On this episode of AvTalk, we look back at a trio of our favorite conversations from this past year. In 2024, we were fortunate to speak with experts from across the aviation industry. In this recap of the year, we revisit three conversations with people who helped us understand challenges facing the industry, what it takes to bring a new aircraft to life, and how its possible to seamlessly merge airplanes and Lord of the Rings.

GPS interference, whether through jamming or spoofing, has risen dramatically over the past few years and the industry response has been limited. We talked with AIN Media Group editor-in-Chief Matt Thurber to learn how the aviation and navigation industries and approaching the challenges presented by GPS interference.

Gary O’Donnell has been with the A321XLR program at Airbus from the beginning. Speaking to our Chris Lomas on the occasion of the aircraft’s certification by EASA, O’Donnell tells what it takes to get an aircraft from the drawing board to the skies.

In perhaps the most fun conversation of the year, Ian speaks with Max Comer of Airplane Facts with Max about the meteoric rise in popularity of Max’s social media presence, how we creates his airplane facts videos, and why so many people are enamored with his content.

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Click here for a transcript of this week’s episode.