Episode Summary

Day three of our Story Stop Tour at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2026 takes us to two booths with very different products and a surprisingly similar lesson.

First, we visit ALSIM, a French company that has been building certified flight simulators since 1994. Suliman from ALSIM explains what separates a professional training simulator from the flight sim on your laptop. He covers how engineers use real flight data and computational fluid dynamics to build a sim’s flight model, and why real avionics and muscle memory are shaping the future of pilot training.

Then we head to the FLYTE tent, where an Australian sunglass company built by pilots arrived at Oshkosh with no stock and no tent and still built one of the best hangouts on the field. Co-owner Mick shares how aviators learn to stay calm when the red lights come on. Filmmaker and CFI Dakota Cyhaniuk explains why practice beats talent. Airshow pilot Patrick McAlee of Team Extreme Flight goes from the kid at the fence to the pilot in the cockpit. Natalia McAlee, host of the Wonder Women of Aviation podcast, explains why she wrote a kids’ book to answer her own questions about aerobatics.

Key Points

• Sims aren’t video games. Professional simulators are certified by aviation authorities like the FAA and EASA, so flight schools can use them for part of a student’s required training.
• The flight model is the brain of the sim. ALSIM combines data from real flights with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to make its simulators respond like the real airplane.
• Muscle memory matters. Sims built with real Garmin avionics put every screen and knob where it is in the airplane, so your hands learn the cockpit before you ever fly it.
• What’s next in sim training: higher-fidelity devices, mixed reality, and AI-powered tools that help both students and instructors.
• Procedures beat panic. Mick’s four-word reaction to warning lights (“Don’t like that much”) shows how pilot training builds resilience you can use anywhere.
• Sometimes the best call is not to go. A 40-knot crosswind at Bryce Canyon turned into an overnight stay and a lifelong friendship.
• Talent is mostly practice. Dakota Cyhaniuk says his aviation films got better one shoot at a time, the same way pilots improve one landing at a time.
• Mechanics keep everyone flying. Patrick McAlee reminds young listeners that the shortage of mechanics and engineers is even bigger than the pilot shortage.
• STEM + Art = STEAM. Natalia McAlee uses books, coloring pages, and simulators to get kids off their screens and thinking.

Timestamps

Time

Segment

00:00

Opening: from a hangar somewhere near the flightline

01:20

Story Stop #1: ALSIM, a flight simulator company from France

03:09

Are professional sims just expensive video games?

04:21

Building a flight model: real flight data + computational fluid dynamics

06:21

The future of sim training: muscle memory, mixed reality, and AI

10:35

Story Stop #2: FLYTE, and the shipment that never arrived

12:07

“Don’t like that much”: Mick on staying calm when the red lights come on

13:55

Dakota Cyhaniuk on why practice beats talent

15:50

Patrick McAlee: from the kid at the fence to the airshow pilot

18:19

Natalia McAlee on aerobatics, her kids’ book, and STEAM

Links

Hear the full interviews

• AviNation YouTube channel: full-length Story Stop interviews → https://www.youtube.com/@AviNationUSA

Story Stop #1: ALSIM

• ALSIM: https://www.alsim.com/
• ALSIM on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alsimflight/

Story Stop #2: FLYTE

• FLYTE sunglasses: https://flyte.aero
• Team Extreme Flight (Patrick & Natalia McAlee): https://extreme-flight.com
• Wonder Women of Aviation podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5t8NwklCL4QDjqZFqikrBV
• Dakota Cyhaniuk: Instagram @dakotacyhaniuk · YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DakotaCyhaniuk

The event

• EAA AirVenture Oshkosh: https://www.eaa.org/airventure

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