Captain Nathan Fielder may not be cleared for takeoff anytime soon, but his journey to improve aviation safety is far from grounded.

In the second season of his HBO series, The Rehearsal, the Nathan for You comedian embarks on a daring mission to prevent airplane crashes before they happen. His theory? Co-pilots often hesitate to speak up when a superior officer makes a decision they disagree with. This silence, Fielder argues, could lead to catastrophic consequences in the cockpit.

To test his hypothesis, Fielder went to extraordinary lengths, becoming a certified 737 pilot himself. In The Rehearsal, he attempts to bring this issue to the attention of the federal government, though his efforts have so far been met with skepticism. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has responded by stating that all airline pilots and crew members are required to complete interpersonal communication training. However, according to Pamela Brown on The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown, the FAA "isn't seeing the data that supports the show's central claim—that pilot communications are to blame for airline disasters."

Fielder's response was direct: "That’s dumb. They’re dumb." He elaborates, "I trained to be a pilot, and I’m a 737 pilot. I went through the training. The training is, someone shows you a PowerPoint slide saying, if you are a co-pilot and the captain does something wrong, you need to speak up about it. That’s all. That’s the training. And they talk about some crashes that happened, but they don’t do anything that makes it stick emotionally."

Discussing the power dynamics within a cockpit, Fielder uses Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown as an illustrative example—not once, but twice. "It’s like a human thing," Fielder explains. "You know what I mean? Like there’s definitely stuff—I’m sure you guys brought up the analogy, but like, I’m sure Pamela, you don’t say some things to Wolf or—because you’re—between you two, who would be like the boss or the more, like you’re Wolf Blitzer, right? So, you’re like, your name is first on the thing. So, I’m sure Pamela, at times you might not want to say, you know, oh, Wolf wants to do something you don’t think it’s a good idea—you might not want to express that always."

"She’s very blunt," Blitzer counters.

A brief exchange unfolds:

Brown: "We actually have a pretty— I understand your point—"

Fielder: "But you have to say that now."

Brown: "No, I think this show—"

Fielder: "I know. But you don’t want to say to Wolf you can’t—as a journalist, you don’t want to say, oh, I don’t want to—"

Blitzer: "She says that."

Fielder: "She says it to you?"

Blitzer: "Yes."

Fielder (to Blitzer): "So, maybe you’re afraid to say something."

Brown: "Here’s the great thing about Wolf is he doesn’t have an ego."

Blitzer: "I’m very blunt with her too."

Fielder: "OK."

Brown: "He has no ego. But I take your point that like—"

Fielder: "I mean, Wolf’s in movies and stuff."

Brown: "He’s a big deal. There is no question."

Fielder: "So, that’s intimidating. That can be intimidating."

Brown: "That can be intimidating."

Fielder: "That’s sort of the thing where we’re trying to explore a little bit."

Watch the segment here: