EP 12 - Behind the scenes of "Big Yellow", + Dr Powell Returns to Discuss Job Loss and Mental Health

About this episode

The episode discusses the making of a documentary on aircraft repossession and features a conversation with Dr. Abigail Powell about pilot mental health and job loss.

After a short hiatus brought on by what may have been the busiest week in Nomadic Aviation Group's history—followed by a well-earned vacation for Steve—the Cockpit Casual Podcast is back. We kick things off by discussing the latest Cockpit Casual documentary covering the Spirit Airlines aircraft repossession operation, which exploded past one million views during its first week on YouTube. Steve shares behind-the-scenes details on how the episode came together under an incredibly compressed timeline, along with insights into his overall production process and the philosophy behind creating Cockpit Casual's cinematic aviation documentaries. From there, we turn our attention to a new project involving the delivery of the first Boeing aircraft for a promising new airline in Nigeria, discussing the challenges and opportunities involved in helping launch a new carrier in today's aviation environment. The second half of the episode features the return of Dr. Abigail Powell, Aviation Psychologist, for an important conversation about pilot mental health. Building on her previous appearance, Dr. Powell joins us to discuss one of the most difficult realities facing aviation professionals…

People in this episode

Hosts: Steve Giordano, Robert Allen

Guest: Dr. Abigail Powell

Topics covered

• aviation
• mental health
• job loss
• documentary
• airline industry
• production process

Keywords

• aviation
• mental health
• job loss
• documentary
• Spirit Airlines
• Boeing
• Nigeria
• airline industry

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nomadic Aviation Group, Spirit Airlines, Boeing

Places: Nigeria

More episodes of Cockpit Casual: The Podcast

• EP 11 - Inside the Massive Spirit Airlines Repo Operation · May 12, 2026 · 1h 13m
• EP10 - The Man Behind the Music! Steve Giordano Sr. · May 1, 2026 · 1h 35m
• EP9 - Let Spirit Burn! & Guest Segment: the Nomadic Dispatch and Planning Team (Finally) · April 24, 2026 · 1h 37m
• EP8 - Farewell to Nomadic One, Merger-talk, and Bob and Steve's Humble Beginnings in Aviation · April 17, 2026 · 1h 6m
• EP7 - The Aviation Therapist, Selling the Westwind, and What Comes Next · April 10, 2026 · 1h 31m
• EP6 - Lunch in Tashkent, Passover with Steve, and listener Q&A · April 3, 2026 · 1h 30m