Like a Pilot is your passport to behind the flight deck door. Join your host, Phil Wilkes, A380 pilot and trainer with four decades of flying experience as he unveils the soft skills pilots harness every time they step into those high-speed aluminum and carbon fiber giants we call airliners. From leadership to decision-making, teamwork to communication, we'll explore the 'how' and 'why' behind aviation being one of the safest modes of travel. Fasten your seatbelts, and let's embark on a journey through the skies, where pilots' expertise provides a blueprint for high performance in any field.
Sleep... Like a Pilot | Jet Lag, Shift Work and Sleeping on the Job
How do pilots deal with jet lag? Where do they sleep on an aircraft? Wait! What? Pilots sleep while they’re at work?
In this episode of Like a Pilot, Phil takes you behind the scenes of long-haul flying to explore the strange world of crew rest, tactical naps, body clocks and sleeping at all the wrong times. We’ll look at American International Airways Flight 808 and discover what happens to performance when we stay awake too long. We’ll also unpack the two factors that determine when you’re actually ready to sleep.
After excursions to London and Laguna Seca Raceway, Phil will leave you with some practical strategies for resetting your own sleep when shift work, travel or life knocks it sideways.
20 May 2026
Catastrophize… Like a Pilot | Weighing Risk
In thunderstorms and pouring rain, Air France 358 touches down in Toronto. Nearly half the runway is already behind it. Seconds later, the Airbus A340 is in a ravine, destroyed by fire.
How does a serviceable aircraft, flown by experienced pilots, run out of runway?
In this episode, we look at useful catastrophizing — structured “what if?” thinking — and why risk management is not just about identifying threats.
It is about weighing responses, watching for indicators, and actually executing when the moment arrives.
Because a Plan B only protects you if you actually use it.
3 Apr 2026
Model… Like a Pilot | Role Models and Mentors
We often think of role models as polished success stories. But in aviation, some of the clearest lessons come from people you would never want to become. In this episode, Phil explores how pilots learn by watching the people around them — the captains they admire, the ones they don’t, and the mentors who shape their growth more directly. From flight decks to ski slopes to race tracks, this is a story about role models, mentors, and why good modelling isn’t copying. It’s careful borrowing.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
6 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 25 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
26
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
60
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