Air Wagner..... He’s baaaaackk.

Agreed. To me, where he goes off the rails in this last video is at the 38:00 min mark (approximately) when he cancels IFR. I won't say that what he did was necessarily illegal (maybe it was, maybe it wasn't), but I don't think it was wise.
Aggressive, sudden maneuvering and a completely unstabilized, un necessary approach... its gonna bite you one day
 
Boy that looked to me like a lot of yanking and banking at very low altitude. I couldn't read any of his instruments so I don't know how fast he was going, though if I were circling near and airport in the midst of water and terrain I'd probably not keep my speed too high for fear of running into something. Then again, I wasn't there and videos can be deceptive. And he clearly had a hole and needed to move fast to exploit it.

I thought his tongue and cheek checklist joke was in poor taste. I can't blame him for his wife talking, anyone who would criticize him for that clearly hasn't been married. Though I can blame him for answering during critical phases of flight. Thought his Mrs. was surprisingly clueless, given that I would think they'd been flying together for some time. Then again for all I know they were married yesterday.
 
because jerry @N1120A says he's a great pilot!

That joke is almost as stale as secondary minimums.

It is odd to see someone supporting him.....but perhaps they have the same philosophy when it comes to flying.

You have no idea what my philosophy is when flying. I just appreciate intellectual honesty, and I don't see a lot of that when people decide to attack Jerry, so I call it out.
 
I think he had the circling minimums set, but descended down to the level of the straight in minimums, although I admit I didn't look at the altimeter that closely. I thought he was fine until minute 38 of the video, to be honest.

Kinda didn’t matter, whatever minimums he picked he went a couple hundred feet below each time, judging by the motion on his tape, by delaying his missed climb... even giving a fudge factor for video and audio tone sync. LOL.

This guy wins the YT best comment award... I almost spit out my coffee laughing.


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I feel the need to clarify something - no CFI/CFII has ever told me to stop talking to myself (in case they are on this board...)... In fact, it was encouraged for the reasons as @iamtheari and @midlifeflyer have pointed out. Just want to give the appropriate credit to the great teachers I have had so you all don't think it was an instructor who told me that... honestly my wife tells me to stop talking to myself at home (I tend to mutter while I work). :)
My favorite line about talking t oneself is from Perry White in the 50's Superman TV show. He's just thrown Clark, Lois, and Jimmy out of his office. In frustration he exclaims, "I know they say you are crazy if you talk to yourself but, by Great Caesar's Ghost, there's not one else around here sane enough to talk to!"
 
He's telling the audience all about his glass panel and how much great information it displays, completely oblivious to the CDI in the middle of it continuously moving unnoticed to the right.
The centerline of the airway is only for professionals.
 
Kinda didn’t matter, whatever minimums he picked he went a couple hundred feet below each time,

That seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. Straight in minimums would be 200 feet.
 
You have no idea what my philosophy is when flying. I just appreciate intellectual honesty, and I don't see a lot of that when people decide to attack Jerry, so I call it out.

Sure don't, but that seems to be the only logical explanation for you defending what Jerry does.
 
That seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. Straight in minimums would be 200 feet.

I’m just reading his instruments. Feel free to see if you can pull up the mystery plate and tell. I don’t care. Still rolling down for quite a while after he says he’s going missed.

He tends not to show the instrument close ups anymore after everyone caught the 45 degree bank as he came out of the clouds in his old airplane.

Freeze frames were more fun when he did. LOL.
 
That seems to be a bit of an exaggeration. Straight in minimums would be 200 feet.
Don't know whether you are referring to Auburn or Little River, but in either case the straight in mins are not 200 AGL.
 
That joke is almost as stale as secondary minimums.



You have no idea what my philosophy is when flying. I just appreciate intellectual honesty, and I don't see a lot of that when people decide to attack Jerry, so I call it out.
Do you think he demonstrates good ADM and appropriate/safe airmanship in his videos?
 
Do you think he demonstrates good ADM and appropriate/safe airmanship in his videos?

I don't think he is immune from making mistakes. I don't think any of us are.

Sure don't, but that seems to be the only logical explanation for you defending what Jerry does.

I don't defend anything. I just point out hypocrisy.
 
I don't think he is immune from making mistakes. I don't think any of us are.



I don't defend anything. I just point out hypocrisy.
You did not answer my question. There is no doubt we all make mistakes. I dang sure have. Once again. Do you think he demonstrates good ADM and airmanship.

It’s not a question about his character. I’m sure he is the kind of guy that would give you the shirt off his back. He seems to be a genuinely good guy from his videos. That has no bearing on what I’m asking you.
 
You did not answer my question. There is no doubt we all make mistakes. I dang sure have. Once again. Do you think he demonstrates good ADM and airmanship.

It’s not a question about his character. I’m sure he is the kind of guy that would give you the shirt off his back. He seems to be a genuinely good guy from his videos. That has no bearing on what I’m asking you.

I think mistakes are part of ADM. Both positive and negative. I see them with every YouTube pilot, even the ones that spend a lot more time editing their videos. What I do see is a pilot who knows and maintains his airplane and is always trying to learn, and who certainly maintains currency and proficiency. I also see one who sometimes makes mistakes that he doesn't edit out, unlike most of us.

I don't judge character or pilot quality based on single or limited inputs. If I did the former, Jerry and I probably wouldn't be friends based on politics alone. You probably shouldn't make such limited evaluations either.
 
Stumbled on this guy's channel a few days ago and liked the first video I saw -- he had a friendly demeanor, disarming personality, and seemed like an experienced guy. Watched several more videos and started scratching my head like "there is some strange stuff happening here." Did a Google search and whoa... where have I been.
 
I think mistakes are part of ADM. Both positive and negative. I see them with every YouTube pilot, even the ones that spend a lot more time editing their videos. What I do see is a pilot who knows and maintains his airplane and is always trying to learn, and who certainly maintains currency and proficiency. I also see one who sometimes makes mistakes that he doesn't edit out, unlike most of us.

I don't judge character or pilot quality based on single or limited inputs. If I did the former, Jerry and I probably wouldn't be friends based on politics alone. You probably shouldn't make such limited evaluations either.
I’m not making limited evaluations. I can tell you from personal experience that he is on a path that will lead to an incident if not addressed. If you don’t see it then that’s just the way it is. No one here has said anything derogatory about his character. I would say the general them is that he needs a mentor to help him fine tune his ADM to keep him safe. Perhaps you are to close to see what we all see.

Edit:
If you were the type of person that would parse friendships alone political lines then you wouldn’t be worth the effort. To insinuate that I’m that narrow minded is rather insulting. I’ll tell you what my background is so perhaps you can understand where I’m coming from in my concern for his well being: I’m a professional pilot. I started my aviation journey 27 years ago and I have been continuously employed as a pilot for 21 years. My experience includes both helicopters and airplanes. I have been an instructor and check airman for 121 carriers, flown day and night agricultural aviation in fixed and rotor wing. I have also had to report an accident to the FAA. Unfortunately I have the t-shirt for being a real dumbasss. I have also worked as a 135 pilot in passenger and aeromedical roles.

To be blunt I have been there and done that when it comes to excelling and failing in the ADM department. I have learned some lessons the hard way and many more from mentors. Jerry desperately needs a mentor to keep his ass in one piece. If he is truly your friend you should help him out.
 
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1 mile and clear of clouds....uh huh. Well I mean, I suppose you could chalk it up to editing discontinuities.
 
These are near misses that increase the likelihood that an incident will occur. The more near misses, theoretically the closer you are to having “the big one”. The most unforgiving phase to make a mistake is during IMC approaches. We’ve seen enough close calls in that phase of flight to say that the big one is near, unless something happens to change things (a close wake-up call, an intervening friend or foe, or just a reduced frequency of flights). I hope for the best for him, his loved ones, friends, and his followers good & bad; Hate to see bad stuff happen.
 
I’m just reading his instruments.

I went back and looked. You can't see his altimeter at the time he declares going missed. At 29:25. he says he has to go missed, and all you see is out of the front window. There is no way to tell how much he climbed, if at all between then and the next shot that shows the altimeter, but when it changes, he is above the straight in minimums. So, you can't see anything that shows he was 200 feet below minimums. It is true he went below the circling minimums, but we never see evidence of him going below the straight in minimums of 980. Now, did he cleverly edit the video to obscure evidence of busting the minimum? Possibly. But you can't tell from the video.
 
We’ve seen enough close calls in that phase of flight to say that the big one is near, unless something happens to change things (a close wake-up call, an intervening friend or foe, or just a reduced frequency of flights).

Unfortunately, I think all of this experience has had the opposite effect of de-sensitizing him to the risk rather than appreciating it for what it is. Over time, he keeps getting micro-rewards for incurring the risk in terms of accolades from some and all of the attention and the feeling that he has shown his critics up. The more he gets away with it, the more he feels confident in his abilities and immune to the hazard.
 
Unfortunately, I think all of this experience has had the opposite effect of de-sensitizing him to the risk rather than appreciating it for what it is. Over time, he keeps getting micro-rewards for incurring the risk in terms of accolades from some and all of the attention and the feeling that he has shown his critics up. The more he gets away with it, the more he feels confident in his abilities and immune to the hazard.
We used to have a friend like that. In his case it was scud running VFR. No videos or allocades but definitely the development of a sense of invulnerability and perhaps a bit of showing up his concerned friends.

Then there was that day flying into Amarillo.

I don't know whether Jerry will eventually meet the situation he can't handle. I hope not. As much as one can assess another based on videos, I actually like the guy. I've seen him learn things. I've seen him respond to critical suggestions (not the hate stuff) with self-deprecating humor. But, @N1120A, it's not about making mistakes. It about a pattern of making the same types of mistakes repeatedly and treating them as OK and signs of good piloting.
 
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Agreed. To me, where he goes off the rails in this last video is at the 38:00 min mark (approximately) when he cancels IFR. I won't say that what he did was necessarily illegal (maybe it was, maybe it wasn't), but I don't think it was wise.
I actually involuntarily said "you idiot!" out loud when he canceled.
 
I agree that everyone makes mistakes, but the "mistakes" Jerry makes are SOP for him. And people are supposed to learn from mistakes, Jerry goes to battle with his keyboard and defends what he does, and then takes the videos down. If the community doesn't call him out on his BS, then people will start to think that what he does is acceptable.

And I am no super pilot, but in my 5500-ish hours of flying, I have not even come close to making the amount of "mistakes" that Jerry has put on film, let alone the amount he has not shared with the internet.
 
"Centerlines are for captains" is my favorite version of that little ditty. :)
My wife hates it when I mumble something about the centerline being out of service when she flies.
 
That Dec 13 video with the cancellation and steep banked curves in that marginal hole really made me shudder.

Agreed both a violation of regs from the timing and conditions and taking a large risk. And with a passenger in the plane.
 
The thing that gets me throughout this flight is the back and forth banter between pilot and passenger (wife) during some critical phases of flight.

Edit... watching some more... what are secondary minimums?

Edit to the Edit - holy cr@p!!!! NO way that was legal... Just wow.

Now you're getting it! Jerry is a very bad pilot, and will eventually probably die in an airplane. I hope he's solo when he does. Better yet would be if he actually learned what excessive risks he's creating for himself and becomes a better pilot and dies in a nursing home someday instead of an airplane, but I'm not holding my breath.

If only 75J knew what was going on nearby...

Probably failed his checkride on purpose so that he could land and get the hell away from Jerry ASAP!

When the controllers know a guy's tail number (Jerry) because they know they need to be on their best behavior for when he does finally get in an accident and the recordings are being listened to... Well, that's when you know the guy is a terrible pilot.
 
I went back and looked. You can't see his altimeter at the time he declares going missed. At 29:25. he says he has to go missed, and all you see is out of the front window. There is no way to tell how much he climbed, if at all between then and the next shot that shows the altimeter, but when it changes, he is above the straight in minimums. So, you can't see anything that shows he was 200 feet below minimums. It is true he went below the circling minimums, but we never see evidence of him going below the straight in minimums of 980. Now, did he cleverly edit the video to obscure evidence of busting the minimum? Possibly. But you can't tell from the video.

There’s two misses in the video. I assume you only watched one since you’re speaking in the singular.
 
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