The Rehearsal 2x1

1. Established on approach to Resolute.

2. Altitude, 2,000 feet descending.

3. Seems like we're to the right of course.

4. Autopilot has us in line.

5. GPS has us to the right, though.

6. We've captured the localizer. Everything is fine.

7. Continue the approach.

8. One thousand.

9. We have those hills to the right of the airport, remember?

10. Maybe we should do a go-around and troubleshoot

11. - the nav discrepancy. - Five hundred.

12. We're approaching minimums and not configured for landing.

13. You probably should turn left to get on course.

14. - You see anything? - I can't turn left.

15. - We're on course. - Two hundred.

16. - Blair, I don't like this. - One hundred.

17. Sink rate. Sink rate. Fifty.

18. - Go-around thrust. - Sink rate.

19. Pull up. Pull up. Too low. Terrain.

20. I've been around accidents a long time.

21. It's all I can remember to this day,

22. the day that I got the phone call that said

23. the president has selected me

24. for the NTSB. I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't believe it.

25. When you're trying to involve a serious man in your comedy series,

26. it's best to take things slow.

27. After all, someone who's been appointed

28. by two US presidents has a reputation to uphold.

29. And they may worry

30. that associating themselves with a comedian

31. will tarnish all they've worked for.

32. We discovered a discrepancy in the pilots' operating procedures.

33. So, a good first step is to invite them

34. to do something simple,

35. a lecture for some college students talking about what it was like

36. to run the National Transportation Safety Board

37. for over a decade.

38. Bureaucrats and others, you know, they just don't have any backbone.

39. Well, that's never been my problem.

40. My problem is maybe too much backbone.

41. All right. Thank you all for listening.

42. Thank you for being here.

43. If that goes well, the next step might be to approach him

44. while the cameras are still rolling

45. and see if he'll sit down with you for a conversation.

46. How have you found it has been at the NTSB since you left?

47. There were periods where I don't wanna talk about.

48. Because they weren't doing their job.

49. It's important, for this first interaction,

50. to stick to the facts. No jokes.

51. The goal is to earn his trust.

52. Because for what you have planned, you'll need this man

53. to take you seriously.

54. The reason I wanted to speak with you,

55. or I was excited to speak with you, is that,

56. I've been studying commercial aviation disasters

57. - sort of as a hobby. - Okay.

58. And I've been staging my own recreations of these disasters

59. to better understand what's really going on.

60. And I started to notice a disturbing pattern

61. in the causes of these crashes

62. that I haven't really seen discussed a lot.

63. - So— - Let's see.

64. - Yeah, what? - Yeah, bring it on.

65. Yeah, so it relates to communication in the cockpit.

66. Yes. A big problem.

67. Bangla Airlines Flight 211.

68. Okay, and this crash is just from a few years ago.

69. And these are the actual transcriptions

70. that were recorded on the black box of what they said

71. during this crash.

72. - Sir, we are getting into cloud. - Forget it.

73. Okay, adjust the pitch control of weather radar.

74. Why are you holding power levers?

75. I am pilot flying, idiot. I should be holding.

76. Come on. Talking like that to a first officer?

77. What's that gonna make her feel like?

78. Right. So, the captain is the pilot in command,

79. and they usually sit in the left seat of the cockpit.

80. Yep.

81. And the first officer, or the co-pilot,

82. - sits in the right seat. - Correct.

83. And the captain's sort of "the boss," right?

84. Well, he's in charge of the flight.

85. - Okay. - All right?

86. But the first officer has a say.

87. And when it comes to safe operation of the flight,

88. they're supposed to have equal say.

89. - They're supposed to. - They're supposed to.

90. Have you seen the runway? Where is it?

91. So, I have done mistake.

92. It can happen since I was talking to you.

93. He doesn't have the runway in sight.

94. He should be doing a go-around. And the first officer knows it.

95. And is afraid to speak up.

96. Sir.

97. The runway. Runway, sir. Three o'clock.

98. - We have the runway in sight. - Sink rate.

99. - Sink rate. - In these situations,

100. it's the first officer's duty

101. to take the controls if they see the captain

102. - doing something unsafe. - Try to.

103. Try to. And each of them

104. have their own sets of controls for this reason.

105. - And they're connected together. - And they're connected.

106. But for some reason, she doesn't.

107. No. She's intimidated.

108. Sink rate. Sink rate. Sink rate. Sink rate. Sink rate.

109. Bank angle. Fifty. Forty. Thirty.

110. Pull up.

111. - Twenty. - Pull up.

112. Oh my God. Sir. Sir!

113. Yeah, I remember seeing some of these.

114. Okay, now look at this one.

115. Corporate Airlines Flight 5966, in Kirksville, Missouri.

116. - 'Er, thousander. - 'Er, thousander.

117. Throughout the flight, the captain kept emphasizing

118. his desire to "have fun" in the cockpit.

119. Gotta have fun, you know?

120. That's truth, man. Gotta have fun.

121. Too many guys in this job take themselves way too serious.

122. I hate it. All you wanna do is strangle the fuckers

123. when you get on the ground.

124. Below 10,000 feet, the conversation

125. is supposed to be focused on the flight, not anything else.

126. - So, the captain was in the wrong? - The captain was in the wrong.

127. All I'm thinking about

128. is a Philly freaking cheese steak and an iced tea.

129. - Sounds good. - I mean,

130. the first officer should have pushed the captain

131. to focus on the flight...

132. - Pay attention. - ... or taken over the controls.

133. - Right. - But I— It seems like

134. he didn't wanna kill the vibe.

135. Well, he's afraid to.

136. Fuck the approach, you are fucked. Approach fucked.

137. Yeah, I can see the ground there.

138. I can't see shit.

139. 'Cause you're a bitch.

140. - Trees. - No. No. Wait, no.

141. - Trees! - Oh my God.

142. - Oh my God, no! Oh my God! - Holy shit!

143. Wow.

144. Then there's Air Florida Flight 90, where it happened during takeoff.

145. I'm familiar with that one.

146. The airplane wasn't making full power

147. because the front of the engine was clogged with snow and ice.

148. God! Look at that thing. That don't seem right, does it?

149. - I don't think that's right. - It is. There's 80.

150. The first officer could have aborted the takeoff.

151. And yes, he should have aborted the takeoff.

152. No, I don't think that's right.

153. Maybe it is.

154. That was a tough one because it never should have happened.

155. Empire Airlines Flight 8284.

156. - What the heck is going on? - Just keep flying the airplane.

157. Okay.

158. Male captain dismissing the female first officer.

159. - Should I go around? - No. Keep descending.

160. My aircraft.

161. - Your controls. - The captain is God.

162. - And you could lose your job. - Right.

163. The captain could get you fired if you speak up to him.

164. We're getting pretty close here.

165. Pull up.

166. - Captain. - Pull up.

167. Pull up.

168. - Yep. - Okay, Korean Air Flight 801.

169. In this one, the captain's not even talking,

170. and they still do nothing.

171. - Not in sight. Missed approach. - Sink rate.

172. - Go-around. - Sink rate.

173. - Sink rate. - Missed approach.

174. "Go-around. Go-around. Let's make a missed approach."

175. They're pushing him, but he doesn't get it,

176. and they didn't take control.

177. Forty. Thirty. Twenty. Ten.

178. Yeah, they're just gruesome. Gruesome.

179. American Airlines Flight 965.

180. Yeah, it's a left.

181. - Left turn. - No.

182. Hell no.

183. The captain has made a decision.

184. The first officer understands it's wrong,

185. but the first officer doesn't have the ability

186. to speak up about it.

187. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to be

188. the number one contributing factor

189. to aviation crashes in history. And it's not solved.

190. Yeah, I think you're onto something there.

191. So, I've been going through

192. thousands of pages of these documents,

193. and I noticed that one of your recommendations

194. in the aftermath of this crash was

195. "to teach first officers to assertively voice their concerns."

196. You recommended role-playing exercises...

197. - Right. - ... should be done,

198. and that they should be required by the FAA.

199. - Right. - But the FAA...

200. - Said no. - Why?

201. I don't know.

202. For whatever reason, they're just not going there.

203. And we couldn't push 'em to go there.

204. And we tried formally.

205. - We tried informally. - And this was 15 years ago.

206. And since this point, nothing's been done.

207. And it might take another 15. Who knows?

208. I... Getting Congress to do anything?

209. Difficult.

210. I do...

211. I do have some experience

212. with creating elaborate role-playing scenarios.

213. Okay.

214. And I do have money to put towards this.

215. What I was too afraid to tell former NTSB Board Member John Goglia

216. is that the money I was receiving from HBO

217. came with strings attached.

218. If you have a good idea, I'd like to hear it,

219. because we tried a long time to...

220. - Yeah. - ... solve that problem.

221. Right.

222. Even though I had the resources

223. to potentially solve this life-or-death issue

224. and save real humans from dying...

225. I was given this money to create a comedy series.

226. Help.

227. So far, I was failing.

228. Okay, I'm done in here.

229. We were over ten minutes into this episode with zero laughs.

230. And therein lies my dilemma.

231. I was both the best...

232. - Please! Help! - ... and worst person

233. to solve this problem.

234. Help! Please!

235. Help!

236. There's a van on me!

237. I need some volunteers to help me!

238. - Please! - No, I'm good.

239. Don't get me wrong, I love being a comedian.

240. Why are you standing there gawking at me?

241. But when you lead a life

242. - dedicated to making others laugh... - Help!

243. - Please! - ... in those rare moments

244. when you want to be

245. - taken seriously... - Please!

246. it can be difficult to overcome

247. the deficit of credibility you've created for yourself.

248. - Oh my God! Shit. - Will you call 911?

249. - Yeah, yeah. - I'm gonna get you out, all right?

250. jacking up his car and it fell on his leg.

251. When enough people see you as only a joke,

252. a part of you starts to believe that that's all you have to offer.

253. Just put the horn down for a second, all right?

254. - I'm gonna— - Just stay still.

255. The ambulance is on the way, okay?

256. Hey, it's okay.

257. You might think you can revolutionize aviation safety,

258. but you can't take that thought too seriously...

259. - You're gonna be all right. - ... because no one else will.

260. Not the NTSB. Not the FAA.

261. Not HBO.

262. Okay. Thanks, everyone. Thank you. Thanks, everyone.

263. My team found an airline pilot on Linkedln

264. who agreed to meet with me,

265. a first officer at a regional subsidiary

266. of United Airlines. And his name was Moody.

267. I asked if I could just watch him,

268. to observe his daily routine.

269. If I was gonna come up with some sort of rehearsal

270. to train pilots,

271. I first needed to understand how their minds worked.

272. Do you have to eat a certain thing before you fly?

273. No, no, no. But I...

274. My routine at the airport is to get Panda Express.

275. I'll get the grilled teriyaki chicken with the white rice.

276. Why?

277. It's just a healthier alternative

278. to some of the other food— airport foods.

279. - Okay. - Yeah.

280. There's no, like, quick release or something?

281. I visited Moody's home, where he still lives with his parents

282. in the suburbs of San Diego, California.

283. - Hi. - Hi.

284. - Hi. - I'm not sure if you guys

285. wanna capture the Batman Lego collection,

286. but that is one of my heroes.

287. And while I was there, I got to observe

288. - a call he had with his girlfriend. - Hello?

289. - Hey. - Hey, boo, are you okay?

290. Yeah, I'm out eating right now.

291. I'm just trying to do my studying right now.

292. Okay. Well, I just wanted to say hi.

293. Hi.

294. - Are you okay? - How did it go with the shooting?

295. - What? - How did it go with the shooting?

296. It's good. We're still doing it. I'm on a break right now.

297. I learned that they had been together for two years

298. and lived several hours apart.

299. She's in school full-time and she works at Starbucks.

300. - Okay. - Yeah.

301. But the way Moody talked about the relationship was strange.

302. How often do you actually see each other?

303. Like, we haven't seen each other since January,

304. and it's almost March now.

305. Do you think you're getting

306. what you want from each other right now?

307. Yeah. Well, I think so, but I feel, like, over time I want more,

308. you know? Like, live together, you know, family, dogs, cats.

309. - Right. - You know what I mean?

310. But what can you— What can I do?

311. - Like, what can I— - Why couldn't you...

312. Well, she—

313. just, like, talk to her about it?

314. But that's— What can I do? You know?

315. So, we'll see how long it lasts.

316. If she— If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.

317. - You know? You can't— - If what's gonna happen?

318. If she's gonna meet someone new.

319. So, you think she...

320. Like, since she works at Starbucks all the time,

321. she might meet someone at Starbucks.

322. - Who? Customers? - Yeah, well,

323. so if a stranger comes in and meets her

324. and they capture her attention, and she entertains it,

325. then she'll most likely compare,

326. you know, the way that I've treated her,

327. or the way that I do treat her to how they treat her.

328. And if she wants that,

329. then she'll break it off for that.

330. - You know what I mean? - Why would you think that...

331. - I don't know. - ... a random customer

332. is gonna treat her better than you do?

333. I don't know, I don't know.

334. I'm just saying, like, that could happen, you know?

335. Do you feel like you treat her not good?

336. No, I treat— I feel like I treat her amazing.

337. - Okay. - But the—

338. Who's this customer you're afraid of?

339. Who's this guy?

340. I don't know. I don't know.

341. It seemed like Moody felt the trajectory

342. of this relationship was outside of his control

343. without recognizing that he was the co-pilot here.

344. I know she wouldn't do that to me, but if she did,

345. then it's gonna happen, you know?

346. But maybe his communication style

347. was different on the job.

348. Moody's airline operated out of a central hub

349. at George Bush Intercontinental Airport

350. in Houston, Texas, and I followed him

351. as he made his way inside for the start of a shift.

352. I was deeply interested

353. in how the dynamic between two pilots,

354. who fly together begins.

355. Especially since, before we went inside,

356. Moody told me that he almost never flies

357. with the same captain twice.

358. It's usually different captains. You can—

359. - Every time? - Yeah.

360. Generally, it's a different captain at each trip.

361. So, my hope was to observe

362. the initial moment where they meet

363. and everything that follows leading up to their flight.

364. After all, every relationship starts with a beginning.

365. Okay.

366. No.

367. Okay.

368. But the moment we got to security, I lost him.

369. Moody later told me he went off

370. into one of the many private areas where pilots go

371. that regular people like you and me can't get access to.

372. I had no idea

373. what was happening in these rooms

374. or what conversations I was missing.

375. So, when I got back to Los Angeles,

376. I contacted the media team for United Airlines

377. to see if they'd give me special access.

378. - You said this is for HBO? - HBO, yeah.

379. And the focus of the project is aviation safety.

380. So, you know, we're really trying to make

381. a somewhat sincere effort to explore and develop new ways

382. to improve pilot communication in the cockpit.

383. So, that's the main thrust of the project.

384. Okay, okay. Could you tell me more about the project?

385. You said "somewhat" sincere?

386. Well, I only say "somewhat" because it's a television show,

387. so we're also trying to make it entertaining.

388. So, there's dual goals, I guess.

389. Okay. And you said it's a documentary?

390. Yeah. I mean, I would use that term loosely, but yeah.

391. Like when you say that it is "hybrid," you mean—

392. I'm just trying to get a sense of the tone

393. and what the end product is gonna look like.

394. We are happy to work with media projects.

395. - We just want to make sure— - I think that's good.

396. Yeah, I think I'm gonna call them for real now.

397. - Okay. Cool. - But thank you, yeah, great.

398. Yeah, of course.

399. It has to go through, like, the comms team,

400. and then it would be run through the airport.

401. But the real United Airlines

402. didn't seem to want to play ball with me.

403. Do you have that number? Or...

404. No.

405. You don't have your boss's phone number?

406. No.

407. So, you guys aren't very close, I guess, then?

408. Not particularly.

409. Okay. Well...

410. Okay, I don't have a number to give out, yeah. I'm sorry.

411. With no official airline support, I was gonna have to get creative.

412. I obtained a sketch from Moody

413. of the inside of the off-limits pilot's lounge.

414. But to know what it's like when two pilots meet,

415. it's hard to say which elements outside of the pilot's lounge

416. would be relevant too.

417. So, across three interconnected warehouses

418. in Los Angeles,

419. we began construction

420. on an exact replica of Moody's terminal,

421. focusing on key areas along his route

422. where he was most likely to encounter a co-worker

423. or a captain.

424. I then flew over 70 actors

425. that had been trained in the Fielder Method

426. to George Bush Airport in Houston,

427. where they were asked to each select a crew member

428. from Moody's airline

429. or a member of the airport staff as their primary,

430. to covertly shadow and study

431. their every personality trait and mannerism.

432. It's a nice break between flights, right?

433. How do you know?

434. Okay.

435. Any specials today?

436. During this 48-hour period,

437. we enlisted a team of travel agents to be on call around the clock.

438. Okay, so this one is going to Mobile, Alabama.

439. So, if an actor was following a specific pilot,

440. they could quickly book a plane ticket

441. and continue following them on the plane,

442. observe them during the flight, and even once they get off,

443. they can keep following them all the way to their hotel room

444. in order to get to know them as intimately as possible.

445. Hey, I'm sorry to bother you, mate.

446. Did you find a wallet in here? It has little frogs on it.

447. You're— I mean, you're welcome to look.

448. - I haven't seen anything. - Appreciate it.

449. - Real quick, mate. - Yeah.

450. You're a pilot?

451. With a full slate of actors

452. having taken on the identities and personalities

453. of the passengers, pilots, and crew at the Houston airport,

454. I now had a place where I could witness

455. any interaction Moody might have during his typical day.

456. And no one could stop me.

457. Because this airport was all mine.

458. You should have received your flight assignment

459. - in an email? - Yes.

460. - You got that? - Yeah.

461. And that's how it's done at the airline?

462. Right, yes.

463. The flight assignment included the passcode

464. to the pilot's lounge,

465. and I showed him a photo of the actor

466. who would be playing his captain,

467. based on a real captain from Moody's airline.

468. So, you can just go in there and do what you would normally do

469. if it was just everything, normal flight,

470. - and I'm just gonna watch. - Sounds good.

471. Any electronic devices,

472. please place them in the bin. Thank you for your cooperation.

473. Please remember to discard all liquids.

474. If you have any electronic devices in your bags,

475. please remove them from your bags

476. and place them in a bin.

477. - You're good to go. - Awesome. Thank you, sir.

478. Thank you for your cooperation.

479. Yeah, no worries, man. Have a great one.

480. - Hello. - Hey, how are you?

481. - Good, how are you? - I'm doing pretty good.

482. Just so you know, there's no specials today.

483. No worries.

484. Is this how it really is?

485. You normally don't talk to the captain?

486. Yeah, not to the captain.

487. When do you normally talk to the captain?

488. So, if I arrive before him

489. or if I'm already in the plane, as soon as he walks in,

490. then we're meeting each other for the first time.

491. So, you don't actually talk to each other

492. - until you are in the cockpit? - Get into the...

493. - That's the first time... - Yeah.

494. you exchange any words?

495. That's the first time, is like when they walk in.

496. - So, do you want me go meet him? - No, no.

497. I just wanted what— I just want what's real.

498. Oh, yeah, yeah. This is... I'm doing it.

499. - This is real? - Yeah, this is real.

500. - This is exactly how it would be? - Yeah.

501. - Okay. Thanks. - Yeah.

502. - Keep going. Yeah. - Okay.

503. This was a little strange to me.

504. You'd think when you're near a stranger

505. you're about to work with, you'd want to introduce yourself

506. and get to know each other, to establish a rapport.

507. But no one here was doing that.

508. - Hi, sir. - Hey, how's it going?

509. Good.

510. - Have a good flight. - Thank you.

511. - Thanks. - Sir. You're welcome.

512. How you doing?

513. - Hello. - Dana, excuse me.

514. - Moody, nice to meet you. - Good to meet you.

515. - How's it going? - I'm good.

516. So, were you not talking to him in the lounge

517. 'cause he wasn't talking to you?

518. Or what was the reason behind that?

519. The pilot that I spoke to...

520. didn't seem to wanna speak to anybody.

521. He seemed to wanna get to the lounge and be alone.

522. So, I felt as if that was the drill for the lounge.

523. - Okay. - That's their alone time,

524. - I think. - Okay.

525. The actor playing Moody's captain

526. showed me his surveillance footage from the real airport.

527. Here's my guy.

528. Yeah, I mean, even here, he's alone.

529. Sure enough, the real captain sat in silence

530. for minutes on end.

531. And when I spoke with other actors about their pilot primaries,

532. it was the same story.

533. - Was he talking to anyone? - No, he pretty much kept to himself.

534. The whole time?

535. Was he talking with anyone?

536. - Or was he— - No.

537. - So, he was just sitting alone? - Yeah.

538. - Was he with other pilots? - Nope. Just by himself.

539. Okay.

540. Any conversation they did have with each other pre-flight

541. seemed to be brief.

542. I wondered if this said something about pilots.

543. But then again, maybe it's normal.

544. I mean, they're just co-workers.

545. Hey, remind me, when we first started working together,

546. did we have, like, a long conversation,

547. or what was that like? I don't remember exactly.

548. - You and I personally? - Yeah.

549. - No, not really. - What did I...

550. Did I ask you about yourself, or what did I...

551. - No. - ... what did I say?

552. You'd come in and give direction and stuff like that.

553. Okay. So, I guess— You know,

554. I guess you don't have to have a long conversation

555. - with everyone you work with. - Sure.

556. Right.

557. - So, where are you from? - Me?

558. - Yeah. - Nebraska.

559. Nice. Omaha...

560. - Omaha's there. - ... is a city.

561. - Yeah. - I know that.

562. It's on the eastern part of the state.

563. I'm from a small town on the western part of the state.

564. Got it, got it. Nice.

565. Yeah, I think I've...

566. I can't remember if I've been there.

567. All right, yeah, I'll let you get back to it.

568. - Cool. All right. - Yeah, good chatting.

569. - Thanks, man. - Thanks so much, yeah.

570. Maybe I wasn't so different from these pilots.

571. Talking to other people is never easy,

572. no matter how close you get to them.

573. Currently, the only FAA required training

574. for assertiveness in the cockpit is a short PowerPoint presentation.

575. Tell them to speak up when uncomfortable,

576. and invite participation by all.

577. Focus on what is right, not who's right.

578. - Time permitting... - John had taken me to see it,

579. and he thought it sucked.

580. This guy's a boring professor.

581. But he had a theory on what was missing.

582. If you can put the emotion into it, to make you feel,

583. the person receiving the training,

584. feel that emotional connection, it's gonna change you.

585. Maybe the answers I was seeking weren't in Moody's airport.

586. They were in Moody's heart.

587. - Hi. - You look good.

588. - Thank you. Hi. Cindy. - Hey, good to meet you.

589. - Yeah. - Yeah, nice to meet you.

590. Thanks so much for doing this.

591. I know. Someone has to keep him company.

592. No, I'm just playing.

593. I've always found that the relationships

594. where I avoided talking about my true feelings

595. were the ones that crashed the hardest.

596. If it's okay, I'd like to talk to you both individually,

597. - if that makes sense. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

598. Great. So, who wants to go first?

599. - I guess I can go first. - I was gonna say "Nose goes."

600. Yeah.

601. - What was that? Nose... - Nose goes.

602. You had mentioned before, like,

603. the thing at Starbucks with, like, her...

604. You were worried maybe she was gonna meet

605. - a customer. - Yeah, yeah.

606. Like, something like that. Like, anybody, you know?

607. - Yeah. - If she met someone

608. at the Starbucks line, you know?

609. But don't you feel if you asked about it,

610. then you could lay that to rest and you could be, like—

611. Yeah, but I don't know.

612. It's just one of those weird things you just think about, you know?

613. Do you think not talking about it is the way to go?

614. Not talking about it is worse than talking about it.

615. But then you also don't wanna annoy your significant other

616. by, like, bringing it up.

617. 'Cause that could also destroy the relationship.

618. You know?

619. For the first time, I was starting to see

620. the dilemma co-pilots face when deciding

621. if they should speak up to their captain.

622. We've captured the localizer. Everything's fine.

623. Continue the approach.

624. If they were to forcibly assert their concerns...

625. Everything is not fine.

626. - My controls. - What the hell, man?

627. You're gonna make us crash. Stop!

628. I have the controls.

629. it would seem like they don't trust the other person,

630. which could destroy the relationship.

631. That'll be the last of you at this company.

632. But for the sake of the flying public,

633. holding stuff in is never the answer.

634. So, is that something you feel like

635. you would wanna talk about then, today?

636. Possibly.

637. Like, it would depend on if she's comfortable.

638. It's up— Yeah, if she's comfortable.

639. Okay. Okay, so let me go check with her.

640. One thing Moody wanted to ask about was your job at Starbucks

641. and just, you know, you talking to customers

642. and just how those conversations go.

643. Yeah. Yeah, for sure, of course.

644. - That's fine? - Yeah.

645. - Okay. - More than fine.

646. Out of curiosity, how do they go?

647. No, everything's just— Everyone's different,

648. and I feel like everyone has a different story to tell me.

649. So, I love hearing them. Like, they open up a lot to me.

650. Really? You talk to them for a while, like...

651. Yeah, no. Like, with some of the customers.

652. we'll even hang out outside of work.

653. Really?

654. - Like— - Like we're friends.

655. - Really? - Yeah.

656. I've gotten a couple of things from work.

657. I've gotten free shoes, free pants.

658. - Really? - Free sweaters.

659. - Just from people giving you stuff? - Yeah.

660. A customer. His name is Angel.

661. - Angel? - Yeah.

662. You know, I've kind of told people

663. that I'm gonna be leaving Starbucks soon.

664. Yeah.

665. And then he wanted to give me a goodbye present.

666. Angel gave you that anklet?

667. - Yes. - Oh, wow.

668. - Yeah. - How long ago was this?

669. Like, maybe a week ago?

670. Is the person, like, hitting on you?

671. No, I don't think so. I just—

672. I'm like, "I really like that," and then they bring it for me.

673. Why do you think he's giving you gifts like that?

674. I think you really influence someone's life

675. when you bring, like, positivity.

676. Like, at Starbucks, it's something little,

677. but it changes them.

678. And have you talked to Moody about this stuff? Or...

679. No.

680. - Okay. - Yeah.

681. I don't know. It just— It never came up.

682. But, yeah, I'm comfortable talking about that.

683. I don't feel like there's anything to hide in my life.

684. Some things are gonna be hard

685. - for you to bring up. - Yeah.

686. But if you ever feel like your concerns are being ignored,

687. I want you to, like, grab the yoke and take control of the plane.

688. - Okay? - Okay.

689. I don't know if it'll work exactly, but the idea is to sort of,

690. fuse the motion with the emotions.

691. Will you be kinda, like,

692. delegating or monitoring the conversation

693. and, like, trying to get us to talk about things?

694. - Or is it just— - It's up to you.

695. - Okay, so I have to... - Yes, it's up to you

696. - to bring these things up. Yeah. - Okay, just bring up everything?

697. - Yeah. - Okay.

698. Maybe this is something that the FAA never considered,

699. that you could use the emotions

700. from pilots' personal relationships to train them for the cockpit.

701. It's a little odd, but would you be willing

702. to dress as a pilot?

703. Yeah. I guess. Yeah.

704. - Okay. - Why not?

705. - All right? - All right, we're all set up.

706. The airplane's all ready to go for El Paso.

707. Let's go to El Paso.

708. All right, we're taking off.

709. Cool.

710. - So, yeah. - Yeah.

711. So, those are... Whose are these? And you don't touch anything?

712. A pet peeve of mine is when people just mess with stuff.

713. - I need to fidget with something. - I don't know.

714. That's bothering me, though. Sorry. It's just...

715. It's bothering me.

716. - Anyway, so— - Anyway, not the point.

717. So, if you had customers coming in—

718. - At Starbucks? - Yeah.

719. - Okay. - And you had— Hypothetically,

720. you had a significant other who was like,

721. you know, asking you,

722. "Oh, are you getting hit on at Starbucks?"

723. Would you be honest with them

724. - and tell them? - Yeah.

725. So— Okay, so do you currently get hit on at Starbucks?

726. - Yes. - A lot?

727. Yes.

728. - A lot? - Okay, so I think, like,

729. getting hit on is, like, one thing, and then if they

730. try to ask for a number or, like, further than that...

731. When Moody grabbed the controls,

732. I realized how intense this conversation

733. was getting for him.

734. So, in my mind, I was like,

735. "Why would this guy invite you out to coffee

736. and then buy you a coffee and then you sit for a couple hours

737. if he wasn't hoping for something more?"

738. So, like, with my friends, like, I try to make it clear.

739. If I have a guy friend, like, I try to make it clear

740. that, like, "This is friendship. Like, that's all it is."

741. I'll be honest. I don't buy people coffee.

742. Like, I don't buy girls coffee unless we're on a date.

743. - Okay. - This was good.

744. Moody was actually speaking his mind,

745. and she was listening.

746. I get what you're saying. Like... Me?

747. Like, I wouldn't go out with somebody

748. if, like, I think that's what their intentions are.

749. Well, he sent you flowers, so it must have been something.

750. I don't think so. I think they're friend gifts.

751. Interesting.

752. - Yeah. - What? "Yeah," what?

753. No, that's it. Yeah.

754. All right, hey. That was great.

755. Yeah, that was a good—

756. I think we should just stop here maybe, right?

757. That was a great conversation.

758. - Yeah, you liked it? - Yeah.

759. - You had a good chat? - Yeah.

760. You know, this is still a work in progress,

761. so, you know...

762. - we're gonna figure it all out. - Yeah.

763. But it was good to, you know, see, you know.

764. Just wanna make sure everyone's happy and...

765. Yeah, I don't know. You wanna give each other a hug or...

766. - Sure, I guess. - Okay.

767. - Okay, nice. - Yeah.

768. Okay, great.

769. It was good that they finally talked about stuff.

770. But after the training, the vibe in the room was weird.

771. I wasn't sure what it meant.

772. It was like we were back in the pilot's lounge.

773. Two people together, but not sharing a word.

774. - Nice. - Yeah.

775. Maybe for pilots, there's a reason they hold stuff in.

776. They're transporting people through the sky.

777. They can't be distracted by their feelings.

778. But as Moody left that day, I started to feel insecure.

779. Have some fun together, okay?

780. Aviation safety was serious stuff.

781. Was I really the man to do this?

782. But as I continued immersing myself

783. in the history of flying,

784. I found something that changed my attitude a little.

785. Nearly all the early attempts at inventing an airplane

786. were seen by the public as a joke.

787. No one believed the Wright Brothers could do it.

788. And no one took them seriously

789. because the field of human aviation, at the time,

790. was considered comedy.

791. Maybe every new idea is funny until it's proven.

792. Maybe a clown can change the world after all.