+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
DISCLAIMER:
This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Nothing but blue skies and tail winds from now. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Episode 332 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today I'll be speaking with Pietro, the first type one in the country hold a first class medical license given by the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration, pitcher can fly whatever plane he wants. Now, Type One Diabetes be damned. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by Dexcom and Omni pod, you can go to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box, where my omnipod.com Ford slash juice box to find out more about the sponsors. On the pod, we'll even send you a free no obligation demo right to your home. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. And always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. We're becoming bold with insulin. You're gonna like this.
Pietro Marsala 1:15
Hi, everybody. My name is Pietro Marsala. And I am the first insulin treated diabetic pilot to be certified for a FAA first class medical
Scott Benner 1:36
pitcher. That's the that's the nice part. We'll get to that in a second. You and I know each other through Instagram, is that right?
Pietro Marsala 1:42
That's correct. Yeah, we've we followed each other for quite some time. And we've spoke a few times the direct messenger and it's been nice. It absolutely
Scott Benner 1:50
has and you shared a photo one time of you in a plane, like with your Dexcom graph, I think. Yeah, that was you. I used to use that in, um, in live events by boy.
Pietro Marsala 2:02
Oh, did you hear me? Let me know.
Scott Benner 2:04
Yeah. Like, yeah, I'm right on top of that, by the way. made me look interesting. You know, because somebody who's listening to the podcast and I'm playing my confusion is then you were you were in it felt like you were flying the plane. Were you not flying the plane, then?
Pietro Marsala 2:20
Yeah, so one of the pictures I think I sent you way back was just a picture, we were sitting at cruise on like 10,000 feet going to San Diego. And you can kind of set your your headset up depending on what kind of headset you have in aviation, some of them have the ability, or Bluetooth. And when the air traffic control speak to us, it blocks out whatever you're listening to, if you're listening to something on your on your Bluetooth, and immediately it turns the attention to what we're doing. And in that case, we were just sitting in cruise, there's not much going on, had your podcast downloaded. So I was listening to it a little bit. And there we went. And so then I sent you that I sent you that picture. I was listening to it at 10,000 feet. And it's not the same as listening to at home. So I couldn't do it long. But it was I was pretty cool about their podcasts open listen to kind of how, how you've how you go about your podcasts and how it's kind of changed my life in a way, as well as many other aspects of like Dexcom in different things and how they've, they've kind of influenced me to be bold and like you talk about and so yeah, I sent you that picture i thought was pretty cool. I really appreciate it. I
Scott Benner 3:27
thought it was amazing, honestly. And so I was right. You had control of the plane. So you had a pilot's license them, but that's different now, right? There's so let's kind of go backwards a little bit. Let me find out. How old were you when you were diagnosed?
Pietro Marsala 3:44
Um, so I was diagnosed. Let's see. I was diagnosed back in January 2012. With type two diabetes.
Scott Benner 3:53
How long did it take them to figure out you had type one.
Pietro Marsala 3:56
So it's kind of weird. So I went to had all the classic symptoms, right? The we always talk about, I'm not going to bore you with those. But most people this this podcast know what those are. So I was diagnosed in 2012 in January, and it took me about 10 or 11 months until they correctly diagnosed me with type one because I went to go see an endocrinologist after you know, the oral medication wasn't stabilizing me. And so we went to go see this endocrinologist and he looked at me and he said, You don't fit the bill of a type two patient. Have they run this test? And you know, I forgot what test it was if it was a C peptide peptide, what it was, yeah. Yeah. And so they ran that test, and then they confirmed it was Type One Diabetes at that point in November, I believe is November 2012. And in January 2012, I was diagnosed with Type two November 2012 was diagnosed with type one.
Scott Benner 4:45
Okay. So basically, around 2013 you knew you had type one diabetes, and I've taken a pen and a pencil just down I've written down 2020 to 100. I wrote 2013 and then I did some subtraction, and I figured out that was about seven years ago. That's the Right. Yeah, that's about right. How old were you then?
Pietro Marsala 5:02
I was what? 21 years old. I was 21. I was diagnosed at 21.
Scott Benner 5:07
Okay. So were you a pilot then?
Pietro Marsala 5:11
Yeah, so it was interesting. So I had, I was in the middle of my flight training, when, when I was diagnosed, I was in January 2012, was working on my commercial certificate, because my goal had always been to be an airline pilot. And in January 2012, I was diagnosed with it. And so I went to go see a doctor, like I said, and he diagnosed me with type two diabetes, and kind of long story short, it was obviously a really hard day for me. But I was just excited as a 21 year old to know that, hey, you know, it's not the worst thing in life. You know, if I've got to manage my blood sugar, I could stay fit. And I could just exercise and diet and keep me in a safe range, then I could return to to the flight deck. And, you know, I looked on the FAA website at the time, and it said that if you're a type two diabetic, and you don't require insulin, that you could still carry what's called a first class medical certificate. And for those of you out there that don't know what a first class medical certificate is, is, it allows you to fly for an airline here in the United States. So as pilots, we carry both pilot certificates and medical certificates, and I was working on my pilot's certificate to be qualified for the airline. Well, in the middle of that I got diagnosed with diabetes, and that kind of threw a wrench in it, and didn't allow me to carry a first class anymore. With type two diabetes, I worked hard. I got my first class medical back about six months after that, because the FAA requires you to stabilize on the medication. And so I worked hard at it, I dieted I exercise, I got off the insulin and maintained my blood sugar on Metformin. At the time, I was taking the medication, and the FAA was fine with that. So they gave me my first class medical back well, only to take it away again, after about three or four months after that point. When I got diagnosed officially with type one diabetes, and obviously, as many of you know that it requires insulin on type one, and so that was probably harder than the original diagnosis of type two, because at that point, I had done my homework and my research on what, you know, what it what it takes to carry a first class medical, and I knew that insulin at the time was a disqualifying drug. And so that was that was just the hardest, probably the hardest day, my life to this day.
Scott Benner 7:14
Hey, can I ask you a question in the time between the type two and type one diagnosis where you're working so hard? To get stable? You know, I guess, for the lack of a better term? Do you think you were so focused on that stability? The Is that why it took longer for you to find out you had type one, like what I'm interested in what takes the time to figure out I really don't have type two diabetes.
Pietro Marsala 7:37
Yeah, so it was just weird, because, you know, I got on the insulin, and my agency was in attendance at the time, when I first got diagnosed, obviously, not knowing that I had it. And they told me I needed to be I think it was like below 9% to carry a third class medical to fly, like for fun, and you know, to be inflamed structure and whatnot. And so I was just, I started working at that I started working out like crazy. You know, I was watching what I ate, I ate basically, like zero carb, zero, carb was impossible, but very, very low carb, very, very low carb at the time I was because I was on Metformin, I wanted to get off insulin, and I was figuring out pretty quickly that the less insulin you take, the less risk you have for hypoglycemia. And so I started with this whole low carb thing I was, you know, dieting, I was exercising a lot. And, and so, as I was doing that, you know, it's life was, I'm not gonna say easy, but it got easier. I started, you know, pricking my finger, you know, 10 times a day, times a day, whatever I was doing, and it took me took me about, you know, a good six months, it was it was a good estimate for the FAA to say, hey, you need to stabilize for six months until I figured out you know, kind of how the Metformin works. And, you know, when you know, how the, how the low fields or the high fields and kind of get the symptoms of what it feels like to be in each range. I didn't have a CGM at the time when I was when I was a type two patient or what I thought it was a type two patient, right. And so I was just managing with finger six. And, you know, it took me it took me a good six months to stabilize, I was doing everything that I possibly could to maintain that blood sugar, and I felt confident in the ability to maintain it on that form. And while every morning I'd wake up and as many type two patients do, I think before breakfast, the first thing they do is they tested blood sugar they fingerprick right. And so I was seeing a rise in blood sugar, I would see like, you know, 95 and that would be crazy. Okay, cool. I'm below 100. Sweet. And then I would see 110 and 120 and 130 as the days went on, and I'm like, What the heck is going on? And I knew nothing about what a honeymoon phase man I was so uneducated about the whole thing when I was 21. Right. Um, and so yeah, so then that's when my mom was like, I think we should go for a second opinion and see an endocrinologist and see what he tells you. And of course, at first I didn't want to do it. So I was scared of, you know, what was to come if it was possibly type one. And he comes he looks at me and like I said, he told me I didn't fit the bill and ran a test and confirmed it was type one.
Scott Benner 9:49
It's interesting. You didn't fit the bill. Did he mean visually at first or through tests? Yes. Yeah. It's weird because you could, I mean, I know what you look like and you're a fit young guy and all but you Could have type two diabetes? It's not. Yeah, and wouldn't be my question.
Pietro Marsala 10:04
Yeah, exactly. And so and he, you know, he looked at me was you don't fit the bill. And I was like, confused by that. I don't know what you mean. I mean, yeah, I played soccer my whole life. And I consider myself a fairly fit person. And so yeah, I was confused. I was like, how is this possible? You know, I didn't know that, you know, type two, or the difference between type one and type two. And I just thought that people in general that had diabetes were unfortunately people that didn't take the best care of themselves. Well, obviously didn't, didn't know better. Yeah. And so yeah, so he diagnosed me with type one, and I had to go on insulin immediately. And I kept before he ran a test, I kept telling him like, it was gonna change his mind or something. He had some magic potion. You know, when I took the lab, lab test that he would, it would change his mind. And I kept telling him, you know, my endocrinologist, and I'm still with the same endocrinologist today. He's a great guy. But he kept I kept telling him, Hey, you know, I'm a pilot, I can't, you know, I can't be on insulin. They don't let me fly with insulin. And he's like, well, let's, let's get you healthy first, before you worry about, you know, what's next. Let's let's, let's take it one step at a time. And so you diagnose me and just crush my dreams, everything I had dreamed up since I was a kid, of becoming a pilot, while I was a pilot already, but I was a private pilot. And, you know, becoming a commercial pilot. And living this dream was just, everything just was just thrown so hard for me. Yeah,
Scott Benner 11:13
trashy bow juice. Listen, I want to understand if you were, you know, at that time, if this type two thing didn't happen in 2012, and then type one in 2013? At what point do you think you would have been able to achieve becoming a commercial pilot? Like what year? Do you think that that would have started for you as a as a, you know, a way to make money? And, you know, career?
Pietro Marsala 11:36
Yeah, good. Good question. So, um, so with type, like, like I said, so you're saying if I was if I was when I got diagnosed with type one, when I got diagnosed, I never got type two? No, no,
Scott Benner 11:47
I'm wondering if it never happened at all. Like, what what post were you on?
Pietro Marsala 11:52
Okay, so yeah, so I would have finished, I started in January 2012, my commercial certificate training. And I would have been done with that probably by March. At the latest, I finished it in two months, and I went back to school, but I probably would have taken me initially two to three months to finish that off. But the thing is, is that just because you become a commercial pilot, and you're certified, that doesn't mean that anybody's gonna hire you. Because the regulations, the way they're written is that you have to build flight time. Okay, so you have to have 1500 hours of flight time experience. So it would have taken me a few years to build that time. And so I would have been diagnosed sooner rather than later, eventually, I would have got to the point where I needed insulin, and I would have stopped eventually.
Scott Benner 12:30
But in a world where diabetes didn't exist, you'd probably would have taken three years or so to build up your flight time. And then you kind of put yourself out there and start looking for jobs. And so there's a whole process in there. But But what I'm getting at is because that didn't happen. How did you shift your ideas about how you were going to, you know, feed yourself like, what, what happened to your goals? Yeah, and
Pietro Marsala 12:54
so so the way for most,
I want to say the majority of pilots that go through school, a lot of times, there's multiple ways you can build time to get to that 1500 dollars. For me, it was I chose the flight instructor route. And I was able to be a flight instructor on insulin because it only required a third class medical, there's three different certifications of medicals, there's first, second, and third, or third being the lowest and first being the highest first for commercial pilots to exercise their privileges in an airline. And third, to do small stuff, like fly for fun and become a flight instructor. So in my eyes, I was like, Okay, you know what, I'm going to take the flight instructor out, because it beats sitting in a cubicle. And so I'm like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go, I'm going to become a flight instructor, I'm gonna build my time, because that's originally what I had planned to do anyway, to get to my my airline job. Right, right. And so what I did was I built time as a flight instructor. And I kind of just stuck in an industry I've built, built experience and moved up in the company. And I'm pretty fortunate they take good care of me. And it's been a great company to work for. And so I'm really fortunate because they played a crucial part in this whole thing, too. And as I get telling the story, it'll all make sense. But they played this part where I was able to show proof that I'm stable in flight, because again, most people on insulin that have a certificate medical certificate from the FAA, they don't fly for a living like I do. A lot of them, you know, flight instructors, they typically don't make a huge amount of money. And so they you know, most people don't choose this life in this career. If you get diagnosed in the middle of your training, a lot of people just say, okay, you know, I'll fly for fun. And I'll kind of drop it on the professional side. But I continued, because this is all I ever knew, you know, since I was a kid, I was flying flight simulators. And so I decided, no, I'm just gonna stick in aviation. This is what I love to do. Unless I'm in an airplane. It's not commercial aviation, like I want to do, but at least I'm flying trucking and teaching other people how to fly and live their dreams. Yeah.
Scott Benner 14:39
Hey, listen, in the time before, obviously, before things have shifted recently, and now you're able to have that that first class medical license, but prior to that when you were doing the flight instruction, when you get into a plane with somebody who's looking for instruction, do you have to tell them you have type one prior? Did you have to look at them go Hey, listen, I use insulin. Here are the things that are out Or was that private?
Pietro Marsala 15:02
No, no. I mean, we had a test our blood sugar and flight and tune. So most people asked like, what is that? I've used using a continuous glucose monitor as well, g six. And so it didn't require fingerstick testing. But you know, I test as well. And they would see that and I obviously they would, he would ask a few questions, I would just tell me, I'm a type one diabetic. This is kind of what I have to do to maintain myself in flight. And most people were kind of embarrassed to ask any further questions, I just kind of explained to them that this is kind of what I have to do, and they didn't really, really dig too deep. We're
Scott Benner 15:32
looking forward, we're up in the air in a tin can and pay attention to what we're doing. Because I do understand, you've heard me with other pilots on here, I don't understand the concept of wanting to leave the ground and control that thing. I get partial airliner under protest, I'm a good flier. I don't you know, I'm not on the plane constantly thinking, well, this is the end of my life. But I don't you. The other day, I thought about getting a drone, and I thought if I got a drone, I'd fly it up in there. And it would come right back down. I crashed into the ground, I have no spatial awareness. Like when things start changing, like the idea of a gimbal just fries my mind, you know? So I don't understand at all. If somebody started talking to me while I was teaching them how to fly be like, please look straight ahead.
Pietro Marsala 16:15
Please stop talking. Yeah, I'll be fine. Oh, it's funny, because we train a company at work for we train, airline cadets, so future airline pilots from all over the world. And a lot of these guys in the beginning you have and gals in the beginning, you have to tell them. Because when we talk, our mics are linked up. And so we don't have to look at each other's speak. Obviously, we can hear each other on our headset. Yeah. And so a lot of them out of respect, because they're from different parts of the world. And especially in the Asian culture. It's, it's, it's a thing where they want you they like to look at you in the face, which is respectful, obviously, but not when you're flying an airplane. And a lot of times we have to tell these guys, hey, you know, we can talk by looking straight ahead. When I ask you a question. Don't look at me keep flying. But we all know
Scott Benner 16:53
someone we drive with who says, oh, you're like your brother. Listen, please. Just look over there. You can hear me Don't Yeah, no, no, I hear that. So yeah, you know, obviously, we're kind of talking around a little bit, but you work for one of the major companies, I'm assuming.
Pietro Marsala 17:11
Yeah. And so I work for a company out of out of Phoenix. It's a local flight school here. And for those that don't know, the flight training world in Phoenix, Arizona, we do. Among the most flight training in the country, us in California, Arizona has a lot of flight training here just because the weather is so promotable to fly. Yeah, I would say we have our flying days are probably over 300 days a year that we can fly. So the weather is great here to do flight training. So people come from all over the world to that flight training here. And I work for one of the bigger companies here in Phoenix. Yeah,
Scott Benner 17:39
right. Okay. So, you know, so there's a rule in place forever. You know, if you use insulin, if you're if you're diabetic that uses insulin, you can't have this certification. There's other kinds of planes, you can fly, you can fly for your own personal fun, you know, but you can't you can't take a people mover up in the air, basically, and move them around.
Pietro Marsala 17:57
Yeah. And so it was it wasn't you know, it's interesting, Scott is the FAA, the way the rules are written is it doesn't matter how many people you have behind you, as long as they're not paying you was that was the way the rule was written. It's interesting, because I have a, you know, I have a commercial certificate, I have a private pilot's certificate. And I have these certificates that if I was rich enough to own a jet, and fly across the country, I can do so even on insulin, as long as the people behind me aren't paying me. And that's kind of a way the rule is written. And I brought that up to the FAA before. And you know, that's obviously a head scratcher for them. And the guys that I spoke to weren't the ones that created that regulation. But that's what was interesting to me, it was theirs. It was just funny that I could fly with people behind me that are not paying me but the minute somebody is paying me for that flight, now it's held to a different safety standard.
Scott Benner 18:38
Okay, so I want to go over a couple of ideas about airplanes for a second because I'm, I don't know if you realize this or not. But today, I just saw this on social media. And I don't know what they're calling it. So I can't find it very quickly, maybe you'll know there's some fighter jets that are flying some path through the Northeast today, in support of, you know, medical professionals and everything that's going on Corona, they're going to go by my house in about the next 25 minutes, which is weird that you and I are on while that's happening. So these are fighter jets. I have been on you know, I get on a plane in New York. And I want to fly let's say to Wisconsin, I sit down on a jet that has three seats on the left and three seats on the right. 30 or so rows. I don't know what kind of plane that is. Seems like a big plane to me. Sometimes I fly out of Houston to come home. And all of a sudden, I'm in a plane that genuinely feels like a mall with wings. Right? There's, there's, you know what I'm saying? There's there's two two seats on the left on the right. There's four in the middle, there's two on the left, you know, you can't see the front of the plane from the back of the plane. Can you find
Pietro Marsala 19:50
all of those planes? Are you saying now that the rules have changed now
Scott Benner 19:54
I'm saying you personally like you know, can you bro down and get those planes and make them go? I'm gonna do two ads in two minutes, hang out, see if I can do it. The only pod tubeless insulin pump is the pump My daughter has been wearing since she was four years old, she'll turn 16. This summer, she has been wearing an omni pod every day for that time. And it is spectacular. No tubing means no controller to carry around with you clipped in your bra, under your belt, wherever you have to stuff that other two pumps, you know what I mean? There's a an infusion set along tube, and then something to carry with you, not the Omni pod. Omni pod is a small self contained device, you put it on, that's it, you control the insulin from a separate device that does not need to be attached to you. It is spectacular. This may be hard for you to believe. So what you should do is go to my omnipod.com forward slash juice box and get a free no obligation demo of the Omni pod sent directly to you today. Do it right now, it's free. That means it doesn't cost you money. And there's no obligation, which means you don't have to keep it right, you'll get the demo and you can throw the trash and be done with it. Say I don't care about this, or you can keep going it's up to you. Don't let me or anyone else make a decision that you could make on your own. The Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor is at the heart of how we make insulin decisions for my daughter. The trend arrows tell me the speed and direction that my daughter's blood sugar is moving. And with that information, we make decisions about food and insulin, they keep my daughter in a tight range, and she stays there. Most of the time. There's no big secret, we just use the right amount of insulin at the right time. And you could too, if you had a dexcom g six, head to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box to get started today, you will not be sorry that you made that trip on your keyboard.
Pietro Marsala 22:04
So our commercial certificate doesn't limit us to any specific type of airplane. So to answer your question specifically, as pilots, we need what are called type ratings. And any claim that weighs over 12,000 pounds, you need to you need to have what's called a type rating. And so what it is, is you're having a general certificate that allows you to be paid to fly. And then once you go work for the specific airline that you you choose to work for. And they assign you an aircraft and you go to school for two months. And in addition to all the schooling you've been through over the years, you go to specific school for that airplane for two months, they teach you exactly the ins and outs of that specific airplane, they type you. They give you a Type Certificate. So they basically you're a specialist in that airplane, you're certified to fly that airplane as part of your your ratings. And so these these simulators that they put us in at the airlines, their multi, multi multi million dollar simulators. In fact, most people don't know this. But the first time that if you know if you're an airline pilot, and it's your first job of flying for an airline, the first time you have passengers behind you is the first time you're flying that plane. You don't go up and just you know fly a plane around for fun, and have the company train you the old days it was like that. But now simulators being so accurate. They don't require that anymore. You can actually the first time you have the first time you fly that plane is the first time you actually have people behind you all your training is done in a simulator because it's so realistic. Wow. So yeah, to answer your question, yes. That's so cool. Hey, so
Scott Benner 23:26
we, if a person was in that simulation process, let's call him bill. And Bill wants to be a pilot. And Bill keeps crashing the simulator. How many times is Bill get away with crashing the simulator before they tell him he'd probably make a better? You know, like, I don't know, host or host on the plane instead of the pilot. Yeah. How does that, like coming? Me strikes until you're out?
Pietro Marsala 23:49
Yeah, how many strikes? Yeah, good question.
Um, well, they don't give you I mean, it's not like one time, you know, the plane crashes you're done that that's not how that works, really. So you know, obviously, it's, it's an overall picture of what you guys are doing. And there's various phases of flight that they put you in, they will run you through the simulator. I've never done this actually, because I'm not an airline pilot yet. I just got my certification. But from what I've heard from everybody that has gone that I've known people that have been there a while they put you through various phases of flight, and they put you through the hardest of the hard. And so it's very, it's very challenging, you know, there's, there's, there's a chance that people can watch out too, and they don't hold your hand, but they hold you to it. Yeah. And so they only take the best of the best and as they should obviously and so how many strikes throughout I'm not sure yeah, Tom, but I know that they they do a lot of they're pretty selective on who they allow to fly the general public around, like I said, like they should.
Scott Benner 24:43
What's the um, stress like, flying or even in a simulator? Does it affect your blood sugar? Do you need more insulin when you're flying?
Pietro Marsala 24:52
On a simulator, you're on the ground. I mean, it's just like an airplane right? I treated just like an airplane. Not so much. I mean, when I'm flying my plane triggers are probably the most stable a because I'm fasting and B because it's part of my scan uses CGM. I use a G's, a G six Dexcom. And so obviously, as you know, as most of you know that listen to this, that use the G six, it makes your life so much easier. And so while I'm scanning the instruments, and I'm flying myself or I'm instructing or whatever I'm doing, I use the Dexcom g six as part of my scan. And, you know, just a quick glance at my CGM to see where my levels are at and then just keep myself really stable in flight.
Scott Benner 25:27
Oh, wow. So your your glucose monitor becomes part of your, your checking of gauges?
Pietro Marsala 25:34
That's correct. Yeah. So the scan that we have, yeah, we check every instrument, what we call a racetrack pattern is where we go around, and we check in each individual instrument to make sure that it's working correctly, and that we're seeing what we should be seeing. And, you know, a quick glance of my my index come every, I'm kind of OCD about it. But I check it every five to 10 minutes, just to make sure it's still there, even though I'm stable. My bazel set right.
Scott Benner 25:58
On my skin, what part of the scan, do you look for the text from potential dates? Is that?
Pietro Marsala 26:04
No, you know, it's funny because you don't really get service and a lot of areas we're at and so cell service isn't isn't part of or dating isn't part of the scan.
Scott Benner 26:13
Right? I'm gonna ask you one unrelated question that I'm dying to know the answer to. And then I'm going to move on to things that are actually pertinent to what we're talking about. Yeah. All right. Why does my cell phone or yours or anyone else's work at certain elevations and not others?
Pietro Marsala 26:29
What is what is your cell phone work, as you know,
Scott Benner 26:33
we're moving to satellite conversations now, which has nothing to do with flight. So I understand that the signal is being beamed to the, to the surface, right. And they're being pointed at landmasses, too, which is why you don't get cell service out to see for instance, but but how you know, when you take off, everyone's been, listen, I think everyone's had something going on Netflix when the plane goes up. And you're pretty amazed that 25 minutes into the flight, you're still watching, right? So yeah, and then all of a sudden, it cuts off. Why does that happen?
Pietro Marsala 27:02
Well, let's people should be downloading before they they get airborne, so I don't have that issue of it cutting out.
Unknown Speaker 27:07
But
Pietro Marsala 27:09
But anyway, it's uh, you know, it's interesting, somebody, somebody asked, somebody reached out on social media to me the other day and said, Why can't we use our cell phones in flight? And truthfully, I don't have the best answer for you. Because before it was a myth that it, it could have been with the technology that they use before, with the radio signals that that we used to use in order to track what we call Airways, they're basically highways in the sky, we needed these specific navigation sources to operate correctly, and the cell phones could have distorted that signal. And so that's why the crew recommended for you not to be or not recommend or require you to not be on your cell phone to this day, why they still do it. I'm not sure because a lot of the stuff that we do is, is GPS based and has nothing to do with the with those
Scott Benner 27:48
with those cell signals. Hey, it's just a man trying to hold me down Pietro, but that's okay. Yeah. So, do you know the genesis of you know, I've had a couple people come on and talk about it. But I think it's interesting because of where we are now. You know, john came on years ago to talk about wanting to get these first class medical license back for people with you know, type one diabetes, even back then he was saying, you know, man, because there's, there's glucose monitors. Now, it's a different world, you know, you're not just hoping your blood sugar doesn't fall. There's different ways to manage. But what's the genesis of how this happened? Like, why is it okay, now with the FAA, how were you able to get this license, but what's the behind the scenes about how we got to it?
Pietro Marsala 28:29
Yeah, definitely. Um, so
CGM has become
a huge part of this game. And to give you kind of a quick backstory, I was able to go to the FAA, I was fortunate enough, I was just touring DC with a girlfriend at the time. And I was walking around dc in shorts and a T shirt. And I'm like, Hey, I gotta stop you. Did you say you can't get text so that you can ignore your girlfriend while you're flying? Is that what's going on here? Is this an elaborate?
Unknown Speaker 28:55
Right, right?
Scott Benner 28:57
I understand phones don't work in plane. Sorry. All right. You're in DC. Good.
Pietro Marsala 29:02
Yeah, so I'm in DC, and I'm toying around with an ex girlfriend at the time. And, you know, we come across, we're looking at the museums and one on the monuments. And we come across the FAA is building it's the Department of Transportation. I'm not sure if you've been there or not, but not that you would have any reason to be but
Scott Benner 29:16
how do you name it? Like, I'm just kidding.
Pietro Marsala 29:19
We came across the building and I'm in shorts and a T shirt just kind of in the summer just turned around. And I've been outside all day. And she goes, Hey, why don't you go inside and, you know, speak to the FA and this is back in 2016 in the summer of 2016. And she goes Why don't you go inside and speak to the FAA. I was like are you kidding? Look, come on dress me. I mean I'm not I'm not presentable. I don't even know what I want to say yet. I have what an idea, but she was we'll just go in there. Give it a shot. I'm just like, I find so you know, I walk in and there's this. There's a security like, it looks like a TSA kind of checkpoint. And there's this huge building I walk in. There's always people looking at me like what is this dude doing here? You don't look like you're you're supposed to be here. And so I asked the security guard I said hi is a is a doctor. Deval here. He's the deputy air surgeon for the for the FA. And he's like who? And I'm like, he's the deputy here. So I thought by me given him that title, he would know immediately who I'm talking about. Because this is a big building, man. He's like, there's a lot of people here he goes, but anyway, if you want to go upstairs, you need an appointment. I'm like, okay, so yeah.
So I just walked out.
And I walked out of there, and my girlfriend at the time was like, you know, what did he say? And I said, Well, we need an appointment to go upstairs. And so he's not gonna allow us and she goes, Okay. Alright, so I was like, You know what, I have his email. So I'm gonna shoot him an email, and see if he responds, I doubt it. But I'll give him a shot. I'll give it a shot anyway. So I did, I shot him an email, and I'm at dinner that night in DC, and my phone goes off. And it's it's it's him. It's Dr. Hall, I couldn't believe it. I was shocked. It was the first time I've ever reached out to him. And I told him, basically, hey, I'm here from Phoenix. And you know, I'd love to chat with you and share my story. If you have the time. It would be awesome to meet you. And he responded with great, I would love to meet you How about tomorrow at 12. I'm like, holy cow done. And so I put some things together and try to look presentable. And I went up there. And we had a meeting. And first we sat down, he was like, Hey, you know, I don't have a lot of time for you. And so I sat down next thing, you know, we're there for an hour and a half. And so he loved my story, I was kind of in a unique position as a flight instructor to kind of share my data with him every day and show him that, hey, I use a continuous glucose monitor. And they knew, and I think, if he didn't know nearly as much as they did today about CGM, because it was more the old school fingerstick as what they knew of, and, and so he said, you know, you know, we're, we're close, but we're not quite there is what he told me as far as getting a first class medical to fly for an airline. And he goes, this is interesting, you have a very interesting story. And I appreciate you coming up here and speaking with me. He goes, let's keep in touch, and I have his direct and I had his direct line. And so over the years, I would call him every month and a half, two months, or you know, you know, being pleasantly aggressive as I like to say, and so I'd check in with him. And every now and then, and, you know, we would he would kind of update me of what's going on and the latest and I would kind of fill him in with the latest that I've gotten, I just start sending him things randomly. And when I say things, I mean, like, I would send him CGM data, not that it was required. But I just wanted to show him prove to him that he that this is possible, if you maintain your blood sugar, if you can be stable in flight as a flight instructor, what is the difference between being stable in flight as a flight instructor and flying for an airline three, four times a day if I can manage it in flight, and I'm not having highs and I'm not having Lowe's? You know, why isn't this you know, a possibility. And so he understood and he agree with me, and he said, again, we're closer than we've ever been in this technology is definitely a game changer. And so it does help us get a good picture. Because as you know, Scott, you prick your finger. If you're only using finger sticks, you're only getting that picture, like you've talked about millions of times on your podcast, you're only getting the picture of where you're at doesn't tell you where you're going. But it tells you where you're at at that specific time of day. And you have no idea what's going going on for the rest of the day. And that's where CGM comes in and fills in those gaps and allows you to have a full picture of exactly what's going on. And of course, the FAA I love that idea. And so I kind of just left it at that we kept in touch and then I find I went a step further. And I got back to Phoenix and I start flying shopping. And then I myself along with the American Diabetes Association that I was in contact with. But I am still in contact with I decided I'm going to make a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. And with the spreadsheet I included in there, it was basically a spreadsheet showing where my blood sugar was prior to take off where it was an hour into flight where it was two hours in a flight and what it was prior to landing. And then in the note section of this Excel spreadsheet, I was able obviously using the CGM data I was able to see go back and check exactly what time's you know these were and what my blood sugar was at those times. And in the notes section I would put in if I gave myself any insulin to maintain my my my glucose levels and also if I or if I gave myself any snacks to maintain my blood sugar in flight. And so they had a very, very, very detailed picture of what was going on in my day. Because as you know as CGM just tells you what's going on 24 seven doesn't tell you exactly what's going on. For me in flight at those specific time, so I showed him I went a step further and backed it up not only with the CGM data, but with a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to show here's me in flight, and I would do three, four flights a day. And I logged that three, four flights a day, an hour and a flight two hours in flight before landing prior to take off all of that stuff. And so he would see exactly that I am safe and I I am maintaining my blood glucose levels in Flint.
Scott Benner 34:21
So it's just that it's, it's possible was probably a big deal for him. Because, you know, they set a rule like that God knows how long ago and then it gets in people's heads like oh, people will tell you know, people use insulin can fly a commercial plane, boom. That's it. It's a rule. So it must be there must be a really great reason why this exists. And then somebody like you comes along and says, Well, you know what, things have changed. And let me show you how this could work. However, real quick question. Do you still talk to Dr. Duvall?
Pietro Marsala 34:47
Absolutely. Yeah. And in fact, when I conclude the story, I'll kind of tell you how it kind of all came together but up to this day, we still keep in touch and he he and I I don't want to say become friends but we've definitely he you know He answers every one of my calls. If he doesn't answer he'll call me right back. I have his direct line to his desk and Monday This is the deputy or surgeon for the FAA. This is this guy's top dog. Yeah. And so we've established a good working relationship over these last couple of years. And I've and I've told him, you know, you can be my guinea pig, if you I'll fly you out to Arizona on my own dime, to show you that I can maintain my blood, my sugar levels in flight. And, and he was like, Oh, no, no need to do that. And he goes, you're done enough. You've done so much. By sending us the data, we appreciate your generosity, and I've gone and again, this was all at my own risk. There were pilots out there in the past that didn't want to share this data with the FAA, even if they had it, because they were afraid of the FAA denying them. And my, to me, it was like, Well, I have nothing to hide. I'm not perfect, but I know I'm controlled. And to give you an idea in it, obviously, anyone see doesn't tell the full picture, but anyone sees her six 6.2. I hang around that range consistently. And my you know, my Dexcom backs everything else up to show that I'm at a low risk for hypoglycemia. And you know, I consider myself a, I do a pretty good job. Like I said, I'm not perfect, but I do a fairly good job of managing my diabetes. And they see that and they appreciate that. And so, again, I sent in all this data to back up what I was saying, because anybody could say their control. Anybody could say they're stable, but it's another thing to prove it with the CGM. And on top of that, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. So yeah, yeah, we've kept in touch over the years. And they kind of use me and my data and it's interesting they, I found out later, a couple weeks ago, somebody from American Diabetes Association called me and said, they spoke to Dr. Duvall and I kind of unofficially knew this. But I then found out that he said that it was your data that convinced the federal air surgeon and the deputy air surgeon that this is something that is obtainable. It's not as this is safe, and it can be done safely. And granted, not every applicant that applies for this that has diabetes on insulin is gonna qualify. They're very selective. It's a very
Scott Benner 36:51
are they detailed process? I was gonna say, are they asking other people for CGM data? Does everyone get asked yes or no.
Pietro Marsala 36:58
So before all this happened, they changed the rule back in November 2019. On November 7 2019, the FAA changed their stance on first claros first class medicals with insulin treated diabetes, and that regardless if that's type two or type one, if you if you need an insulin, they treated it the same, and so now they require a CGM. Before CGM was never required to obtain a third class medical. But now, since the rules have changed, they now make it they now make it to where you need a CGM. And there's certain sea gems that qualify. And so yeah, so now, the rules have changed. And since they've changed these rules, now they're looking at each individual case, and there's only been a few of us certified now. But they use that CGM data to basically paint the picture of somebody who's safe or not, and they assess your level of risk and in their doctors up there at aerospace medicine, but they're not diabetes specialist, so to speak. And so they brought in a team of experts, like endocrinologist, some of the leading endocrinologist in the country, some consultants and some people to help them make these decisions to assess people's level of risk. So it is a hard process to go through and, and you know, only the safest are going to qualify as they should if they're flying the general public around. And so they're very either, you know, they're picky on who they're selecting. And, you know, is there a, you know, people have asked me these last couple days, like, what did you do? What exactly do I need to do? And it's each individual case is different. They send you to a cardiologist, they send you to an endocrinologist, they send you or you have to go yourself, and that's just paperwork, obviously. But yeah, it's it's a pretty detailed test that you have to go through.
Scott Benner 38:32
That's an astonishing story. And you know, what I took of it most is that you have a longer relationship with Dr. devolve than you did with that girlfriend who was with you. And
Unknown Speaker 38:41
really what I took from this occasion that
Unknown Speaker 38:44
that is true. I always kept in touch. He's a good guy. He really is. Well, he doesn't nag you.
Unknown Speaker 38:49
Right. So.
Pietro Marsala 38:51
Exactly, exactly. Just on the picture. And he will always be
Scott Benner 38:54
you call every six weeks. He's not like Why don't you call him or I have a question about your your blood sugar targets? Are they the same when you're flying as when you're not flying? Or do you have different ideas for range in different situations?
Pietro Marsala 39:09
Okay, so good question.
Scott Benner 39:12
When you tell me it's a good question, it makes me feel better. I don't know what that says about my psyche. But thank you.
Pietro Marsala 39:18
Yeah, so no, it is because I keep myself you know, if I'm in the 80s, and I'm hovering in the 80s, or the low 90s. When I'm at home, I'm good with that. Because I know that if my base will set right, as you've talked about with Jenny and multiple people on this podcast, that if your base will set right you can hover in those areas, and you don't need a tree, you can go a couple hours without even eating anything and hanging the 80s and 90s. And you'll float right there if your basal set right, right and mind you, I'm on MDI still, I'm not on a pump, but I'm on a G six. And so I kind of just hang out and you know, if I'm at home, yeah, do I treat it a little bit differently? Sure. I'll hang out in the 80s I'm fine with that. If I'm at 8283 i can i can be comfortable with that as long as it's staying in that room. But if I'm flying 80s, that much closer to 6060 is that much closer to 5050 is that much closer to 40. And so I don't take these risks. I don't I don't do that. And so what I do is I keep myself slightly more elevated in flight, I like to keep myself in the low one hundreds is my target between, I would say, between 100. And, and 141 30 is a good range for me to be in. And that's kind of the target range I have while I fly because I know I'm nowhere near hypoglycemia. And granted, if I was in the 80s, in flight, I know that I'm not going to pass out either you and I both know that, you know, at an 8590 of blood sugar on your CGM, you're doing just fine. But again, it's just that much closer to the range of hyperglycemia. And so I out of respect for you know, everybody else and whatnot, I keep myself slightly more elevated.
Scott Benner 40:42
Do you only fly planes where there's a copilot? What's the standard for that?
Pietro Marsala 40:47
No, it's interesting. Scott, right now I'm a flight instructor and I fly with people that don't know how to fly. Yeah. And so I will be flying. Eventually, once, you know, COVID passes in the airlines pickup hiring again, it's kind of an ironic time. But eventually, my goal is to get to an airline and I will be flying with somebody who knows how to fly, thankfully, and it's just gonna be a different world. And so it's going to be in my opinion, in many people's, many people, many people's opinion, it's going to be much easier once I go to airline because now I don't have to worry about so much of the other guy not knowing how to fly. Now I've got my blood sugar, and I've got my own job, right instead of my blood sugar, my own job. And now his job was for her job.
Scott Benner 41:25
I was just thinking you spent eight years getting to a to a place and you got there and now nobody airplanes are flying anywhere. And it's probably Is it a little bit of a bummer that I mean, not that, you know, not to specifically target Coronavirus in your life. But I mean, did it feel like that a little bit like, wow, I got here and then all of a sudden this happened.
Pietro Marsala 41:46
It is such an ironic time. It's, it's been a wild ride. But you know what, when you're working on something for eight years, and you just cleared the biggest obstacle of your life. And you recognize that, you know, you just did this. It's only a matter of time, I'm 29 years old. And I've got 35 plus years of a career ahead of me, right. And so I know that eventually this will pass I'm optimistic that this will go away one day. And whether that takes a year, two years, three years for the airlines to return to where we were, we will get there. And I'm confident that the general public will be flying around again. And there will be a need because there was a shortage for pilots only about a month ago and went from you know, this huge need for pilots to nobody needs pilots right now, obviously put what's going on nobody traveling. Well, you have so
Scott Benner 42:27
you have unique perspective and patience, obviously around this because you could have given up on it at any time and just thought it's not going to happen. It's pretty neat. Listen, I'm interested, like you said, when you got on, you're the first person to get this distinction. Is that is that true? Or you're like, How do you know? Yeah, yes, I have a number one on it or something or
Pietro Marsala 42:48
what has first class, but that doesn't mean I'm the first I'll tell you how I know I'm the first and this was a special conversation I had with Dr. Laval he I was driving with my current girlfriend and my smartwatch goes off. Does she know you?
Scott Benner 43:02
Dr. Deval better than her? Has she not figured that out yet?
Pietro Marsala 43:05
Oh, yeah, she knows. She knows I've known him for four years now. He's okay with it. She shared the love
Scott Benner 43:09
you just real quick that you were on a boat. It's thinking it only hold two people you Dr. Deval and your current girlfriend on it, what happens? And we need you to find the point home so I'm just
Pietro Marsala 43:19
gonna answer this. Eventually she's gonna listen to this. Boy,
Unknown Speaker 43:23
so
Pietro Marsala 43:24
So yeah, so I'm driving. And you know, Dr. Boyle told me weeks ago, we were close. And obviously this protocol came out in November, and I've kind of been pleasantly aggressive just checking in with him here and there. And just kind of asking him What's going on? What's the latest? When are we getting, you know, certifications? And I was thinking by Christmas, because it came out in November, I was like, Oh, this will be an awesome Christmas present. You know, I'll go to an airline come January 1, and that'll be awesome. I'll be able to live my dream and this is gonna be great. Yeah. Well, it took a little bit longer, obviously. And as things do in government, as we know, they take a little bit of time. And so I was patient, and I kind of just checked in with him. And he kind of hinted to me here and there that, you know, we have looked at your paperwork, we have looked at your data, and it's checking out in favor, everything is looking good. And about three or four or about a month ago now I called him up and I said, Well, what's, you know, what's going on? What's the latest? Do you have any updates for me? And he said, I can confirm that you're, you know, you you are in Dr. Barry's inbox ready to send out and whatnot. And it's, it's getting close. And so, so I was like, Okay, great, you know, but again, it's government talk, right? These things take a little bit of time. And so I wasn't I wouldn't want to get my hopes too high. But then eventually he said he calls he sent me that email and he told me it was going to come in an email format. And it did and so my smartwatch went off and I was like holy cow and I was freaking out my girlfriend's okay you know, pull over because you're too excited to drive right now like just pull over. So I did I pulled over to a safe spot before I open email. And I wasn't even sure what it said yet, but it was like this this secret not a secret email, but it was a security email. And so I put
Scott Benner 44:55
my name and email if we could because I think it makes it more exciting. You got a secret email from the government. It said you're a pilot now. Yeah, but right now, yeah. So it's one of those you have to put in a code to get to it and all that.
Pietro Marsala 45:07
Yeah, exactly. Put in a password. And then I scroll to the bottom of this email. And I just saw my name was on it said first class, medical. And I start obviously, just crying emotionally. It was just really, it was really important time in my life, probably the biggest, biggest day of my life to this day, there's something that you work so hard at, finally come to reality. And just knowing that your boyhood dream of doing what you wanted to do your whole life, and people telling you that, you know, maybe this career choice wasn't for you. Maybe this isn't for you, when I was first diagnosed, maybe you know, there's different God has a different place for you in life. And that was really hard pill to swallow. And so, like I said, I decided to do something about it. I went to the FDA, and I'm glad that they took me seriously. And so I called the doctor, not even a minute later, I'm on the phone with a doctor in DC. I call him up and I said, Yeah, obviously it was I was still emotional. I didn't even I wasn't even done crying yet.
Scott Benner 45:54
And that was my question. By the way, I was going to jump in right there and say, did you pull yourself together before you call? No,
Pietro Marsala 45:58
no. And looking back, I probably should have
Scott Benner 46:01
been thinking probably Yeah, but God.
Pietro Marsala 46:04
So yeah, I call him up. And I was like, Hey, you
know, and he obviously knew cuz he just sent the email is coming from him. And I said, Dr. Ball, I just want you to know that you've forever changed my life. And, you know, this is the biggest day of my life. And I can't thank you enough. I'm forever grateful for everything that you did. And thank you for believing in me all along, and trusting me and allowing me to share my data with you and my story with you. And he said, he's a pitcher, he goes, I want you to know that you were the first one I sent out. So you're firstly the first the first treated diabetic diabetic pilot to be certified for an FA first class medical. And of course, that made me feel great, not that I was racing to be the first but I just wanted this change. And I'll get to what I'm getting at in a second. But he knew how much that meant to me because of our conversations over the years. And he shared with me, he said, you know, if I didn't shed a tear, when I sent out that medical he goes, I'd be lying to you. And so this that was just, it just told me a lot about you
Scott Benner 46:58
guys are dating.
Pietro Marsala 47:01
Yeah, it was a little bit of a bromance there. I'm not gonna lie. I'm gonna
Scott Benner 47:03
get him on the podcast and see if he cares about you as much as you
Unknown Speaker 47:09
change my life, I didn't change it. So I don't know about that sounds
Scott Benner 47:12
like it sounds like the the process of taking somebody like you and I'm, I'm thinking the countless other people like you who have type one diabetes or using insulin, wanna fly this kind of an aircraft? and can't, I would think he'd feel some sort of a real emotional charge behind changing people's lives. It's a it's undeniable. On it's definitely, yeah.
Pietro Marsala 47:33
And Scott, I told him from the beginning, when I first met him in 2016. I said, Look, that would be awesome. If I get certified, if I become certified. But I said, I don't want this just for me, I want this to be a change in a protocol, a change in regulation, I want it to be instead of a blanket, no, for people that have diabetes, I would like to see more people like myself that are qualified, that are controlled to be certified. And I said, I, I can't imagine being a kid at 10 years old, having the stream and then being crushed minutes later, when you're told not only are you living with a chronic illness, and it's hard enough, especially for these kids, that can't go to birthday parties and eat cake and ice cream like everybody else. But, you know, to be told that, hey, I'm sorry, you're you know, you have diabetes, and this is one of the things you can't do. And so that really, you know, meant a lot to me for for this to become a change in regulation. And so I shared with them, how I want this to be something that you know, isn't obtainable goal, and I think that kids, you know, when they're 10 years old, these parents, you know, could almost bribe these kids and tell them, you know, and use it as a as an incentive to, Hey, take care of your health. And this is definitely an attainable goal. Look, these people did it, these people change the rules for you guys. And so growing up, you know, I think that's a crucial time in their life when they're, you know, 1011 years old to learn that your dream is not crushed. In fact, you can dream big, because this is definitely obtainable goal, look at these people have done it, take care of yourself, take good care of your health. And when it comes time to go to flight school, if you have good blood sugars, and if you maintain yourself in a good range, and you use the CGM and to prove your data, that this is something that can be done. And so I was so thankful for that. And to know that it's not just me, it's other people as well, to me means an incredible amount.
Scott Benner 49:08
Well, sure. It's that moment, right? When you realized I have type one, I don't have type two, your back in the doctor, like, are you sure like let's not do this? This is Yeah, you said that's probably the worst moment of your life hearing that you couldn't fly these planes. And, I mean, let's face it, it's already an uncommon thing for someone to feel so strongly about something they want to do for the rest of their life. To take that thing from someone is specific especially because they're, you know, not a million people run around who want to fly airplanes around. It's, it takes a special person I know you don't know that about yourself in some small way. Being a pilot is a lot like being like a professional athlete in that you just do this thing that feels normal, and you don't realize that most of the rest of us, you know, can't throw 103 mile an hour fastball like like it's just like if honestly if you put me in a plane and said you can do Scott, I'd be like, No, I can't, and then I would get out of the plane and I'd yell at you, because I'd want you to Yeah,
Pietro Marsala 50:05
I mean, it does take somebody, you got to want it. And, you know, I see this all the time in flight training, and there's people that, you know, become pilots for various reasons. But, you know, most people that do this, they love what they do. And this is something just like you said, professional athletes and, and whatnot, this is something that we dream of, you know, as kids, most of the time, it's something that you just have in you, and it's something that you just desperately want. And, and it just shows that, you know, there's pets are a certain type of people, you know, they're very, let's just, I'm just gonna put it out there, a lot of them are narcissistic. And they like the attention and they like the but overall, they, they are people who have a lot of pride now, and they take very seriously what they do. And so it's just one of those things that you know, as a kid, if you're that kid that has that, and in you and you want to fly
to diabetes, that shouldn't be something holding you back,
Scott Benner 50:50
take it from Listen, I cost me $300 a year to have a company come to my house three times a year, and clean the leaves out of my gutters because I'm not climbing up on a ladder. I do not want that as my that's not how I'm going to understand what I'm saying.
Unknown Speaker 51:03
Yeah, I do not,
Scott Benner 51:04
I am not going to open my eyes back up, have St Peter standing in front of me, which is oddly not something I even believe in, and then have to tell him that I was trying to clean my gutters out and now I'm dead. I can't write I can't do that. I don't like leaving the ground. It's it's a bad.
Pietro Marsala 51:18
You know, you're not gonna believe this. If I tell you this, I have a fear of heights. Get the hell out of here.
Scott Benner 51:23
Why would you say that? To me.
Pietro Marsala 51:24
I don't like being on balconies. I don't like being on ladders. I don't like being on the roof. I just get weird when I'm at edge. However, in an airplane, I've never had this fear. I don't, I don't feel like I'm not secured. It's just a completely different feeling. Being in an airplane, I feel like I have control. I feel like you know, the wings are not going to fall off this thing. And so we're flying. But being on a balcony being on being on the edge of a building, I just I get kind of uneasy I don't like being and it's funny, because a lot of pilots will tell you that too. They don't like they don't like being up high where they don't feel like they have control.
Scott Benner 51:54
Well listen, you're younger. So you probably don't know about these, these old documents that you could, you could watch they were the colors were a little strange. Anyway, it was about this, um, a rabbit, and he could talk. And sometimes he would get on a plane. And then a gremlin would come and like bang with a hammer and knock the wing off the plane. So you're saying they can't fall off. But I've seen documentaries about it. And I'm fairly certain it can happen. So
Unknown Speaker 52:17
maybe in those days, so I'm just telling you,
Scott Benner 52:18
60s and the rabbit cursed. It was amazing. You guys suck now.
Pietro Marsala 52:23
I didn't know that would come out now, would it?
Scott Benner 52:26
No, I don't believe so. But anyway, they used to smoke cigars, and everything was fantastic. Honestly. Nevertheless, the world Bugs Bunny aside. I think this is really one of the more interesting conversations that I've had. And it wasn't so much of a conversation, I kind of loved it because you have been so immersed in this over the years. You You didn't need me here. Like I could have, I could have gotten on and said, Hey, real quick, tell me about that whole thing with the flying, I'm gonna go make a sandwich. And I think I would have come back and you'd still be telling your story, which I mean is a it's amazing, because, but but it's a testament to how much you were involved in it to make it happen is what I'm saying.
Pietro Marsala 53:09
Yeah, it was, it was quite, it was quite a road. And I'm so thankful I've got to the end of the, you know, on this road. And it was it was hard. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you it was easy and blue skies until wins the whole
Unknown Speaker 53:19
way.
Pietro Marsala 53:20
Because it was a it was a challenging road. You know, there were times where I was like, This is never gonna happen. And there were so many people in my life, my family's close to me, and there's so many people that picked me up and made me believe and truly to never give up on the stream and that I could be in I knew I was healthy. And it was only a matter of time. But there were times where, you know, I would sit up at night and think to myself like why why me with diabetes number one, like like a lot of people do, I'm sure. Yeah. And why out of it's interesting because I'm the only person in my family and I have a big family. My family is Italian and the majority of still live in Italy. And out of all my cousins that have all my aunts, uncles, nobody has diabetes, except me. And I was just like, how is this possible with every Not that I would wish this on anybody? Don't get me wrong, but it's interesting. nobody in my family has diabetes. But yet the only person that can't have it, or at the time couldn't have it for his career was me. And this is the career choice that I took. And I'm the one with diabetes. It's so weird to me. It was hard to hard pill to swallow.
Scott Benner 54:17
Do you want me to tell you how I knew you were Italian? How's that? All right, on your on your pilot's license that you were really cool put up on your Instagram, which by the way, if people want to see it where what's your Instagram handle?
Pietro Marsala 54:29
Yeah, it's a it's Marsala like my last name. It's an AR s a la nine zero. Okay, is
Scott Benner 54:36
my Instagram handle so everybody should check it out. It's very cool. But it's because you're five, eight on the license and every Italian. Every Italian guy I know grew like they were like five eight when they were nine years old and they never got
Pietro Marsala 54:51
to exactly tell us kid in sixth grade and then hundred percent loosens? Yeah.
Scott Benner 54:54
I mean, listen, I don't know a lot about you know, about lineage and things like that, but I've seen that enough times. I can make that generalization with a lot of coffee. Definitely. Yeah. No, that's,
Pietro Marsala 55:03
that's, that's a good point. I'm about as tall as my dad. Yeah.
Scott Benner 55:06
All right. So I'm gonna I want to thank you, this is terrific. And I can't let you go before I find out and not on the recording because this isn't anybody's business. But I want to know if you broke up with the girlfriend from Washington or if she broke up with you because I have a theory that when you failed, she lost like faith in you. And she was like, No, that's it. This kid couldn't get it done. And I'm on my way. Exactly. That's what happened. No,
Pietro Marsala 55:28
no, it's interesting. Just kind of short story. She she's an airline pilot herself now. And we met in the industry and so
Scott Benner 55:36
don't wait, wait, hold on. The planes are going by. Keep Oh, really? Don't you? There's no way you can hear them. Hold on.
Pietro Marsala 55:44
A fighter jets.
Scott Benner 55:45
Yeah. Oh, nice. Yeah, there's, um, I think it's a two squad flyover for they're celebrating people who are working in hospitals during the Coronavirus, COVID-19 thing. And on this weird path up and down that I can't believe I just my house just crumbled. And I was like,
Pietro Marsala 56:01
I suppose you're flying pretty low. Are you far from New York?
Scott Benner 56:06
No, I'm not far from New York. But I think they came out of Fort Dix. And I'm pretty close to there. Okay, so I think I'm catching them on the return to to the base. Anyway. Well, I'm sorry, you were about to share personal details about how your relationship broke up. And I don't want to stop you.
Pietro Marsala 56:22
Yeah, so anyway, so
yeah, so she's, she's an airline pilot herself. And, you know, kind of life just took us in different directions that she started traveling. And, you know, I was here in Phoenix. And so we kind of just grew apart from each other at that point. But no, I wish her nothing but the best. She's a good person. But yeah, it just wasn't for us. You know,
Scott Benner 56:37
it's amazing that you said something real and not stupid like I was getting at. And because that was the one question I have here on my notes that I've been making while you've been talking. Just because you talk quickly. And I didn't want to Yeah, I didn't want to run you over. I'm not saying you shouldn't have I'm saying I don't usually make notes. Usually I just run people over and just say something. But I made notes because I didn't want to stop your your vibe he had going. And that was my one question about one day being an airline pilot. Is that idea of like how transient you are all the time? Is that something you're prepared for? And how have you prepared for it? If If so,
Pietro Marsala 57:11
you mean like for me personally? Or for like my relationship? Or what guess?
Scott Benner 57:15
Yes, like all of it, right? You're constantly going to be in a thing yapping back and forth. And you don't end up at home at the end of the day all the time.
Pietro Marsala 57:22
Yeah. And so I know a lot of pilots now that I've been in the industry 10 years, and I can tell you that it is not easy. There's a reason why there's a lot of pilots out there that are divorced. And so I think it is hard on a lot of families to be gone. I mean, you're missing, you know, you're close to your kids, I've heard you talk about your son's baseball and whatnot, you've been very active in his life with that. And so you do miss these things, you miss birthdays you miss, especially in the beginning, you know, if you start your career in your 20s, your early 20s, and you're, you know, an airline pilot in your early 20s, I think it becomes a little bit easier because seniority in this world of aviation, at least in the commercial aviation part of it is everything. And so if you start in your early 20s, by the time you're in your 30s, you have pretty good seniority built at your company, typically. And so you're able to, you know, get these days off, you bid your schedule a month in advance. And so if you have your son's baseball game that's coming up, and you see his schedule, you know, you can, you know, request these days off, you can get these days off in advance if you're senior enough, but if you're a guy like myself, who's just starting out, now, you're gonna be at the bottom of the seniority list. And unfortunately, you're gonna miss things like birthdays, you're gonna miss things like, you know, baseball games, and special events and weddings and whatnot. Not to say you don't get time off, but it's a lot harder when you're at the bottom of the seniority list. And so yes, it is it is a challenge, not just for relationships, but just all the above it, it does become really hard. But again, going back to pilots, and there's nothing else I'd rather do than then stare outside. And that be my office when I'm looking out, you know, at 30,000 feet, 35,000 feet. That's what I dream of doing. And I know it sounds kind of selfish to some people. But you know, at this point in my life, I'm just focused on my career. And in one day, you know, if I meet the right person who wants kids, and at that time, if it's the right time that kids and whatnot that don't, then I'll cross that bridge when I do but, yeah, it's gonna be a lot of sacrificing and it's not for everybody. There's not a life. Anybody that travels in general for a living can tell you that it's it's not easy on any family.
Scott Benner 59:11
Yeah, I have to say I mean, it being sincere. I'm jealous of the idea that you know how to fly a plane. I think it sounds incredibly peaceful. I wish I had the type of mind that was interested in that. But mostly, I guess what I've learned there at the end is that until you gain seniority, yours and Dr. devolves relationship is probably going to be the best one you have.
Pietro Marsala 59:33
Exactly, exactly. I think he's got like five or six years left till you retire. So yeah, whoa.
Scott Benner 59:40
Nice. You guys have plenty of time once he doesn't have anything to do.
Pietro Marsala 59:43
Yeah, there you go. Exactly. I'll go visit and we can hang out and talk about the good times when I didn't have a medical and how
Scott Benner 59:48
we got there. All right, man. Listen, I genuinely appreciate you coming on and doing this. It was It was great. You were terrific. And I wish you nothing but success. I mean, hopefully, obviously everything you know comes together. It's all about, you know, being able to move around more freely, and you're able to get out there and find the job you've been for for so long. I'm, I'm incredibly happy for you.
Pietro Marsala 1:00:08
Thank you. I really appreciate that. Scott, it was nice to speak with you on the phone, not just hear your podcast and actually kind of meet, officially. So thanks for making me laugh, as well as a good conversation. Yeah, I've done a lot of these interviews. I did one with CNN and I did one with the local Fox station here in Phoenix, and mine was the best Is that what you're trying to say? Yeah, I'm getting that that I was the most. I'm a little bit more experienced now with podcast even though I still speak quickly. And I've listened back on these podcasts that I've done. I'm like, Guys, I don't even want the guy talk. Hopefully, it wasn't like that with you. And I, I let you speak a little bit because I get going. And like you said, I don't
Scott Benner 1:00:42
even know that I'm still talking. Well, that's how I go. And I don't know anything about how the FAA made it possible for people with type one diabetes to get this first class medical license. So I figured I'd be better off letting you talk now and listen to your passionate it comes through, and it's much preferable, you can ask anybody who does an interview, it's much preferable that you have too much to say, then I'm sitting here pulling thoughts out of you for an hour. So I thought it was terrific. But I do like the ranting on I was better than CNN. Is that what you were getting ready to say?
Pietro Marsala 1:01:10
Yeah, I'm getting there. I'm getting there. No, it was fun. It was it was uh, it was it was very relaxed the podcasts on I enjoyed it. I appreciate that. We'll keep in touch. And obviously I follow you on Instagram, you follow me? So you'll be able to see my career progression. Hopefully in the not too distant future. We could get back at it after the salt passes. I'm excited for one day, there'll be the technology where you and I can record one of these while you're flying a plane. That would be amazing. I don't know if the FAA would like that. You know, the guy that would work it out. I know the guy. Exactly.
Scott Benner 1:01:37
All right. Have a great day. Thanks so much.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:38
Hey, YouTube.
Scott Benner 1:01:41
Huge thanks to Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor. And to the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump for sponsoring today's show. There are links to all of the sponsors at Juicebox podcast.com. Or right there in the links of the show notes in your podcast app. Don't forget, g six is just a decision away. Just do it. dexcom.com forward slash juice box. And at the very least get yourself a free no obligation demo viavi pod. That's just fun to get stuff in the mail.
