The Hangar Z Podcast

Welcome to Episode 121 of The Hangar Z Podcast , brought to you by Vertical Helicasts . In Part Two of this three-part series, host Jon Gray resumes his conversation with Calvin Dockery and Dave Ritchie. Both Dockery and Ritchie are U.S. Army veterans who flew MH-47 helicopters in the world-renowned 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment’s missio...

Welcome to Episode 120 of The Hangar Z Podcast , brought to you by Vertical Helicasts . In this three-part series, host Jon Gray sits down with two outstanding Americans, Calvin Dockery and Dave Ritchie. Both Dockery and Ritchie are U.S. Army veterans who flew MH-47 helicopters in the world-renowned 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment’s missio...

Welcome to episode 119 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts .   This episode is brought to you from the floor of the ECHO Public Safety Aviation Conference in San Diego, courtesy of conference sponsor Airbus Helicopters.   In this episode, host Jon Gray sits down with Mike Calhoun from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, as well as Matt Zdunich, chief pilot for the...

Welcome to episode 118 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts .   In Part Three of this three-part series, host Jon Gray resumes his conversation with Matt Szluka.   Szluka is a state trooper and fixed-wing aircraft pilot with the Illinois State Police (ISP) in the Chicagoland area, with extensive aviation and law enforcement experience.   He currently focuses on supporting...

Welcome to episode 117 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts . In this three part series, we sit down with Matt Szluka. Matt is currently employed as a State Trooper and Fixed-Wing Aircraft Pilot with the Illinois State Police in the Chicagoland area.  Matt was born and raised in the Chicago area, and has lived in the city his entire life. Prior to joining the ISP Air Opera...

Welcome to episode 116 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts .   In this three-part series, host Jon Gray sits down with Matt Szluka.   Szluka is a state trooper and fixed-wing aircraft pilot with the Illinois State Police in the Chicagoland area.    Born and raised in Chicago, Szluka has lived in the city his entire life. Prior to joining the ISP Air Operations Bureau as a...

Welcome to episode 115 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts .   In this episode, host Jon Gray sits down with a few of the men from SR3, Stef Maier Rob Munday and Tony Webber — although Webber steps into the co-host shoes for this episode, recorded on location in San Diego Bay from the ECHO conference.   This episode is modeled after Flight Suit Fridays, a podcast about U....

Welcome to Episode 114 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts .   This is Part Two of a series with Derek, Kyle and Tanya from the Calgary Police Service aviation unit, referred to as the HAWCS program. HAWCS stands for Helicopter Air Watch for Community Safety.    In this episode, Hangar Z host Jon Gray and his guests continue their conversation about Calgary’s aviation pro...

  Welcome to episode 113 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts .   In this two-part series, host Jon Gray sits down with Derek, Kyle and Tanya from the Calgary Police Service aviation unit, referred to as the HAWCS program. HAWCS stands for helicopter air watch for community safety.    During this episode we have an opportunity to profile their careers, talk about the Calga...

Welcome to episode 112 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts . In this two-part series, we sit down with Dr. Keith Roxo and Dr. Dan Monlux, who founded Wingman Med . They are both F/A-18 pilots turned board-certified aerospace medicine physicians.    Roxo is a Top Gun-trained adversary pilot turned aerospace medicine physician with over 2,000 hours in high-performance aircr...

Welcome to episode 111 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts .   In this episode, host Jon Gray celebrates the 50th episode of The Helicopter Podcast with Halsey Schider.   To mark the occasion, Gray takes over The Helicopter Podcast to interview Schider.    Gray has been working behind the scenes and on the mic to help build MHM Publishing’s new Vertical Helicasts podcast...

Welcome to episode 110 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts .   This is an episode recorded from the floor at the ECHO Public Safety Aviation Conference in San Diego. Host Jon Gray had another opportunity to sit down with Bell’s Terry Miyauchi to discuss what it takes to establish a new public safety aviation unit.    Miyauchi’s aviation career spans more than 30 years, wh...

Welcome to episode 109 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts . Thanks for joining us for part three of our conversation with Lt Cody Klaehn from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). In this episode, we talk about the equipment Texas DPS is using for its airborne use of force program as we continue the conversation on airborne use of force.  Lt Klaehn is a Texas nati...

Welcome to episode 108 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts .   Thanks for joining us to continue this conversation with Lt Cody Klaehn from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).   In this episode, Lt Klaehn debriefs an inadvertent entry into instrument meteorological conditions (IIMC) incident he was a part of as a tactical flight officer (TFO). We also continue th...

Welcome to episode 107 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts . In this three-part series, we sit down with Lt. Cody Klaehn, from the Texas Department of Public Safety Aircraft Division.   Cody is a Texas native who joined the Marine Corp before joining Texas DPS  Cody worked the highway as a patrol officer for ten years, before he was selected to the Driver License Fraud Un...

Welcome to episode 106 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts .   This is part two of our conversation with Manny Dickerson, chief tactical flight officer (TFO) in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Air Support Division. Dickerson grew up in Southern California and joined the Marine Corps before becoming an LAPD officer.    Throughout Dickerson’s distinguished career,...

Welcome to episode 105 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts .   In this episode, we sit down with Manny Dickerson, chief tactical flight officer (TFO) at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Dickerson is a Southern California native who joined the Marine Corps before becoming an LAPD officer.    Throughout Dickerson’s distinguished career, he has had a dramatic positi...

Welcome to episode 104 of The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical Helicasts . This episode is a rollercoaster of celebration, revelation and inspiration! We're excited to announce some groundbreaking milestones on our journey and welcome a new member to our podcast family. We raise a toast for joining forces with the MHM Publishing family, marking our third glorious year on air, laun...

Welcome to episode 103 of the Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical HeliCASTS Ever wished you could be a fly on the wall at a top-tier public safety aviation conference? Strap in and join us for an engaging rearview reflection on the enriching experience we had at the Echo Public Safety Aviation Conference in San Diego. Mrs. Z and I share how this unique gathering enabled us to collaborate...

Welcome to episode 102 of the Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical HeliCASTS   Yes, Vertical HeliCASTS . You may wondering: What the heck is Vertical HeliCASTS ? It's an exciting new podcast network from Vertical and Vertical Valor magazines, the helicopter industry's leading publications. The Hangar Z podcast is proud to be part of the new Vertical HeliCASTS family. When Hangar...

Welcome to episode 101 of The Hangar Z Podcast brought to you by Vertical Valor Magazine . This is part two of two with Jimmy Hatch a former Navy Seal, founder of Spikes K9 Fund, and author of Touching the Dragon. Jimmy’s story is truly inspiring, Jimmy is a former Navy Seal, master naval parachutist, he was involved in over 150 missions between Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and Africa. Jimmy was also...

Welcome to episode 100 of The Hangar Z Podcast brought to you by Vertical Valor Magazine . One thing that has been constant for The Hangar Z Podcast as we have grown over the last three years and 100 episodes is change. We have constantly worked to bring new and different types of interviews to our aviation community. Our hope in doing so is that the guest's stories will challenge you, motiva...

Welcome to episode 99 of The Hangar Z Podcast brought to you by Vertical Valor Magazine . In this episode, we are privileged to host Sergeant Jon Hess from the Kansas City Police Department Aviation Unit. During the conversation, Jon Hess talks about the Kansas City Police Department and their aviation unit. Jon is a Purdue University Aviation program graduate, so we spend time talking about his e...

Welcome to episode 98 of The Hangar Z Podcast brought to you by Vertical Valor Magazine . In this episode, we piggyback off Vertical Magazine’s article on ECHO’s Public Safety Aviation Conference in San Diego. We got to sit down with ECHO HEMS Director Travis Mason and ECHO Marketing Director Ashley Chitty.  During the conversation, we talk about what ECHO is as an organization and most importantl...

Welcome to episode 97 of The Hangar Z Podcast brought to you by Vertical Valor Magazine . In this episode, we continue the conversation with Bell legends Terry Miyauchi and Steve Soliz and discuss the differences in the HEMS and Law Enforcement mission sets. Thank you to Bell for sponsoring these special episodes of The Hangar Z Podcast. Terry's aviation career spans more than 30 years, where...