RADIO TONI with Toni Lontis

Radio Toni – Up in the air with Robert Fulton Show 2

Sunday 7th March 2021- 4pm PT USA = 7PM ET USA and Monday 10am AEST (Australia) via zoom

Talking Points and questions

• Welcome and intro – FB, website, like subscribe and email – hi to Paolo, listening on the live streams ready to answer all your questions and send you any of the links you’d like.

TONI – This is the second in our series of shows our guest today is an inspirational reinvention specialist, author, and pilot. Robert Fulton was just 3 months shy of retirement, having fully vested in his employer’s retirement plan, when they pulled his program and laid everyone off! Robert was forced to reinvent himself and for the first time in his life, in his 50yr career he was grounded. Robert had to figure out how to overcome PTDS, deep depression and what on earth to do in his late 60’s. Out of this time was born a book – Up in the sir, a pilot’s journey, his aviation memoir spanning 50 yrs. Robert also became an award winning speaker with Toastmasters and now he speaks on overcoming obstacles, reinvention, retirement and leadership.

About the book - Up in the Air

With more than 20,000 flying hours, Robert Fulton takes you "up in the air" in a series of 10 chapters that detail stories produced by a wide variety of fixed-wing and helicopter missions that on occasion rise to the level of breathtaking terror as well as the luxury of immense relief. 

In a career spanning almost 50 years, Fulton dives into the riddles of fate in the air, into life's struggle to survive no matter what - finding a way, risking life and limb to achieve a goal, taking calculated risks to overcome an obstacle that blocks your progress. Lessons applicable to life and living are paralleled by the author through lessons in flight where the elements and fate's cruellest outcomes are presented as experiences to learn from. 

Up in the Air: A Pilot's Journey will have you paying rapt attention to find out how the story ended or what is next, but it will also give you the feelings of the author as he steers in hopeful directions for a favorable outcome for patients, passengers, and fellow pilots who deserve success and to be shielded from fate at its worst.

Good evening Robert and welcome to Radio Toni we are so delighted to have you back again this week. Last week we spoke extensively about your life and career and today we want to focus on your amazing book, Up in the Air

1. There’s a lovely description of the first time you went up in aircraft, as a child. Can you recount this for the audience, it’s a wonderful memory for you isn’t it?

2. I noted a wonderful phase from the first chapter of the book, UP in the Air the chapter is called 30sec over Tokyo. I don’t want to give away the story but there’s a phase I loved from this chapter “Bull riding in the snow” Can you tell the audience what this wonderful phrase refers to?

3. You describe 400 orange helicopters converging from all points in the universe on the Parker County Court house, like bees swarming to the bee hive. What is this describing, and can you take our listeners back to that time and place?

4. One on the Chapters in UP in the Air focuses on fate and the analogy you use is about fortune cookies. Let’s talk about fate. How much does the concept of fate enter your mind as a young man flying combat missions in Vietnam in helicopters? How did you deal with this across your career and what are your thoughts about fate?

5. The impact of being part of Vietnam left lifelong impacts, are you happy to talk about Vietnam Robert? What was it like dealing with war as such a young man? What did you do to cope whilst there? What was it like coming home? What are your thoughts about helping our veterans recover to wholeness after being in a war zone?

6. What are snakes and what was their significance in Vietnam?

7. Night flying and snow flying – they are both make for really challenging flying – what are the implications of flying aircraft/helicopters at night? What about the snow and cold?

8. In UP in the Air you write about flying accidents/incidents and dangerous situations, you have had many of those across your career, can you tell the audience about one of those, how did you get back in a plane/helicopter, do those near-death experiences change the way you fly, the way you live life?

9. Up in the Air is peppered with wonderful insights into the technical components of flight, from helicopters to aircraft. You’re an expert in this field how did you accomplish the difficulty of converting this type of technical information into such readable and interesting script for readers?

10. Up in the Air is a series of short stories from your decades in the air. Do you have a favourite chapter, if so why?

11. Why do you think women are buying this memoir in such numbers and especially for their husbands?

You’ve had some amazing book reviews so far and I want to read one of these for the listeners today –

Book Reviews: Exciting Flying Memoir! A collection of auto-biographical short stories from the author’s experiences as a both a helicopter and fixed-wing pilot, Robert Fulton’s thrilling new memoir kept me turning the pages late into the night! Fulton writes gut-wrenching moments that brought me to tears and hair-raising experiences explained in detail. The author’s wonderful story-telling puts the reader right in the pilot’s seat through Vietnam, Arctic flying, perilous wire-filled cities, and low-visibility night flying. “Up in the Air” is an excellent read to be enjoyed by pilots and passengers alike.

Finally, what does the future look like for Robert Fulton author, speaker pilot hold?

Robert Fulton, thank you!

Toni Mention all the ways to connect with Robert, where to buy the book, speaking opportunities.

Paolo Links

https://apilotjourney.com/

rgfulton4@me.com

YouTube: A pilot's journey

www.youtv.be/eGJUwLC

Instagram:apilotjourney4

www.instagram.com/tv/CLXk

Linkedin: Robert Fulton

www.linkedin/in/robertgfulton