The Flight Club Podcast

What if technology could cut your turbulence encounters in half before you even take off? 
In this episode of Flight Club, host Jason Middleton sits down with Maya Shpak, CEO of SkyPath,  the crowdsourced turbulence intelligence platform transforming aviation safety for millions of passengers every day. Maya breaks down how SkyPath leverages iPad accelerometers and machine learning to deliver real-time, hyper-granular turbulence data across 40,000 flights per day, achieving a 50% reduction in moderate turbulence encounters across its entire user ecosystem. 
The conversation goes beyond the technology, exploring why "smooth air" data is just as critical as turbulence alerts, how knowing where the air is calm empowers pilots to make smarter routing decisions, and the honest debate around autonomous aviation and where AI may eventually surpass human decision-making in emergencies. 
Maya also opens up about her journey from second employee to CEO, her helicopter background as both an outsider advantage and an asset, and her leadership philosophy built on direct communication, owning mistakes, and creating a culture where people feel safe to challenge the status quo. Equal parts insightful, honest, and genuinely fun, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

Captain Christopher Behnam saved 381 lives on United Flight 1175 when his Boeing 777 suffered catastrophic engine failure over the Pacific - an incident so severe simulators couldn't replicate it without breaking. 
 
From arriving in the U.S. with $200 in his pocket to becoming United's youngest 747 captain at 28, Christopher's story is one of resilience, precision, and the immigrant dream.
 
In this conversation, he walks us through every second of that harrowing 40-minute descent into Honolulu, hand-flying with no autopilot, full asymmetric thrust, and a stall at 242 knots in IMC. He shares the five miracles that allowed him to land safely, the one decision that saved everyone on board: "Today's not the day we're going to die”. And how his father's 18 years of torture in an Iranian prison gave him the strength to refuse to give up.
 
Christopher is now building Flying Lion Aviation Group to train the next generation of aviators with retired airline captains, Top Gun instructors, and Blue Angels, proving once again that impossible is nothing.

In this episode of Flight Club, host Jason sits down with Kenny Dichter - co-founder of Marquee Jet and Wheels Up - for an unfiltered look at what it truly takes to build a billion-dollar private aviation brand, not once, but twice. 
Kenny shares the story behind Marquee Jet's origin, including eight relentless pitches to NetJets founder Richard Santulli and Warren Buffett, and the Coca-Cola analogy that finally closed the deal, all the way through scaling Wheels Up to $1.585 billion in recognized sales in 2022. Now building Real Jet, a bespoke, lifestyle-driven aviation brand, Kenny unpacks the philosophy at its core, rooted in Dr. Maya Angelou's principle that it's not what you say or do, but how you make people feel. 
The conversation goes beyond business strategy, diving into safety culture and the fiduciary responsibility operators carry when clients trust them with their families at 35,000 feet, how culture consistently outperforms strategy in building fierce employee loyalty, and navigating real-world chaos in private aviation. 
This is a masterclass in entrepreneurship, brand-building, and the human side of an industry that moves the world's most discerning travelers.

When Stephanie Goetz’s very first flying lesson was broadcast live on NBC, it set her life on an entirely new course. After more than a decade as a news anchor for ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates, a story assignment with an 80-year-old flight instructor landed her in the left seat of a Piper Archer, and she was instantly hooked. Today, Stephanie is a professional pilot, executive coach, and steward of The Pink Jet, a bright pink L-39 Albatross flown nationwide to raise breast cancer awareness. In this episode, she shares her journey from the newsroom to the cockpit, flying high-performance jets like the L-39 and Global 6000, navigating loss and resilience, advocating for diversity in aviation, and explaining why
business aviation, safety training, and saying yes to opportunity have defined her career.

What happens when an NFL tight end takes to the skies?
In this inspiring episode, we sit down with professional football player Pharaoh Brown, who's trading touchdowns for takeoffs as he pursues his passion for aviation. From surviving a dramatic bird strike during instrument training to his first solo flight in challenging winds,
Pharaoh shares the raw, unfiltered journey of becoming a pilot while playing at the highest level of professional sports. Discover how the discipline of NFL training translates directly into the cockpit, why Pharaoh believes "the sky isn't the limit anymore," and his ambitious
vision to launch a Players in Aviation Association, connecting professional athletes with careers in aviation through mentorship and education. This conversation explores the parallels between high-pressure sports and flying, the importance of humility in the cockpit, and how one athlete is using his platform to open doors for the next generation, proving that even at the top of your game, there's always room to grow, learn, and chase new dreams