If there was ONE sponsor I fantasized about getting when I started a YouTube channel about flying… ForeFlight was IT!
I got my license in the mid-90’s, eons before the era of tablets. Heck, the internet wasn’t even “a thing” yet.
Flight planning on paper was never something I felt good about, but as many of us did, I tolerated it as a necessary pain point to overcome before being able to enjoy what I really loved about being a pilot: simply flying!
There was a period where I lost my currency after “life got in the way”: I met my wife, bought the house, had the baby, and BAM! Almost 5 years had gone by since my last logbook entry. The significant thing though, was the era in which this happened…
It was 2006 when I stopped flying… and 2007 marked the dawn of the iPad… and ForeFlight. And I watched paper flight planning become a thing of the past! Just. Like. That.
I got a 1st-Gen iPad Mini for Christmas from my wife in 2009, and the first thing I installed on it was ForeFlight. I was flying again by early 2010!
Getting recurrent and looking for “missions” as a weekend warrior private pilot, ultimately created the motivation for the “Flight Chops” project…
ForeFlight was the first to come on board as a Flight Chops Sponsor, and helped legitimize the channel which paved the way for other industry-leading sponsors to take the plunge and sponsor a YouTube channel, which had not happened yet in Aviation.
Many episodes and many flying experiences later, ForeFlight has proven to be a strong supporter of the project in a very hands-off way, meaning that they allow me to produce the content and tell the stories that need to be told. For that, I am so grateful.
They’ve also generously given away many annual subscriptions of ForeFlight Pro to Flight Chops viewers, as well as invaluable flying tools (like the Stratus 2S) via our Monthly Contest. I recommend going to check that out, which is open to all our viewers.
Connecting with viewers at the Foreflight booth, during #Osh17
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I love all your videos, and this is my story. After 911, we should all know that date, no one could get a job, unless you would work for free, no one help us at the time, and we all had to go do something else to survive. And if you would get a job, they would pay nothing, with a 63000$, in depts., with a commercial and and a multi-IFR, and you can't get a job. Most companies where asking 4000-5000 hours.
From the 200 the graduated that year, 7 made it as airline pilots.
Now Airlines are looking for pilots, and I'm going back in.
So this is my story, and I'm not alone, and I think it's a story that should be told, a pilot 20 years older then most of the kids out there going back. You can't buy life experience.
I'm excited to announce a partnership that will see a brand-new Van’s RV-14 being built and flown -- becoming the official aircraft of Flight Chops. This relationship will focus on creating new video content, telling the stories and documenting the experiences of building a Van’s RV-14 aircraft and then following the airplane on its flying adventures.
I’ve been carrying around a dog-eared photo of a Van’s Aircraft RV-7 in my wallet since 2001. Discovering that such a capable aircraft was both accessible and affordable was inspiring! The opportunity to meet “Van” himself to discuss building and flying the RV-7’s big brother -- the RV-14 -- is very exciting and means a lot to me! Stay tuned for news on this project!
