I'm taking a break from flying

Wow, I really can't believe that we've hit 2 million subscribers That's an absolutely crazy number and I am so grateful that we've managed to reach this point Now you might think that this channel is just a hobby for me something that I am doing next to my flying duties But that's not true. And it actually hasn't been true for over a year now. This is It's now my full-time job and that's true for another five people as well Now I know that might come as a bit of a surprise How can I possibly be leaving flying behind who are those people behind the videos and why am I doing this video right now? Well, the answer is that this is not an easy operation to pull off and as we continue to grow We now want you guys to be a part of making these videos possible by joining my team over on patreon First let me tell you why I've taken a break from flying to focus solely on YouTube and to understand that a bit better I have to tell you a little bit about my story before I started these channels Aviation has been my dream and passion ever since my parents gave me a test lesson for my 14th birthday That's when this passion really lit up and it helped me to go from a mediocre student To straight ace which then paved the way for me to join a government-sponsored pilot program back at home in Sweden Fast forward a few years I was 20 years old and had just completed all my training as well as a year of mandatory military service as an airport firefighter And that's when I landed my first job in my current airline flying the awesome Boeing 737 I was only 20 years old when I first climbed into the right seat of that Magnificent beast and nearly 20 years later after having upgraded to a captain Line training captain type rating instructor and even examiner I've now tucked away my uniform and taken an extended leave from my airlines to focus solely on these two channels So how could I possibly do that? I mean, it's not like I've stopped loving flying Well, the reason is that I truly believe that this is the best way that I can serve the aviation community right now And I will likely never have this chance to reach this many people again The way I see it aviation is the foundation for a better connected and united world while also being by far one of the safest methods of transportation That level of safety is only possible because of the countless decisions made every day by millions of unsung heroes around the globe That's not just pilots but also ground crew cabin crew aircraft technicians air traffic controllers regulators and many many more and it is my duty to highlight this to the world and To in some way give back to the industry that has given so much to me and my family Now I know that sometimes my videos can make it seem like serious mistakes are being made all the time But in reality, it's the industry's relentless determination to learn from both tragedies and minor mishaps That has made this into the safest way of transportation and right now It is really safer than it's ever been Now I know that we're making a real difference here me and the team and that's because so many of you guys have reached Out to me in the comments and also during my patreon hangout to say how surprised you are that watching my videos about Mishaps are actually making some of you less nervous about flying just because you now understand it I've also been contacted by active pilots who have shared episodes where they have found themselves in tricky Situations and have utilized lessons that I have talked about to slow things down and de-escalate those situations hearing those stories is one of the most gratifying aspects of running these channels and the real reason behind my decision to now give it my full attention and I'm not the only one doing that either Nor could I because each mentor pilot video right now takes around 500 hours to produce That's close to 10 hours for every minute of content that you see To do that. I work together with an incredible team of dedicated professionals Let's start with Dominic for example our chief editor and graphic design wizard who was actually the first one to join my team already back in 2019 Then comes Mohammed our 3d animation specialist and brilliant editor and Kira who carries out research and helps me with certain extra tricky scripts then we have Alejandra the brilliant editor behind mentor now, which has one of the highest work ethics that I've ever come across and Let's not forget Spiros our research guru for mentor now with an unmatched depth of aviation knowledge down to the very Nerdiest little details and he actually started off as one of my patreon members back in the day Finally, we have Claudia who ensures that our videos look as interesting as they are informative with her stunning thumbnails and George Who is doing most of our closed captions? These are all the true superstars behind the scene and one of the main reasons we've managed to surpass this enormous 2 million milestone But dedicating this much time and effort to sticking to the standards We believe that these stories really deserve comes with unique challenges Now YouTube has been incredibly good to us and as we hit 2 million subscribers We are deeply thankful for all of the audience It has allowed us to reach but having said that from the very start There has been an underlying part of how this platform operates that presents a little bit of a problem You see YouTube advertising mostly funds these videos But advertisers don't really care about how much time effort that goes into creating each video instead YouTube only cares about the end result attention your attention a mentor pilot video is for the purposes of advertising no more valuable than a video which takes a fraction of the time effort and cost to produce and Even though we obviously understand why that is it still makes it very challenging for us to plan for long-term projects or deeply complicated and time-consuming videos That's obviously because the cost of making those videos might actually be higher than our possible ad revenue Now our sponsors are also helping us a lot But we are constantly listening closely to what you guys as an audience is saying and that has recently made us take some tough Sponsorship decisions which has had a big effect on our budget And this is why I'm now asking you to join us in making these videos Is he mentor pilot has a team the size of a small studio or a small magazine and like a magazine? There are two main ways that we're able to sustain what we do ads and subscriptions Our subscription platform is patreon and when you subscribe to us there You can choose to pay just a few dollars per month depending on what tier that you go for If you do that, you will become a fundamental and critical part of this channel and it will also enable our future production I meet with everyone on patreon in regular zoom hangouts where we discuss everything from aviation events to their lives and also I Answer questions and listen to all of their comments, which actually sometimes even helps us come up with new ideas for new content We also release our videos early to our patrons Which works like an extra layer of quality control since they always do an excellent job in spotting mistakes and coming up with helpful Suggestions to make the videos even better. I am so thrilled to reach this 2 million subscriber milestone It's far beyond anything that I imagined when I started this up as a hobby in my home office This is now like nine years ago But now with the role that the mentor channels have in the aviation world my team and I want the future of these channels to Be based on your support rather than just on ads and sponsors as things stand right now The entire mentor team is working on a video right up until a few hours prior to its release But together with all of you I hope that we'll be able to expand our team and with that our ambitions for each new project We've crunched the numbers and we think that we can do that if we manage to double our numbers up to 4,000 members of our patreon crew It's a huge goal. I know and maybe it's an unrealistic one But if we can reach that together Then I think that we can make aviation just that little bit safer together and you will have as always my deepest gratitude Thank you all for helping us get this far. And now let's make it even more awesome together Have an absolutely fantastic day wherever you are, and I'll see you next time. Bye. Bye