Preston Has A New Character: Meet Captain Elliot
You’ve gotten culinary advice from The Connoisseur. Learned the art of romance from Dr. Love. Got to notice things with The Noticer. Needless to say Preston Elliot has accumulated a…
You've gotten culinary advice from The Connoisseur. Learned the art of romance from Dr. Love. Got to notice things with The Noticer. Needless to say Preston Elliot has accumulated a number of personas over the years.
Well today he added a new one. Get your seats upright and your tray tables in the full upright and locked position. Your guru for all things aviation...Captain Elliot!
FAA Looking to Gamers to Fill Roles
The genesis of Captain Elliot originated from a few news stories involving the airline industry. Most notably that the FAA is looking to a specific group for the next generation of air traffic controllers. If you're familiar with names like Nintendo, Xbox or PlayStation then they're looking for you!
Per a report in USA Today, the FAA is opening up applications to become an air traffic controller. What was notable was that the government agency is zeroing in on the gaming community as they have some unique skills suitable for the gig.
"This campaign’s innovative communication style and focus on gaming taps into a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.
Applicants must meet the following requirements to be hired as an air traffic controller, according to the FAA's website:
- Must be a U.S. citizen
- Be under 31 years old at the time of application
- Speak English "fluently and clearly"
After applying, air traffic control hopefuls will need to take the Air Traffic Skills Assessment, a 3.5-hour computer-based test and pass medical and security clearances, which include fingerprinting, federal background checks and medical exams.
Let's Ask The "Experts"
Captain Elliot could see clearly how gamers would be beneficial in this role. The rest of the Preston & Steve show commented on the various video games that lets you fly aircraft. From World War One dogfights to Microsoft Flight Simulator giving you a taste of real world aviation video games do teach apparently. Former pilot and Preston & Steve Show producer Ryan Shuttleworth admitted his first introduction to flying came from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
This morphed into a story of airline pilots caught on radio communications meowing to one another. Proof that we're all just kids at heart even if we have very technically demanding jobs. Although the air traffic controller in the audio wasn't too thrilled at the end so jokes do wear thin.
This Year's Best Airline Is...
Not everyone can take the controls, however, a vast majority travel by plane each and every day. With many airline choices available certainly someone would rise to the top. According to the folks at WalletHub, the top spot in 2026 goes to Spirit Airlines. They took the overall position, as well as Most Affordable and Most Reliable.
While some have a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to Spirit, it turns out for many that its unwarented Captain Elliot took a call from a gentleman named Rodger who uses Spirit all the time to go back home to Jamaica. He couldn't safe enough kind words about the airline and refuses to fly anyone else.
Preston also noted that he was our first Jamaican listener so congrats Rodger! Lot's of firsts from this show today as we welcome Captain Elliot to Preston's roster of alter-egos.
