Type 1 Triumph: Austen's Skyward Journey in Aviation
Take flight with Charlie Kimball and his guest, Austen McDonald-a pilot with a unique copilot: Type 1 diabetes. Austen defies norms and navigates the skies, sharing his rise above life's speed bumps, from his aviation dreams to the regulatory battles won, empowering future diabetic aviators. Fasten your seatbelts for a dose of motivation that soars beyond the clouds in this uplifting episode.
Key Points:
• Austen caught the flying bug early on
• Type 1 diabetes diagnosis at 14
• Battled and changed flight regulations
• CGM & insulin pump in the cockpit
• Inspirational message: patience & consistency
Quotes to Note:
02:30 - 02:39
• "No, from day one, I, I wanted to be a pilot and I wanted to follow my dad's footsteps and join the Air Force and hopefully fly fast jets and then eventually end up at the airlines."
04:36 - 04:54
• "So hearing that, I knew immediately that I was potentially, well very much ineligible to become a professional pilot, a professional aviator, albeit, wasn't officially diagnosed at that point, but still, that's kind of the primer that, that had me thinking about, oh, my trajectory may have been altered here."
05:23 - 05:29
• "She had even gone to a pharmacy and asked if they, she could just buy a blood glucose meter over the counter so she could do it for me."
09:29 - 09:39
• "But coming into that conversation, but it kind of flipped a switch for me where, you know, I kind of changed as a individual in that moment."
22:38 - 22:41
• "And that's essentially set off the pathway of us changing these regulations."
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