geez, take a nap.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, so that makes a lot of sense.

Paul Volti:

But I do, I will say, like, last year we brought our daughter to Paris and we took Delta from Minneapolis to Paris just because we were doing a weekend like a birthday thing with our daughter and it was just easier to take a direct flight from Minneapolis to Paris.

Justin Seams:

100%.

Paul Volti:

A friend of mine happened to be working the flight, and he lived two hours away in Wisconsin somewhere.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And I told my wife, I was like, this is what life would be like if I was based here.

Paul Volti:

Like, I'd be home all day, I'd leave for the airport at 7pm and I'd go to Paris.

Paul Volti:

You know, like, there's certainly something to be said for that.

Paul Volti:

You know, I probably lose.

Paul Volti:

If you were to add up the hours, I probably lose three days at home every month just flying back and forth.

Paul Volti:

So, you know, it's certainly not for everybody.

Paul Volti:

But yeah, it's also, you know, like I said, if I'd been hired by Northwest or Delta, then it'd be a different story, but absolutely.

Justin Seams:

But yeah, it's all worked out.

Paul Volti:

We could always.

Paul Volti:

We could always move, but I don't know, we'll probably wait till after the kids are.

Paul Volti:

Kids are gone.

Paul Volti:

So.

Justin Seams:

So let's talk a little bit about Instagram, YouTube, social media.

Justin Seams:

What was.

Justin Seams:

Because obviously you've been an airline pilot for 18 years.

Justin Seams:

Social media has been.

Justin Seams:

Or not.

Justin Seams:

You've been working for Continental United for 18 years.

Justin Seams:

Social media has been around for a good bit.

Justin Seams:

But what, probably two or three years ago, was it when you started making videos?

Justin Seams:

Was it a little bit before that?

Justin Seams:

I feel like trying to remember the exact time that I remember seeing the first.

Justin Seams:

My labor life.

Justin Seams:

And I feel like it was around 20.

Justin Seams:

,:

Justin Seams:

What was it about that time?

Justin Seams:

Did you always want to do this?

Justin Seams:

Kind of get into a little bit about just starting my layover life.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, I feel like I've always been.

Paul Volti:

That's always been like a creative side to me.

Paul Volti:

Like back in.

Paul Volti:

Back when I was like at Pinnacle, I had a blog, you know, because everyone had blogs back then.

Justin Seams:

Like, what was it called?

Paul Volti:

New blogs or.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And I don't know, I've just always kind of had a creative side to me.

Paul Volti:

I started my layer of life, Instagram, probably, I want to say, six or seven years ago.

Paul Volti:

And I started it.

Paul Volti:

I have another Instagram account that's like family stuff in private.

Paul Volti:

And I started it because when I came on to the.

Paul Volti:

Or, you know, I was doing all These really cool trips.

Paul Volti:

And my normal Instagram account was like a picture of my family and then a picture in Rome and a picture in Milan and a picture in Athens and a picture.

Paul Volti:

And it was like turning into, like, too much work stuff.

Paul Volti:

So I just thought I'd separate the two and have one that's just for, like, what I do on layovers.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And, you know, it was like your normal Instagram account.

Paul Volti:

It wasn't.

Paul Volti:

You know, Nobody starts with 180,000 followers.

Paul Volti:

Not at all.

Justin Seams:

Not at all.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

So it, you know, it was years of just a normal Instagram following.

Paul Volti:

And then I started my YouTube channel, and I started that.

Paul Volti:

I started that, I think five years ago.

Paul Volti:

And initially I started it because I saw all these people going on layovers to Rome and, you know, Athens or whatever and literally just slam clicking, staying in their hotel room for 24 hours or 48 hours.

Paul Volti:

And I was like, there's so much to do here.

Paul Volti:

Even if you've been here a hundred times, there's still something you can find that's unique.

Paul Volti:

And so I started my YouTube channel mostly as an encouragement to other crew members or, you know, if you're going to Lisbon and you're looking for something to do, you could look at my videos and see what I did and do one of those things on your layover that of course, didn't really take off because they were just travel videos.

Paul Volti:

Like, they weren't aviation related at all.

Paul Volti:

So if you go back to my first, probably 40 videos on YouTube, none of them have anything United or any.

Paul Volti:

Any really indication that I'm a United or a pilot at all.

Paul Volti:

They're just, suddenly I'm in Lisbon, and suddenly I'm in Rome for whatever reason.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, yeah.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And there's way better travel.

Paul Volti:

So they were just travel videos, basically.

Paul Volti:

So there's.

Paul Volti:

And there's way better travel YouTubers than me.

Paul Volti:

And so once I started putting in, like, behind the scenes, if you will, aviation stuff and like, work stuff, that's when it kind of picked up some traction and people started watching it more.

Paul Volti:

And it's been fun to interact with people.

Paul Volti:

And, you know, like, there's a lot of people from the military have found use of the videos because they don't have any idea what airline flying is like.

Paul Volti:

And yeah, you know, people who work at regional airlines see them and see kind of what their future looks like.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And then I've run into even business travelers who just like, you know, they're like, they fly all the time, but they don't really see exactly what pilots are doing or pilotins are doing and, and kind of gives them a perspective as to what our job feel like.

Paul Volti:

So it's been fun to just meet people in the airport and, and see how those videos are encouraging them or helping them plan their trips.

Justin Seams:

And when you decided to bring kind of United or I'm a pilot, and specifically show more, not like top secret United stuff, but just like be pretty open with where you are, where you work, was there hesitation about that at all?

Justin Seams:

Because airlines historically have not really.

Justin Seams:

I don't want to say they're not in favor of social media, but they're just so hesitant to kind of accept it or really want their brand out there because the way they see it, they have 15,000 pilots.

Justin Seams:

If they say yes to everyone, then someone's going to tarnish their name or bring them down, you know.

Paul Volti:

Right.

Justin Seams:

So I guess the question is, what steps did you take when mentioning United?

Justin Seams:

Was it more of a I'm going to do this and ask for forgiveness later?

Justin Seams:

Was it just.

Justin Seams:

Hopefully they never see it.

Justin Seams:

Talk about that.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, I mean, I never got official permission to do anything.

Paul Volti:

When I started my YouTube channel, I had already kind of been in contact with the social media team and the social media team had started a, like an influencer camp for internal influencers, if you will.

Paul Volti:

So I guess I kind of knew that they were on board with social media stuff and I was kind of part of that group.

Paul Volti:

So I just started making videos and obviously being very careful about like none of my videos are filmed in the cockpit while we're flying.

Paul Volti:

And, and you know, if I, even if I show a shot looking out the window, I'm clear to show that you can see that this is shot from a passenger seat and not the cockpit window.

Paul Volti:

And, and like I'm very careful about recording and, and, and, and now I feel like enough people kind of know who know what I do that.

Paul Volti:

Like I'm not even going to record a video in the cockpit because the guy next to me will see that or whatever, you know, Like, I don't want to be a bad example of what social media is.

Paul Volti:

So.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

But yeah, really, I never really got official permission.

Paul Volti:

That just kind of turned into they like what I'm doing.

Paul Volti:

And now I work pretty closely with a United social media team, so I.

Justin Seams:

Was gonna say it seems like they kind of accepted it because you just did the, the video with them.

Justin Seams:

Whereas I think it's a commercial I haven't got a chance to watch yet.

Justin Seams:

But I saw the Commercial.

Justin Seams:

I believe you guys call them 1k flyers or a million miles.

Justin Seams:

I think you gave something to someone with a, that flew an astronomical amount of miles with you guys.

Justin Seams:

So they definitely have seemed to have accepted it.

Justin Seams:

And it seems like United, out of all the airlines maybe is currently.

Justin Seams:

This could always change, right?

Justin Seams:

Is the most social media friendly, I would say.

Justin Seams:

Or maybe it just seems like most United.

Justin Seams:

Most pilot influencers see happen to be United pilots.

Justin Seams:

I don't know, I haven't figured that.

Paul Volti:

Out yet, but I'm not sure which one is which.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, the social media team does a great job handling everything and they are very encouraging of.

Paul Volti:

I mean, they put on a social media camp every year and this past year, you know, there's like 100 or 120 influencers from pilots, flight attendants, gate agents, ramp agents, everyone's who, you know, has a presence on Instagram or social media gets to go to this camp and learn more about photography tips and how to make better TikToks and you know, like that kind of stuff.

Justin Seams:

And remember, say positive things about the brand.

Justin Seams:

Only positive things.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, yeah.

Paul Volti:

And there is that too.

Paul Volti:

Like you can't get on there and.

Justin Seams:

Rip into passengers or Scott Kirby should do this.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, no, bad idea, right?

Paul Volti:

I don't know.

Paul Volti:

I'm a pretty positive person as it is tonight.

Paul Volti:

It's never been a struggle to like.

Paul Volti:

But, you know, I.

Paul Volti:

We all have bad days.

Paul Volti:

I'm not.

Paul Volti:

But I don't want to go on Instagram and see your bad day.

Paul Volti:

I'm going there to be entertained.

Paul Volti:

So I'm not going to put my worst days on Instagram.

Justin Seams:

So I was gonna ask, has there been a day where you're like, you know, you're setting up the video, you set the phone up and you're doing whatever it is you do and you just kind of take a pause and you look at, you're like, I don't feel like doing this today.

Justin Seams:

Or has it been kind of.

Justin Seams:

Are you able to turn it on and you know, be my layover life right then and there?

Paul Volti:

I mean, I feel like there are times when I like have to turn it on.

Paul Volti:

And there's other times, like in one of my last videos, I jumped off a cliff in Switzerland.

Paul Volti:

And you know, when you're doing that kind of stuff, you're just on awesome, you know?

Paul Volti:

Yeah, no, for sure.

Paul Volti:

There's days where it's like, I know I want to record a video on this trip, but I'm not really in the mood today.

Paul Volti:

And I have found that I can, if I have a lot of B roll footage, I can make up for lack of personality on camera with B roll and voiceover later in the edit.

Paul Volti:

And so, you know, I'm not on for an entire three day trip of on camera action.

Justin Seams:

You know, is it something that you invite other people to come with you all the time when you're on camera or do you try to do all those on your own and not.

Justin Seams:

The reason I ask that is because for, for me personally and I think a lot of other people, it's the idea of being on camera out in public, you know, like holding a camera up, talking to it, or doing like a cool transition or going up to a rock and, you know, sitting on it, looking at, talking to people.

Justin Seams:

It can be intimidating putting yourself out there.

Justin Seams:

What does this person think of me?

Justin Seams:

What is this, you know, what is my number one, my lead flight attendant going to think?

Justin Seams:

Or what's the fo gonna.

Justin Seams:

You know, you just kind of, you think about your head when in reality they don't care at all.

Justin Seams:

You know, they're just like, oh, it's cool, he's got a YouTube channel.

Justin Seams:

But in your mind you're like, oh my gosh, everyone's looking at me looking like that stuff.

Justin Seams:

So what are you playing with?

Paul Volti:

It's still, it still takes a lot to like walk through the airport and talk to the camera.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, especially I don't do that in uniform very or hardly ever.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, but, but if you're in a quiet airport talking to a camera, you feel like everyone is looking at you like, and maybe they are, and that's fine.

Paul Volti:

I, I've kind of come to the point where I was like, I don't care.

Paul Volti:

They don't know that I've got this YouTube channel.

Paul Volti:

Or maybe they do now and it doesn't matter.

Paul Volti:

They'll see it, they'll laugh at me.

Paul Volti:

And that's fine.

Paul Volti:

But I know what I'm coming.

Paul Volti:

I know what I'm putting together here, and I know it's going to be awesome in the end.

Paul Volti:

But as far as recording with other crew members, obviously I always ask a video I'm editing right now.

Paul Volti:

The first officer was with me throughout the day and the little adventure we went on, but he didn't really want to be on camera, which is totally fine.

Paul Volti:

And that actually was kind of helpful because then he held the camera for me and I was, he was able to like film me doing stuff.

Justin Seams:

You're my videographer.

Justin Seams:

Cool.

Justin Seams:

You don't want to be in it.

Paul Volti:

Here you go, you just got a new job.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, I'll buy dinner.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, yeah.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

But I ask, you know, I'll ask flight attendants if they're okay obviously being on camera, and if they're not, that's totally fine.

Paul Volti:

They can stand behind the camera.

Paul Volti:

Like, if I'm like, in my.

Paul Volti:

The video I'm editing now, I filmed part of our briefing, and oftentimes I'll do like a real briefing, and then I'll be like, can I just sit here and talk with you guys and record that?

Paul Volti:

Like, it doesn't sound an official briefing.

Paul Volti:

It's just like, to simulate a briefing.

Justin Seams:

We'Re going to go to the airport and we're going to eat Qdoba and then we're going to do this.

Justin Seams:

But it looks really important.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, yeah.

Paul Volti:

That way I'm not distracted when I'm, yeah.

Justin Seams:

Smart.

Paul Volti:

I, like, record a video.

Paul Volti:

But, yeah, I mean, I try to make it fun and, and people are either receptive to it or not.

Paul Volti:

And now, like, enough people follow me that they show up and they kind of know that I have a YouTube channel or know I have an Instagram account.

Paul Volti:

And.

Paul Volti:

And if I'm going on a trip where I'm planning on doing a video, I'll usually send out an email ahead of time and just say, hey, just so you know, I might be recording YouTube video.

Paul Volti:

And.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Justin Seams:

How would you say it's received by pilots?

Justin Seams:

Because I would say a lot of times I've seen pilots hate on social media influencers.

Justin Seams:

It's just like, natural.

Justin Seams:

Right.

Justin Seams:

They think of it as cringe, but I think deep down everyone kind of wants to have that opportunity.

Justin Seams:

Maybe I'm wrong.

Justin Seams:

I don't know.

Justin Seams:

Some people may not want to, but how have you seen this is the pilot community, especially the United pilots.

Justin Seams:

Do you think they've kind of rallied behind it?

Justin Seams:

Do you think they like it?

Justin Seams:

Do you think some people don't like it?

Justin Seams:

A mix of them or what would you say?

Paul Volti:

I'm sure there's a lot of people who don't like it.

Paul Volti:

I don't ever go on message boards or anything, so I don't see all the hate or whatever.

Paul Volti:

But yeah, I'm sure some people don't like it.

Paul Volti:

And that's fine.

Paul Volti:

If it's.

Paul Volti:

If you don't like it, then it's not for you.

Paul Volti:

Like, yeah, I'm not making this for every United pilot.

Paul Volti:

I'm making it for the student pilots and the travelers, the regional pilots who are needing inspiration to, like, keep showing up to work and keep applying to United or whoever.

Paul Volti:

And if it's, you know, some 64 year old crusty pilot who doesn't get YouTube or social media, that's fine.

Paul Volti:

That that's not for him.

Paul Volti:

Then if he sees it and hates on it, then whatever.

Paul Volti:

It doesn't really bother me too much.

Paul Volti:

But it took me a while to get to that point where I could just blow that off and.

Paul Volti:

But just realizing that my videos aren't for everybody and the people they're not for who see them are probably gonna, you know, hate on it a little bit.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Justin Seams:

Be the loudest usually too.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, yeah.

Paul Volti:

But I've, you know, I will say I've never had anyone come up to me in person and say that they hate my videos.

Justin Seams:

I don't like your videos.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

Everyone.

Paul Volti:

You know, I've had a few first officers say that my videos are the reason they want to work for United and.

Paul Volti:

Which is pretty cool.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, that's awesome.

Paul Volti:

So it's those kind of stories and those kind of people I fly with that make it worth doing what I'm doing.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, I think it's great for airlines to have an ambassador like that.

Justin Seams:

I think there's something between it's a fine line like you don't want it to be company sponsored or company pushed or have the feeling of it being very corporate.

Justin Seams:

But if you can find somehow an organic way to have someone show what it's like to work, how they're happy at their job, how they think their airline's the best, all that kind of stuff, and just be happy and show the cool things to do.

Justin Seams:

I think it's an amazing recruiting tool and it can help separate that airline from one or the other.

Justin Seams:

Now there's obviously the dangers of picking the wrong person or having one rogue video go out there that could hurt the airline.

Justin Seams:

But I think overall it's definitely worth it.

Justin Seams:

I think what you've done has helped United, along with other influencers that are United, just put their name brand ahead of someone else.

Justin Seams:

You know, if you, if it comes down to it, you're looking at the applications and which one you want to hit.

Justin Seams:

Submit first to maybe like, oh, Paul, okay, United, that's cool.

Justin Seams:

Let me submit that one first.

Justin Seams:

And you get, you know, it's just, just how it works in your brain.

Justin Seams:

So I think all the airlines, if they're listening to this, they should kind of take note, maybe try to find their own influencer on YouTube or whatever it is.

Justin Seams:

Not, not promoting myself.

Justin Seams:

I don't really want to be a YouTube influencer.

Justin Seams:

I mean, it'd be kind of cool, but I can't look at myself in the camera yet.

Justin Seams:

I haven't gotten that point in my career.

Justin Seams:

But I think it's important, and I think you've done a good job.

Justin Seams:

The videos are cool, and I hope you continue doing them.

Justin Seams:

I got a little bit more for you, and then we'll go.

Justin Seams:

One is going to be.

Justin Seams:

Actually, I'll ask this question first because I got to load everything up.

Justin Seams:

I actually just got called in for a trip a little bit ago, so I have to go to Newark for some reason.

Paul Volti:

Oh, no kidding?

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Justin Seams:

Tomorrow, let's see.

Justin Seams:

I'm going to Newark.

Justin Seams:

I'm on the 7:3 domestic side, so not great.

Justin Seams:

But Newark, DFW to Austin, Austin, DFW to CMH, then Columbus back to Newark.

Justin Seams:

So I need to get my consolidation in, and I'm desperately in need of hours, so I can't say no to any trips right now.

Justin Seams:

But my phone rang about 20 minutes ago.

Justin Seams:

I was like, what's this take?

Justin Seams:

Okay, sorry.

Justin Seams:

Oh, no.

Justin Seams:

I went to school in Columbus, so I went to Ohio State, so it'll be good for me to go back to my.

Justin Seams:

My college town.

Paul Volti:

Oh, yeah, that'd be cool.

Justin Seams:

Anyways, the question I have for you first right now is obviously you have a lot of people that kind of watch your videos.

Justin Seams:

You've probably had the opportunity to kind of tell them this advice.

Justin Seams:

But what are three tips you give someone, whether they have one hour, a hundred hours, a thousand hours, or they want your career, they want your lifesty, they want your YouTube channel, everything.

Justin Seams:

What kind of advice would you give to them?

Justin Seams:

And if you can, three tips specifically for that.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

Well, number one would be don't give up.

Paul Volti:

It.

Paul Volti:

You know, my wife and I both trained jiu jitsu, and it's one of those things that, like, it's hard all the time.

Paul Volti:

Like, I'm always getting beat up.

Paul Volti:

You feel like you're never progressing.

Paul Volti:

Um, and.

Paul Volti:

But what you don't see is, like, the people on either side of you are progressing relatively at the same rate that you are.

Paul Volti:

And just don't, don't give up.

Paul Volti:

Because really, in the.

Paul Volti:

In the end, like, you're flying an airplane and it's awesome.

Paul Volti:

And like, if you love flying airplanes, whether you're flying a Cessna or a regional jet or a triple seven, it's all awesome.

Paul Volti:

It's like, it's so fun.

Paul Volti:

And the fact that you get to fly airplanes for a living, either, you know, now or in the future, it's like, it's the best.

Justin Seams:

Agreed.

Paul Volti:

Um, I don't know if that was one tip or two tips or what, but.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, just don't give up.

Paul Volti:

It's, you know, any.

Paul Volti:

Anything that's worth doing is going to be hard.

Paul Volti:

Like, you know, for me, like trying to get to a black belt, I mean, that's probably a decade away from me, but it's going to be worth it when I get there.

Paul Volti:

And same thing, being an airline pilot, like, becoming an airline pilot is hard and there's going to be some sacrifices and struggles and for sure, but anything that's worth doing is going to take that.

Paul Volti:

So just don't give up.

Justin Seams:

I love it.

Justin Seams:

I mean, that's the general overall and everything in life.

Justin Seams:

Right?

Justin Seams:

Just don't give up.

Justin Seams:

And I've seen it with, I mean, a lot of people be like, how'd you create a podcast?

Justin Seams:

How.

Justin Seams:

How have you gotten a good podcast?

Justin Seams:

How do you get sponsors?

Justin Seams:

And honestly, you might agree to this as well.

Justin Seams:

I think the number one thing is just continually posting content, just being consistent.

Justin Seams:

It's not going to happen overnight.

Justin Seams:

Like you said, you might have had 40 videos of travel sty, videos that maybe didn't really do anything, or maybe they did, I don't know.

Justin Seams:

But I'm just kind of thinking.

Justin Seams:

But just being consistent and being there and continually posting does wonders for your career or what you want.

Justin Seams:

It's the people that try to do it, they do it for a month.

Justin Seams:

They don't get any views, they don't get any sponsorships.

Justin Seams:

Like, this is stupid.

Justin Seams:

I can't do it.

Justin Seams:

It's like, that's how it works.

Justin Seams:

I didn't get paid, I didn't get any sponsors, make any money off this podcast for the first five years.

Justin Seams:

I did it.

Justin Seams:

It isn't until recently that I've started getting money, getting sponsors.

Justin Seams:

So it's not overnight.

Justin Seams:

It's hard work and you gotta continually do it.

Justin Seams:

And that's how everything is, I would say.

Paul Volti:

And you're learning along the way, like, yeah, you're getting a little bit better with every video.

Paul Volti:

Like, for me, anyway, with your podcast, like, you know, I try to learn something new in every video, like a new graphic, a new edit, a new transition or whatever.

Paul Volti:

I try to learn just to be a little bit better or get a different camera and learn how to use a new camera or a new drone or whatever.

Paul Volti:

And the same thing at Jiu Jitsu.

Paul Volti:

Like, I just try to learn a little bit every day.

Paul Volti:

And when you go flying you just try to learn a little bit.

Paul Volti:

You don't have to take in the whole lesson.

Paul Volti:

Just take in a couple minutes of it and be better at that.

Justin Seams:

Totally agree.

Justin Seams:

And I was going to do a rapid fire section, but my phone, for some reason I still use Evernote and it locks me out whenever I use a different device.

Justin Seams:

So I need a switch.

Justin Seams:

We'll do it again later.

Justin Seams:

I'll call you up for five minutes and we'll do it again later.

Justin Seams:

But I wanted to ask you the last question.

Justin Seams:

What do you bring with you?

Justin Seams:

What's like a recorder?

Justin Seams:

Do you have just like a massive third bag with cameras?

Justin Seams:

On cameras.

Justin Seams:

On cameras.

Justin Seams:

Do you have like a professional Sony?

Justin Seams:

And then you have like an OSMO Pocket or your iPhone?

Justin Seams:

Like, what are you bringing to record with?

Paul Volti:

Right.

Paul Volti:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

My standard.

Paul Volti:

If I'm recording a YouTube video, my standard setup will be I have a Sony ZV1 mark 2, which is A.

Paul Volti:

A small point and shoot.

Paul Volti:

I've got a road mic that I put on top of it, like a shotgun mic.

Paul Volti:

And then I have a DJI Mini 3 Pro drone.

Paul Volti:

And that having a drone really helps you set the scene for different transitions and set the scene for where you are.

Paul Volti:

Plus, they're fun to fly.

Paul Volti:

And then I'll use my iPhone for a lot of things.

Paul Volti:

I've got a little suction cup thing.

Paul Volti:

I can put it on a window.

Justin Seams:

Cool.

Paul Volti:

And walk.

Paul Volti:

Do a walking past shot or whatever.

Paul Volti:

Or like sitting on the airplane seat, you can suction it to the screen in front of you.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

And then usually I have a GoPro or an Insta360.

Paul Volti:

If I'm doing any sort of underwater action type shots, I'll make sure I have one of those with me.

Paul Volti:

So, yeah.

Paul Volti:

So the Sony ZV1 Mark 2, a DJI drone, and then my iPhone and a GoPro or something like that.

Justin Seams:

So what do you do about flying?

Paul Volti:

That's kind of the basic setup.

Justin Seams:

What do you do about flying a drone in a different country?

Justin Seams:

Is a lot of, I'm guessing, you know, now the rules and local laws, but has it been a lot of just.

Justin Seams:

Just Googling, figuring out, like, how do I fly a drone here?

Justin Seams:

Can I fly a drone here?

Justin Seams:

Or is it just we'll go fly if I get arrested, you know, I'll just blame it on the first officer.

Justin Seams:

It's his drone.

Paul Volti:

I know in London and Paris, like, that's a pretty strict drone, no drone zone.

Paul Volti:

Um, I'll.

Paul Volti:

I'll try to Google a little bit.

Justin Seams:

Yeah.

Paul Volti:

What the rules are.

Paul Volti:

And look up the DJI app to see.

Paul Volti:

But usually the DJI thing, if you're not allowed to fly there, it won't let you take off.

Justin Seams:

Oh, cool.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, that's good.

Paul Volti:

I don't know.

Paul Volti:

I figure if it.

Paul Volti:

If the drone lets me take off.

Justin Seams:

We'Re good to go.

Justin Seams:

Has customs ever, you know, like, London customs, have they opened up and like, dude, what are you doing?

Paul Volti:

Doing?

Justin Seams:

Are you an influencer?

Justin Seams:

Like, why do you got a drone here?

Justin Seams:

Why you got these cameras?

Justin Seams:

What are you doing, man?

Paul Volti:

No, it's actually never, ever come up.

Paul Volti:

No one's ever looked at, you know, four cameras in my bag and asked anything about it.

Justin Seams:

Well, I love it.

Justin Seams:

Well, hey, Paul, thank you so much for today, man.

Justin Seams:

It's been fun talking with you.

Justin Seams:

I hope you have a great rest of your time off.

Justin Seams:

Just living your dream.

Justin Seams:

So thanks for coming on.

Justin Seams:

This podcast will probably come out in a week.

Justin Seams:

All I need from you is just a picture, some videos that you want to send me for some promo, and that'll be it.

Paul Volti:

Sure, sounds great.

Justin Seams:

All right, man.

Justin Seams:

Well, I appreciate it.

Paul Volti:

We'll do it.

Justin Seams:

Thanks, dude.

Justin Seams:

Yeah, man, we'll have a good.

Justin Seams:

I'll hold down Newark for you tomorrow.

Paul Volti:

Yeah, have a good trip.

Justin Seams:

See you, man.

Justin Seams:

AV Nation, that's a wrap on today's episode.

Justin Seams:

Thank you so much for listening to the podcast.

Justin Seams:

Shout out to all the sponsors.

Justin Seams:

I really appreciate everything you all do for the Pilot to Pilot podcast and it is.

Justin Seams:

Can't do this without you.

Justin Seams:

Let's just be honest.

Justin Seams:

But AV Nation, I'm so thankful.

Justin Seams:

Paul, I appreciate you coming to the podcast.

Justin Seams:

It's great to hear your story.

Justin Seams:

It was great to talk about regional life, about flying for Continental, making 25 an hour at a major airline.

Justin Seams:

I don't think anyone right now that's listening can comprehend what that would be like.

Justin Seams:

Everyone needs to make at least 100k and if they don't, they feel like they're not doing well in life.

Justin Seams:

So it wasn't that long ago when that wasn't a possibility at an airline.

Justin Seams:

So it's something that we always just got to keep in our brain, keep in our mind of what has happened in the past and how, one, it can come back.

Justin Seams:

And two, we should be super thankful for what we have in this.

Justin Seams:

This awesome industry that we all call our own.

Justin Seams:

So, AV Nation, I hope you're having a great day.

Justin Seams:

And as always, happy flying Pilot, the.

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