Latest / Brian Thomas / IHeartMedia Aviation Expert Jay Ratliff

Transcript

IHeartMedia Aviation Expert Jay Ratliff · Brian Thomas

0:00
Speaker 1: And a iHeartMedia aviation expert Jay Ratloffe joined many of
0:05
Speaker 1: the iHeart stations, none of which were streaming yesterday. By
0:08
Speaker 1: the way, Jay Ratliffe is always great having you on
0:09
Speaker 1: the program. Welcome back, my friend.
0:11
Speaker 2: Oh, pleasure to be here. Yeah.
0:14
Speaker 1: Fuel prices going up. We saw that was a luftonsa
0:17
Speaker 1: canceled twenty thousand plus flights into October because of the
0:20
Speaker 1: rising jet fuel costs. Of course, the straight up horror
0:23
Speaker 1: moves being shut down is behind all this. It looks
0:25
Speaker 1: like United they're claiming that fares are going up. I
0:28
Speaker 1: guess fuel prices hun Jay.
0:30
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, additional twenty percent. The airlines continue to raise
0:33
Speaker 2: bag fees. And this is something that's not only I mean,
0:38
Speaker 2: we're knocking at the door of the summer travel season
0:41
Speaker 2: begins at the end of next month with the Memorial
0:43
Speaker 2: Day weekend, and as this conflict continues, what's going to
0:48
Speaker 2: happen is discussions over affecting summer travel is going to
0:52
Speaker 2: kind of transition into affecting fall travel and winter travel.
0:57
Speaker 2: So this is gonna be something that could be a
1:00
Speaker 2: ballenge for the airline industry for the foreseeable future, which
1:02
Speaker 2: is why people that have not yet bought their fall
1:06
Speaker 2: or even next year's tickets for January February, yet they're
1:09
Speaker 2: able to do so, or considering doing just that, trying
1:13
Speaker 2: to lock in the fairs as much as they can
1:15
Speaker 2: to guard themselves against future fare increases. It's got so
1:18
Speaker 2: bad in Europe that some of the airlines there have
1:21
Speaker 2: actually gone back to customers who previously bought their tickets
1:24
Speaker 2: paid for their luggage, saying oh, we need more now
1:27
Speaker 2: because of horizons costs. Yeah, we've never seen that before,
1:32
Speaker 2: so passengers aren't, shall we say two extremely happy with
1:36
Speaker 2: that regard.
1:37
Speaker 1: I got two words in the happy Birthday. I mean
1:40
Speaker 1: we closed the deal. We have a contract bought and sold.
1:44
Speaker 2: You know, I'm sorry. The word contract is the exact
1:48
Speaker 2: thing that exists between the consumer and the airline. And
1:52
Speaker 2: they've got tons of legal you know, in their conditions
1:57
Speaker 2: of contract wording that proves the fact that it's that
2:00
Speaker 2: so sure and that this is obviously the biggest issue
2:04
Speaker 2: right now facing airlines. And as they increase their bag fees,
2:07
Speaker 2: we know when fuel prices drop, they're not giving us
2:10
Speaker 2: this money back, so that revenue stream is going to
2:12
Speaker 2: remain consistent.
2:14
Speaker 1: Well, I suppose on some level, I mean logistically it
2:18
Speaker 1: may be difficult, but you could. Well, it would probably
2:20
Speaker 1: cost you more to mail the clothing to your destination.
2:23
Speaker 1: But I guess you can choose not to pack extra
2:26
Speaker 1: bags to save some money. But you can't get around
2:28
Speaker 1: the airline ticket itself.
2:30
Speaker 2: So it says, well, but there is something you can do.
2:33
Speaker 2: A lot of people have really resisted these airline credit cards.
2:37
Speaker 2: And I have a Delta Skymile or card through American
2:41
Speaker 2: Express that you know, as I charge, I get mine. Yeah,
2:44
Speaker 2: and a lot of these different airlines have something that
2:46
Speaker 2: if you have their card, many times your first bag
2:49
Speaker 2: or two is free when you fly. So some people
2:52
Speaker 2: are saying, wait, abute, I could get this airline credit
2:54
Speaker 2: card that might cost me ninety nine bucks a year.
2:56
Speaker 2: I fly three times a year. I checked two bags
2:58
Speaker 2: a year. My bag fees could be four hundred bucks.
3:02
Speaker 2: So if I get the card, I'll say three hundred
3:03
Speaker 2: dollars a year. So there's some people that are saying, look,
3:07
Speaker 2: you know, I don't like the card for the cards sake,
3:09
Speaker 2: but if I can have it, use it, you know,
3:12
Speaker 2: keep the balance of zero what have you. Then yeah,
3:15
Speaker 2: I've got something in my pocket that can help guard
3:18
Speaker 2: against some of these additional costs. And yeah, so passengers
3:22
Speaker 2: are exploring all kinds of options, and that's one that
3:24
Speaker 2: they certainly can well.
3:25
Speaker 1: Going back to buying early the topic as you have
3:28
Speaker 1: it framed my notes here United Airlines summer fairs might increase.
3:32
Speaker 1: That suggests they haven't yet done. Is it too late
3:35
Speaker 1: to assuming they don't try to renig on the contract
3:37
Speaker 1: you've entered into with them? Is it too late to
3:39
Speaker 1: take advantage by someone buying a ticket now for safe flight?
3:42
Speaker 1: Now fly next spring?
3:44
Speaker 2: We you can most time eleven months or so, as
3:48
Speaker 2: soon as you can end up buying your ticket. And
3:52
Speaker 2: some fares were already have already been adjusted up over
3:56
Speaker 2: the last few weeks. Airlines were quick to do that
3:58
Speaker 2: with regards to the the rising fuel costs. And you know,
4:02
Speaker 2: I was talking about an additional and you always say
4:04
Speaker 2: might before you do it. You know, we might be
4:06
Speaker 2: forced to do this. I'm sorry, we have to do
4:08
Speaker 2: it right. It's they're just ripping the band aid off slowly.
4:11
Speaker 2: But it's it's like airlines and companies that say they
4:14
Speaker 2: might be forced to file bankruptcy, they're they're giving the
4:18
Speaker 2: word out, Hey, all options are on the table and
4:21
Speaker 2: they're not good. So when they say might that to
4:24
Speaker 2: me means just as much as it's going to happen,
4:27
Speaker 2: it's going to apply.
4:28
Speaker 1: It's gonna yeah, Okay, you can't unring the bell of
4:30
Speaker 1: the conflict and the global repercussions. Fuel is going up.
4:33
Speaker 1: It's going to happen. All right, Let's find out a
4:35
Speaker 1: Spirit Airlines a well too big to fail? How is
4:39
Speaker 1: it that it might be qualifying for a rescue package
4:41
Speaker 1: from the government. Jay's going to let us know coming
4:43
Speaker 1: up next to say thirty five right now, and I
4:45
Speaker 1: get to mention Galaxy Concrete Solutions. I was mentioned rhydo
4:48
Speaker 1: shield before you talk stations? Have you ever been in
4:51
Speaker 1: the cockpit before a thirty nine fifty five KRCD talk station?
4:54
Speaker 1: Jay radlffs us iHeart meet the aviation expert. We get
4:56
Speaker 1: the blessing of him every Thursday for a few segments.
5:00
Speaker 1: Pivoting away from well fuel prices, going through the roof.
5:03
Speaker 1: What about Spirit Airline's been having some problems? Are are
5:05
Speaker 1: they going to get a bailout from the government today?
5:07
Speaker 1: I'm kind of puzzling about this one.
5:09
Speaker 2: Well, there's not a single problem on the planet. Our
5:12
Speaker 2: president can't solve. So when this crossed his death, he said,
5:16
Speaker 2: I think we can help out. So there's a possibility
5:20
Speaker 2: that Spirit could get a five hundred million dollar bailout
5:23
Speaker 2: or something. We'll have to wait and see. Or President
5:27
Speaker 2: Trump has said, look, or you know, maybe some buyers
5:31
Speaker 2: could come in and types of things. Again, he's trying
5:33
Speaker 2: to help fix the problem. The issue is if Spirit
5:37
Speaker 2: were to get five hundred million dollars, look at your watch,
5:39
Speaker 2: it would last about six months because the fuel prices
5:43
Speaker 2: being what they're at right now, the operating expenses of
5:47
Speaker 2: Spirit and everything else, it's not going to be something
5:50
Speaker 2: that would pretty much get him over the bridge. They
5:54
Speaker 2: would probably need more money down the road. So I
5:58
Speaker 2: would be surprised if we ended up going that route,
6:01
Speaker 2: not totally shocked, but because it's not the norm. Typically
6:06
Speaker 2: we let businesses do what businesses do. If you're successful,
6:09
Speaker 2: you succeed. If you're not, you fail. Certainly, there's a
6:13
Speaker 2: great deal of optimism on the behalf of investors now
6:17
Speaker 2: thinking that the airline might be saved. Goodness, their stock
6:19
Speaker 2: price Monday was twenty two cents a share, and I
6:22
Speaker 2: think yesterday at one point he was up to two
6:24
Speaker 2: dollars and forty five cents a share. I think it
6:26
Speaker 2: dropped back to about dollars fifty but the issues are
6:30
Speaker 2: still there. And sadly, since we've got this fuel crisis
6:34
Speaker 2: that could last easily until the end of the year,
6:36
Speaker 2: how much help would Spirit need between now and then
6:39
Speaker 2: they ended the year last year? I want to say
6:42
Speaker 2: round numbers, maybe three hundred and fifty million dollars, and
6:44
Speaker 2: they're looking at spending an additional three hundred and fifty
6:47
Speaker 2: million dollars this year in fuel cost alone, So it's difficult.
6:53
Speaker 2: They're trying to make the necessary changes and brand. They've
6:56
Speaker 2: just had one problem after another. They had to ground
6:59
Speaker 2: a good percentage of their fleet because they had Pratt
7:02
Speaker 2: and Whitney engines on them, and the Pratt and Whitney
7:04
Speaker 2: engines were having issues, so they could not use those
7:07
Speaker 2: silver revenue tubes, these brand new airplanes with these great
7:11
Speaker 2: you know, the Pratt and Whitney engines on them. They
7:13
Speaker 2: should have GE engines that would have saved them, but
7:15
Speaker 2: they weren't able to use that percentage of their fleet
7:17
Speaker 2: for an extended period of time. So they've had one
7:20
Speaker 2: bad issue after another that just continues to plague them.
7:24
Speaker 1: Well, going back to the more fundamental thing. I don't
7:26
Speaker 1: you know, Donald Trump can do it to the hell
7:27
Speaker 1: he wants, whether I agree with it or not, But
7:29
Speaker 1: that's taxpayer dollars. He's going to unilaterally decide to give
7:32
Speaker 1: five hundred million dollars to a single company out there
7:35
Speaker 1: in the world, privately owned well, I mean, I mean,
7:37
Speaker 1: I'm hearing listeners right now going wait a minute, what
7:39
Speaker 1: about my business? Where do we get my hand on
7:40
Speaker 1: the cookie jarat? It reminds me of the Browns getting
7:43
Speaker 1: six hundred million from the Cleveland or from the unclaimed
7:45
Speaker 1: funds here in the in the state of Ohio, you know,
7:48
Speaker 1: and that you're like, wait a minute, we had one
7:50
Speaker 1: of those. Yeah, and they're just taking money out of
7:51
Speaker 1: and randomly handing it to the Cleveland Browns. That's not right.
7:55
Speaker 1: But does he have a slush fun I thought power
7:58
Speaker 1: of the purse was with Congress. That doesn't Congress have
8:00
Speaker 1: to specifically allocate and expenditure like this.
8:03
Speaker 2: This is great, they better, they better, but you know,
8:05
Speaker 2: we'll see what happens. But again, the president talks like
8:08
Speaker 2: the president talks, and sometimes you know, he hits the
8:11
Speaker 2: ground running sleeps an interruption to his day, so he's
8:14
Speaker 2: always looking for the next challenge. And you know he
8:17
Speaker 2: doesn't want Spirit to fail. None of us do, because
8:19
Speaker 2: if any low cost carrier fails to survive, it means
8:23
Speaker 2: the existing seats that are in those markets are going
8:25
Speaker 2: to see an increase in price, and we don't want
8:28
Speaker 2: that low cost carriers. Ever since the days of deregulation,
8:32
Speaker 2: Thank you Jimmy Carter for that, by the way, everything
8:35
Speaker 2: from that point forward has been competition has dictated the
8:39
Speaker 2: success or failure of airlines, and we want as many
8:42
Speaker 2: low cost carriers as we can because that's why I
8:45
Speaker 2: would not want to see an American United merger, because
8:48
Speaker 2: if that ever were to come about, you're talking about
8:52
Speaker 2: a reduction in the overall seats significantly, and we would
8:55
Speaker 2: see fewer airlines, we would see fewer available seats, and
8:58
Speaker 2: we would end up seeing a rise in airfares as
9:02
Speaker 2: a result. I just yeah, so it feel be interesting
9:05
Speaker 2: to see what's going to happen. But yeah, Spirit has
9:07
Speaker 2: been on financial life support, filing for two bankruptcy filings
9:12
Speaker 2: in a period of about eighteen months visually, because they're
9:16
Speaker 2: having a very, very difficult time right now with the
9:18
Speaker 2: drop in demand for leisure travel to make.
9:21
Speaker 1: It well, I guess would that be rewarding incompetence or
9:24
Speaker 1: is a lot of this out of spirits you know
9:26
Speaker 1: business model hands In other words, they're free of criticism.
9:30
Speaker 1: But nonetheless, these you know, black clouds came over and
9:33
Speaker 1: impacted Spirit Airlines business model. So it wasn't their fault
9:36
Speaker 1: they collapsed and went bankrupt twice. Are they worthy of
9:39
Speaker 1: a bailout?
9:39
Speaker 2: I mean fundamentally, I mean when we look at how
9:44
Speaker 2: they've done business in the past, their margin, their profit
9:48
Speaker 2: margin was very narrow, and you had, as with most airlines,
9:52
Speaker 2: a very thin distance between success and losing money, profit
9:57
Speaker 2: and failure. And one of the things that they weren't
10:00
Speaker 2: real quick at doing is a lot of their competition
10:02
Speaker 2: was coming up with the premium seats where they could
10:05
Speaker 2: charge a little bit more, give a little bit more
10:07
Speaker 2: leg room, something that is really flourishing with a lot
10:10
Speaker 2: of the other low cost carriers. They were kind of
10:12
Speaker 2: late to the table with that, and as a result,
10:15
Speaker 2: they were prevented from generating that additional revenue that I
10:18
Speaker 2: think would have helped. And believe me, that adds up
10:21
Speaker 2: quite a bit of money when you see that more
10:23
Speaker 2: and more of these airlines, especially the low cost carriers,
10:26
Speaker 2: add these comfort plus seats that have the additional leg
10:30
Speaker 2: room that people are more than willing to spend a
10:33
Speaker 2: few extra dollars to sit in because they're far more comfortable.
10:36
Speaker 2: They were kind of late in getting that together. And
10:39
Speaker 2: you know, one of the things that Spirit continued to
10:41
Speaker 2: do is they were looking at spreading and trying to
10:45
Speaker 2: grow and grow and grow, and that business model is
10:47
Speaker 2: working good when the demand is high. When things start
10:50
Speaker 2: to reverse and trend, yeah, the music stops quickly and
10:53
Speaker 2: you're scrambling for a chair. Spirit in Frontier would have
10:56
Speaker 2: been a perfect merger years ago. The two complimented each
10:59
Speaker 2: other's route schedule and had Spirit simply gone through with that,
11:02
Speaker 2: it would have been something that would have saved their airline. Instead,
11:05
Speaker 2: Jet Blue came calling saying we're going to give you
11:07
Speaker 2: more money. Spirit looks at Frontier and says, forget it,
11:11
Speaker 2: not interested anymore. Jet Blue merger falls through not approved.
11:14
Speaker 2: Spirit goes back to Frontier, asking are you still interested
11:17
Speaker 2: in the merger? Frontier says, think you know? So you
11:20
Speaker 2: know again, spirits out there just kind of floating on
11:22
Speaker 2: the oceans by themselves, absent them any real help.
11:25
Speaker 1: I don't want to see a business go under it.
11:27
Speaker 1: But then again, I don't think it's government's rule to
11:29
Speaker 1: bail people out or businesses.
11:31
Speaker 2: I mean total total agreement there.
11:33
Speaker 1: I know I was safe ground there with you. I
11:34
Speaker 1: Heart mediavation Expert Jay Ratlift coming up. Is it still
11:37
Speaker 1: safe to fly out there? Within a short period of time,
11:40
Speaker 1: planes nearly colliding? Over in Nashville and then over to
11:43
Speaker 1: JFK where Yeah, planes nearly flew into each other. More
11:46
Speaker 1: with Jay Ratlif at eight forty five right now I
11:47
Speaker 1: fifty five KRCD talk station, fifty five krc station, Hey,
11:53
Speaker 1: forty eight to fifty five KRCD talk station. One more
11:55
Speaker 1: segment with I Heart Media Aviation Expert Jay Ratlift. Okay,
12:01
Speaker 1: if I was on the plane, I think maybe my
12:03
Speaker 1: shorts one might need to be changed, Jay Rattliffe. Near
12:05
Speaker 1: collisions in air, we have two of them. Let's start
12:09
Speaker 1: in Nashville where apparently two Southwest Southwest Airline planes nearly
12:13
Speaker 1: ran into each other in flight. How close at Jay.
12:16
Speaker 2: Five hundred feet No, we had two Southwest flights parallel runways.
12:23
Speaker 2: One was coming into land let's say, on the left runway,
12:26
Speaker 2: and they had to aboard their landing. They were getting
12:29
Speaker 2: permission to proceed bank right unfortunately, which was putting him
12:34
Speaker 2: in the direct path of the departing southwest flight. By
12:38
Speaker 2: the time the air traffic controller caught the mistake, he
12:41
Speaker 2: ordered evasive maneuvers to occur. Fortunately, we have an onboard
12:46
Speaker 2: traffic collision avoidance to some TEA casts that kicked them
12:49
Speaker 2: on both aircraft, giving both crews instructions, they deviated got
12:54
Speaker 2: out of each other's way thanks to that technology. The
12:58
Speaker 2: FAA is investigating that we had the one I believe
13:01
Speaker 2: a JFK is three hundred and fifty feet separations where
13:05
Speaker 2: we had again to airplanes that coming dangerously dangerously close together.
13:11
Speaker 2: So we're not only seeing that the number of these increase,
13:14
Speaker 2: we're also seeing the closeness of how these close these
13:18
Speaker 2: aircraft are coming tend to be getting closer and closer
13:21
Speaker 2: and Bryant, the FAA is scrambling right now to investigate
13:25
Speaker 2: these and provide answers such as is this simply a
13:29
Speaker 2: matter of not having enough air traffic controllers. If that's
13:32
Speaker 2: the case, then I look to the FAA to do
13:35
Speaker 2: what they've done before, and in certain parts of the country,
13:38
Speaker 2: say we're going to reduce the flight activity by ten,
13:40
Speaker 2: fifty teen percent, whatever takes, so that we can minimize
13:44
Speaker 2: the traffic flow to make it easier for air traffic
13:46
Speaker 2: controllers to do their job. Now, we'll have to wait
13:49
Speaker 2: and see if the FA does that. Typically, sadly, stupidly enough,
13:54
Speaker 2: it normally requires an accident before we make the changes
13:57
Speaker 2: that need to be made. But I think that we're
13:59
Speaker 2: seeing enough of these that we've got to do something.
14:03
Speaker 2: And certainly in the Northeast where we've got some of
14:05
Speaker 2: these issues, if it is a matter of staffing, they
14:08
Speaker 2: have to respond, because it's going to take four to
14:10
Speaker 2: five years for us to get the air traffic controllers
14:12
Speaker 2: staffed where everybody is where they need to be. And
14:16
Speaker 2: so what do you do between now.
14:17
Speaker 1: And then, That's a great question. That's one I want
14:19
Speaker 1: to follow up on if they have to, if they're
14:21
Speaker 1: forced to reduce the amount of planes coming in out
14:23
Speaker 1: of any in and out of any given airport, I think,
14:25
Speaker 1: you know, like Atlanta's airport was one of the busiest
14:29
Speaker 1: in the entire world, Chicago is always extraordinarily busy. When
14:33
Speaker 1: you see the number of flights in and out. But
14:35
Speaker 1: they're hubs. I mean, how could you mean that would
14:38
Speaker 1: interfere with the effective operation of the airlines? Would it
14:40
Speaker 1: not going back to business models? How would you ever
14:43
Speaker 1: cut back?
14:45
Speaker 2: Well, what happened was in the last fall, and we've
14:47
Speaker 2: had a couple of times last year and the year
14:49
Speaker 2: before where the FA has gone to airlines in the
14:52
Speaker 2: busy Northeast corridor saying just that we need to cut
14:55
Speaker 2: back ten percent, and airlines did to their credit. And
14:58
Speaker 2: of course you've got the hub at JFK with American Airlines,
15:02
Speaker 2: you have a Delta hub there. You also have the
15:05
Speaker 2: United Hub obviously in Newark that's there. So you've got
15:08
Speaker 2: three main thriving hubs that are distribution centers that the
15:11
Speaker 2: airlines look at. And they did just that. They they
15:15
Speaker 2: reduced the amount of flight activity. And a lot of
15:17
Speaker 2: times the airlines will say, okay, we'll increase the flights
15:20
Speaker 2: out of Chicago or Houston or Atlanta to make up
15:23
Speaker 2: for not having the ability to connect people on international
15:27
Speaker 2: routes through the busy Northeast corridor. So we've done it
15:30
Speaker 2: before and airlines have responded before. So we've proven that
15:35
Speaker 2: we can do it before, and sometimes it's just not
15:37
Speaker 2: the size of the airport, Brian. A lot of times
15:40
Speaker 2: it's just the number of air traffic controllers at that airport.
15:44
Speaker 2: And you know, in the Northeast on a good day,
15:47
Speaker 2: with that close corridor, we have a hard time, which
15:50
Speaker 2: is one of the reasons that we need the updated technology.
15:53
Speaker 2: And it was great to hear the update from Sean
15:55
Speaker 2: Duffy this week saying that you know they're getting the
15:59
Speaker 2: money that need to begin the process of getting everything updated. Yes,
16:03
Speaker 2: getting away from the floppy disk and everything else that
16:05
Speaker 2: we're currently using. But if President Trump is successful in
16:09
Speaker 2: doing this and getting aviation staffed with air traffic controllers
16:13
Speaker 2: and getting the technology upgraded to it needs to be
16:16
Speaker 2: something that's not happened in more than fifty years. His
16:19
Speaker 2: stamp on that business, that industry is going to be
16:23
Speaker 2: felt for the next twenty years. That could easily be
16:26
Speaker 2: the most important thing he does as president, given how
16:29
Speaker 2: important aviation is to the economic health of our community
16:33
Speaker 2: and the world, and with how fast we're expecting it
16:37
Speaker 2: to grow over the next twenty years.
16:38
Speaker 1: Well, hopefully even though it's going to take five years ago,
16:40
Speaker 1: he'll still get credit for it after he is not
16:42
Speaker 1: no no, no, no, no, no, I know not going
16:44
Speaker 1: to happen. Yeah right, yeah, well you know, yeah, I
16:50
Speaker 1: got it. I have to ask this question because you know,
16:52
Speaker 1: I'm freaked out. Three hundred and fifty feet. Okay, First off,
16:55
Speaker 1: what's the closest safe distance they're allowed to fly to?
16:58
Speaker 1: Close nearly other But the other thing is this warning
17:01
Speaker 1: system that went off? Does that warning system tell the
17:04
Speaker 1: pilot which way to peel off? Okay, good, I feel battery.
17:08
Speaker 2: And you've probably heard this system being tested. When you
17:10
Speaker 2: get on a plane and in the cockpit here they
17:12
Speaker 2: pull up, pull up, that's the that's the tea cast
17:15
Speaker 2: system being being being tested and what it would happen.
17:20
Speaker 2: And when you have two aircraft that are approaching that close,
17:23
Speaker 2: the t cast system comes into play and we have
17:26
Speaker 2: tells one one aircraft crew descend, the other one to
17:30
Speaker 2: us end and it sends them in opposite directions. Crews
17:33
Speaker 2: are taught immediately when they hear that to immediately respond
17:37
Speaker 2: ire they do, and we've seen obvious evidence of that
17:41
Speaker 2: of late. But I mean, there's times you've got to
17:43
Speaker 2: have a mile separation, two mile separation. It depends on
17:46
Speaker 2: where the aircraft is at at the time, and when
17:49
Speaker 2: you start seeing mistakes being made, and many times these
17:53
Speaker 2: are human air where it's either pilot or air traffic controller,
17:56
Speaker 2: you've got scenarios where that that safety buffer that we
18:00
Speaker 2: have built in is really being tested. And it's just
18:05
Speaker 2: I hate to say that, you know, with lifting batteries,
18:07
Speaker 2: I feel like we're on borrow time on some of
18:09
Speaker 2: these situations with the close calls at airports, or maybe
18:13
Speaker 2: we don't have the adequate staffing same sort of situation,
18:16
Speaker 2: and it's it's very unsettling because everything else makes aviation
18:21
Speaker 2: incredibly safe, the training that the officers go through, the
18:25
Speaker 2: men and women that fly, the technology that's at their disposal,
18:28
Speaker 2: either air traffic control on the on the ground, We've got,
18:31
Speaker 2: you know, a lot of things. But it's just we're
18:35
Speaker 2: still still having these issues and the challengers are there,
18:37
Speaker 2: certainly for the Federal Aviation Administration.
18:39
Speaker 1: All right, in ten seconds, can you tell us how
18:41
Speaker 1: the hub lay situation is out there today?
18:43
Speaker 2: Dave rat Left, Thank tell you too. It's great. Just
18:45
Speaker 2: don't go to Salt Lake City and you're gonna have
18:47
Speaker 2: a good day.
18:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, hopefully you have enough air traffic controllers Jay Ratliff,
18:50
Speaker 1: love you brother. We'll do this again next week. Have
18:52
Speaker 1: a great week by Bredo. Thank you Congress and Ward
18:56
Speaker 1: Davidson on the show. Earlier check got the podcas