Today, I'm honored to introduce you to Mike Thompson, a former fighter pilot in the U.S.

Air Force and current pilot for one of the biggest airlines in the world.

Mike is one of the world's leading aviation experts.

I wanted to bring him on the podcast so he can explain the truth about flying and how safe

or dangerous it actually is.

Mike has also lost a great deal of weight while traveling all over the

world, so I want to discuss his own fitness journey and how he stays fit and improves his health while traveling. Mike, welcome to the podcast. Sure, you're going to be here, man. Man, I'm really glad. You said this is your first podcast ever. First podcast. I'm excited. I'm very excited. Thank you for joining us. I had I posted on my

Instagram. I said, hey, I want to talk to a pilot. I want to talk to an expert in flying in aviation because I fly a fair amount for work. And every time I post myself on a plane there, people who are like, oh my God, how do you get over the nerves, the fear of flying? And I was like, you know, what, it's a personal trainer

shouldn't be talking about this. I want to talk to an actual expert

in this. So I was like, do you get over the nerves, the fear of flying? And I was like, you know what? It's a personal trainer shouldn't be talking about this.

I want to talk to an actual expert.

So I was like, do you have any recommendations?

And my Instagram audience, everyone was like, mock two Mike. Mock two Mike. You got to get mocked too. Well, I'm here. I made it. I made it. So if you don't follow Mike yet, I'm going to, we'll put all your stuff in the show notes so people can go follow you on Instagram.

First question, you know, you're a former fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Now you're a pilot for one of the biggest airlines in the world. Where did all this start? Oh. What's the genesis? Literally since I can remember. So dad was military airline pilot. Mom was a stewardess.

Old school, I can call her stewardess.

She wasn't, you know, if you call her a flight attendant, she'd like, I was a stewardess. Now it's reversed. She gets mad about it. Well, now it's reversed. Like they don't, there's flight attendants don't want to be called stewardesses. But my mom, yeah, she took pride now. That was back golden era 60s, 70s, 80s.

You know, they both work for Pan Am.

Okay.

So, yeah, big. took pride now. That was back golden era 60s, 70s, 80s. You know, they both worked for Pan Am.

Okay. So yeah, big, obviously huge, huge airline at the time. Is that where they met?

Yeah. So they met. My mom is actually from Brazil. She passed away just about a year ago.

So yeah. No, that's all right. She's a she's a great woman and a huge, huge fond memories of, you know, for my whole life. But she grew up in Brazil and then they met through Pian Am. That's awesome. You know, kind of funny stories, she ended up, I say she got fired, but she was forced to resign because you couldn't be married at the time as a stewardess. So she weren't allowed to be married.

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