Welcome to the Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical HeliCASTS and in partnership with Vertical Valor Magazine.

Listen closely for your chance to win awesome prizes from Heli Life! Throughout 2025, every episode of The Hangar Z Podcast will reveal a secret word. Once you catch it, head to contests.verticalhelicasts.com to enter!

On today’s episode of The Hangar Z Podcast, Jack Schonely and guest host Bryan Smith are honored to welcome Tony Lumpkin, call sign “Lumpy,” for a compelling conversation.

Tony has a truly unique aviation background, having flown multiple airframes across military and civilian sectors. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Tony was commissioned into the U.S. Marine Corps where he piloted the CH-46 and completed three tours in Iraq. He shares some of his incredible experiences and lessons learned from flying in the sandbox.

But his story doesn’t end there. He later transferred into the U.S. Coast Guard where he piloted a Black Hawk, conducting high-risk rescues. After his military service, Tony invited Bryan to join him on a one-of-a-kind flying assignment: piloting a helicopter off a luxury cruise ship in one of the most stunning and unforgiving places on earth, Antarctica.

A big thank you to Bryan Smith for leading this insightful conversation with his friend “Lumpy.”

Please don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to the Hangar Z Podcast. We appreciate your support.

Thank you to our sponsors Precision Aviation Group, Spectrolab and Robinson Helicopter.

Welcome to the Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical HeliCASTS and in partnership with Vertical Valor Magazine.

Listen closely for your chance to win awesome prizes from Heli Life! Throughout 2025, every episode of The Hangar Z Podcast will reveal a secret word. Once you catch it, head to contests.verticalhelicasts.com to enter!

On today’s episode of The Hangar Z Podcast, Jack Schonely and guest host Bryan Smith are honored to welcome Tony Lumpkin, call sign “Lumpy,” for a compelling conversation.

Tony has a truly unique aviation background, having flown multiple airframes across military and civilian sectors. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Tony was commissioned into the U.S. Marine Corps where he piloted the CH-46 and completed three tours in Iraq. He shares some of his incredible experiences and lessons learned from flying in the sandbox.

But his story doesn’t end there. He later transferred into the U.S. Coast Guard where he piloted a Black Hawk, conducting high-risk rescues. After his military service, Tony invited Bryan to join him on a one-of-a-kind flying assignment: piloting a helicopter off a luxury cruise ship in one of the most stunning and unforgiving places on earth, Antarctica.

A big thank you to Bryan Smith for leading this insightful conversation with his friend “Lumpy.”

Please don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe to the Hangar Z Podcast. We appreciate your support.

Thank you to our sponsors Night Flight Concepts, Summit Aviation and Robinson Helicopter.

Welcome to The Hangar Z Podcast, brought to you by Vertical HeliCASTS, in partnership with Vertical Valor Magazine.

Listen closely for your chance to win awesome prizes from Heli Life! Throughout 2025, every episode of The Hangar Z Podcast will reveal a secret word. Once you catch it, head to contests.verticalhelicasts.com to enter!

This special two-part series is five years in the making, due to the fact we are celebrating the fifth anniversary of The Hangar Z Podcast.

Hosts Jon Gray and Jack Schonely reflect on the journey of the podcast, its impact on the aviation community, and the inspiration drawn from guests like Jell-O, the host of The Fighter Pilot Podcast.

Each year, a special guest is selected to help celebrate the anniversary of The Hangar Z Podcast. A guest is sought after that has uniquely shaped the public safety aviation community or directly inspired the creation or direction of The Hangar Z Podcast.

Today’s guest directly inspired the creation of The Hangar Z Podcast, as The Fighter Pilot Podcast was the first aviation podcast that the creator of the Hangar Z listened to and enjoyed.

Today, The Hangar Z Podcast welcomes an accomplished naval aviator with over 8,964 days of active duty, 3,807 flight hours, and 705 carrier landings—263 at night. His combat missions include 78 flights over Iraq, 25 countries across four continents, and 187 days in Afghanistan. He’s experienced 12 moves, participated in three carrier deployments with no ejections, shoot downs, or D.C. tours. His career is filled with remarkable memories. Please join us in welcoming Vincent Aiello to The Hangar Z Podcast!

Thank you to our sponsors CNC Technology, Metro Aviation and SHOTOVER.