Our social editor Jordan Maddox said this in our GChat, after riding in the plane with Grayson Taylor this week, a concert photographer, videographer and flight instructor at Aviator Air School, who was the subject of a story we wrote about him wanting to launch a Hot Ones-style interview show flying bands to their Dallas dates.
Today, Maddox is sharing videos from the experience. In her first video above Joe Pool Lake, she gets the backstory of the talk show and how his favorite band West 22nd was down for him to fly them to their show in Dallas in May.
“Wouldn’t it be so cool if I flew people to their concerts? Like I could do that,” he tells Maddox.
He shares his dream interview, stating it would be The Backseat Lovers. Watch more of part one below.
In part two, Maddox gets to actually fly the plane (briefly). She learns about keeping the nose of a plane straight and level with the horizon. She then tries a steep turn, which was pretty cool. Watch the second part below.
“This was my first time flying in such a small plane, and honestly, I was scared,” Maddox tells me on a reflective Friday morning. “But I enjoy trying new things, and Grayson's expertise and calm made me more confident.”
“Before we took off, he offered to give me a chance to try taking the wheel when we got up in the air, and I figured why not? I'd already be up in the air, why not learn a little something?”
“At one point, my door popped open, which Grayson warned me could happen, and that did shake me up a bit. But at no point did I feel unsafe, though. You can probably tell from the video, but I was pretty lousy at flying the plane. I couldn't figure out how to actually keep level, and Grayson ended up doing most of the real maneuvering for me. Overall, this was one of the coolest interviews I've had the pleasure of conducting, and now I can say I've flown a plane. Though my actual contribution to flying wasn't impressive.”
Glad you made it back, Jordan. For more on this story, read Simon Pruitt’s piece here.
