Radio Interviews

March is Athletic Training Month and my guest on March 18, 2008 at 10:30 am (ET) was Roy Beisswenger, host of the Ultra Flight Radio Show on http://www.ultraflightradio.com, airing Tuesdays, at 9 a.m. (PT).
The theme of the show is sport aviation.

Roy operates a powered parachute training school in Greenville, Illinois. The school is open seasonally and offers a 10-day training program.

Q. Describe your show and the kinds of aircraft you specialize in.

A. It's probably the oldest show out there regarding aviation. In fact, it may be the only one regarding sport aviation. I focus on aircraft with two seats or less. Ultralight means very light aircraft and covers a whole bunch of categories [i.e., powered parachute - which uses a parachute like those used for skydiving; powered paraglider - which is foot launched and uses a paraglider wing; gyroplane - looks a little like a helicopter; hot air balloon].

Q. When people come to your training center do they know what they want?

A. The Internet gives folks a way to get educated. I encourage folks to know what they want to do - where they are going to fly and what they want to achieve. We are only going about 26 to 30 miles an hour. It's not a mode of transportation.

Q. What does "powered" mean?

A. Small engines, same as used in snow mobiles and jet skis.

Q. Why doesn't the military use powered planes?

A. In some cases they have experimented with it. The military has their own structure I guess and they don't want soldiers to become pilots.

Q. Do you think your show helps your training school and vice versa?

A. I think so. If a question comes up in a course, within a week I have an answer by using it as a topic on my show. I am a better instructor because I am better informed.
A lot of people are happy with the show because it's a way of getting information that they would not be able to otherwise get.

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Roy's website is very user friendly. You can click the archives by date, topic or name. For archives, click the red "podcast download." For live, click the yellow and green "listen live" button.