Hey.
-What's up? -Hello.
-How you doing, Nathan? -Good.
-Thanks for coming in. -Of course.
So... Yeah, the scene is... is gonna be on a plane,
and your role would be "Passenger Number Seven."
So, when the flight reaches cruise altitude,
there's gonna be like a drink service.
And your line is gonna be, "Diet Pepsi, please."
-Okay. -Okay, so that's the...
Diet Pepsi, please.
Awesome. Okay, great. Thanks.
Can I have water with ice, please?
Black tea with lemon.
-A water with no ice, please. -I'll have a black coffee.
I'll have coffee with sugar, no cream, please.
I'm good, thanks.
Orange juice and a club soda mixed.
Can I have a cranberry juice, please?
Perfect!
And just so you have the context, the scene is gonna take place
on a real Boeing 737.
And I'm gonna be one of the two pilots
in the cockpit.
However, I will be the one who is flying the plane.
-Interesting. -Yeah.
And I just wanna be clear, so there's no confusion,
this is gonna be a real flight. And I will be flying the plane.
-Okay. -Okay.
Okay. Okay.
I know this is a little unconventional
for an acting role.
-Yeah. -So, you know, if any part of you
feels even the slightest bit hesitant or uncomfortable with this,
I just want you to know it's totally fine
if you wanna opt out or not participate.
I would not be offended in any way.
Yeah, this seems fine. Yeah.
You know, this whole thing is about making aviation safer,
so the last thing I would want is anyone participating
to feel unsafe.
Yeah, I'm not... No. I'm in.
You know, sometimes... No, I... Yeah, I'm good. I'm good.
Okay.
Yeah.
Speaking of which, how... how many people have
outright said, "No, I don't wanna be a part of this"?
-Nobody. -Nobody...
-Yeah. -Wow. Actors.
Yeah.
Pitot tube cover.
Remove. Check.
Magnetos, off.
Parking brake, set. Avionics...
off. Master, on.
Pull rod, counterweights...
-What'd I miss? -Tire?
The main? On the...
-Clear prop! -Cleared!
-One-six right... -Alpha Charlie.
-Repeat it back? -Yeah.
One-six right, Alpha Charlie.
Thank you. Thank you?
Are you supposed to say "thank you" to them or...
-No. You just have to... -You don't?
-...every time... -He said, "Thank you."
When I first began this project, I had decided there was no better way
to understand pilots than to become one myself.
Okay, so I'm gonna...
-You're gonna go full power. -Pitch... I'm gonna pitch up?
-No, no, no, no. -Oh, no, no. Full power.
Full power.
But it became clear very quickly that I was not a natural at this.
Okay.
Especially when it came to landing the plane.
No, no, no, no.
I was told that most students
master their landings and are able to fly solo
after about ten to 30 hours of flight time.
But for me, I was seven months in and had over 120 hours in the sky,
and I still couldn't do it to their satisfaction.
I was apparently such an abnormal case
that they started passing me around to different instructors
in an effort to diagnose what was going on with me.
Nose down. Nose down.
-Make sure no brakes. -Okay.
-My controls. -Your controls.
I was learning that flying
was a lot more of a mental game than I initially thought.
Hey, I... I...
They told me to do a thing called "chair flying."
Where you close your eyes and envision yourself encountering
every challenging scenario and handling it perfectly.
But I could never shake that nagging thought
that if one thing ever goes wrong, you're dead.
-Oh, shit. -One sec. My controls.
-Your controls. -Turning to the downwind,
eight-November-Delta.
There were a few crashes, like, since I've lived here, like,
four or five people have died in this area from flying planes.
That's way too steep a turn in the pattern.
-We gotta make this shorter. -Okay, yeah.
Or we gotta just turn earlier.
One day, while I was in the sky above the airport,
a student pilot and his instructor
crashed and died after reporting engine trouble.
After that happened,
I decided to take a month off of real flying
and just pretended to fly instead.
Second notch of flaps.
From my chair,
I imagined myself as a pilot who wasn't afraid of anything,
who was confident in every decision he made.
For this pilot, landings were easy.
And I even went as far as visualizing bragging
about my perfect landings to other pilots.
I'm... I'm fine with crosswinds.
I feel like I can land those perfectly.
And then something just clicked.
-That was it? -That's all you gotta do.
Wow.
And they finally allowed me to fly solo for the first time.
Okay, bye.
Six-one-eight-Delta-Hotel at CFI bench.
Student pilot first solo request taxi for takeoff.
November-six-one-eight-Delta-Hotel, Van Nuys Tower.
Runway one-six left, cleared for takeoff.
There's something freeing about flying all alone.
You don't have to rely on anyone else.
And if you ever make a catastrophic error,
at least the only person you're hurting is you.
Eight-Delta-Hotel, runway one-six left, clear to land.
One-six left, clear to land. Six-one-eight-Delta-Hotel.
All right.
Good job.
-Thanks. -Finally.
With that, I was welcomed into the fraternity of pilots
and all the traditions that entailed.
My instructors told me I was the slowest learner
they had ever taught.
But I never gave up. And over the next year,
I was able to get my private pilot's license,
an instrument rating, a multi-engine license,
and become a certified commercial pilot.
For many of us, the solitude becomes addictive.
Miles away from any other human.
But when you're alone with your thoughts
for long enough, you start to get ideas.
Big ones. And even if Congress wouldn't listen to me
about what was going on with us pilots,
I knew one man who still would.
I've never seen you in plaid before.
I usually dress in solid colors.
Is this... So, is this a new look you're trying?
-Or... -No, I've had this for a while.
Looks good on you.
Thank you.
I'm starting to feel
that maybe Congress isn't the right path to get...
attention for this thing.
They... That horse you have to bring to the water
and see if you can make him drink.
-That horse? -Yeah, Congress.
-I have to bring them to me? -Right. Or to the issue.
The issue being the well.
Part of it is like, it's so hard to find out
what's actually going on in the cockpit
because pilots don't wanna talk about it.
And they don't want cameras.
They don't wanna talk about how they feel.
They don't wanna say if they're uncomfortable,
because they could actually get in trouble
-or lose their license. -Yeah.
No one sees all the nuances of communication in there.
-Right. -How subtle it is, the disconnects.
They're only analyzing
-scratchy audio. -Right.
There's all these silences. No one knows what's happening.
-No one knows. -What I'm thinking is
a real flight,
in a 737, with real passengers, at 25,000 feet.
And for the first time, cameras in the cockpit
for the entire time.
And I know I can get them in there because I will be the pilot.
That's a big bite of the apple you're trying to get.
And I think it may be a fruit.
-All right? -A fruit.
If you can show that it's something
that routinely occurs on every flight...
-The miscommunication. -The miscommunication.
That will drive the people in control or in power,
like the FAA or the companies,
to change the training process to eliminate those disconnects.
All right, so what is your experience?
-With what? -With flying a big airplane.
Well, I don't...
I don't have an experience with a big airplane,
but how different is it than, like, a smaller one?
It's a big difference. I mean, the difference is huge.
So you think it would be hard for me to do?
-How long have you been flying? -Almost two years.
How many hours do you have? You fly once a week?
-What do you fly... -Like, 270, 280 hours?
To be an airline pilot,
initially you need 1,500 hours just to get considered.
But do you need that to...
Yeah, that's what's required now, 1,500 hours.
But I... I think you can go private pilot,
-instrument, commercial... -Instrument.
...you can go right to a 737 type rating.
And if you're not technically working for an airline...
-That's correct. -You can...
-So there's a loophole, right? -Yep.
Well, but you're not gonna fly passengers with that.
Well, you can't fly paying passengers.
Right.
But if the plane is filled with actors, you can do it.
Yep.
-Right? -Yeah, that's right.
-Because... -Yeah, there is a loophole for that.
But I'm willing to take that risk, you know?
I have my qualifications, but if I talk about my feelings
and, you know, I'm being too transparent
and I lose my license, okay. Because I'm not, you know,
I don't... I don't need to do this as a career.
But if it means I can prove the point
that we're trying to make, maybe that'll be worth it, no?
Right.
But it's not gonna be easy to accomplish.
Gonna sit and think about that for a while.
Okay.
Throughout my time talking with hundreds of pilots,
I've become convinced that this cockpit communication issue
isn't just an occasional occurrence.
I believe it's happening, in some form,
on every single airline flight.
We've all been in a transportation situation
where we wanted to say something, but didn't.
We convince ourselves that nothing bad will happen,
and it's not worth upsetting the person at the controls.
Most of the time, nothing does happen.
So we never stop to consider the risk we actually took.
But as a pilot myself,
I can say that we are no different from you.
We're all just people in the back of an Uber
trying to avoid an awkward conversation.
And I intend to prove that.
All right, well, here's the classroom.
-Okay, great. -Go ahead and grab a seat.
If everything goes down on you, you'll have essentially five buses.
The switched hot battery bus, the battery bus, the standby buses...
The closest FAA-approved facility for 737 training
was in the city of Henderson, Nevada,
which was only a 19-minute drive to the Las Vegas Strip.
And as someone who had a bit of a gambling problem
when I was younger, I was a little concerned
about living so close to Vegas for a full month.
But it was a while ago,
and I didn't feel it was a thing that affected me anymore.
But when I found out the entirety of training
to fly a 737 is done on a simulator,
I began to wonder if this was more of a gamble
than I had initially thought.
So, pilots go straight from the simulator
to, like, flying an airline flight with passengers?
Correct, yeah.
So, they don't even get practice on a real plane
before there's passengers in there?
Not to my knowledge. Everything's done in simulators.
So it's that good, it's that real?
-It is. -All right, wow. That's...
I was in awe.
A simulation so good,
they were willing to bet every passenger's life on it.
It was the ultimate rehearsal.
If there's any kind of security incident,
they're gonna call the captain. If there is...
If somebody's having a heart attack or whatever.
I was overwhelmed by how much would ride
on my shoulders as the captain of an airliner.
The captain is the final authority of what the airplane does.
Let's say the co-pilot's taking off,
and he's just really gotta go to the bathroom.
The captain could say at that point,
"No, I need you to wait until we're above 10,000 feet."
So, the captain will say, "Auto throttle,"
and he'll push the button, disengage.
-Bank angle. -Shoot. What's that mean?
-Sorry. Sorry. -There is a bird checklist.
If you hit birds?
-Yes. -Oh, wow.
Passenger lights on. Descend rapidly as possible.
Speed brake, out.
So the fire handle is gonna turn off your fuel.
It's gonna turn off your hydraulics. It's going to...
But I've always believed that if you rehearse long enough
and hard enough...
Outflow valve, to close. Passenger oxygen, on.
...nothing will be left to chance.
This is called your segment one climb.
Is category B...
Category B is a repair category.
-Rudder trim. -You rudder trim.
There is rudder trim,
which is right over here...
Pneumatic system applies power to this valve here.
Every once in a while, the handle will not come out.
There are some issues with it. There is a button...
-Flare. -Twenty. Ten.
-Sorry. -It's all right.
Sorry.
When a fault is detected in one of the engine fire detector loops,
between A and B, which one do you think?
Probably B?
-That is incorrect. -And it was actually A.
But because large jets are designed
to be flown by two people, the biggest adjustment for any pilot
is learning how to work with another person.
What if there's, like, a... a disagreement
between the captain and the... the first officer?
Is there a setting in the simulator to practice for that?
No. No, that's just personalities.
I've always known that recreating the real-life dynamic with a co-pilot
wouldn't be easy.
But according to John, for me, it might be extra difficult.
I would think, and this is just thinking
on the spot almost,
that having you in the pilot seat with them
may change the dynamics. Because you're low time.
But I... I may be wrong.
One of our Wings of Voice judges, Aaron,
had over 5,000 flight hours on a Boeing 737.
Unfortunately, you're not moving on.
-Okay. Okay, thank you. -All right. Thank you.
But there was also something that made our dynamic unique.
He aspired to produce television.
We're flying alone one day and we were like,
"Why aren't we documenting any of this?"
So we decided to start bringing GoPros.
I learned that Aaron was making YouTube videos
that documented his adventures in the cockpit
outside his job at Alaska Airlines. And I got a sense that he viewed me
as somewhat of a captain in the field of entertainment.
The goal for that is getting the pilot episode
produced and then pitched to see if someone
-wants to take it further. -Right.
-Excited to see it when it's... -Yeah.
-...when it's all done, I guess. -Yeah.
I think it'll turn out great.
A man with Hollywood ambitions
might feel he has something to lose by offending me.
And that alone might be all I need.
Besides, of course, a 737.
What happened with the... the plane that was from the Congo?
You know, I have no idea what's going on with that airplane...
Every large passenger jet in good working condition
is usually owned by an airline.
But because of my relative inexperience as a pilot,
the only people who would even consider renting a plane to me
were brokers on the secondary market.
And what's... How's the condition of this?
It'd take some work to get it back up and flying.
So, I often had to put my training on hold
to travel to faraway places
to check out planes that have been sitting
in an aviation boneyard for years.
That's a low-time aircraft. Only 15,000 hours on it.
Fifteen thousand hours on it?
-Yeah. -Is that a lot?
No.
It was one of the trickier things for me to navigate.
This is a Boeing 737-200 series.
As the captain, the airworthiness of a plane
was my final call.
Meaning I had to decide if it was safe to fly.
-All right. -All right, okay.
-Watch your step. -Okay.
So, you're saying this is...
this is basically, like, ready to fly?
Yeah, yeah.
'Cause it looks sort of like a little beat up, you know?
-Nah. It works. -But this doesn't have to be fixed.
This can be just like this when you fly it?
-It can be just like that. -Okay.
And that's how it's supposed to look?
Yeah, that's normal for it.
Most of this right here would come out
and be replaced with more modern radios.
-Okay, but can it fly like this? -Yeah. Oh, yeah.
-So, this is fine as is? -Yeah, yeah.
Well, why... What is this piece that's just sitting here?
'Cause it's not connected to anything.
That is...
that's nothing, that happens all the time.
Nope. Not gonna do it.
-I'd take this out. -And it will fly fine without it?
Fly... You'll never know it's not there.
Okay.
When you're an HBO show with money to spend,
the challenge of deciphering the truth can be difficult.
-Am I doing it right, or... -Yeah, you're doing it right.
-It should take this much effort? -Yeah.
You sort of just have to look at someone and decide
whether to take them at their word or not.
I've been all over this aircraft. And it is in very good condition.
Would I fly in it? In a heartbeat.
If I had a family, I would say, "Yes, they can fly in it."
-Okay. -That's saying a lot. That's...
Among mechanics, that is...
kind of a proof of your confidence in the condition.
Is if you would fly your family in it?
-Yeah. -Is that a bird's nest up there?
It could very well be.
Is it normal to have a bird's nest like that, or...
It's not unusual. There's a bird's nest up there.
Eventually, I was put in touch with a broker
who invited me to check out an off-service 737
at an airfield in San Bernardino, California.
We got 33...
33 times six,
that's how many seat... seats you got.
-Thirty-three times six? -Yeah.
-So, what is that total?
How many?
I didn't think it had that many seats.
Six...
It'd be 189, wouldn't it?
The company that owned the plane did not want to be identified,
but it was by far the best looking 737
that anyone was willing to lease me.
So, I decided this would be the one.
Later that week, I completed my required training
and became the least experienced person
licensed to fly a 737 in North America.
To treat myself,
I decided to make the drive to the Vegas Strip
to see a magic show.
They say one of the hardest parts of magic
isn't learning the sleight of hand itself.
It's making the rest of your movements look natural
while you're performing the trick.
Has anyone ever seen one of these?
Yes.
-What is it? -Me!
-Money! -Money?
When I was 13, I became interested in magic.
Two, three.
Wow.
You made it grow.
But people would always be suspicious of my performance
because they said the way I moved and gestured
didn't look right to them.
That there was something off about me.
...nothing. But what you actually did...
So, I studied how other people would move,
regular people on the street, and started copying them.
And it helped me become a better magician.
But when you practice being other people for long enough,
you can forget to learn about yourself.
The last thing I had to do before flying a 737
was complete my annual FAA medical clearance.
It's something every pilot does.
You have to fill out a mandatory questionnaire
disclosing any and all conditions that you have.
If you lie on this form, it's a felony offense,
with a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
I've never been officially diagnosed with anxiety,
but I've definitely felt the emotion.
A lot, actually.
And I've been feeling it for months about this upcoming flight.
Also, this word "etcetera"
at the end of the sentence confused me.
What else did they mean by "etcetera"?
So, before completing the form,
I went to see a doctor who'd allow our cameras inside
to be sure I was representing
my current state of health accurately.
Many people are anxious. That isn't necessarily abnormal,
it may be just the way you are.
I mean, it's... it's complicated because,
you know, as an entertainer, I find that, like,
having a little bit of anxiety can be a good thing,
'cause it adds, like, an energy to your performance.
-For sure. -But, you know, as a pilot,
it's... it's a very, like, it seems like it might be illegal.
Any potential problem area is only something reportable
to an agency when it interferes with your capacity
to perform adequately.
The doctor first went through a verbal questionnaire with me.
"How often do you have thoughts that something awful might happen?"
Awful? I mean...
This is someone who's anxious.
What we're looking at is different parts of the brain
that are now connected into this anxiety process.
Doing the scan, you come up with a potential diagnosis.
Dr. Jordan told me he uses something called an "fMRI machine"
that scans your brain
and can detect many of the neurological conditions
on the FAA medical form.
You can look for OCD,
attention deficit disorder, anxiety, depression, autism,
a thought disorder like schizophrenia.
-Autism? -So, we come up with...
-Well, if someone had autism... -How does it test for that?
You can see things with autism that are fairly characteristic.
Obviously, in... At least some individuals with autism,
it might impair your ability to pilot an airplane.
And, obviously, that endangers not just themselves,
but everybody else.
And there... there may be other issues.
You know, some people might have...
So, like, I... Can I choose what we test for or no?
It's all done at the same time.
-It's not... -So, one scan,
you can diagnose everything?
It's all included.
And again, I always have to reassure people,
whatever we find, it's all good. Because we're gonna...
we're gonna learn something that's unique to you.
And it... I'll tell you, having done this
many thousands of times now,
it's a journey that people love to go through.
I'm Roxanne. How are you today?
-Good. How are you? -Good. I'm great, thank you.
And here's a locker for you.
-It's right over here. -I just have my phone.
Today we're gonna be doing an fMRI,
which is a functional MRI, which is a study of the brain.
You're gonna see a black screen with three sets of words or phrases.
It might be "lose family," "become a burden," "go hungry."
So, select one of those phrases
and I want you to feel what that would feel like.
-"Lose family"? -Yeah.
-And then pretend I lost... -So, pretend.
-My family died? -Yeah.
-Something. -All of them?
-No. Whatever comes to mind. -Just one...
-Whatever comes to mind. -One family member.
-Yeah. Whatever comes to mind. -One or two? Okay.
But I want you to feel what it would feel like.
-Thank you. -You're welcome.
All right, that is it. We are all done.
-Did you see anything? -I'll exam...
Well, I'm not the doctor. I'm the photographer.
I'm the technologist.
So, I'm not giving you any type of results.
Dr. Jordan will do that. It's a long exam.
They have a lot of data they have to put together.
How long does it take to get the...
It could take a couple weeks, a month. I'm not sure.
-A couple weeks or a month? -Yeah, yeah.
So, it's not like a regular physical MRI.
-Sure, yeah. -So, it's a lot of data
they have to collect and put together.
It's just that I'm gonna be flying a 737
in a few days filled with, you know, people. So...
-It's like a regular MRI... -I was... I was hoping to, like,
you know, get the results before that.
Yeah.
Do you work for an airline or private?
No, I'm...
I mean, I'm mostly a comedian.
So... Yeah. But...
Yeah. I don't think you're gonna get the results
in a couple of days.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
The San Bernardino flight had taken months to organize.
And if it was delayed for any reason,
we'd lose our window and the flight wouldn't happen at all.
I looked up how other pilots deal with this type of ambiguity,
knowing what to disclose when you're not exactly sure.
I found a thread where someone posted that their friend
was a regional first officer who was just diagnosed with autism.
In the responses, all the pilots were perplexed
as to why he would get tested in the first place.
They said you can lose your license by disclosing something like this.
I mean, with the knowledge I had, I'm fit to fly.
So, I guess I'm fit to fly.
Okay, I just wanna be clear about what's gonna happen on this flight.
Okay, I'm trying to demonstrate how hard it can be for any pilot
to say what they're thinking in a cockpit environment.
And this dangerous phenomenon that leads to planes crashing,
I truly believe happens in some form on every single airline flight.
Now, obviously we want this flight...
I don't wanna let anything unsafe happen.
So, the second I see my co-pilot
thinking something that he's not saying,
you're gonna get to see that.
And then I'm gonna quickly jump in and ask him about how he's feeling,
so he can share that with me and be comfortable sharing that,
and nothing will be left unspoken. Okay?
And, obviously, this is gonna be very safe
because I'm someone who's uniquely attuned
to this issue, I've been studying it. So, there really...
And I'm gonna be in the captain's seat.
So, there's really nothing to worry about.
Thank you.
-Morning. -Hey, how are you?
-Good, how are you? -Good.
You wanna do your pre-flight flows
-and I'll do the walk around? -Yeah, that works.
-Okay. Okay, great. -It's perfect.
-All right. Looks good. -Perfect.
-Start switches. -Continuous.
-Electrical. -Generators on.
APU.
-APU is off. -Probe heat.
Probe heat is not required.
Or is it off?
-On. -It's on.
-Yeah. -Oops.
Nearly 150 actors would be joining us.
Their only purpose was their presence.
To simulate any psychological effect that a plane full of humans
might have on the pilots in the cockpit.
I was thinking about it, in all the aviation movies
or shows that I've... I've seen,
I don't think the actor's ever actually flown the airplane,
so I was wondering if this is the first time...
-of this size. -Like me being the actor.
Yeah, like you being the actor.
Like, you not having to have someone else come fly
for you or go in a simulator...
-Yeah, I mean... -...to make the show.
Right.
I mean, I'm a pilot too, I guess.
Yeah, that's why it was hard to phrase it because it's not...
'Cause you're a pilot but you're also...
-This is your production too. -Yeah, yeah.
You know? But you're an actor too.
So, I guess this is the way... I've... I've never seen that...
Someone that's an actor that's a pilot,
that's able to actually fly the airplane like this.
Yeah, that crossed my mind this morning. I didn't...
I hadn't really thought about it beforehand.
-Okay, yeah. -Yeah.
Yeah.
Let me check to make sure everyone's all good in the back.
Yeah, sounds good.
I'll be doing the takeoff, I'll be doing the landing,
unless for some safety reason I'm not able to or I'm incapacitated.
And in the unlikely event of a water landing,
the life vest is located under your seat.
The safety information card in your seat pocket
details use of the life vest.
Upon directions from your flight attendant...
-Clear on the left. -Clear right.
-This guy's holding for us. -Okay.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard. This is your captain speaking.
My name is Nathan. I'm joined on the flight deck
by my co-pilot, Aaron.
On behalf of your entire flight crew and, of course, HBO,
we welcome you aboard this lovely Boeing 737.
Your flight time today will be approximately
two hours and ten minutes.
We're gonna be taking off
from San Bernardino International Airport,
headed out east towards the Nevada border,
and then we're gonna be turning around
near the Nevada border, and heading back
to San Bernardino International Airport.
Thank you so much.
Flight attendants should now be seated for takeoff.
San Bernardino tower, I'm ready for IFR departure.
Runway two-four, wind calm, clear for takeoff.
Runway two-four, clear for takeoff.
-Clear right. -Cleared left.
-Ready? -Yeah, ready.
-Stable. -Set takeoff thrust.
Power set.
-Eighty. -Checks.
V1, VR.
-Positive rate? -Gear up.
Is everything okay?
-Aaron. -Yeah?
Everything okay?
Yeah, everything's fine. You all right?
Well, yeah. Yeah, you didn't answer me there for a sec.
What did you ask?
-Yeah, if everything was okay. -Oh, yeah.
-Okay. -Yeah, everything's fine.
-Okay, good. -Yeah.
All right.
Cookies? Pretzels? Almonds?
Thank you.
-If there's... -What do you think?
Oh, no. If there's anything on your mind, you can tell me.
No. No, there's not much.
Okay.
Nice day to be out... flying around.
-Okay. -What do you think?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, of course.
No, I thought you were thinking of something
-when you didn't answer me. -Oh, no.
-Okay. -I didn't hear you say anything.
Okay.
You all right?
Yeah, I'm good, yeah.
Just, yeah, you went like this with your eyebrows for a sec,
-so it looked like you were... -Like what?
Like you sort of did that with your eyebrows,
-like you were concerned about or... -I think I...
-...stressed about something or... -No.
-Okay. -I'm not stressed about anything.
-Okay, okay. -I think sometimes, like,
if I'm squinting or looking, like I...
I think I... I do that.
-But, no, I'm not... -You do what?
Go... Do that. What you were saying, like...
When you're what? When you're...
-When you're looking at something? -Yeah, like, trying to...
Like, I was looking out at those... At those solar...
-Those bright solar lights. -Ah.
And, yeah, I was looking out that way.
I don't know. I'm not...
I'm not stressed.
-Okay. -Yeah.
Beverage?
Diet Pepsi, please.
-There something stressing you out? -What?
Is there something stressing you out?
No, just... I... I...
I was like wondering if you're not saying something.
So, I was like a little, maybe, anxious about that.
-Oh, no. -I like... I think...
I just want... You know, you can say whatever.
-Oh, yeah. -We can say what we're thinking
in here and it's okay.
Maybe we should just do that. Just, like, say what we're thinking,
so we're not misreading or anything.
Yeah, no. If something comes to mind like...
-that needs to be said, I'll say it. -Okay.
Attention passengers,
you may notice a small aircraft
off the left side of the plane flying very close to us.
Don't be alarmed. They're... They're with the TV production
and they're just getting shots of us for the show.
So, all good.
I decided to let Aaron fly for a bit, so I could be on the lookout
while the aerial photography plane was getting shots of us in the sky.
-Your aircraft. -All right, I have the airplane.
Little unnerving with how close they get.
Yeah.
Trying to be as exact as possible.
Aaron started making little comments to me
about how close the other plane was getting to us.
Holy moly.
I wasn't sure if he was trying to tell me something,
but I didn't wanna make things weird
by asking again if everything was okay.
So, we just kept flying.
-Where'd they go? -They're over here. I got 'em.
Can we try something that I think might help
-the communication? -Yeah.
It's normally something I'd do on the ground,
-but I just didn't expect... -Yeah.
Are... Are you comfortable, like, playing a character?
I don't know if I've ever played a character.
-I mean, do you want... -Like... Like...
Do you want me talking more?
-Or not just looking out the window? -Well...
No, no. I... I mean, yeah, but try...
-Yeah. -...like, pretend you're...
So, your character name would be "First Officer Blunt."
-First... yeah. -Okay.
-And you sort of get it, right? -Yeah.
So, First Officer Blunt, like, his character traits
are he loves speaking his mind, and he's very honest,
and he has no problem sharing anything he's thinking.
-Yeah. -And I'm gonna play a character
called "Captain Allears."
Okay, and Captain Allears loves getting feedback.
And he's very open to any criticism...
-Yeah. -...that you might have.
Open the lines of communication
-type of thing? -Yeah, yeah.
Just so it might help us just with, generally,
-like, communication in the cockpit. -Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, we can do that.
I mean, I don't know. I...
I feel like if I got something going through my mind, I...
I usually... say it.
Okay, good. Yeah, that's all you have to do.
-Yeah, I mean... -It's pretty easy.
Most of the time it's nonsense, so...
-Okay. -Yeah.
Well, the nonsense is fine too,
even if you're not sure of the thought.
-Yeah. -If you think it might be important.
-So, I'm here to listen. -Yeah.
-I love the feedback.
Do you want feedback from the departure
out of San Bernardino?
-Sure. Did I mess something up? -No, we just... We forgot...
I ended up retracting your flaps on... on time...
-I forgot to call out. -...on schedule.
Yeah, you forgot to call "flaps 1" and then "flaps up."
-Right, right. Okay. -Yeah.
Thank you. Yes, yes.
I appreciate, and, you know, you can tell me in the moment
-if I forget anything. -Yeah.
I love knowing what I do wrong.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, it's always...
It doesn't matter how long you do something,
you can always learn something.
-Yeah. -Right?
Of course.
So, we're gonna be landing at San Bernardino, runway six.
The localizer?
Yeah, I'm still... I can't get the weather quite yet.
Okay.
-Three miles. -Yeah, you have to cut in...
-It'll be like a steep turn. -Pretty tight left base, yeah.
Should I do it? Should we try it?
-I don't know. What do you think? -We can try it.
You want level change?
-There you go. Yep. -Thank you.
Glide slope alive.
Gear down.
Flaps 15.
Speed brake armed.
How do you feel about me landing this thing?
I'm confident.
-Yeah? -How about you?
-Are you? -Yeah.
Based on what?
I don't know. I feel like you can kind of tell if...
someone's capable or not pretty quick.
And I feel like you're plenty capable.
This land's the same as the sim, right?
-The simulator? -What?
This land's the same as the simulator, right?
Yeah.
-What are the winds? -And wind check.
Wind calm. Runway six, clear to land.
Clear to land, runway six.
Have you been doing flaps 40 landings
in the sim and stuff? Okay.
-Oh, in this one. -Okay.
There's 500 feet, runway six, and landing checklist, speed brake.
Landing check... Oh, yeah. Armed.
Landing gear.
-Three green light. -And flaps.
-Five hundred. -Flaps 40.
Landing checklist complete.
Okay.
Landing.
Fifty, 40, 30...
20...
ten.
Speed brake.
T lights.
Let me know 80.
Eighty.
-All right. -Nice.
-Thanks. -What did you think?
I don't know. I've never done this before.
-The landing was great. -Really?
-Yeah. -Thanks.
Even though none of these people saw what happened up there,
all this applause made me feel
like I had achieved something important.
You were the bomb!
Takeoff, landing, excellent.
-Solid. -Okay.
Maybe this is why pilots do it.
No one sees what goes on in the cockpit.
And as long as you get everyone down safely,
that's all it takes to be their hero.
Are you gonna keep flying now?
Just gonna get a plane?
I don't know.
-You should! -Maybe. Maybe.
You're really good at it!
-Yeah. -Okay.
It's been an emotional, months-long journey.
Over a thousand hopefuls from across the country
have been narrowed down to two.
The pilots voted.
And the winner of Wings of Voice is...
Isabella Henao!
-Oh, my God! -Yeah.
Oh, my God!
Isabella, how do you feel?
This is insane. This is crazy.
I... It's been a crazy journey, a lot of travel.
It's just crazy.
Well, Isabella, the stage is yours.
Thank you.
How can you see into my eyes
Like open doors?
Leading you down into my core
Where I've become so numb
Without a soul
My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find it there
And lead it back home
Wake me up!
-Wake me up inside -I can't wake up!
-Wake me up inside -Save me!
Call my name and save me
-From the dark -Wake me up!
-Bid my blood to run -I can't wake up!
-Before I come undone -Save me!
Save me from the nothing I've become
Bring me to life!
Whoa!
Frozen inside without your touch
Without your love, darling
Only you are the life
Among the dead!
-Wake me up! -Wake me up inside
-I can't wake up -Wake me up inside
-Save me! -Life!
Wake me up, wake me up!
Save me!
Save me from the nothing I've become
Bring me to...
-V1. -V1, rotate.
During my spare time,
I started working as a pilot for a company
that relocates empty 737s wherever they are around the world.
Sometimes, I'd have to be transported by a soldier
to a military airfield in rural Ecuador,
where a 737 that had no seats in it would have to be flown
across the Amazon rainforest in the middle of the night,
-to an airstrip in Brazil. -Gear up.
For some reason, they trusted me.
I was one of two pilots in the cockpit.
And sometimes, when they'd be on a bathroom break,
it was just me in there.
Flying over the Atlantic Ocean for hours
until the welcoming sands of Namibia come into view.
They only let the smartest and best people
fly a plane of this size...
and it feels good to know that.
Set takeoff thrust.
No one is allowed in the cockpit if there's something wrong with them.
So, if you're here, you must be fine.
One hundred.