Plane Crazy Down Under (Southern Skies Media)

We're on the Gold Coast and getting ready for the Pacific Airshow once again. This year's line-up is bigger and even more packed with amazing aircraft, including a T-33 Shooting Star which is the first of it's kind to ever fly in Australia. Its pilot is Greg "Wired" Colyer from Ace Maker Airshows and we caught up with him before he came out to Australia. This episode also includes the third & final part of the Steve Padgett interview we recorded back in 2019.

4:56 - We talk to Greg "Wired" Colyer about getting the T-33 out to Australia, originally for the 2022 show but, thanks to some government requirements, it didn't get shipped until after that show finished. Greg then steps us through the development of the T-33 from the P-80, its use in the Korean War and how it became the main jet trainer for the USA.

We then step through Greg's career, from learning to fly while in the US Army through to becoming an air traffic controller and getting into flying jets. Eventually, he was introduced to the T-33 and fell in love with the aircraft, buying one to fly then displaying it at airshows. The discussion also covers setting up his Ace Maker Airshows business, where his "Wired" callsign comes from, and what its like to fly the T-33 in displays. We even touch on his love of motorcycles before wrapping up by discussing the display he'll perform at the Gold Coast and his plans for visiting while he's down under.

34:31 - We run the final part of our Steve Padgett interview from 2019, which talks about buying Flight West with its two Fokker 100s when it went under following the Ansett collapse, renaming it to Alliance Airlines, and building it up from there. He tells us the amazing story of how he got his next seven Fokker 100s, his methods for establishing solid aviation businesses, and the special livery they painted on two of their aircraft to commemorate Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's flight to Australia and the Smith brothers who flew a Vickers Vimy from the UK to Australia in 1919.

We then move on to Steve's businesses conducting flight training for airlines, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the RAAF, the Royal Malaysian Police, and many other operators of King Airs and Citation Mustangs. We then discuss his involvement with the Air Training Corps that became the Air Force Cadets, and the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame. We wrap up by mentioning his recent Order of Australia Medal, his continuing work and love of meeting people, plus how he still picks up a broom to help clean out the hangar, just like he used to when he first started.

1:04:46 - We wrap up the episode and remind everyone to get in touch if you'll be at the Pacific Airshow Gold Coast as it'd be great to catch up and say HI.

Links:

• Pacific Airshow Gold Coast: pacificairshowaus.com
• Greg "Wired" Colyer's Ace Maker Airshows: acemakeraviation.com
• Steve Padgett's Bio: flightoptionscharter.com.au/about/steve-padgett-oam-biography
• Alliance Airlines:

With the recent release of the Defence Strategic Review by the Australian Federal Government, a major focus has been put on long range missiles for use by Army, Navy and Air Force to deter a potential adversary from approaching our island continent and/or blockading our ocean supply routes. With this in mind, we release an interview recorded at Avalon 2023 with John Fry, general manager of Kongsberg Defence Australia, covering their National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, their Naval Strike Missile, its Coastal Defence System variant, and the Joint Strike Missile for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Following Kongsberg, we present a discussion with Mark Robinson, head of Air Traffic Management at Frequentis Australasia. We cover their latest remote digital tower technology and its applications in civilian and military markets. It's certainly a technology that could be of great use to Airservices here in Australia as well as to the RAAF's 44WG who provide Air Traffic Control at military air fields and bases.

The two discussions can be found at the following points in the episode:

• 03:35 John Fry at Kongsberg
• 20:18 Mark Robinson at Frequentis Australasia

Cover image thanks to Stefan Kalm via AP

Welcome to our first episode for 2024 with this episode featuring a great set of interviews to kick off the new year. From Grant recording chats with Jerry & Jan Chisum in their incredible hangar home over in New Zealand to the next part in the Steve Padgett story, this episode covers flying from the UK to NZ in a Gipsy Moth back in 1934, bush flying 737s in Alaska, setting up Sunshine Express Airlines, and so much more.

If you're wondering where Bridge Pa is, it's just outside Hastings which is near Napier on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island. The easiest way to find it is to use Google Maps and look for Hastings Aerodrome at Bridge Pa (or click that link :) ).

The episode unfolds as:

06:16 - Grant chats with Jerry Chishum about learning to fly with his father while growing up in Alaska, how eventually his father got into helicopters while he went on to larger aircraft. This lead to him flying civilian Hercules aircraft from Fairbanks, then proceeding on to 737-200s with gravel kits on some less than brilliant runways that were frequently covered in snow, ice and slush. Bush flying a 737... who knew?

Jerry also flew the MD-11 and compares flying that to flying the Hercules (like a big Super Cub) and the 737. Suffice to say, he wasn't a fan of the MD-11.

Jerry steps us through the history of the Gipsy Moth aircraft, his visits to New Zealand, how he met Jan, and flying WW1 replicas such as the Fokker Triplane, Fokker D.VII and the S.E.5.

31:52 - We then bring Jan onto the show, introducing her by her maiden name of Jan White. She tells us how she learnt to fly, getting into tail draggers like the Piper Cub, and then transitioning to flying Tiger Moths. Jan also talks about flying in the UK before returning to New Zealand, where she flew the Tiger Moth in competitions, eventually meeting Jerry at one.

Jan also talks about her father buying a 1929 Gipsy Moth when he was living in the UK in the early 1930s, then how he flew it to Sydney, Australia in 1934. She discusses his trip, the adventures he had, and that the most difficult flights were getting from Darwin to Sydney. Jan also talks about the memorabilia her father kept that she now has, including his maps, a letter from Nancy Bird Walton, and even the receipt from buying the aircraft.

52:04 - Our second part of our interview with Steve Padgett OAM covers purchasing Red Baron at Noosa Airport, which had a Grumman AgCat biplane for tourist flights, and setting up Sunshine Express Airlines, initially with Bandierante aircraft, to fly passengers on routes to and from the Sunshine Coast. Steve talks about dealing with the Civil Aviation Authority of the time and how the process was a lot different back in the 1990s with much less red tape.

Sunshine Express also flew Fairchild Metros and worked closely with Ansett Airlines, flying passengers for them until that airline went into liquidation, owing Steve's company a large amount of money. Fortunately, Steve got a call from Qantas who wanted to work with them, although Qantas were able to dictate much tighter terms.

Steve also talks about helping to set up Bangkok Airways in Thailand and his experience acquiring & operating Austin Aero in Texas. He wraps up this part of the interview by giving us a comparison between the aviation environment in the USA versus here in Australia.

The next part of this interview will include Steve starting, along with Don Kendell and Max Hazelton, the organisation that became the Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA). It will also cover Alliance Airlines and his work with the

The Peninsula Aero Club at Tyabb Airport near Melbourne puts on an epic air show every two years, although everyone's really been looking forward to this year's event as the last one was in 2020 thanks to COVID. The waiting was certainly worth it, as the Tyabb Airshow 2024 was another cracker with plenty of warbirds, aerobatic displays, a car vs aircraft race, and handling displays from many other aircraft.

Naturally, Steve and Grant were at the show once again and recording interviews with some of the people there. It was almost 40 degrees Celsius (about 100 Fahrenheit) but the show went on, the huge crowd enjoyed it, and Steve hung in there despite the sunscreen running off his forehead & into his left eye. DOH!

We start with our own recollections of the day, and then get stuck into the interviews, which include:

• 5:01 - Stephen Braim, president of the Peninsula Aero Club, joins us after the event to talk about the turn out, the importance of Tyabb airport, the charities the event supports, and the planning that goes into making the event a reality. Stephen also acknowledges the sponsors who help to make the event happen, how Paul Bennet and his team helped with the flying display and CASA approvals, the pilots who supply the aircraft, plus the army of volunteers without whom events like this couldn't happen. We wrap up the chat by talking about the club, its members and the other community events they run, such as the annual Toy Run that's supported by the antique aircraft association and a local car club (and has been known to include Grant's RX-7 in the line-up).
• 19:51 - Peta Denham Harvey is the Victorian State President of the Australian Women Pilots' Association and she gives us an overview of the AWPA, the benefits of being a member, the importance of having a support network, and the challenges women encounter in aviation even today. We also discuss the importance of bringing young women into aviation and the AWPA.

• 27:04 - One of the displays at the air show was the Sport Aircraft Association of Australia's stand which featured an RV-12 that had been built by children from schools around Australia. Elaine Bradley from the SAAA tells us about their Youth Build and Fly program which has children from schools in Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland building aircraft components with mentoring from SAAA members. Elaine talks about the sponsors who have helped make this program a reality and the impact it's had on many of the students who helped build the aircraft.

• 33:25 - We chat with Mick Poole who, in addition to working with CASA, also flies a variety of aircraft including antiques and warbirds. As one of the pilots who flies with the Temora Aviation Museum, he talks about his experiences becoming a RAAF reservist pilot with 100 SQN following the transition of TAM's aircraft into the RAAF's heritage squadron. He also talks about the museum and their Warbirds Down Under event that's coming up in October, his favourite aircraft, and his reunion with Paul Bennet's recently purchased Hawker Sea Fury.

• 38:57 - Andrew Temby returns to the show for the...

They say that if you can't see it, you can't be it and that certainly seems to be the case with getting more women into aviation. The recently released documentary Touch the Sky seeks to help encourage more women to consider flying for fun and/or employment, particularly looking at the "soft" (aka "human") issues that are part of the answer to the question: "Why are there so few female pilots?".

We also take a look at drone racing which was featured at the recent Avalon Airshow back in March. The Australian Defence Force is running racing events to encourage more young people to consider doing STEM training and also the potential for a career in Defence.

This episode consists of:

• 1:22 Stephen Limkin is the director of Touch the Sky while Erin Douglas is one of the ladies appearing in the documentary. They talk to us about their experiences in aviation, the inspiration behind the film and what it was like making the film. Erin also talks about over coming her fears and self doubt to not only fly, but also become a flight instructor with RA-Aus.
• 27:50 WGCDR Keirin Joyce steps us through the benefits and opportunities that drone racing brings the Australian Defence Force.
• 36:49 PTE Hamish Glover steps us through the experience of drone racing and the equipment they're using.

Credits:

Image by: Light Studios

Voiceovers: Terry Daniel from Your Voice Over

Thanks to Australian Defence Magazine for allowing us to include the two drone racing interviews in this episode.

We recently caught up with our friend Owen Zupp to talk with him about the many ups and downs he's experienced in his career and, most importantly, his current grounding for medical reasons (starts at 1:20 into the episode). We touch on the importance of resilience and how many of the traits that make a good pilot can also help a person get through adversity.

In the second half of the show, we also chat with Owen about the final flight of Qantas' last 747-400 that drew a flying kangaroo as it departed Australian skies (from 22:16 into the episode). The discussion covers the flight path, the planning, how it was loaded into the flight management system and what it was like being in California during the height of COVID lockdowns.

Cover image credit: Kirrily Zupp

The Australian International Airshow in 2023 (aka Avalon 2023) saw not only huge crowds and amazing displays in the air, but also the end of an era as Peter Meehan performed his last show as "The Voice of Avalon," handing over the reigns to Tony Moclair. It also saw Grant join Angela Stevenson as part of the commentary team for the show.

• 05:11 We chat with Peter Meehan about his experience with Avalon commentary and Tony Moclair about taking over as commentary team anchor.
• 21:18 Angela Stevenson talks about her experiences in aviation, as a pilot, as an author and as an air show commentator.
• 30:53 We capture the official announcement of the AMDA Foundation taking over the Wings Over Illawarra airshow from Bright Events, renaming it to Airshows Down Under: Shell Harbour and making it a biennial event that will alternate with the Avalon event. We also chat with Justin Giddings, CEO of AMDA Foundation, and Mark Bright of Bright Events.

Cover image credit: Steven Pam

Imagine a hoard of RV-6s & RV-7s flying in close formation and performing solo & pair aerobatics. Sounds intense? Well, wait for the Pacific Airshow at the Gold Coast to find out how it looks & sounds. Meanwhile, Mark Newton is one of the pilots in the Freedom Formation and he talks us through his aviation history, his aircraft and the genesis of the show. All this plus a flying car and our Maine Man Micah sends through some audio to include. Check out how it unwinds below :)

• 02:10 Mark Newton talks about his flying background, his RV-6 and the Freedom Formation.
• 16:50 We continue our chat with Mark and discuss the Pacific Airshow being held in August on the Gold Cost.
• 25:55 Lets talk flying cars with Jacky Yang about the Pegasus which blends the needs of road rules with CASA's rules for the air.
• 37:36 Micah Engber has sent through a piece welcoming PCDU back to the airwaves with references to the great land down under.

Cover image thanks to the Freedom Formation

It's our first episode for 2025 so we're allowed to say Happy New Year, right? Even though it's February, right? We may be Australia's longest running aviation podcast but we're taking a very long time to get to episode 200 :)

This episode we follow our dreams into the stratosphere and beyond, featuring a great chat with the Monash High Powered Rocketry team from Monash University. These amazing students are building and fuelling rockets that get up well above the cruising altitudes of airliners and even most corporate jets. We also get even higher beyond 100,000 feet with High Altitude Balloons. It's heady, rarified stuff in this one, so strap in and get ready to go sky high as the episode starts with Steve & Grant catching you up on what's new in their worlds before it unfolds as:

0:06:05 - We chat with Megan Robinson, Oliver Lancaster and Redmond Henry from the Monash HPR team about the program, their rockets, recent results, future directions and even a hint of more content to come during 2025. These folks are amazing and its no wonder that many of the HPR alumni wind up working with Rocket Lab, Gilmour Space, Space X and other legendary aerospace companies. Thanks to Rachelle Patturajan from the team for helping to coordinate everyone's schedules.

0:26:53 - We play some promos for other shows and organisations that we like and want to help spread the word about.

0:29:01 - When Grant flies a hot air balloon, he thinks 10,000' is sky high, but Robert Brand and the team from Flight Design go well over ten times higher than that. We chat with Robert about High Altitude Balloons in general, the company's experiences to date working with the Australian Defence Force and local universities, plus some of the payloads they're working with and how these balloons could be used to provide services like a satellite at greatly reduced time and cost.

1:01:28 - Steve and Grant wrap up the show with a reminder that you can drop us a line via contact@planecrazydownunder.com to say Hi, tell us about your latest adventures, or even suggest a potential guest we should chat with. We also shout out to:

• The number of aviation podcasts that have sprung up while we were taking time off the airwaves.
• Stefan Drury's challenges in getting back flying again (if you're not following Stefan's YouTube channel, you should be!)
• Steve's Clear Signal radio show.
• Grant's work with Australian Defence Magazine including hosting their podcast and even writing articles.

Links:

• Monash HPR: www.monashhpr.com
• Flight Design: flightdesign.com.au
• Stefan Drury on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@StefanDrury
• Steve's Clear Signal: www.clearsignal.com.au
• Australian Defence Magazine:

We've been a little busy lately and it's been a while since our last episode, so to make up for it we've released this rather chunky episode of aviation goodness covering the Pacific Airshow Gold Coast 2024 event. It's just like the old days when our episodes were long and the pause button was your friend...

The episode unfolds as per the details below. Enjoy!

0:01:11 - Steve & Grant chat about what's been happening, why it's taken so long to get this episode produced, Steve's new radio show (yes, radio!) called The Clear Signal, our fun at the Pacific Airshow Gold Coast with Brian Coleman (from the Journey is the Reward show and the Airplane Geeks) who joined us from California, despite immigration's best efforts, and what to expect from the interviews we collected. Oh yes, did we mention the beers?

0:06:15 - Jeff Boerboon updates us about what's been happening since last year, the Yak-110's appearance at Shellharbour, and how air shows can inspire the next generation of pilots.

0:12:17 - Air Commodore Micka Gray talks to Grant about his career since Pitch Black 2014 when he was last on the show, the RAAF's approach to air shows (both their own as well others they display at), and the benefits RAAF receives from their displays at last year's Gold Coast show in particular as well as their other appearances in general.

0:19:05 - Gary Cooper, a former RAAF pilot who has been awarded the USAF's Air Force Cross twice, and the Australian Defence Force's ground combat medal, talks to us on Vietnam Veterans' Day about his career and the situations he was in that lead to those three medals. From flying Norsemans and Junkers 52s in Papua New Guinea to joining the RAAF, the multitude of aircraft he flew and then becoming a Forward Air Controller until he left the RAAF after Vietnam and returned to flying with various airlines around the world. Gary's story is amazing and it was an honour and privilege to talk with him.

0:31:37 - Steve introduces the next block of interviews.

0:32:16 - We talk with Craig Hobart, the President of the Southport Flying Club, about the history of the club and the airport, the club's structure, the types of operations conducted at the airport (including medivac and rescue services), its importance to the area, and its involvement with the Pacific Airshows Gold Coast event. He also gives us a look at what the future holds for the airport and the club.

0:47:20 - Steve catches up with Mark Newton and Angela Garvey from the Freedom Formation Display Team about their displays at this year's and last year's air show, the changes that have happened since last year, Angela's career and how she joined the team, women in aviation, the team's sponsors & supporters, and how the team trains and conducts their display.

1:04:54 - Grant introduces the final block of interviews.

1:05:51 - Mandy Henschel from the Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service returns to the show and gives us an update on the amazing developments in their community service and taking on the Police Air contract.

1:10:30 - Scott Andrews is one of the rescue crew members in the back of the Westpac helicopter who talks to us about his career, the efforts involved in becoming a crew...

The new series has officially launched with the release of this episode and, what better way to come back to the world than at the Australian International Airshow (aka Avalon 2023) where we caught up with plenty of old friends and made lots of new contacts. It seems only fitting that our first released content should be chats with Matt Hall, Bas Scheffers and Bob Carlton so lets get into the show.

• 04:56 Matt Hall talks about getting through COVID, the potential for something like the Red Bull Air Race to return, the Gold Coast Air Show, flying the Avanti II and his plans for the future.
• 16:45 Bas Scheffers talks about developments in OzRunways, their new clients and features, upgrading VH-EFB to a Cirrus SR-22, and flying an RV-4.
• 27:46 Bob Carlton steps us through his day and night show routines, his aircraft testing work plus with his rocket scientist work in retirement.

Cover image credit : Wayne Nugent - Australian Motorsport Images

We recorded so much content at Avalon 2023 that it's going to take a few more episodes to get it all released. This episode brings us the Scandanavian wing walker team, the return of Timbo's Tarmac and a chat with UK aerobatic pilot Mark Jefferies and Dee Ebeling from Perth, so lets lean into the slipstream and have a listen.

This episode flies past with:

• 06:42 Scandanavian Airshows' Sky Cats wing walker team presented their Cat Walk show while at Avalon and Grant caught up with them to find out what's involved and how they got into this form of aviation.
• 18:33 Grant catches up with Timbo and the tarmac crew, hanging out in the Keyhole where the heavy metal gets parked (tankers, transports, etc) to get an update on how the show was from their perspective as they parked aircraft despite the crowds of visitors.
• 26:45 Mark Jefferies talks about getting to Australia, bringing an Extra NG aerobatic aircraft over from Perth and his day and night shows.
• 32:58 Dee Ebeling talks about the Extra NG and also gives us an update on Awesome Aviation's developments since we last had him on the show in 2013.
• 43:00 We have some listener mail from Andrew van der Saag.

As we wrap up this episode, we'd like to give a shout out to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and their need for donations to help cover their fuel bill, which is a major part of their costs, especially as fuel prices keep going up. If you have a few shekels and want to support a very worthy cause, please go to their site and help out.

The team from the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach in California have come down under to stage the first Pacific Airshow Gold Coast event at Surfers Paradise in August, right around the corner as we release this episode. Steve and Grant will be attending the event to gather more content from the performers who will be displaying there, but in advance of the event, they've scored a couple of interviews for you to enjoy:

• 2:52 - Kevin Elliott, CEO and Director of the Pacific Airshow chats with us about their events in the USA, the efforts they've gone through to bring the show to the Gold Coast and what attendees can expect while they're at the event.
• 23:14 - We catch up with Jeff Boerboon, the pilot and owner of the very distinctive Yak-110 aircraft, the merger of two Yak-55s with a turbine engine slung between them. He talks to us about his background in aviation, what inspired him to create this amazing machine, how they built it, what it's like to fly and how he's going flying it out of Southport airport for the event.

Credits:

Voiceovers: Terry Daniel from Your Voice Over

Rumours of our demise have, sadly, been accurate ... well, until now that is!

We're back and looking to give PCDU another whirl with a new series coming out shortly, but we thought a good way to get back in the groove would be to do that "Farewell" episode we'd planned to do *way* back in 2018. We are indebted to those who sent in the amazing farewell messages you're going to hear in this episode, but don't forget to stick around to the end and hear what's coming up.

Meanwhile, here's how this episode's farewell messages unfold around our chatting:

• 06:00 Max Flight from the Airplane Geeks.
• 08:07 Pieter Johnson from Aviation Xtended.
• 11:57 Carlos, Matt & Neville from the Plane Talking UK show
• 15:56 Steven Pam.
• 17:24 Damien Rose.
• 23:17 Dave Homewood from the Wings Over the New Zealand show.
• 25:06 Martin Rottler.
• 28:01 Captain Jeff, Dr Steph, Captain Dana & Captain Nick from the Airline Pilot Guy show.
• 31:47 Ray Davis.
• 35:12 Glen Towler.

We wrap up the episode with a discussion of what's coming next. Stay tuned!

With the Pacific Airshow returning to the Gold Coast in August, Steve and Grant caught up with Aarron Deliu, an Australian aerobatics pilot who is now based in Florida and performing at airshows and events in the USA, Europe and South Africa. Aarron put on a spectacular display at last year's show on the Gold Coast and will be performing again at this year's show.

• 03:45 - We start our chat with Aarron talking about performing at airshows in Europe before moving on to how he discovered the world of aviation and the efforts he went through learning to fly and getting his aerobatic rating. We then talk about progressing his aerobatic experience leading to his acceptance into the Red Bull Air Race just before it closed. DOH! We also discuss the likelihood of a replacement air race happening, and the events currently happening including Air Race X and Sky Grand Prix. The conversation then moves on to what Aarron is doing in the USA, why he moved over there, and what the airshow scene and aviation in general are like over there. We also talk about the aircraft he has in his hangar before talking about the aircraft he'll be flying at the Gold Coast this year and the routine he'll fly. We wrap up with a discussion about the Pacific Airshow events at Huntington Beach and the Gold Coast and why they're so unique compared to other events.
• 33:54 - Steve & Grant chat about the airshow scene, catching up at the Gold Coast, and their hopes for the air race scene.
• 36:25 - Mick, formerly of the Franga Line, emailed us about watching a wave of aircraft heading North on a radar app, after which the guys discuss using Flight Radar 24 and ADSB Exchange.
• 39:37 - The guys talk about the Australian Defence Magazine podcast that Grant hosts plus Steve's new radio show he's making called The Clear Signal which is appearing on radio stations around the country. It may, one day, appear as a podcast for those who can't tune into the radio stations it's appearing on.
• 43:10 - Grant was recently on the Stuck Mic AvCast show with Carl Valeri which you can listen to as a podcast OR watch on their YouTube channel.

Links:

• Aarron's website: aarron.aero
• Red Bull Air Race on Wikipedia
• Air Race X 2024 is underway
• Sky Grand Prix: skygrandprix.com
• Pacific Airshow Gold Coast: pacificairshowaus.com
• If you've not already, check out

Way back in June 2014 we released Series 1 Episode 119 about the RAAF bringing the F-35A into service, including the first two pilots selected to learn how to fly it, discussions with Lockheed Martin representatives (including test pilot Billie Flynn) and an hour long discussion with AVM Kym "Koz" Osley about the infrastructure work, staffing build up, training and logistics preparations that were in progress. At almost 2 1/2 hours in duration, it was one of our longer episodes from Series 1.

It seems only fitting then that our longest episode so far of Series 2 should once again be all about the F-35. This time we catch up with F-35 Test Pilot Tony "Brick" Wilson, Lockheed Martin's Chief of Fighter Flight Operations, and also bring you an update from Steven Over, Lockheed Martin's Director, Combat Air INDOPACOM and CENTCOM Business Capture.

You can find these two discussions in this episode at:

• 02:19 - Tony "Brick" Wilson talks to us about what got him into aviation, his career to date, transitioning to the F-35, sensor fusion in the cockpit, what flying the F-35 is like, and how mission planning is conducted.
• 53:54 - Steven Over provides an update on the F-35's pending Block 4 upgrades, how they will be available in the RAAF's new F-35s and plans to roll them out as upgrades to existing airframes. He also steps us through the sensor fusion concept, how it is presented to the pilot and the benefits it provides F-35 pilots and operators.

Credits:

Image from Lockheed Martin.

Thanks to Australian Defence Magazine for allowing us to use excerpts from their interview with Steven Over.

Voiceovers: Terry Daniel from Your Voice Over

It's time to dig into the recently released Defence Strategic Review to assess its impacts on the Australian Defence Force from an aviation perspective. For this episode we're joined by award winning defence and aerospace journalist Andrew McLaughlin, who helps assess the changes we can expect to see over the next few years.

A big change is the focus on long range strike and missiles for RAAF, Navy and Army to help keep potential adversaries at a distance. We also touch on the lack of news regarding additional F-35s or MQ-4C Tritons, the B-21 Raider being ruled out (for now) and Army's transition from ARH Tiger and MRH-90 Taipan to AH-64 Apache and UH-60M Blackhawk.

We also ask where we'll get enough people from to crew all the platforms, look at the types of drones we're likely to have and the focus on hypersonics and other advanced technologies under AUKUS Pillar 2. There's a lot to dig into so this episode is a double-length special, running for almost an hour, but that's what the pause/resume button is for, right? :)

Cover image thanks to Seth Jaworski.

There are plenty of beaches in Australia and many cities have an "Eye in the Sky" traffic reporter giving commuters updates on where the bottlenecks are, but what if you could provide traffic reports plus beach reports, all while logging hours? Our voice-over guy, Terry Daniel, steps out of the recording booth and into the studio to chat with Steve & Grant about doing just that in the skies over Coffs Harbour, a beautiful tourist city on the New South Wales North Coast.

Terry talks about his experiences flying twice a day, every day, in all types of weather to bring Radio2CS listeners the latest info on which beaches had the best breaks, which to avoid due to sharks or bluebottles, and how the roads were looking. He also tells about some of his more interesting experiences with passengers, folks on the beach, weather and a low flying RAAF F-111.

We wrap up the chat with a discussion about Terry's AIR News Media organisation that provides news headlines for radio stations around Australia. It's also where you can occasionally hear Steve's dulcet tones reading the news.

As if all that wasn't enough, we also have a mailbag item from Mark Newton and a shout-out to Redhome Aviation's Instagram page which features photography of military traffic around Tinker AFB in Oklahoma, USA.

Cover art images for this episode were supplied by Rob Cleary (Seen Australia - http://seenaustralia.com.au), Bruce Linwood and Terry Daniel.

It's been a while between episodes but Steve's been in hospital for a major operation plus Grant's been travelling for airshows and also getting current in hot air balloons once again (yup, there's a new danger area being declared for operations in the vicinity of YBLA, YWGT & YILA :) ). With Steve in hospital, Grant turns to ATC Ben for help with the intro and outro on this episode which is packed full of content, including:

• 0:07:07 - Steve & Grant catch up with Kevin Elliott, CEO of Pacific Airshow, for a post-event debrief from their Gold Goast show.
• 0:36:18 - Henry Young was 99 years old when he visited the Gold Coast show and he talked to the guys about flying Seafires during WW2 and Sea Furies in the 1950s. His story includes being in New Zealand at the start of the war, his training in the USA, flying from HMAS Sydney when it was first introduced to the Royal Australian Navy, and how he met his wife. We could have talked for hours and it was amazing to get his views on how far we've come since he was flying military aircraft and formation demonstrations.
• 0:51:15 - The Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service team were at the show performing a winching demonstration while also having one of their Eurocopter EC135 P2 aircraft parked on the Surfers Paradise Esplanade to help their fundraising and merch sales. The guys caught up with Paul "Gibbo" Gibson, their chief pilot, to discuss his career, the operations they undertake and his experiences flying helicopters.
• 1:05:08 - Steve & Grant also spoke with Mandy Hentschel, the Service's Fundraising and Events Coordinator, about the efforts required to keep these vital life saving helicopters operating and available to patrol and perform rescues on Queensland's beaches.
• 1:09:50 - Grant and ATC Ben wrap up the episode with a discussion on Ben's activities in the world of air traffic control and performing operations from Melbourne.

Links:

Leave your message for the crew of Dumptruck 11: pacificairshowaus.com/memorial

Watch the RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornet display from on-board the aircraft: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LDjhO_gq1Y&t=122s

More information about the Queensland Westpac Lifesaver rescue helicopter service, including how you can help keep them operating: www.lifesaving.com.au/about/what-we-do/westpac-lifesaver-rescue-helicopter-service

Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service have a Facebook page: www.facebook.com/westpacheliqld/

Credits:

Episode title image by Grant McHerron, Southern Skies Media.

Voiceovers: Terry Daniel from Your Voice Over.

Setting up and running the air display component of an airshow takes a lot of effort, awareness of pilot and aircraft capabilities, an understanding of what makes a display interesting to the public, and the ability to deal with variables such as weather and aircraft availability. To find out more about this topic, we caught up with Chris "Tibbsy" Tibbetts, the Aussie Airboss. Grant also crossed over to the other side of the air display and spoke to a couple of warbird display pilots, one of whom also owns the excellent Drome Cafe and Tocumwal Aviation Museum at Tocumwal airport in southern New South Wales.

This episode contains:

• 03:20 - Our chat with Tibbsy starts off with an overview of the Airboss role, plus how he goes about dealing with pilots, organisers, and weather. We then move on to how Tibbsy got involved in aviation, became a pilot, the flying he was doing, and then starting to do airshows with Paul Bennet Airshows. In addition to ferrying aircraft to & from events, he also wound up working the radios and coordinating the air display, a role often referred to as the Ringmaster here in Australia.
• From here we move on to discussing certifications required to be an Airboss, how you build up experience, the International Council of Air Shows (ICAS), and his experiences working with the team from Pacific Airshows during their Gold Coast event. Tibbsy also tells us about attending the Airboss Academy at the Miramar Airshow and then the Pacific Airshows event at Huntington Beach.
• We also discuss safety at airshows, the similarities & differences between Australia & the USA in their approach to producing airshows, and attending the big ICAS convention in Las Vegas back in December.
• We wrap up our chat with Tibbsy by talking about his beautiful Beech 18 twin engine tail dragger named Miss Maple that he and his wife own.
• 27:10 - Grant talks about his flight up to Tocumwal with Evan Schoo in a Cirrus, leaving early to be sure to meet up with Alan Arthur as well as Matt Henderson, the owner & operator of the Drome Cafe.

• 29:44 - While at Tocumwal, Grant recorded a chat with Alan Arthur from Arthur Aero. We started with a discussion about his P-40 then moved on to his Beech Staggerwing restoration that's underway at Wanaka in New Zealand. Alan also talks about the Sukhoi 29 aerobatic aircraft he has a share in, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter they're restoring to static condition and the three former RAAF PC-9s they've got running, two of which are now on the market.

• 37:53 - Grant also recorded a chat with Matt Henderson who gives us a very quick overview of what makes Tocumwal aerodrome so important, the Tocumwal Aviation Museum he's established, and of course, the Drome Cafe. The Tocumwal aerodrome was the RAAF's biggest airbase in its entire history, operating B-24s, Bostons, Mosquitos, Beaufighters, Tiger Moths, Kittyhawks, Mustangs and Spitfires during WW2, then after WW2 it became the boneyard where aircraft were decommissioned and scrapped.
• Matt talks about the aircraft in the museum, including his CA-25 Winjeel and Cessna O-1 Bird Dog, plus the Ceres cropduster and an Aermacchi MB-326 that was recently donated by...

Steve's back in the studio after his heart attack and subsequent surgery. As you'd expect, it was a major experience for him and he's very appreciative of the support he's received from our audience. He's now a member of the zipper club, has been cleared to drive cars again, and is working towards his Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) medical so he can drive trains once again. You can read more about Steve's unexpected journey on his Proceed Aspect site, but for now, he's back and we're producing episodes once again. This one unfolds with:

• 6:01 - We catch up with Marjorie Pagani, CEO of Angel Flight, who gives us a quick history of Angel Flight, and how the organisation is funded. She also updates us on their efforts to fly doctors, nurses, interns and locums into rural and regional areas that would otherwise take days to drive to. We discuss their criteria for pilots and opportunities for volunteering in other roles, then we chat about Marjorie's background, her flying, and how she became involved with Angel Flight. We wrap up by looking at their relationship with CASA, the types of aircraft being used for their flights, and a reminder of how you can help keep Angel Flight going. You can learn more about Angel Flight through the FAQ on their website.
• 29:43 - Back in 2019, we interviewed Steve Padgett OAM for the Airwaves by Aviation Trader show that we were producing for the previous owners of Aviation Trader. The new owners of Aviation Trader have very generously agreed to let us run that interview on PCDU and here's the first part of the three part chat we recorded back then. We hope you find it as interesting and inspiring as we do.

Steve's career in aviation started in the 1960s during the heyday of Australian aviation, but it all began as Canterbury Boys High School where he joined the Air Training Corps and discovered he had a passion for flying. This led to a scholarship with the RAAF that allowed him to obtain his private pilot certificate. From there, he worked as a driver in airfeight and swept hangar floors to fund his commercial and instructor ratings, before eventually getting into marketing and working for Hawker de Havilland selling aircraft. This allowed him to work with people such as Sir Joh Bjelke-Peterson (premier of QLD) and his regular pilot, Beryl Young, along with WW2 fighter pilots such as Brian "Blackjack" Walker. Eventually in 1979, he started his own company, partnering with Bib Stilwell selling Learjets and the Embraer Bandierante and Brasilia, before creating Aeromil Pacific in Queensland.

We wrap up this first part with a hint from Steve about starting, along with Don Kendell and Max Hazelton, the organisation that became the Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA). As to Alliance Airlines and his work with the RAAF Cadets, well, they will also be covered in a

It's big news down under as Bas Scheffers, CEO of OzRunways, joins us to announce that Boeing have purchased the company. It's a massive validation of the efforts put in by the OzRunways team over the past 10+ years and provides the opportunity for the OzRunways, ForeFlight and Jeppesen teams to work close together to help improve their respective products.

In this exclusive interview, Bas talks about the history of OzRunways' interactions with ForeFlight, confirms for us that OzRunways will continue and not be subsumed into ForeFlight, and answer's the question of whether VH-EFB could be transferred to a new aircraft,

We've known Bas for many years and have worked and socialised with him, Rowan and the OzRunways team since they started. It's a fantastic step forward for the product and the company, so we're looking forward to seeing how this progresses over the coming years.

This episode detours from our usual opinionated discussion of the news and instead features an interview we were fortunate enough to arrange with Matt Hall, an ex-RAAF F18 pilot who has flown the F15 on exchange with the USAF and is currently flying an MXS aerobatic aircraft in the RedBull AirRace. We were expecting to get a half hour or so to chat with Matt and were thrilled to discover an hour had passed before we all thought to double check the time.

 The discussion ranges from Matt's early days learning to fly through to his experiences with the RAAF and USAF then on to flying in the RedBull AirRace. Matt talks with us on many topics, including gliders, air-to-air refuelling, pylon hits and the dreaded bridge.

 We were delighted that Matt accepted our request for an interview and cannot sufficiently express our gratitude for his time. We're looking forward to following his progress through the remaining races this year and chatting with him again at the end of the season.

You can find Matt on his home page, Wikipedia, FaceBook, Flickr and Twitter. Be sure to join up to follow his progress in the races and show your support.

Aviation in Australia is experiencing a difficult time and General Aviation is especially being hit hard. User fees are continuing to increase, rules are being changed and airports are being shutdown or reduced in size due to encroachment by non-aviation construction. We’re joined in this episode by Ben Morgan from Aviation Advertiser to discuss these issues, highlight the need for people to take action and discuss what those actions might be. Ben’s certainly not holding back as the stakes are too high to be diplomatic.

We also have some other great chats in this show, including:

• Steve Ahrens talking about the upcoming Barossa Airshow (May 1st, 2011)
• A chat with the crew of an RAAF Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft that we recorded back at Avalon Airshow
• A collection of quick chats with some RA-Aus pilots at Avalon, including:
• Peter Harlow from Foxbat Australia
• John Callahan with his Typhoon Glider
• Peter Kane with his Kitfox
• Ben Morgan then rejoins us to discuss the state of the second hand aircraft market in Australia and a couple of the aircraft available for sale on Aviation Advertiser

Every year at Easter, Recreational Aviation Australia holds its National Fly In (NatFly). This is an event where RA-Aus members, vendors & interested folks come to meet, attend workshops, review vendor offerings, undertake test flights and show off their aircraft. Aircraft range from powered parachutes & ultralights through to home builds and the latest sport & recreational aircraft. Importers and manufacturers are present to showcase their equipment, the circuit is filled with aircraft undertaking demo flights and the local hotels & bars are filled at night with tall tales and recollections.

We were fortunate to be invited to attend along with the team from Aviation Advertiser, setting up our mobile recording studio in one of the Temora Aviation Museum’s hangars (along with their Mk VIII Spitfire and Cessna A37). We arrived on the Friday morning and departed on the Saturday evening, experiencing two very busy days packed with interviews, discussions, aircraft & equipment inspections and a couple of demo flights.

Suffice to say there was plenty of material captured and we’ve managed to squeeze the best of it into yet another very large episode. We considered splitting it over two but there’s more great content on the way on other topics so we felt it best to pack it all into one large package.

The content we present in this episode is:

• An introduction with Steve, Grant, Ben & Bas
• Brumby Aircraft with Paul Goward
• Laurie Hines and his Revolution Mini-500 helicopter
• John Garton from Leisure Sport Aircraft talks about the Paradise P1 aircraft from Brazil
• Gyrocopter pilot Sam Polyak talks about the EVA Aviacion ELA 08
• Gary Flood from Bert Flood Imports discusses the latest Rotax engines
• Owen Zupp joins us to chat about how he undertakes an air test
• Paul Chernikeef talks with us about Rotec Engineering’s latest radial engines
• Nick Sharples talks about the AVOCET aircraft his father Mike has created from a Jabiru 230
• Tony Blair talks to us about flying aerobatics and RAAF ab initio training
• Jon Johansen from Flymore steps us through the TruTrak EFIS, EMS & autopilot systems on offer
• John Lindner gives us a visitor’s view of the show
• Bryce Hughes joins us from Cub Crafters
• Matthew Maude from Performance Metals Australia gets detailed on metal
• Some of the cockpit audio from Steve’s test flight of a Brumby R600
• John Conte from Aerochute talks to us about their powered parachutes
• Gary Sargeant...

Here’s a quick teaser video of Steve’s flight in JetRide’s L39 down at Tooradin airport recently. We’re still working on the full “Adventure Flights” video so this one’s a bit of a teaser and a test of putting videos in our feed.

Let us know how it works for you. Do you want videos in the feed or a separate feed for video entries?

You can find photos from the flight on our Flickr Collection, a bit of a write-up in our Talk to Me, Goose post and see lots of comments about the flight on our Facebook Page.

We are fortunate to have Dick Smith return to PCDU, joining us to discuss his views on Australia’s aviation environment. We talk about his time as chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority and then his return as chairman of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. He mentions some of the initiatives he started that worked as well as some that didn’t quite work as planned. Dick also gives us a rather candid look at his views on user fees, ministers and what’s going wrong with aviation today.

Once again this discussion with Dick is sure to generate divided commentary from those in aviation, both old & new. If you’ve not already listened to our previous chat with Dick about his early flying adventures, you really should check it out now.

Following our chat with Dick we have a dramatic change of scene as the Infrequent Flyer (aka Anthony Simmons) returns to give us his View From the Lounge angle on the Avalon Airshow. Then, to answer Anthony’s question of “How it all flows together” we have ATC_Ben return to present his latest Controller’s Corner where he explains just what went on at Mercat Manor.

Following that we have a few interviews recorded at Avalon:

• FLT LT Pete Komar, an F-18F Super Hornet pilot with the RAAF
• BAe Hawk Mk127 techo LAC Brian Dick
• Pilot Officer Emmanuel “Muz” Murray talks about flying the BAe Hawk Mk127
• SGT Kerry Dimar who works in logistics with the BAe Hawk Mk127

To keep with the Fast Jets angle, we’ve thrown in some cockpit audio from Steve’s flight with Mark Pracy in JetRide’s L39 Albatros.

For this episode, we’ve dived into the mailbag to bring out:

• Calum Tsang from Toronto lists some of his favourite episodes
• Carl Rossi says PCDU is going to cost him $13,000 … and he doesn’t mind!
• Peter Haans tells us he appreciated our Avalon 2011 coverage
• We remind you to check out our listener survey
• Listener “Raptor” has created a thread about CASA’s “Flight Planning Kit” on our forum at DownWind.com.au

We also give a shout out to:

• The Airplane Geeks podcast for their great episodes with Igor Sikorsky III and Mikey McBryan from Ice Pilots
• The Flaps Podcast from the UK for being nominated for an award in New York and winning an award in the UK – awesome effort from a great podcast (if you’re not listening to these...

There’s no denying that aviation has been the home of many innovative ideas when it comes to aerodynamics, systems and so on. Sometimes we even get to hear about innovation in many of the business & training aspects of aviation and this episode is bringing us a few of them, from new ways to bring aviation education to kids through to recognising the need to store aircraft in the Asia/Pacific area. We also have a number of other content items including a few more of our Avalon interviews.

This episode contains:

• Tom Vincent from Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage (APAS) talking about the new “boneyard” facility they are creating at Alice Springs in the middle of Australia
• Angelina Morino from Aus Air Services joins us again to review their past year of operation and discuss their involvement with Brentwood College (Steve’s old high school) to provide aviation study to students. They’re also planning to extend this out to other high schools in the area. NOTE: As with Peter Dow at TVSA, it’s great to see local flying schools thinking outside the box to make it easier and/or cheaper to learn to fly)
• Some more content from Avalon, including:
• The crew of a KC135 tanker
• Flying Officer Johnno Pearson on flying the F/A-18 Hornet
• Flight Lt Liam Webler, a techo who helps to keep the F/A-18 Hornet in the air
• Steve & Lisa Ruffles talk about their Eagle School of Microlighting at Porepunkah

We wrap up with the following Listener Mail and Shout Outs:

• Miles Rados wrote in about gliding at Tocumwal
• Toby Robb wrote in about Steve’s recent microphone levels and had some comments on our recent chat with Dick Smith
• The Airplane Geeks podcast reaches episode 150 – well done, guys!
• Kudos to the RAAF social media team for helping to promote our work via the “I love jet noise” Facebook page
• There’s a new aviation podcast – The Stuck Mic AvCast – from the folks at The Pilot Report. They’re two episodes in and have been producing great content so far
• PCDU can now be found on Stitcher & SlapDash Radio
• Thanks to all those who’ve left feedback at the iTunes store – much appreciated and keep it up!
• Don’t forget to check out our website where we’ve made some recent layout changes plus we’ve also been loading more videos on our YouTube channel.

It’s been a while since we got down & dirty with the Australian commercial airline scene so with that in mind, we called up Ben Sandlilands from the PlaneTalking blog on Crikey.com.au for a chat. There’s some amazing developments going on in the “big iron” side of people moving here in Australia and we went through the following subjects:

• The joys of ash clouds (Thanks Chile!)
• Virgin Australia taking on Qantas & Jetstar with their new pricing structures & business class, including just what kind of passenger they were targeting at the front of the cabin
• Qantas & JetStar’s industrial issues with their unions
• Tiger regrouping & focusing on routes where it can do the most damage to the others (watch out Melbourne <-> Sydney and maybe even the Golden Triangle of Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane)
• Strategic’s foray into the Pacific

In this episode we also include an interview with Kathy Mexted, a freelance writer who we met *way* back at the Centenary of Flight airshow in 2010. Flying is in Kathy’s blood by birth & by marriage and she’s been writing articles for a variety of aviation magazines as well as working on a book about being the spouse of an airline pilot. We’re very happy to announce that Kathy’s also going to be producing some content for us in the near future mostly covering Recreational & General Aviation areas.

Finally, we’re including some new music in our show as Steve’s found out about the royalty free production music by JewelBeat. Watch out for whole new background tracks & cross-over music in this & future episodes :)

We’re joined by Mark Pracy Sr and Mark Pracy Jr to talk about the many aviation endeavours they’re involved in, including JetRide Australia, Pracy Racing and Aircraft Imports. We also have Bas Scheffers sitting in from Adelaide for the interview as well as a fantastic announcement to make towards the end of the show :)

We start by talking with Mark Sr about his background in aviation including how he grew up in Scone seeing warbirds all the time, was taught aerobatics by Col Pay and then eventually became an aerobatics instructor. He’s also got a low-level aerobatics waiver and is an airshow pilot displaying a number of warbirds at events around the country.

Eventually progressing to jets, the Pracys purchased a Czechoslovakian Aero L-39 Albatros two seat aircraft. We discuss with them it’s handling, speeds and the typical manoeuvres they’ll perform when taking passengers up as part of their JetRide Australia flights. We also discuss some of the more interesting folks they’ve had on board before moving into their other main operation: Aircraft Imports.

Mark Jr is a certified LAME & pilot who runs the Aircraft Imports business, working with his father to scout aircraft, flight test & inspect them and arrange their purchase for clients. With the AUS$ being so high compared to the US$, they’re being kept very busy arranging purchases for Australians at the moment (although we’re not sure using a container to bring a Cirrus into Australia is the best way of doing it :). Mark Jr is able to run the entire operation from the inspections to dismantling & packing then on to reassembly, test flights & certification back here in Australia.

The work Team Pracy do in JetRide Australia and Aircraft Imports all helps support their latest endeavour which is racing their L39 at the Reno Air Races. They’ve recently completed their qualifications and are now certified to race this year in September. We talk to them about the qualification & selection process, dealing with emergencies and the mechanics of reducing weight to help compete. Fascinating stuff.

Team Pracy also note that they’re happy to take on sponsors of their L39 in Reno so if you or an organisation you represent are interested in getting space on a very sexy aircraft, contact Mark Sr via mark@jetride.com.au.

Finally, we have our big announcement for the show:

Thanks to the generous support of Team Pracy, we’re being sent to Oshkosh 2011. That’s right, after 2 years of having to miss Oshkosh because of insufficient funds and looking like we were going to miss this one as well, Mark Sr & Mark Jr have offered to get us over there (mostly, we think, so they can see our heads explode as we’re surrounded by aviation :)

We’d like to thank Team Pracy for their most wonderful offer as it’s thanks to them that we’re going to finally be able to meet up with our online friends and experience the wonder that is AirVenture Oshkosh.

We’re also receiving additional sponsorship funding from other groups including the fine folks at Aviation Advertiser who are helping to chip in some additional funds to cover our camping gear while we’re on site.

Watch this space as we’ll have more news & updates about how our trip to Oshkosh is progressing over the next few weeks :)

As if all this...

We thought we'd have this episode out within a few days of our previous one, but there was so many news items to review, so much to discuss and so many bits to splice together that it took a whole week to bring it to you. Weighing in at almost 2 hours, this episode has interviews, GA, follow ups and much much more.

With some brilliant segways between topics (and a few clangers), this episode includes the following items:

• Changes after the Kokoda accident
• Australia pledges $2m for Kokoda airstrip upgrade (ABC News)
• Virgin Blue and Delta rebuttal against Air New Zealand
• Virgin and Delta slam Air NZ attacks (Ari Sharp @ The Age)
• As we predicted, JetStar are going to Fiji
• Qantas and Virgin Blue in Fiji fight (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Jetstar to spoil V Australia’s Fiji flights? (Alex @ AusAviation)
• Webjet pressured by competition to drop fees
• Pressure On Webjet As Zuji and Expedia Drop Fees (Martin Kelly @ Travel Trends)
• Listener comments about laser pointers and aircraft
• @DanWebbage from the Airplane Geeks provides feedback on United Airlines and their 747-400s on the Pacific route
• @DanWebbage also gives us a report on a recent conference where he got to try different aircraft seats
• Some QANTAS stories from mechanical to financial
• Qantas makes emergency landing in Perth (Geoffrey @ The West Australian)
• Qantas yields remain under pressure (Bill Lindsay @ The Australian)
• Qantas feels the heat from the east (Geoff Easdown @ the Herald Sun)
• Qantas braces for long haul in red: IATA figures (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Qantas yield contractions continue, but appear to have stabilised; SIA downgraded on yield squeeze (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation)
• Discounted tickets lure more to Qantas in July (news.com.au)
• It’s a Jetstar a rising at Qantas (Ben Sandilands @ Crikey)
• The Australian Government is putting

We open this episode having a chat with James Williams of the LifeStyle PodNetwork, Australia’s global podcast network. We are very happy to announce that we’ve been invited to join and we talk with James about the network, why they invited us to join and what it means to be a part of their community of podcasters.

We then transition to a chat with Monika Petrillo and Elliott Schiffman who came to Australia in the late 90’s to fly around the country as part of a one month air safari with Mal Shipton’s GOANA (Great Outback Air Navigation Adventure) Australian Air Safaris. After returning to the USA, Monika spent a number of years producing the movie FlyAbout, a documentary film based on her adventures during the air safari.

You may also have heard Monika on other podcasts such as The Pilot’s Flight Podlog, The New Pilot Podblog and the Mile High Flyers. Each of these podcasts have chatted with Monika and presented their own unique approach to her movie & her story.

Who are we to be different, then? :)

In chatting with Monika & Elliot we touch on the following aspects of their adventure:

• What it was like for Monika to edit & produce the movie
• Why did they come to Australia for this adventure?
• Monika’s learning to fly & then flying on the safari with her father, an even more inexperienced pilot
• Elliott’s background in flying
• Getting to know each other while on safari
• What it was it like flying in the Australian outback without needing radios, having the freedom to deviate from track and so on
• The scenery they encountered and experiences with the locals as they travelled around
• How have the others from the safari gone since their big adventure?
• Comparing Australia’s aviation culture with that of the USA
• Dealing with certification, maintenance, paperwork
• A side track into ballooning (gee, thanks Grant :)
• The non flying activities they got up to during the safari
• What flying they’re currently doing
• Elliott’s involvement with Bonanzas to Oshkosh, the mass arrival of 100+ Bonanzas at Oshkosh

Following our chat with Monika and Elliott, we introduce Don McLean, an air traffic controller from New Zealand who also happens to be Grant’s 2nd cousin. Like Grant’s father, Don went through the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) flying P3 Orions then went on to Bristol Freighters before winding up in a desk job at which point he decided to leave. From there he started working as an Air Traffic Controller at Ardmore near Auckland before moving to Auckland International Airport and then on to Hong Kong. After many years working in Hong Kong he returned to New Zealand where he worked at Palmerston North airport before moving to Hamilton where he’s currently working in the tower.

In addition to a discussion of Don’s career, our chat includes:

• Oceanic Control
• ADSB in New Zealand
• Working the old school radar equipment
• What it was like working in Hong Kong – especially Kai Tak
• How airspace is structured in New Zealand
• The GAAP to Class D transition here in Australia
• Radar coverage of New Zealand airspace
• The process of centralisation

Ben Morgan from Aviation Advertiser returns to join us in a discussion of current events in the Australian aviation scene. Following a quick intro, the first topic we discuss is the Carbon Tax our government is proposing to implement. We do try to keep the discussion coming back to the impacts this tax is likely to have on aviation but it’s a very hot topic and is certainly ringing out concerns for a number of people.

Once we get through the Carbon Tax and calm down a little, we move onto the sad state of affairs with Tiger Airways, currently grounded for failure to meet the requirements of their Air Operators Certificate (AOC) and a number of safety related issues. This is the first time CASA have grounded an all-jet airline and its timing was certainly drastic (right on the eve of the school holidays). We discuss the implications, some potential results and whether the Australian public will ever trust the airline again (very likely if there are cheap fares to be had).

Finally we discuss Aviation Advertiser’s sponsoring the PCDU Team in their “Up & Over to Oshkosh 2011” tour and the updates we’ll be providing on their website while we’re at Oshkosh.

After wrapping up our chat with Ben, we present another View From the Lounge segment, this time comparing public transport access to airports at Melbourne and various cities around the world. We then point listeners at Steve Price from Melbourne Talk Radio (MTR) having a great chat with astronaut Andy Thomas as well as similar coverage from the ABC StarStuff podcast.

Finally, we’d like to thank all the listeners who have donated to our “Up & Over to Oshkosh 2011” tour. We’ve had lots of suggestions for coverage and lots of donations that all help round out the support of our sponsors. Thanks to you we’ll be able to provide a more comprehensive coverage of Oshkosh 2011 than we could have if it were just Steve & Grant on site. Once again, we are amazed at the level of support we’ve received from our audience. You folks definitely make it all the hard work & late nights worthwhile :)

Steve & Grant are at Oshkosh along with Bas Scheffers, David Vanderhoof and a large number of other aviation podcasters, swimming in the sea of aviation that is AirVenture Oshkosh 2011. Grant & Bas have been here since Saturday while Steve & David arrived on Sunday. We’ve recorded with the Airplane Geeks, producing an episode with Peter Moll (director of Wittman Regional Airport – @wittmanairport on Twitter) recorded in his office.

Today was the first full day we were all here and also the first official day of the show. We’ve started gathering content and have assembled some items together to create our first show episode:

• Steve reconnects with Kent Pietsch who we last spoke to back at Avalon earlier this year (in Episode 6 of our show daily coverage)
• David interviews Brandon with his Super Cub
• Bas records some chats with folks in the light-sport (Recreational) area:
• Sportair USA
• Snap Aero with their “Snap” aircraft
• Mike Hanson from Hanson Air Group regarding the FK Lightplanes Fk12 biplane
• Steve talks with Pablo Alvarez about international pilot admissions at Embry Riddle University

We then wrap up the episode with a group discussion featuring Dave Allen, Bill Williams, Kent Shook, Pilot Damon, Stu Stevenson & David Vanderhoof.

We’re still here at Oshkosh and working hard despite heat, humidity, rain, storms and sore feet. There’s something about being at the greatest aviation event in the world & surrounded by over 10,000 aircraft that makes all those hassles fade away :)

While the only way to really appreciate & experience Oshkosh is to be here, we’re still trying to do our best to give you some feel for what it’s like to be here:

• Catching up with Mike Goulian
• An update on the EQ1 headset in the North American market
• Valerie Miller from Reno Air Races
• C.C.Gerner re: aerobatics & flying 747s & getting young people involved in aviation
• The Sikorsky X2 technology demonstrator
• Gordon Reid from Australian Aviation’s “Traffic” column
• Where’s it at with the Terrafugia

As all good things must come to an end, so too must our time at Oshkosh 2011. It’s been an incredible event for us and an eye-opener to just how large this Mecca of all things aviation truly is. With our final day at the show, we’ve produced a chunky episode packed full of *some* of the content we picked up here. There’s still more to come in subsequent episodes including a focus on the teams on site from New Zealand, the Bonanzas to Oshkosh group and GippsAero.

For now, here’s a list of what you’ll find in episode 72: Oshcast #3 (Hugging your Roo):

• Steve chats with Amy Laboda from Women in Aviation International
• Boyd Dellwo is an Australian listener who is now working with The Spaceship Company on White Knight 2 and Spaceship 2
• David talks to Steve Sorenson who flew a Rutan Defiant from the USA to Australia & back
• David also provides us with “A view from the tent” segment
• Bas Scheffers air tests the Remos Light Sport Aircraft
• Steve chats with Shelly Ventura of the Ninety Nines
• David talks with James Weeby about the Belite ultralight aircraft
• Steve chats with Butch Bajner about the Young Eagles Program
• Steve catches up with a South African tour group who are attending the show

After all this, we wrap up the show with a discussion between Steve, Grant, Bas, David & Mike, closing off our on-show coverage of Oshkosh 2011.

Today Steve & Grant are chatting with Bas Scheffers, reviewing their experiences at EAA‘s AirVenture Oshkosh 2011. We talk about the long haul across the Pacific via V Australia 777 and Qantas A380, arriving in Chicago on their hottest day in 10 years and then hanging out with Rob Mark, his family and his ever watchful guard dog Simba (aka Steve’s new friend & house cat :)

From here Bas & Grant got to join the Bonanzas to Oshkosh group and fly from Rockford up to Oshkosh on the Saturday, landing on RWY 36 where even two days before the official opening, the aircraft parking spaces were filling up and the airport was a hive of activity. On the Sunday Rob, David Vanderhoof, Dan Web, Steve and his friend Mike all arrived having driven up from Chicago. Joining our friends at Firebase MyTransponder / Camp Bacon we set up the tent and settled into life in Camp Scholler, which is definitely something to be experienced at least once (& perhaps only once :)

Until we left on the Sunday at the end of the show, we were flat out experiencing the amazing sights, sounds & people that make up Oshkosh. We discuss the highlights and talk about trying to take it all in before winding up by reviewing our departure, our returns to Australia (including Steve’s flight with Milford from the FlightTime Radio show) and then our post-Oshkosh thoughts.

Following this we have a recording Steve & Grant made with Rob Mark (also from CommAvia as well as JetWhine and the Airplane Geeks) before Steve presents an interview he recorded with Bill & Earlene Hankins about Bill’s time in Strategic Air Command. Towards the end of Bill’s time with SAC he was a commander of a Titan Missile complex. While some of the chat can be like watching the movies Strategic Air Command or Gathering of Eagles, his descriptions of the Titan’s launch environment are very much like those shown at the start of the movie WarGames.

It also turns out that Bill and Earlene hosted Steve when he was an exchange student and then again when he returned to the USA to complete his US pilot’s licenses and instrument ratings. The interview includes some discussion about N4223Q, a C172L Bill used to own and Steve got to fly a lot.

After all this we have a chat with Bas about the OzRunways app then mention Ryan Hothersall’s photos of the 787 and Rob Noonan’s heads up about the Australian aerobatic pilots who are getting ready for the World Aerobatic Championships in Italy later this year.

This episode we're joined by Dan, David & Rob from the Airplane Geeks podcast to discuss airline news and have a great discussion about air traffic control issues here & in the USA. We also have interviews with Dr Bruce Searle, dean of the Australian Centre for Mission Aviation, and Andrew Temby, aerobatic pilot & owner of a YAK-52TW. Both were recorded at the Mission Aviation Fellowship airshow held at Coldstream Airport (YCEM) a few weeks back.

While Max Flight from the Airplane Geeks couldn't be with us, having the other guys from the show record with us was a hoot and certainly generated a LOT of content for a future "Bloopers Only" episode. We're definitely looking forward to recording with them again once our sanity recovers.

The topics discussed in this episode include:

• A general discussion of airline issues down under with the Airplane Geeks
• Emirates and V Australia to codeshare on Tasman routes (Leithen Francis @ FlightGlobal)
• V Australia to Codeshare with…Emirates? (Dan Webb @ Things in the Sky)
• High fuel prices may clip recovery (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Premium passengers slowly return to flights (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Qantas CEO: See No Further Room For Capacity Cuts In This FY (Wall St Journal)
• INTERVIEW: Qantas CEO: Passenger Demand Higher Than Expected (Wall St Journal)
• Qantas jettisons JAL merger rumour (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Virgin in talks to buy $4b planes (Matt O'Sullivan @ The Age)
• Virgin Blue to buy 30 to 50 737s? (Australian Aviation magazine)
• Virgin Blue's plan to seat more passengers (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Brett Godfrey true believer in 50pc Virgin share (Steve Creedy @ The...

We’re joined by our mate Dan Morris from New Zealand to discuss some news from the Land of the Long White Cloud. Topics include:

• Air Traffic Control in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake, especially the problems they encountered due to centralising all area controllers in one location
• How user fees in New Zealand have lead funding being removed for weather briefing service: pilots must now pay an annual fee to access the weather service
• What the Air NZ Aviation Academy and student loan funding by the New Zealand government (which remains interest free if you stay in NZ) mean for flight training in NZ
• Air New Zealand’s latest earnings report
• The rapidly approaching Flair 2011 industry innovation showcase & airshow
• The Will it Fly project that is working to produce a replica of the Pearse Flyer from 1903 with updates on the Will It Fly Facebook page

Next up, Steve travels back to his old high school to discover that it’s a lot better than when he was there (and NOT just because his class photo has been hidden :) Thanks to Chris Barry at Brentwood Secondary College and our friends at Aus Air Services, kids at the school have the opportunity to learn to fly as part of their studies. Steve chats with Chris, Angelina from Aus Air Services and some of the kids about this fantastic project.

Our final interview in this episode is a quick chat with Mark Pracy Sr from JetRide Australia and Pracy Racing as he gets ready to head to the 2011 Reno Air Races to fly his L39 low, fast & turning left. We discuss what it’s like to fly the course and how he’s going about keeping himself ready for it.

We wrap up the episode with a quick chat about Dale Watson’s Tiger Airways song on YouTube (thanks to Chris Fenlon for pointing us at it) and the fact that Tiger Airways are back flying, albeit at a reduced level. We also discuss how Crawford Rix was replaced by Tony Davis who is, in turn, leaving the airline shortly after working hard to bring it back from the brink.

Finally, we have some shoutouts, including:

• Charlie Willwerth from the FlightTime Radio show is currently in the Mayo clinic under going chemotherapy to fight Leukemia – good luck & get well quick, mate!
• Zyola T Mix from the Mile High Flyers has spun off her own project, a podcast about women pilots called The BoXXoffice
• The Uncontrolled Airspace podcast has just celebrated its five year anniversary on August 23rd! Woo hoo! Go guys! Congrats to Jack, Jeb & Dave!
• There’s a new aviation podcast with us...

Today we’re joined by Anthony Crichton-Browne, a commercial airline pilot who also likes to take his Pitts Special out for a spin (and a few other fun manoeuvres :) In addition to chatting with Anthony, we also run a chat with Grant Piper (President of the Australian Aerobatic Club) about Australia’s recent involvement in the World Aerobatic Championship, discuss aerobatics in general and also have a chat about the recent horrific tragedy at Reno Air Races where the highly modified P51 “Galloping Ghost” lost control and plowed into specators.

We start off by hanging out with Anthony and talking about his career in aviation and more, including:

• He has an older brother who’s also a pilot
• He’s from Western Australia, learning to fly at Jandakot in Perth
• He did the usual hour building & quickly found himself in a Cessna 310 then on to First Officer on a Brasillia before stepping up to Second Officer on 747-400, after which he proceeded to his current gig as First Officer on a 767
• Anthony started flying aerobatics with friends and also scored a flight with Matt Hall
• His aerobatic training really kicked in with a Pitts and he now has his own Pitts
• We talk about G-Tolerance, G-LOC and beating the effects of high-G manoeuvres
• We discuss the recent tragic accident at the Reno Air Races, including the NTSB’s preliminary report & talk further the effects of pulling-G’s
• A discussion about stalls that leads into how advanced training really helps dispel some of the many myths, how the stall stick position works and standard GFPT training vs advanced training by groups like Red Baron in Sydney (Hi Joel! :)

You can find Anthony on his Flying Ant Online website as well as following him on Twitter where he’s known as AntCB.

We then move into the interview that Steve & Anthony recorded with Grant Piper, the President of the Australian Aerobatics Club, featuring:

• An overview of aerobatic manoeuvre’s
• How aerobatic competitions are managed & scored
• Australia’s return to the World Aerobatic Championship
• How to improve the standard in Australia with coaching by current champs
• Grant’s career in aviation including his start in the RAAF
• The benefits of including aeros in primary training

We then return to a chat with Anthony about:

• The challenges of flying competition aerobatics
• Standard aerobatic figures (loop, cuban-8, etc)
• How scoring each manoeuvre starts at 10 points then deducts points for any errors
• How it all has to look right from the ground
• The issues in dealing with wind & power
• What is the aerobatic box
• Types of propeller blades and their benefits (blade numbers, sizes, etc)

Finally we start to wrap it up with some listener mail:

• Ian Allen from New Zealand sent us some great ideas for more Kiwi Content
• Errol Cavit points us at a possible Kiwi aviation podcast
• Don’t forget to check out our Facebook page and our forums on Downwind

We then wind up with some shout outs:

• Phil Unicomb from Action Aerobatics and Combat Dragon
• Steve Tupper at the Airspeed Podcast who has a...

A few episodes ago we introduced Kathy Mexted as a new member our group of occasional PCDU contributors and this episode she’s back with some great content. She recently took a few friends in a Bonanza out to Wilpena Pound in South Australia, a trip that would usually take many days to achieve by road but, thanks to general aviation, only required two 90 minute flights to get there. Originally intended to be a trip to Ayers Rock, this adventure was trimmed down to something more manageable and a journey to just south of Lake Eyre was planned.

We spend a bit of time discussing the flight, the scenery, air sickness, some geology and what it was like loading four ladies into a high performance single then blasting off to out back of beyond. Kathy also discusses staying at Mungo Lodge, the Wilpena Pound Resort and Trevor Hancock, their tour guide while they were there.

While staying in outback South Australia, Kathy and her friends caught up with some of the pilots from Air Wilpena and recorded a discussion with them about their backgrounds, the flying they’re doing and what it’s like to be flying in outback Australia.

After this we play a few interviews from our recent visit to Coldstream Airport including:

• A chat with Judy & Andrew Doak, the owners of Coldstream Airport (YCEM)
• Dr Bruce Searle, CEO of ACMA
• Andrew Temby, aerobatic display pilot flying his Yak-52TW

We then move into reading some listener emails and discussing some future events on the calendar, including:

• Keane Bourke is 12 years old & wants to be an airline pilot
• Ed Stubbs recently attended the SAAA fly-in at Langley Park in Perth
• AusAirServices are having a Wings Night dinner on the 22nd October
• Bas sent us information about the Port Augusta Open Day that’s coming up
• Moorabbin Flight Services are having their Wings Night dinner on November 19th
• ErrolWi in NZ points us to a list of Kiwi aviation events at the ProBoards Calendar
• We then cut to a discussion about the upcoming Holbrook Ultra Light Club’s fly-in.

Our backing music for this episode comes from “The Groove Press” by Ron Soo.

Almost one year after the QF32 incident, Qantas is again in the news around the world and for a short time again appeared to be on the brink of a major disaster. At 5pm on Saturday the 29th of October, Alan Joyce (CEO of Qantas) announced that he & the board of directors had decided to ground all of Qantas’ domestic & international flights (about 108 aircraft). This unprecedented step disrupted the travel plans of almost 70,000 passengers in order to avoid a “death by a thousand paper cuts” due to ongoing damage from industrial disputes with three unions.

The three unions represented the pilots, engineers and baggage handlers working for Qantas’ “mainline” operations. The Jetstar, QantasLink and JetConnect operations were not involved in the grounding.

We have assembled a collection of discussions with a number of people involved in the disputes or monitoring it from the outside. It is our intention that we provide you with an overview of what has happened, why it happened and where things might go from here. Unlike the commercial broadcast media, our time is not rigidly controlled so our guests are able to take their time to explain their views & concerns without being restricted to sound bites.

While we also express our own views during this episode, we have tried to present enough information for you to get a better understanding of the situation & form your own decisions.

The discussions in this episode include:

• Captain Richard Woodward, Vice President of the Australian & International Pilots Association (AIPA)
• Warren Truss, leader of the National Party and Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport
• Steve Purvinas, Federal Secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA)
• Independent Senator Nick Xenophon from South Australia
• Dick Smith, an entrepreneur, pilot and past chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Civil Aviation & Safety Authority (CASA)
• Shashank Nigam from Simpliflying, a consultancy specialising in aviation branding & social media
• Ben Sandilands from the Plane Talking blog & Will Horton from the Centre for Aviation, both aviation journalists focusing on the Australasian market

We’d also like to thank Colin Lipiatt, the Manager of Coporate Communications at Virgin Australia, for taking the time to chat with us about their ability to quickly respond with extra capacity to help affected travellers. While we couldn’t include him in the show, he provided plenty of useful information for us.

While putting this episode together we did attempt to contact Qantas’ media department to arrange a representative who could talk to us about the items raised during the discussions listed above. Unfortunately we did not hear back from them and can only assume that, like

Many people in Australia know of Tim Smith, a Melbourne comedian who’s worked on television and in radio for years. What many people don’t know is that Tim is a pilot who is working towards his goal of running charter operations taking people around Australia, visiting places many folks have never heard of let alone visited.

We were fortunate enough to get some time chatting with Tim in one of the briefing rooms at Moorabbin Flying Services where we had a great time talking about a variety of topics, including:

• The number of people in radio who have their pilots license
• The difficulties of juggling radio work with learning to fly & the challenge of time management
• What influenced him to become a pilot
• How flying saved his life
• Amusing flying stories about instructors, examiners and experiences
• Aircraft he’s flown and ratings he has, including a great look at glass cockpits vs steam gauge
• His interest in flying people around Australia on charter work, going to places like Fraser Island, Daly Waters, Alice Springs, Darwin, Birdsville, etc
• How he’s often doing lots of exploring from the air & going to out of the way places & experiencing the outback scenery & friendliness
• Aviation TV shows in Australia
• The impact of government legislation and ideas to get more people flying
• Flying in New Zealand

It’s a great chat and we’re very happy that Tim was able to give us so much of his time on the AFL Grand Final day (when almost the whole of Victoria and most of the rest of Australia stop to watch football).

You can find Tim online at:

• His home page: TimSmith.com.au
• The Discover Downunder TV show
• At the agents EntertainOZ and Profile Talent
• Tim’s Wikipedia page

Steve’s finally picked up his instructor’s rating although it’s in trains, not aircraft, but don’t worry, we’re not switching the show over to Train Crazy Down Under :)

Once again we’re joined by Kathy Mexted and this time we’re discussing what’s involved in being an Ag Pilot and how the industry has developed here in Australia. We then switch to Kathy’s interview with Georgia Maxwell in Gunnedah. Georgia is the first female ag pilot in Australia qualified to fly the Air Tractor 802 with Pay’s Air Service. Georgia discusses what it’s like working in the Aerial Application world (aka being an Ag Pilot).

After the interview we talk about the Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia and how the season is booming following the breaking of the drought. Anthony Crichton-Browne joins us to continue talking about Ag pilots & the nature of their work.

Anthony has recently been at Red Baron Australia’s open day chatting with Joel Haski and the guys from Combat Dragon who are now basing their A37 at Red Baron’s hangar. We get to sit in on a Combat Dragon briefing, then listen to the sound of the A37 starting its engines before discussing the A37’s typical departure from Bankstown (YSBK).

We then play Anthony’s chat with Joel Haski about the latest developments at Red Baron and their new hangar facility. Anthony talks briefly with Jeff from Combat Dragon about their missions and working with Red Baron. You can hear more about Combat Dragon from an interview Anthony had with them in episode 2 of his podcast, Flying Ant.

Next up, Pieter Johnson from XTP Media in the UK takes time out from his “Across the Pond” segment in the Airplane Geeks to bring us his first “From Up Here to Down There” report. In today’s report, he provides an interview with Matt Falcus about his Far East and Australasia airport spotting guide. If you’re spotting in the Asia/Pacific area, you should check out Matt’s book.

Having listened to Pieter’s chat with Matt, Anthony chats with us about a pilot’s view of the ‘plane spotters’ he sees at most of the major Australian airports.

After the break, we return to Grant’s chat with Geoff Morrison from GT Gyroplanes at

All good things must come to an end and so too must the year 2011. It has been an amazing year of growth for PCDU as we’ve covered Avalon 2011, NatFly 2011 and Oshkosh 2011 along with a number of major events (eg: Qantas grounding) and added some new voices to the team. So as the year draws to a close and 2012 is waiting in the wings, Steve, Grant and Anthony “The Infrequent Flyer”  bring you our Farewell 2011 episode:

• Steve & David Vanderhoof discuss the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Sea King helicopters at the time of their decommissioning, developments with the C130 Hercules and a special Christmas greeting from David
• We chat with Mo Ferrando from High Alpha Media about the Hexacopter and Octocopter units he was displaying for us at Tooradin
• David Pilkington talks with us about his career in aeronautical engineering and aerobatics
• David & Grant go up in David’s Decathlon to fly an aerobatic routine above Tooradin (YTDN) and broadcast the manoeuvres and sensations during the flight
• Adam Wooley from JoeyGlide chats with us about the National Junior Gliding Championships recently held in Queensland

As usual we have some great listener mail, including:

• Ryan Hothersall sent us a link to the 2011 STOL competitions – amazing stuff!
• Congrats to the AirStig who is celebrating the arrival of a new Stigette
• Thanks to Keane Bourke for his Merry Christmas wishes
• Thanks also to Garry Collins for his train jargon & congrats for Steve
• Big shout out to Owen Zupp for his Owen Zupp Author page on Facebook and his new OwenZupp.com.au blog

Given it’s our end of year episode, we have a list of people & groups to thank:

• Our sponsors over the course of the year:
• Aviation Advertiser
• GippsAero
• Andrew Temby from Temby Automotive
• Jetride Australia & Pracy Racing
• Joel Haski at Red Baron Adventures
• Thromby Air & Robert E Coli
• All the listeners who donated to help us cover the costs of being at Oshkosh & producing the show all year
• The contributors who have helped us create content for the show:
• Bas Scheffers
• Anthony Crichton Browne
• Kathy Mexted
• ATC Ben (aka Ben Ippolito)
• David Vanderhoof
• Dan Morris
• Pieter Johnson
• Anthony Simmons, the Infrequent Flyer
• Adam Visscher
• Steven Pam
• Allan Van't Padje
• Mike Wilson who helped us at Oshkosh

We’d also like to say thanks to:

• AusAir Services
• Ian Kershaw for his help with the survey
• James Williams & Dave Gray from LPN
• Milford & Charlie from Flight Time Radio
• Max Flight &

Once again we get to interview Matt Hall, Australia's Top Gun RAAF pilot who's making a big hit in the RedBull AirRace as the first rookie to ever score a podium. We talk with Matt about his performance at Porto, his preparations for Barcelona, how visualisation plays a major role in his flying and flying his P51 Mustang.

As with our previous interview session with Matt, time blurs and we have a great time chatting and listening to his fascinating comments. We're looking forward to seeing how he goes in the final race at Barcelona and hopefully will get a chance to chat with him again afterwards.

You can find Matt on his home page, Wikipedia, FaceBook, Flickr and Twitter. Be sure to join up to follow his progress in the races and show your support.

There’s been a few delays in getting our first episode for 2012 out but what can you expect with the Summer heat to enjoy and games of Cricket to watch (or avoid :). It is with Cricket in mind that our very own Infrequent Flyer, Anthony Simmons, took some time out of his European adventures to visit the Imperial War Museum at Duxford (home of the Duxford Aviation Society) at the time of their last flying display for 2011, a day that saw some 16,000 people come to watch the show!

The focus of this flying display was the Korean War and Anthony was able to find out that the “Forgotten War” was about so much more than episodes of M*A*S*H:

• Anthony chats with Lt Don Reed (ret), a 90 year old veteran of the conflict who flew with the Fleet Air Arm as an observer on Fireflies and as a Seafire pilot
• He then meets Esther Blaine, the PR Manager, for a discussion on:
• The history of the Duxford site
• The educational programmes the IWM provides
• The new “Airspace” display
• The IWM’s plans for the future
• Anthony is also able to further one-up Steve & Grant by noting that he’s been through a Vickers Viscount, DeHavilland Comet and Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde as well as getting up close with a Lancaster and Tigermoth. What, us, jealous??? :)
• Anthony wraps it up by interviewing Mark Linney from the Golden Apple Trust about their flying F86A, the only one of its kind still flying. They chat about:
• The history of this particular aircraft
• Mark’s career as a pilot in the RAF flying the Tornado GR1, instructing on the Hawk and then winding up on the Harrier. After the RAF he’s now flying 747s, A340-600s and, of course, the F86
• They then chat about the F86’s development, handling and history

The episode wraps up with Steve & Anthony having a quick review of the content & Anthony’s experience at Duxford.

Our good friend Owen Zupp takes time out from his very busy schedule to hang out & chat with us:

• Owen’s got a new blog on www.owenzupp.com where he talks about aviation (mostly). Readership is ramping up quickly and we chat about some of his content and the questions readers are sending to him.
• Steve met up with Owen at the GippsAero factory recently when Owen was flight testing the GA8 Airvan for an article in Australian Aviation. We chat about GippsAero, the GA8 Airvan, the GA10’s pending launch and what Owen was looking for during the test flight.
• One of Owen’s recent articles was “The Fatal Stall” which was inspired by a recently released video on YouTube. We talk about stall/spin training, Owen’s approach to teaching stalls and factors that can lead to the stall.
• We even touch on cricket a couple of times. I mean, really, cricket? How did that get in an aviation podcast?? :)
• Finally we chat for a bit about Owen’s future projects

After chatting with Owen, we run a few World War 2 related segments that Steve recorded while on a road trip to Mildura, including:

• Ken Wright OAM at the RAAF 2OTU Museum at Mildura. You can find reference to them online at the Mildura RSL’s web page and Mildura Airport’s web page.
• Noel Breetag at the RAAF Catalina Museum at Lake Boga. Definitely worth dropping in to check it out.

Pieter Johnson has supplied us with another great From Up Here to Down There episode. This time he’s talking with Paul Fowler about the Enstone Flying Club’s “Spitfire Project” which aims to build a squadron of 12 of the Supermarine 90% scale Mk26B kits. Via their “Zero to Hero” classes, they will recruit pilots who will then fly the aircraft at airshows around Europe putting on public flying displays.

We then return to chatting with Owen and discuss:

• Finding small aviation museums & historic sites around Australia.
• How World War 1 aircraft are just as cool as World War 2 aircraft.
• The Seaplane Pilots’ Association of Australia are having their “Splash In” on the 21st & 22nd of April at Lake Boga
• The replica Spitfire & Mustang kits that are available to purchase.

We end up working through some Listener Mail & Shout Outs, including:

• Howard McClernon says Hi, discusses the Ansett collapse and also remote controlled aircraft
• Gary Clarkson asks about flying RA-Aus aircraft in Class C & D airspace
• Justin Sarda points us at some amazing graffiti painted aircraft
• Congratulations to Chris Barry for getting a $100k grant from the government to expand the...

Aviation has a rich & storied history with over 100 years separating our current complex, high speed & long range aircraft from those produced of wood, metal & fabric during our fledgling beginnings as we first pushed into the sphere of powered, heavier than air flight.

While grainy photos & stuttering films can try to convey a vista of the past, there is nothing like being able to walk around, touch & examine the aircraft as they were. You can truly appreciate how far we have come (and how brave our pioneers were) when you can see an aircraft from 100 years ago in the foreground while behind it sits a modern combat fighter.

In some cases preservation of these original machines has been possible, but in many instances there is only one example of the type which is kept on static display in a museum. The ability to get up close is often limited and there are very few that can actually be flown, allowing you to see how it handled & hear it as it flies past.

Enter the replica builders. Dedicated men & women who have a dream of recreating the past so we can enjoy it today. Spending months & years researching a specific aircraft type (or even a single example), hunting through archives to find plans, drawings, specifications & photos. Sometimes going to great lengths to use materials, colours & techniques that were in use when the original was flying. Agonising over changes required to allow a replica to actually fly with some level of safety. Painstakingly creating components, building sections and assembling them into the completed aircraft.

Often unappreciated by many, even within the aviation industry, it is thanks to their hard work that aviation’s pioneering beginnings can be preserved & displayed. We have been fortunate enough to meet a few replica builders and this show brings together a few of them to talk about their aircraft. 

Bristol Military Boxkite:

iWe start by talking with Geoff Matthews who has been the primary builder of the Bristol Military Boxkite at the RAAF Museum in Point Cook. The Boxkite was the first aircraft to fly at Point Cook on March 1st, 1913 and “Project 2014” is producing a flying replica in time for the centenary celebrations in 2014.

With Ron Gretton AM working as project manager & arranging the many sponsors required to help fund the project, Geoff has built the aircraft and they are now arranging the paperwork necessary to allow the flight testing programme to commence.

You can learn more about this project at the Project 2014 website.

BE2a:

Following our chat with Geoff, we moved around the hangar a bit to meet Andrew Willox who is scratch building a BE2a replica from the original plans. The BE2a joined the Boxkite and a Deperdussin as the first aircraft available for military aviation at Point Cook in 1913. The museum already has a Deperdussin replica and Andrew’s efforts on the BE2a will ensure that all three types will be represented at the centenary in 2014.

The level of care & detail that Andrew is putting into this non-flying replica is fantastic, potentially producing an aircraft that exceeds the quality of those produced back in the early 1900s.

Andrew talks to us about the history of the BE2 in general, how he has gone about building the replica and the decisions he’s had to make to ensure it remains accurate to the original.

Farnborough:

We also had a chat with Richard Gardner, Chairman of the Trustees at the

This episode we’re joined by Bas Scheffers, a Recreational Aviation Australia pilot (our version of the US Sport Pilot rules) who flies out of Parafield airport (YPPF) in Adelaide, South Australia. We have a great chat about flying RA-Aus aircraft, GAAP issues, the benefits of learning to fly under RA-Aus instead of the usual GA, the information available from the recreational flying community and even discuss the new AAAF Forum (Forum for free speech on industry: AAAF – Steve Creedy @ The Australian).

After our great chat with Bas, we move on to our usual opinionated regional news review which includes the following items:

• David Vanderhoof provides a “This week in Australian aviation history” segment for us
• In Dust we Trust
• Flight delays remain as dust settles in Sydney (ABC News)
• Sydney flights get back to normal after dust storm (ABC News)
• Flight chaos as dust storm hits Sydney, Brisbane (Kate Schneider @ news.com.au)
• Havoc for airlines, passengers (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Tiger Airlines strands people at Mackay:
• Cancelled flight strands hundreds (Fallon Hudson @ The Daily Mercury)
• Tiger Airways causes chaos at Mackay (e-Travel Blackboard)
• Geoff Dixon’s golden parachute from QANTAS
• Dixon’s $11m parachute from Qantas nosedive (Michael Janda @ ABC News)
• Former Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon paid $11m in last year (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Qantas high-flyers must come down to earth: payouts (Stuart Wilson @ The Australian)
• High-speed thrills as Thunderbirds roll in: USAF (Mike Glynn @ The Australian)
• Boeing To Test Military Airplane Over Hood Canal (Q13 Fox News)
• Final boarding call: empty bladders only (Mark Willacy @ ABC News)

Please note that our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com and our theme music track is “YouNameIt5” by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5).

We’re joined by Kathy Mexted and her brother Geoff Whitty who is a real adventurer, having worked in Papua New Guinea managing aviation operations. As we learn in this episode, he has a LOT of very interesting tales to tell.

Starting with Ansett in their reservation system, Geoff moved to Qantas and then in 1989 got a job working with Air New Guinea in Papua New Guinea (PNG). He’s now working with PNG’s 2nd largest RPT carrier managing airports & operations.

While there are some well built roads in parts of PNG (mostly thanks to the mining companies), air travel is one of the only viable methods of transporting people & equipment regularly about the rugged landscape. From Chevron’s “C130 Air Bridge” through to current “Fly In, Fly Out” (FIFO) mining operations, flying in PNG offers some amazing experiences for pilots with some saying 1 year in PNG is worth 10 years mustering cattle in the outback.

In addition to supply chain management & keeping mining operations happy, Geoff has also managed the training of PNG nationals who operate the airline, learn to fly and also do aircraft maintenance in-country (except for heavy maintenance). Thanks to the demands of the mining companies and CASA, they are, perhaps, the most audited aviation operation in the world.A major aspect of having a foreign company in PNG is that they are required to train PNG nationals to fly aircraft, run the airline, and perform maintenance in-country (except for heavy maint). They are flying ATRs & Dash8s and Geoff believes the ATR is more suited to their needs than the Dash8, although they’re running both at the moment. They’ve also had Caribous & Dash-7s and are running a diverse range of helicopters as well as lighter aircraft from Twin Otters down.

As if the rugged environment and rapidly changing weather systems weren’t enough to cause problems flying or running an airline, people in Papua New Guinea also have to contend with tribal warfare, the volcano at Rabaul and local ground staff throwing as much cargo on an aircraft as they can. Weight & balance? What’s that? :)

It’s a fascinating chat with Geoff and we really enjoyed learning more about life in our northern neighbour. We’d like to thank Geoff for his time chatting with us in the studio and with Kathy for introducing us to him.

After our chat with Geoff & Kathy, Steve talks with Tammy Augostin, the Promotion & Marketing Manager of the Parafield Airshow. They discuss the acts that have been lined up for the show and the issues involved in putting it all together.

Many of our listeners in Sydney have been commenting to us about seeing a number of Army Blackhawk helicopters flying around Sydney Harbour. It turns out they were part of a training exercise that was also open to media to ride along & experience a typical training flight. Sadly, Steve & Grant weren’t able to get up to Sydney for the flight (despite their best efforts) but Anthony Crichton-Browne was. In addition to getting lots of great photos, Anthony also recorded a quick chat with one of the pilots.

Finally, we wrap up the episode with another of Anthony Simmons’ “View from the Lounge” segments. This time, Anthony is looking at aviation in the media, ranging from movies through to jingles.

You can find Kathy’s work in many places, including:

• Outback Magazine where Kathy’s latest article about Georgia Maxwell is based on her interview we ran back in Episode 79: Flying Low

After a long break from the show, Ben Ippolito (aka ATC Ben – ATCBen.PCDU@gmail.com) returns in this packed episode to tell us about getting current again, wrap up the Tyabb airshow and answer some of your ATC questions. We also bring on a new sponsor (OzRunways) who helped us get to the recent Parafield airshow (more on that in a later episode).

We start by chatting with Ben about the steps he took to regain currency after spending a few years focussing on becoming an Air Traffic Controller. After this, we move into our Tyabb Airshow content:

• 08:32 – Peter Bernardi & John Brett from the Peninsula Aero Club discuss the history of the show, the challenges in making it happen (the paperwork!), their involvement in the show and their aviation histories
• 22:46 – Grant chats with Paul Bennett from MaxxG Aerobatics about his aviation background, winning aerobatic competitions, flying his Pitts Special and flying warbirds
• 29:37 – Jim & Jenny Wickham talk to Grant about their 3/4 scale P51s & the latest news in Wicko’s world
• 34:56 – Scott Taberner talks about flying his 1941 Ryan ST3-KR & his flying history
• 39:44 – Mark Pracy from JetRide Australia gives us an update on the 2012 race, his perspective on the Reno crash and their expanding fleet of L39s & their new Glasair
• 47:51 – Doug Thomas talks about the Pelican Amphibian, a Russian designed seaplane and the only one in Australia
• 53:22 – Squadron Leader Adrian Burge talks about the CT4
• 57:29 – Peter Clements & Steve Death tell us about the history of the Southern Knights
• 61:04 – Guy Bourke talks to us about flying the T6 Harvard (or Texan if you’re from the USA :), the P51, the Spitfire, the P40 and the Lockheed Hudson as well as which aircraft he dreams of flying
• 67:48 – Matt Hall on making it down to Tyabb despite the weather, his recent back surgery, how his routine has modified since Avalon, his first aircraft vs car race, his new projects for 2012 & his rotary license
• 79:46 – Tim Connell returns to reprise his Timbo’s Tarmac sessions from Avalon 2011
• 81:13 – Peter Bernardi – post show

Following all this great content, Steve, Grant & Ben review their experiences & highlights of the Tyabb show then at 88:42 Ben answers a few ATC questions that have come in:

• Handling emergencies
• Who decides whether an airport is closed
• Who decides runway configurations during operations

Big thanks to Allan VP, ATC Ben, Steven Pam & Chris for their help on the day at Tyabb.

Thanks to the support of OzRunways, Steve was able to go to Adelaide to attend the Parafield Airshow where he spent the day with Bas recording interviews. After learning his lesson at Tyabb, Steve kept the sunscreen flowing and got through the day with a good stack of interviews & no sunburn :)

Steve’s collection of Parafield interviews includes:

• 0:04:17 – John McArdle of the Adelaide & Parafield Airports Corporation talks about Parafield’s position in the community and its development masterplan
• 0:10:42 – Chris Sperou walks us through his inverted ribbon cut in his Pitts S-1-11B Super Stinker
• 0:13:54 – Flying Officer Richard Morris is Roulette #7, the commentator & ferry pilot for the RAAF Roulettes formation aerobatic demonstration team
• 0:19:29 – Steve also chats with Sgt Dallas Young & CPL Dean Donohugh, ground crew with the RAAF Roulettes
• 0:22:59 – Adam Butcher from True Aviators talks about the Yak52 adventure rides they’re now providing from Parafield Airport
• 0:27:56 – David Hales from 5DME talks about their video podcast and their new projects
• 0:36:14 – Tammy Augostin tells us about the Australian Women Pilots Association and events coming up for the South Australian & Northern Territory Branch
• 0:42:06 – Brenton Ragless, Channel 9 Adelaide‘s weatherman, was the airshow MC and he talks about his interest in aviation and what was involved in being the voice of the airshow
• 0:49:15 – Steve and Bas wrap up the day’s adventure

In addition to our Parafield Airshow coverage, we also bring you:

• 0:53:40 – The latest “From Up Here to Down There” segment from Pieter Johnson in the UK. He talks with Peter Cesco, a highly experienced glider pilot & director of Fly Down Under. They work with European glider pilots (especially Germans) to give them a flying holiday in South Australia.
• You can find more of Pieter’s content on his XTP Media website and his XTP Media Facebook page.
• 1:06:47 – We suggest that Pieter might want to follow up on the new EASA pilot certification regulations that are currently being introduced and how they may affect European pilots training here
• 1:11:22 – Grant visits the B24 Liberator restoration project in Werribee and gets an update from Ron Taaffe on what’s been happening since our last visit. You can see the photos he took in the B24 Visit set on our

Despite his better judgement, Bas Scheffers comes back to hang out with us once again as we discuss some of the news items from the past week or so. Topics of discussion in this episode include:

• Jetstar flight attendant gets in trouble with Facebook:
• Jetstar attendant contacted 15yo passenger on Facebook (ABC News)
• Jetstar worker in strife over Facebook incident (ABC News)
• Mile-high matchmaking: social networking service (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Jetstar eyes growth in Asia, India (David McIntyre @ Brisbane Times)
• Mid-air dramas trigger action: Qantas (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Qantas criticised over foreign butter (ABC News)
• Air New Zealand says demand recovering, no capacity cuts (Reuters)
• Investigations into fatal plane crashes begin (ABC News)
• Regional Express (REX) flying into Northern Queensland again:
• New airline arrives in town (Bianca Clare @ the Daily Mercury)
• New routes launched during the last week (Saturday 26 September – Friday 2 October) (from Airline Network News & Analysis – scroll down to the end of the article)
• Landing scare at Wagga airport (ABC News)
• Smelly, fat, seat-kickers worst plane passengers (ABC News)
• Boeing Receives Australian Industry Award For F-111 Support (Aero-News.net)
• Defence told to clean up creek contamination (ABC News)
• New delay for RAAF KC-30s (Australian Aviation)
• More news of air traffic system improvements
• Qantas calls for air traffic overhaul (ABC News)
• Qantas has called for ‘smarter skies’ (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)

Surprisingly less than one week after our first episode was released, we're releasing our second episode. During this one, we discuss the following items:

• Singapore Airlines to fly A380 to Melbourne
• Superjumbo threat to Qantas stepped up (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• British Airways cutting flights to Australia
• British Airways to cut flights to Australia (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Garuda ends their only flight to Darwin
• Plea for Garuda to retain Darwin flights (Daniel Bourchier @ the Northern Territory News)
• Tiger Airlines protests V Australia's agreement with Delta
• Tiger Airlines out to disrupt Delta Airways deal (Geoff Easdown @ the Courier Mail)
• Virgin's joint venture deal with Delta has upset Tiger (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Steve says Tiger Airways' reality show is terrible but he's going to keep watching it (Airways)
• Virgin Blue halts shares and appears to be seeking more money
• Virgin defers on call for funds (Matt O'Sullivan @ WA Today)
• Virgin goes to Gulf for cash (Adele Ferguson @ The Australian)
• Push for second Sydney area airport to be at the Richmond RAAF base
• Airlines push for second airport at RAAF base (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Wikipedia information on RAAF Richmond airbase
• RAAF Sabre jet flies again
• Temora Aviation Museum
• Australian RAAF Sabre Flies Again (AVweb)
• We comment on Robyn Riley of the Sunday Herald Sun panning Air New Zealand's Nothing To Hide campaign
• QANTAS ground staff in Perth are upset with management leaving them to deal with angry passengers
• Perth ground staff lash Qantas inaction (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Jockeys smuggle beer onto REX flight and drink them while returning from a responsible drinking course
• Drunken flight lands jockeys in hot water (ABC News)

The Great PCDU Road Trip of 2012 covered over 1,700km in the course of a single weekend. From late on Friday night to early on Monday morning, Steve, Grant & Allan drove from Melbourne up to Wollongong (just south of Sydney) to attend the Wings Over Illawarra 2012 air show. Firmly ensconced in the Southern Biplanes hangar with a great view of the show unfolding beyond “Lilly Warra” (their big red Boeing Stearman), the mobile studio was set up (thanks Allan! :) allowing Steve, Grant & Anthony Crichton-Browne to record stacks of great content.

Most of that content has wound up in this episode, although we have saved a couple of bits for later. For now, kick back & enjoy:

• 0:03:19 – Flying Officer Daniel Kruger & Warrant Officer Brett Lewis from RAAF 37SQN talk about operating the C130J Hercules (& a bit about the C130H too)
• 0:16:35 – Joel Haski (Red Baron) & Jeff Criddle (Combat Dragon) talk about flying the A37 Dragonfly to & from the show
• 0:19:13 – Lieutenant Commander Todd Glynn & Lieutenant Rob McBeeth from the RAN walk us through their careers getting to the SH60B along with a few typical missions and the Kanimbla Blackhawk crash
• 0:38:17 – Andrew Musgrove from Southern Biplanes talks about the company and the adventure flights they’re offering
• 0:45:01 – Barry Sandry, Marketing Manager for NSW Air, talks about the Commercial Pilot training courses & charter/scenic flights they offer
• 0:52:28 – Army Red Berets Parachute Jump Instructor Warrant Officer Adam Paris tells us what it’s like to become a paratrooper & get on the Red Berets demo team
• 1:11:13 – Chris Clark, chief pilot for Southern Biplanes, tells us how he got into flying, why they got a Boeing Stearman (and where they found it) and what’s involved in their barnstorming adventures in rural NSW
• 1:18:37 – Harry Mitchell from Australian Aerial Patrol talks about their history and current fleet
• 1:28:34 – James Gray, Officer Commanding of the Australian Air League‘s Albion Park Unit (and brother of Dave Gray from the Lifestyle PodNetwork :) runs us through the benefits & goals of the AAL

Finally, at 1:40:07, we start to wrap up the episode with a series of big “Thank You’s” to:

• Southern Biplanes for the use of their facility during the day
• Owen Zupp for letting us take a break at his place on the way to Wollongong (ace hot cross buns, mate! :)
• The Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) for putting on such a fantastic event and also giving us full access to the show (thanks to Russell Field for the safety walk around & the parking permit :)
• Josh Masterton for his help on the weekend
• Allan Van’t Padge for his fantastic support as PCDU Roadie & for riding

Boeing have been taking their 787 Dreamliners on the DreamTour, a series of 7 multi-stop flights, or segments, that take one of the 787 test aircraft around the world. Each segment visits multiple countries, allowing airlines & invited guests to get up close to the advanced new airliner. Perhaps saving the best for last, the DreamTour came to the Dreamtime during it’s 7th segment. As part of this segment, the aircraft visited Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Auckland (yes, that’s New Zealand, we know) and then on to Cairns before heading north of the equator once again.

Team PCDU were invited to tour the 787 while it was in Melbourne as guests of Qantas & Jetstar. Despite the cold, grey weather & occasional rain, our spirits were high & we were excited to once again encounter the Dreamliner. We’d met ZA001 at Oshkosh 2011 but been too busy to go through the interior so with ZA003 parked on the BAe Systems ramp, this was our chance to finally check out the cockpit.

After chatting with Reid Templin, one of Boeing’s flight test engineers, we recorded an interview with Captain Todd Abraham, one of the Boeing 787 technical pilots flying the aircraft on segment #7. Todd answered our questions about the training program, the electric brakes, the engines, the fly-by-wire system, adherence to the Boeing philosophy and the tactile feedback provided by the control yoke & throttles. Like the other Boeing airliners, the computer systems on the 787 supplement & assist the pilot but do not override, despite being fully computerised.

Our interview with Todd starts at 02:11.

Following this interview we climbed on board and checked out the cockpit (cool!!!!!) before heading back through the demonstration interior which featured example seating arrangements, galleys, toilets, large dimmable windows, high ceilings (with the new storage bins) & crew rest areas. All very impressive but the chance to hang out & chat with some more Boeing flight test engineers at the rear of the aircraft & talk about systems, structures & designs was fascinating.

Eventually we left & went back down to the tarmac to get some more photos of engines, landing gear, vents, inlets & more. From there we returned to the bus & went back to our vehicles, coming back to the reality of a cold, grey Melbourne day.

Team PCDU would like to thank Qantas & Jetstar for inviting us to join the 787 DreamTour here in Melbourne. We’d also like to thank Boeing for bringing the 787 down under and for allowing us to interview Captain Todd Abraham as well as spend so much time chatting with their flight test engineers.

Naturally, we’ve loaded our photos from the day as a 787 set on our Flickr stream for you to check out. We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode and that you can appreciate the need to balance a short-length ‘quick-cast’ episode against getting our interview published while the DreamTour is still underway.

Way back in April, Steve & ATC Ben flew “Ben Air” from Lilydale (YLIL) to Temora (YTEM) for the RA-Aus NatFly 2012 event, leaving Grant behind in Melbourne attempting to recover from bronchitis. While not as vibrant as 2011, there was still plenty of activity to keep Steve & Ben busy recording the following items:

• 0:02:46 – Introduction to NatFly 2012
• 0:03:25 – RA-Aus directors Steve Runcleman & Steve Tizzard discuss the event
• 0:10:55 – Rohan Wittington talks about the amazing Petrel Amphibian
• 0:18:28 – Chris Cabot from Wagga Air Centre discusses the Tecnam P2006T
• 0:28:07 – Peter Wezenbeek walks us through the Wingmate Data Recorder
• 0:33:02 – Andrew Tricket & his team will be releasing Sport Pilot TV in the very near future
• 0:39:22 – Graeme from Stawell Aviation steps us through the Air Safaris they run
• 0:45:51 – Chris Brandon at AirCreation Australia has some very cool trikes available (you know Grant wants to fly them, right? :)
• 0:54:07 – Greg Robertson from Best Off Aircraft Australia had the Nynja on site for people to examine
• 0:59:15 – Bas & Rowan from OzRunways talk about their presence at NatFly, the workshops they were running and their future plans for the software
• 1:09:57 – Steve & Ben wrap up their NatFly 2012 experiences

At 1:17:12 Steve, Ben & Grant have a chat about NatFly then we launch into an ATC Q&A where Ben answers questions about runway incursions plus aircraft callsigns and how ICAO handles them.

At 1:29:12 we then move into Listener Mail:

• Lavan Ruben is a 14 year old aviation enthusiast who got to visit the 787 ZA003 at Melbourne (YMML), posting some videos on his YouTube channel: My Travels and Spotting
• Jack Miller wrote in to say Hi and talk about his Aussie aviation blog General Aviation Australia
• Andrew Brown writes in from the UK to say he really enjoyed the Geoff Whitty interview
• Howard McClernon writes in to say he’s been sifting through the archives and enjoyed Lang Kidby’s talk about his flight re-enactments wwaaayyyy back in Episode 14

We then wrap up the episode (1:34:46) with a chat about helping to keep councillors from contemplating the closure of Kyneton airfield near Melbourne then a great shout out (at 1:36:50) to GippsAero for the first flight of their GA10 turboprop aircraft.

Steve’s been considering buying an aircraft so he got together with Anthony Crichton-Browne and Ben Morgan to discuss the costs of owning an aircraft. After that we’re joined by Kathy Mexted to interview Justin Sheedy about his book “Nor the years condemn” before heading off into a discussion of various items (including Grant getting on his soapbox about ‘aircraft snobs’). It’s worth sticking around to the very end for a huge, 5 minute mega-blooper reel at the end :)

The whole show comes together as:

• 0:03:36 – Aircraft ownership discussion between Steve, Anthony Crichton-Browne and Ben Morgan, recorded at Wollongong during the “Wings Over the Illawarra” airshow
• 0:30:55 – Steve & Kathy Mexted talk with Justin Sheedy about his new book “Nor the years condemn” (here’s a link to Kathy’s article about Justin’s book)
• 0:56:51 – Steve, Grant & Kathy further discuss aircraft ownership & the joys of flying Piper Cubs. They also give a shout out to Steve Tupper for his recent glider training efforts and Grant gets on his soap box for a rant about aviation snobs
• 1:03:46 – Kathy gives us an update on the council meeting about fate of the Kyneton Aerodrome (an overwhelming flood of support for the aerodrome was received)
• 1:12:11 – Kathy is looking for more stories for her book so contact her via her website
• 1:14:47 – Shout Outs:
• Congratulations to Evan Schoo for getting his navigation endorsement (read more about it at Evan’s blog)
• The 12th Annual Aviation Careers Expo is running in Brisbane on August 25th and PCDU is an official media partner for the event
• We then sign off & mention that ATC_Ben will be representing PCDU at Oshkosh 2012 while Pieter Johnson will be at Farnborough 2012 representing his own Aviation Xtended podcast as well as the Airplane Geeks & PCDU

Don’t forget to stick around to the end for the mega-blooper reel :)

After a number of years and the inevitable stumbling blocks that life throws at us, Grant has finally become a balloon pilot having completed his check flight up at Mildura just the other day. From how the final stages of solos & check flight unfolded to a comparison of “first solo” moments, Steve & Grant talk briefly about the realisation that a new license & $5 can now buy you a beer…

While Grant would no doubt like the entire episode to be about the new horizons he’s just opened up, there’s a lot more to this episode so we really should get into telling you about it:

• 0:09:07 – Anthony Crichton-Browne & Bas Scheffers join Steve to discuss iPad aviation apps & their increased useage in cockpits (both small ones & large ones)
• 0:36:10 – Having discussed apps in general, Bas then spends some time answering a number of OzRunways questions that Anthony had for him
• 0:43:50 – Pieter Johnson presents From Up Here to Down There #4 with his interviews with Mark McNamara from GippsAero and Mark Shearer from Ferra Engineering on the Team Australia stand at Farnborough 2012
• Remember, if you’ve not checked out Pieter’s own podcast (Aviation Xtended) then you really should do so!
• 0:55:04 – Steve & Bas chat with Peter Gibson from CASA about the new, easier to obtain (& cheaper) Class 2 fixed wing pilot medical that allows you to use a General Practitioner & be assessed like a standard drivers’ license (with a few extra checks). Of course, there are some restrictions such as: single engine piston, < 1,500kg MTOW, only 1 passenger, below 10,000' & no aerobatics
• 1:10:13 – Andrew Rankin, Steve McCann & Jennifer Palmer join us from Aviation Australia to discuss their aviation training courses (Flight Attendants and Engineers) and their Aviation Careers Expo
• 1:30:20 – Grant interviews Alan Joyce (no, really!!!!) about the Qantas experience, areas the company should focus on and flying hot air balloons
• 1:34:15 – Steve & Grant review the show’s content, including the Class 2 Medical changes coming out just ONE DAY after Grant completed his expensive “old school” Class 2 assessment. DOH!
• 1:39:00 – We’re going to AusFly in mid-September with the mobile studio and some new gear (watch this space :)
• 1:40:32 – We got an email from Greg Leversher who shares his views on & experiences with aircraft ownership
• 1:44:24 – Steven Pam sent in his thoughts on Episode 90 in a voice mail via our new Speakpipe system. You can access our Speakpipe system from our home page & our Facebook page.

Kathy Mexted joins Steve & Grant to interview Helene Young, a Dash-8 pilot who’s written three great books based around pilots flying for Australia’s border patrol in the far north of Queensland. In addition to being a captain with the regionals, Helene has managed to juggle her home & social life with work and writing, producing three great books in a relatively short period of time.Her first book (Wings of Fear) was released in 2011 and throws two female pilots & their crew against a bunch of terrorists attempting to infiltrate the country through the vast, empty stretches of coastline and baked earth in Australia’s north. The second book (Shattered Sky) was released earlier this year and takes one of the pilots into a whole new adventure deep in the Australian outback while Helene’s third book (Burning Lies) has just been released, bringing closure to the trilogy.

We chat with Helene about her career in aviation, what it’s like flying the Dash 8, where she gets her inspiration & ideas for her stories and much more. You can find additional information about Helene & her books via her website and follow her on Twitter via @HeleneYoung.

The whole episode unfolds as:

• 0:02:44 – Our chat with Helene.
• 0:42:58 – Steve’s interview with Peter Sobey, the Director and Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) at Sharp Airlines.
• 0:54:11 – Grant’s chat with Chris Dewhirst, the first person to fly a hot air balloon over Mt Everest and also the person who started commercial hot air balloon flights over the city of Melbourne way back in 1986.
• 1:01:54 – Anthony Simmons returns with another “View from the Lounge” segment that takes us Up, Up & Away in a continuation of the ballooning theme.
• 1:06:51 – Our shout-outs this episode include:
• Kathy says “Hi” to Mike Williamson (her newest online follower).
• Gary Clarkson let us know about the Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre‘s project to restore an Avro Anson plus their fly-in event coming up on October 20th.
• The great New Zealand De Havilland Mosquito restoration project is coming along very nicely with first flight planned for September 29th at Ardmore in Auckland.
• The “Will It Fly” project is almost ready to fly their Pearse replica (check them out on Facebook).
• If you’re not already aware of it, you should be listening to the Wings Over New Zealand podcast, a great effort by Dave Homewood with awesome content that’s well worth listening to.

Of all the times for the technical gremlins to strike, it had to be for our “Lucky” 13th episode. We recorded a great discussion with Owen Zupp and, despite a fault in the call recorder that made us repeat a part, we thought we had it in the bag. We even feature our first ever give away in this episode and it’s a beauty (see the notes below for details).

However, it seems that it’s not just the Apollo missions that have problems at 13 as, sadly, the sound quality in this episode is not at all up to our usual levels of quality. Poor Steve has been tearing what’s left of his hair out but has managed to work his magic once again and produce an episode that preserves most important part of all, our guest’s great content.

We start off discussing Owen’s early work with the Ambulance Service of New South Wales and how that provided a foundation for dealing with flying’s more “interesting” moments. Moving into flying, Owen talks about learning to fly with his father, an ex-RAAF instructor, then moving on to instructing others with the Royal Aero Club of NSW (sadly no longer in existence) and eventually shifting to his times flying with Ansett Airlines.

During this discussion we review the pros & cons of the Multi-crew Pilot License (MPL) and various aircraft, including the Skycraft Scout. Owen also discusses Bert Hinkler, the town of Bundaberg, Hinkler House and the Hinkler Hall of Aviation.

With the collapse of Ansett, Owen moved into flight instruction and also started writing articles. A regular contributor to Australian Aviation (our favourite flying magazine, thank you :) and other publications, Owen has also written a book called “Down to Earth,” the story of Squadron Leader McGlashan, a pilot during WWII.

There And Back, a charity flight for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Next year (2010) will mark the 100th anniversary of powered flight in Australia so Owen is flying a light aircraft around Australia, visiting various historic landmarks and promoting aviation in Australia as well as raising funds for the RFDS. His sponsors include:

• Jabiru aircraft
• Spidertracks tracking & monitoring systems
• Champagne PC Services flight planning software
• Australian Aviation magazine
• Global Aviator magazine

Our First Ever Give Away

Owen

After three years of lamenting the hassles involved in getting to the West Coast of Australia to report on aviation happenings wwwaaayyy over there on the other side of the big empty, we’ve finally done something about it: we’ve set up a PCDU-WestCoast office and found someone just as aviation-crazy as we are to run it :)

In this episode we introduce Ben Jones who is based in West Australia and has a long and fascinating history of aviation. Clearly it’s in his blood as most of his family are into aviation while Ben himself is a pilot, home builder, member of the RAAF reserve and much much more. He’s even started a blog called WA Aviator to record his aviation activities ‘over there.’

There’s more to the episode than introducing Ben, however, and here’s what you’ll find in it:

• 0:02:29 – We bring Ben in & start chatting about his background in aviation, the aviation scene in West Australia and his current projects.
• 0:26:58 – We chat with Sussan Ley, Federal Member for Farrer, Commercial Pilot and one of the two people responsible for starting the “Friends of Aviation” group in Federal Parliament. With only a half hour window to chat with Sussan, we had to jump through a number of subjects in only a short time. Hopefully we can return to chat again with Sussan in the near future as it sounds like there are plenty of additional stories for us to listen to as well as updates on progress with Friends of Aviation group :)
• 0:53:02 – Mark Pracy from JetRide Australia and Pracy Racing joins us to talk about their preparation for the Reno Air Races this year. We discuss the Galloping Ghost crash, the changes made to address the issues it raised and Mark’s training & preparation techniques.
• 1:11:04 – David Brown from the Sport Aviation Association of Australia chats with Steve about the AusFly event being held at Narromine over September 14th to 16th.

We also have a very special announcement about AusFly: We’ve been invited to attend and provide commentary, narration and general radio services during the show. We’ll be there with a PA system, low powered FM transmitter and a live-stream to the Internet via LiveATC and our MyRadioStream link.

Finally, at 1:24:13 we have a few shout outs to cover:

• Richard Pollard (the voice of the JetRide ads) is heading back to New Zealand to start a new chapter in his life.
• Andrea Crook (our awesome voice-over lady) is launching her own podcast network: the Waffle Network
• Steve gives HUGE thanks to Gary Mac for helping him with some voice-over training during the past couple of months. Check out Steve’s even more dulcet tones, folks! :)
• Well done to the Airplane Geeks for getting sponsorship from AOPA
• If you’re in West Australia, check out...

The Sport Aircraft Association of Australia (SAAA) held their inaugural AusFly event at Narromine, New South Wales on the 14th & 15th of September. As part of the show, Plane Crazy Down Under were invited to come & run the AusFly radio show and provide commentary for the air displays. From setting up the studio & PA system (thanks Allan & Kurt :) to interviewing live during the show and keeping the crowd informed during the air displays, it was a busy, exhausting, educational and, over-all, fun experience.

In this episode we have the first few of our AusFly content and we’ll be having more in future episodes as we arrange interviews with the exhibitors we missed out chatting to during the event. Everyone was kept busy by the steady stream of people so there wasn’t much time to stop & chat.

The full content of the show includes:

• 0:04:20 – Our post-show interview with David Brown from the SAAA where we discuss the successes and the lessons learned from running the event.
• 0:28:01 – An interview we recorded with Gordon Rich-Phillips, the Victorian minister for the Aviation Industry (among other portfolios). We discuss his background in aviation, the aircraft he’s been flying and his views on the aviation industry in Victoria.
• 0:47:27 – We play some of our AusFly Radio content
• 0:47:36 – Hunter Jones from AutoGyro Australia talks to us about autogyros, their presence at AusFly and their formation arrival.
• 0:58:30 – Matt Maude from Performance Metals lets us know about a whole lot of new metal they’ve got arriving shortly.
• 1:03:10 – Jenny Wickham joins us on “The Perch” at AusFly to provide commentary on her husband Jim’s flying.
• 1:08:55 – Grant has a quick chat with Chris Brown who was on the Elgas Balloon Trek that worked its way to Narromine during the week leading up to the 14th
• 1:11:42 – We chat with Ben Jones about his experiences at AusFly (including flying a Zenith CH650), at WestFly and at the Sport Aircraft Builders Club Annual Fly In
• 1:22:24 – We review some Listener Mail:
• Brian from Kentucky is wading through our archives & has almost listened to all of them (yes, he’s very brave! :)
• Mick (aka “Bom1”) relates a few of his aviation passenger experiences and is wondering what to do next in aviation (yes, he should get his license for a start! :)
• 1:29:16 – We give a few Shout Outs:
• Thanks to Analogue Al (aka Allan Van’t Padje) and his brother Kurt for all their efforts to setup & tear down the PA system used at Narromine as well as Allan’s great work running the sound gear through out the event
• Well done to Chris Visscher for being the PCDU Camp Cook and general errand boy
• Thanks to everyone who came & said HI at AusFly, especially our mate The Air Stig who visited AusFly as part of a long journey he was undertaking

Steve & Grant go north of Melbourne thanks to the aid of some members of Team PCDU, both current & new. First up we tag along with ATC_Ben on his visit to Oshkosh 2012, discussing his journey there & listening to a few of the interviews he recorded (yes, we’re still jealous we couldn’t get there!). We then introduce long-time listener Damien Rose who’s joining us as our Queensland correspondent & lives about 2,000km north of PCDU HQ. Finally, we play a few of the interviews Steve & Grant recorded at Oshkosh 2011 to help us feel a bit better about not being there this year (nope, still jealous! :) )

The whole episode unfolds as:

• 0:02:05 – We chat with ATC_Ben about his US trip and being at Oshkosh 2012
• ATC_Ben’s Oshkosh interviews:
• 0:12:47 – Malcolm Savill at Classic Aviation Designs discusses their timber-construction Cubflyer CA18 kitset & Dick Sybrandy from Auroa Helicopters discusses their two seat turbine-powered microlight helicopter
• 0:22:46 – Peter Maloney from Composite Helicopters International talks about the ongoing development & flight testing of their kitset composite turbine-powered helicopter
• 0:26:20 – Shaun Mitchell from Kiwi Propellers talks about their high-performance propellers
• 0:32:16 – Glen Towler (@NZAircraftFan) is a listener from New Zealand has a quick chat about drinking from the Oshkosh firehose
• 0:35:11 – Matthew Hassall from GippsAero & Elizabeth from Groom Aviation talk about the increased recognition the GA8 is getting in the USA these days
• 0:42:39 – We wrap up the interviews with ATC_Ben
• 0:44:35 – Damien Rose (OzFlyBoy) joins us give us an update on his aviation activities since last we had him on the show and officially join us as our Queensland reporter
• We run a few recordings from our time at Oshkosh 2011:
• 1:14:37 – George Morgan, co-founder of GippsAero talks about the history of the company, the development of the GA8, Mahindra Corporation & future directions
• 1:23:26 – Karthik Krishnamurty of Mahindra Aerospace talks about Mahindra, why they purchased GippsAero & future directions
• 1:28:15 – Rod Rakic talks about flying the GA8 with the Civil Air Patrol
• 1:31:49 – We wrap up the Oshkosh 2011 interviews & talk some more about GippsAero
• 1:34:28 – Listener Mail:
• Steve Davis at Warneet tells us about his attempts at learning to fly & asks about how ultralights fit into the Australian airspace
• Brian Judd from Kentucky was wrapped when we read out his email previously and has come back with a new question: can we get RC Cola here?
• 1:42:17 – Shout Outs:
• Aus Air Services are hosting the Tooradin Open Day on December 1st
• Matt Hall Racing will be offering adventure flights at the Open

It takes a special breed to push an F18 out to the edge of the envelope, fly missions ranging from surface attack to dog fights and then blow off steam with your squadron mates. It’s certainly not Top Gun but it does make amazing fodder for a book that highlights the good, the bad and the crazy.

Just such a book has been written by ‘Mac “Serge” Tucker‘ and it’s called “Fighter Pilot: mis-adventures beyond the sound barrier with an Australian Top Gun”

Steve & Grant chat to “Serge” about being a fighter pilot, flying & partying hard, blowing off steam and dealing with bureaucrats. We also cover:

• The size of the fighter community in Australia and the camaraderie that has developed among them
• The mentoring that occurs within the community covering both technical & behavioural aspects of being a fighter pilot
• The interaction of fighter pilots with pilots from other parts of the RAAF
• Serge’s career progressing from high school through basic training in the CT4, progression to the Aermacchi MB 326H (the Macchi) and on to the F18 via a stint on the Nomad.
• Wing Commander Ross Fox’s influence as Serge’s mentor and the impact of his death in an F18 mid-air collision
• Serge’s thoughts on the Australian Army & Royal Australian Navy
• Working with the fighter pilots from the USA & comparing USA pilots with RAAF pilots
• Old timer stories and their influence on current procedures
• RAAF exchange pilots flying F15s & F22s with the USAF
• The F35 JSF and its issues with kinematics
• Drones and their use in the military environment
• How the military have missed out on changing their operations & equipment to deal better with the Middle East environment & the modern political power dynamics
• Serge’s love of hang gliding
• Transitioning from being a fighter pilot to being an airline pilot
• His final flight: a one-on-one dogfight with Matt Hall

We have a variety of content for you in this episode including:

• 0:03:50 – A great chat we recorded with Andrew McLaughlin, previously co-owner and deputy editor of Australian Aviation and now a freelance aviation writer
• 1:00:59 – Kathy Mexted went flying with Anatole Mills from Warbird Air Adventures and got to experience some aerobatics in a Nanchang (NOTE: Kathy can also be found at kascribe & Kathy Mexted Photography)
• 1:33:48 – Grant had a chat with Mike Dunn, General Manager & Chief Pilot of Heli-Serv after being an air-to-air photo shoot with one of HeliServe’s aircraft
• 1:43:07 – We review some of our listener emails:
• Daniel Pearson asked about where to find a list of Australian air shows so we pointed him at Allan Van’t Padje’s “Australian Air Shows” page on Facebook
• Mick (aka Bom1) is jealous of Steve’s C130H ride
• Rob Lawrie pointed us to the SAAA’s Chapter 1 in Sydney and linked us to their Facebook page
• Grant gives a shout out to the gang at the Stuck Mic Avcast and the Hangar 49 podcast to say thanks for the birthday wishes
• Steve notes that Larry Beyer (USAF Retired), a friend of his from the USA when he was living in Arkansas, passed away recently & will be greatly missed

The music featured in Kathy Mexted’s segment is “Pool Party” by CC Martini.

We were fortunate to attend a lecture recently presented by Lang Kidby at the Australian National Aviation Museum (Moorabbin Air Museum). Lang has flown a Vickers Vimy replica aircraft from England to Australia to re-enact the 1919 flight by Keith & Ross Macpherson Smith. He has also flown an Avro Avian from England to Australia to re-enact Bert Hinkler’s completion of the first solo flight from England to Australia in 1928.

In this recording, Lang discusses his experiences from building the Vimy replica & transporting it to the UK through to the actual flight itself. This is an amazing presentation that we could have happily listened to for longer had time permitted.

We are most greatful to Lang for permitting us to publish his lecture and to Mark Pilkington at the Moorabbin Air Museum for allowing us to join in the fun.

As 2012 draws to a close come & spend a bit of time with Steve, Grant, Bas & ATC Ben as they wrap up the year with some new content, some discussions and a bit of fun. It’s another long episode but we think it’s a pretty good way to send out the year :)

The episode unfolds as:

• 0:03:30 – We discuss issues CASA are having with RA-Aus that has seen a number of LSA grounded due to administrative issues, one of which was Bas’ own aircraft
• 0:21:35 – An update on the fight to save Aldinga Aerodrome
• 0:29:10 – An interview Steve & Grant recorded with Brian & Rick from Commando Skydivers at the recent Tooradin Aviation Day
• 0:40:33 – a chat we recorded with Dan O’Donnell (RAAF F18 pilot who also flies with Matt Hall Racing) and Angie Morino (from Aus Air Services)
• 0:57:42 – Anthony Simmons returns at last with The View From The Lounge #13: The Phantom Dolmades Roller
• 1:03:14 – Steven Pam has sent us a Christmas Greeting
• 1:04:54 – Steve, Grant, Bas & ATC_Ben discuss the View from the Lounge and Top Gun
• 1:07:17 – Bas talks about the latest updates to the OzRunways app and gives us his response to the “OzRunways for Android” lobby on Facebook
• 1:16:51 – ATC_Ben talks about becoming an On Job Trainer Instructor in the ATC world
• 1:21:34 – CASA have introduced a Notice of Final Rule Making regarding the use of EFBs in Australian skies (PDF) – and the news is good, according to Bas
• 1:32:12 – Tech in the cockpit comes up along with the inevitable IOS vs Android vs Windows 8 with Bas in the Blue Corner and Grant in the Red Corner. DING!!!!
• 1:33:16 – Ben Jones sends us a Christmas greeting
• 1:33:39 – Damien Rose also sends us a Christmas greeting
• 1:25:12 – We spend some time reviewing the highlights of 2012, including:
• Grant got his balloon license
• ATC_Ben went to the USA and Oshkosh 2012
• Steve got a C130 ride over Sydney
• Bas changed his work and lifestyle to focus on OzRunways, allowing him to work for himself and move to a property where he’s setting up a runway on the front yard (now, where have we heard *that* phrase before? :) )
• 1:43:49 – We look forward to 2013 and talk a little about our Avalon 2013 plans and how we’re always up for new sponsors for our Avalon coverage
• 1:50:13 – We give shout-outs to those who have helped us over 2012, including:
• Sponsors & Advertisers: JetRide Australia, OzRunways, , AvSoft & Adventure Wings
• Those who helped make AusFly such a success:

We’re back to being our opiniated selves with a backlog of news stories to work through and discuss. Once again Bas Scheffers joins us for some of the news and to discuss a number of RA-Aus items. From Beavers to Tigers and even Kiwi Skyhawks doing battle with bureaucracy, we cover a diverse range of topics including:

• QANTAS shareholders fail to block Dixon’s $3m payment
• Shareholders blast Qantas over Dixon payout (ABC News)
• Qantas shareholders slam Dixon payout (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Jetstar tight-lipped on Facebook ‘sacking’ (ABC News)
• RedBull AirRace returns to Perth in 2010 (see Tourism West Australia’s release)
• Rocket Lab Primed To Launch New Zealand’s First Rocket Into Space (Voxy.co.nz)
• Crash fears after 10 near misses a year in NSW (Sydney Morning Herald
• Qantas unveils Socceroos 747 (Australian Aviation)
• Jetstar plane evacuated after engine fire (ABC News)
• Virgin Blue 737’s nose wheel ‘disintegrates’ on landing
• Plane wheel ‘disintegrates’ on landing (ABC news)
• Virgin Blue hits back at ALAEA after wheel issue
• Virgin Blue denies plane wheel disintegrated
• Police guard staff after Tiger passengers left stranded (Mex Cooper @ Sydney Morning Herald)
• Qantas passengers stranded for 26 hours(Kate Schneider @ News.com.au)
• Next QANTAS A380s delayed due to technical issues
• Technical issues force delay to Qantas's next two A380s (Australian Aviation)
• Qantas talks straight on Airbus problem (ABC News)
• Qantas A380 project takes out award (Australian Aviation)
• Russian jets...

In November of 2012 the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) decommissioned their C-130H fleet, transitioning to the C-130J and reaching the end of an era for flight engineers & navigators in the Air Lift Group (ALG). We were fortunate enough to be invited to partake in some of the decommissioning events including a final media flight over Sydney Harbour, watching a formation flyby practice from RAAF Base Richmond’s control tower and the delivery of C-130H A97-011 to the RAAF Museum at Point Cook.

In the course of these events we obtained a number of great interviews with past & present air crew which are gathered here in our tribute episode to the C-130H in RAAF service:

• 0:07:48 – Air Commodore Gary Martin’s (Commander Air Lift Group) press conference held on the ramp at RAAF Base Richmond before the Sydney Harbour media flight
• 0:11:39 – RAAF C-130H pre-flight safety briefing
• 0:17:25 – Onboard recording of C-130H engine startup & cruise sounds
• 0:17:50 – Flight Lieutenant Tony Charles, pilot of A97-005 on the media flight over Sydney, discusses the flight
• 0:19:54 – Flight Lieutenant Richard Aughie, C-130H flight simulator instructor, talks about C-130H performance specs, simulator training, his involvement in the C27J Spartan training program and Steve’s landings in the simulator
• 0:31:41 – Phil Brown, a former RAAF Warrant Officer C130H Flight Engineer & now an instructor with CAE, talks about his RAAF career and the role of the Flight Engineer on the C130H
• 0:54:37 – Squadron Leader Rob Sokol, pilot of the final flight of A97-011, talks about the flight to Point Cook, his time at 1FTS at Point Cook, his RAAF Reserve service and his “day job” as an A380 pilot
• 1:00:29 – Air Vice Marshall (ret) Greg Evans (DSC, AM) talks about his RAAF career as a C130H pilot from 1983 to 1992 including:
• His exchange posting to the USAF and Little Rock AFB with the 40th Tactical Airlift SQN between 1998-90 (which naturally leads to comparing notes with Steve about flying the skies of Arkansas :)
• Some “interesting” missions & training flights he flew with the USAF & RAAF
• Comparing the C130H to the older C130E
• The differences encountered with the C130J
• The advantages of the C27J Spartan
• Being Commander Joint Task Force 633 MEAO (Iraq) during 2004 & 2005

Thanks to Eamon Hamilton (ALG Public Affairs Officer) & Ben Wickham (ADF Regional Public Affairs Officer for NSW) for arranging our access to the events & people so we could gather the content used in this episode.

When we began producing this show WAY back in July 2009, we had no idea that we’d make it to 100 episodes, have travelled to multiple events within Australia, been to Oshkosh and be just about to cover a second Avalon Airshow with a bigger team than ever before. We’ve learned so much about producing a quality & enjoyable aviation show, had aviation related experiences we never dreamed of, dabbled with video production and even spun off a few side-projects for other shows. We’re also very appreciative of you, our audience. The fact that you’re all still here with us, telling us what we’re getting right (& wrong :) ) and enjoying the results of our efforts makes the late nights all worth while.

For this episode we’ve resisted the temptation to do a retrospective or rehash earlier content (except for a bit at the start & the end of the episode :) ). Instead, we’ve put together some interviews with well known people about a couple of up-coming events and a discussion about the dreaded Biennial Flight Review (BFR), now known as an Aeroplane Flight Review (AFR).

Here’s how Episode 100 unfolds:

• 0:06:09 – Grant talks a little about his recent trip to Malaysia as a guest of Malaysia Airlines
• 0:11:54 – ATC Ben talks about the proposed new Australian ATC Management system called oneSky with Lockheed Martin being demonstrating their SkyLine Enterprise system as a contender
• 0:15:46 – We chat with Peter Meehan about his career as a RAAF Reserve media officer, doing air show commentary, being the “Voice of Avalon” and even learning to fly
• 0:35:48 – Damien Rose talks about his recent Aeroplane Flight Review (AFR) that was previously referred to as the Biennial Flight Review (BFR). He then interviews Paul McKeown, CFI with Recreational Flying Company in Gympie, QLD & his instructor for the AFR
• 1:19:14 – Matt Hall joins us once again to discuss a few things he’s working on including a day-long fly past of aircraft from Super Hornets to Tiger Moths as part of the Bicentennial celebrations for the first crossing of the Blue Mountains in Sydney. He also chats about his new book (The Sky is Not the Limit) and gives us an updated on whether the RedBull AirRace will ever return
• 1:58:19 – We return to summarise the episode and review a few of the key points
• 2:01:34 – Listener mail!
• David Neafsey sent us a letter and a 100th birthday card – all via snail mail! Yes, remember that? Good thing we have a snail mail address, eh?
• Ian Kershaw from Calgary sent in an audio message
• Steve at Warneet asks us to organise an interview with Judy Pay
• “Mick from the Frankston Line” has sent us a number of great emails that have been a LOT of fun to read. Awesome stuff, mate!
• Ryan Hothersall writes in to express his disdain of NIMBYS. No argument from us on that one!
• We give a Shout Out to Carl Valeri from the Stuck Mic Avcast for gaining his A320 type rating! Well done, mate! :)
• 2:10:57 – Steve’s wife Cathey finally joins us on the...

It’s been a good start to the Avalon 2013 Airshow with Team PCDU recording a few interviews and setting up their schedule for the rest of the week. For our first day’s coverage we present:

• Grant talks with John McCormick (Director of Flight Safety at CASA) about his military & airline experience, flying his Yak50 and how that all links into managing CASA.
• Steven Pam talks to Mal Hurman about the Eclipse 500 at the Air Show, and to Heath Okely from Airflite about the new Eclipse 550 they are marketing.
• Matt Hall talks to Grant about his Avalon 2013 display routine
• Timbo’s Tarmac
• In the Keyhole with Papa Smurf

Day Two of the Avalon 2013 Airshow has kept Team PCDU very busy shooting video & recording interviews. Here’s some of the content we recorded today:

• Captain Robin Pursey, Chief Pilot for Airbus Corporate Jets talks about flying the ACJ319
• David Velupillai, Marketing Director for Airbus Corporate Jets discusses interior fit outs & typical missions for ACJs
• Steve meets with one of the UAV Challenge teams
• Andrew Duggan, Managing Director of Insitu Pacific, discusses the Scan Eagle & Integrator drones
• Flying Officer Brent Jones, F-18 pilot with 77 Squadron, talks about aspects of air to air refuelling & the training involved
• In the Keyhole with Papa Smurf
• Timbo’s Tarmac

Day Three of Avalon 2013 brought us a busy schedule of interviews and aviation experiences. From a Gulfstream G650 to the RAAF’s C17 heavy transport, we’ve been running around shooting even more video and recording interviews, such as those that make up today’s episode:

• We talk to Flight Lieutenant Tony O’Neil & Flight Lieutenant Mathew Stade about being the crew who fly the RAAF’s F18F Super Hornet solo demonstration
• Grant chats with Mike Jarrett (Gulfstream’s Large Cabin demo pilot) while sitting in the cockpit of the G650
• Grant chats with Charles Cheesman from ECO 2000 about their Zi-400 aircraft cleaner
• ATC_Ben talks to Gerhard Jordaan (Company Development Pilot for GippsAero) about the experimental GA-10 prototype
• We talk to Flight Lieutenant Robert Cousland & Flying Officer Paolo Neri about being crew in the four-aircraft RAAF F18F Super Hornet formation display team
• Flight Lieutenant David “Dash” Lee & Flight Lieutenant Rhys Brown talk to us about the Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control aircraft’s entry into service and its recent appearance at Cope North in Guam
• Grant gives us a quick tarmac summary as the alignment of our schedules with those of Papa Smurf & Timbo didn’t give us any time to meet with them.

The sun came out in force on Day 4 of Avalon 2013 and with mostly clear blue skies we finally felt like we’d arrived at a real airshow. With aircraft putting on some amazing performances, the F22 once again took to the skies and let us experience the “High Show” and what a fantastic show that was!

For today’s episode, we have the following content:

• Master Sergeant Bo Brewer talks about maintaining the F22 & its systems
• Major Henry Schantz is the current F22 demo pilot & he compares its handling with an F15C, walks us through the manoeuvres in the demo and talks about the experience of flying it
• Damien Rose chats with Stephen Buckle about the Carbon Cub
• Steve & Grant get to hang out & chat with the Breitling Wing Walker team
• Grant chats with Stewart Wilson from Aero Australia magazine
• We corner listener Ben Wickham & ask how Avalon 2013 is going for him
• This time it’s ATC_Ben heading out to bring us Timbo’s Tarmac and In the Keyhole with Papa Smurf

Day Five of the Avalon Airshow 2013 is the first full public day and they turned out in force to enjoy great aviation action under clear blue skies. Despite the crowds we still managed to get around the airport to complete a number of interviews & meet up with plenty of people.

This episode includes:

• Grant’s interviews with some RAAF AP-3C crew:
• Air Combat Officer (ACO) Flying Officer Tristan Hull
• Demonstration pilot Flight Lieutenant James Pears
• Steve talks to Jacqui Carlon from Piper about their latest Garmin equipped Seminole on display
• Grant & Ben Jones talk to Bob & Laurie Carlton about their jet powered Salto glider demonstration
• Steve & Grant talk to Owen & Kirrily Zupp
• ATC_Ben helps out with Timbo’s Tarmac and In the Keyhole with Papa Smurf

We had contemplated a quiet final day at Avalon 2013 where the team could gather a few last interviews but it wasn’t to be. There were still so many people to see, content to capture and experiences to share with our audience. In fact, there’s so much content that we couldn’t fit it all into our daily episodes so we’re going to have to release more Avalon coverage in our later episodes.

Meanwhile, for this episode we’re presenting:

• Ryan Campbell from the Teen World Flight project
• Melissa & Rex Pemberton talk about flying aerobatic demonstrations & wingsuiting
• Mark Jefferies talks about his aerobatic career
• Dieter Ebeling introduces us to Awesome Aviation and their Extra 330LX
• Anton Meir from Aerosport Aviation in New Zealand
• Nelson Aviation College
• Kangan Institute provides aviation courses
• Captain Natassia Cherne from the USAF’s Pacific Air Force media team
• Timbo’s Tarmac
• In the Keyhole with Papa Smurf

We still have some Avalon 2013 coverage not yet released so we decided to produce a single episode dedicated to the C17 as there were multiple RAAF C17s and a USAF C17 present on the final day. In keeping with our previous Avalon 2013 episodes, this one is under an hour and gathers the following content together:

• 0:03:08 – RAAF C17 pilot FLTLT Dirk Taylor talks about flying the aircraft & his career
• 0:10:59 – RAAF C17 techo Sgt David Everett talks about maintaining the aircraft & his transition from the DHC-4 Caribou
• 0:22:09 – RAAF Loadmaster WOFF Paul Lemarshall walks us through the C17s cargo hold
• 0:33:29 – USAF Capt Brian Carron talks about interoperability between USAF & RAAF C17 aircraft & crew
• 0:39:22 – We wrap up the episode

Given the focus on the C17 in this episode, it was a given that we’d include a promotion for the Australian Defence Force Recruiting, right? You can call them on 13 19 01 :)

Flying solo around Australia is a challenging & amazing experience, even today (just ask Owen Zupp :) ). It’s even more mind-blowing when you’re a quadriplegic! This episode Steve & Grant talk to Dave Jacka who is setting out to be the first quadriplegic person to fly solo around Australia! We also include a chat Steve recorded with Laurie Jones from Adventure Wings about his role as a fire-bomber and the Nanchang adventure flights they operate from Tooradin (YTDN) plus a new View from the Lounge and even a competition!

• 0:04:40 – Our chat with Dave Jacka about his flight around Australia and his On a Wing and a Chair charity.
• 0:42:41 – Steve chats with Laurie Jones from Adventure Wings.
• 1:01:15 – The View from the Lounge: Flight or Fright
• 1:07:57 – Listener Mail:
• “Shoeless Joe” from Virginia has completed his PPL
• Andrew van der Saag has some feedback on our Avalon 2013 coverage
• Adam Knight also has comments on our Avalon 2013 coverage (especially the F22 interviews)
• Scott Tavasci is an ex-RAAF C130H pilot and he wanted to correct a small error by Steve regarding his Sydney harbour flight (yes, *that* flight :) )
• 1:17:24 – Shout Outs:
• Michael Frost is a photographer and he took some amazing shots at Avalon which you can see on his Avalon 2013 web page
• Doug Worrall has released the LEO – Low Earth Orbit game and it’s fantastic fun!
• 1:22:30 – We’re going to help Ryan Campbell’s Teen World Flight by putting some money towards it (along with help from our fantastic audience :) )
• 1:26:10 – we have a competition to win one of three Flight Path TV Series 1 DVD sets but you need to listen to the episode to hear how to win. If you can’t enter the competition or don’t manage to be one of the winners, you can get 20% off the Series 1 DVD pack by purchasing it by using this special 20% discount link. Thanks again to Fletch & Mal from Flight Path TV for making the discount available to our audience.

All this AND we appeared in Episode 46 of the Stuck Mic AvCast when Len Costa came down under for a quick holiday.

Don’t forget that our new email address is contact@planecrazydownunder.com

We’re joined by Dave Homewood from the Wings Over New Zealand forum & podcast to talk about his time with the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), the warbird scene over there and the comprehensive forum he established. We also discuss his excellent Wings Over New Zealand podcast which has a large number of fascinating interviews & recordings covering the Kiwi scene. You can follow Dave’s latest updates on his Wings Over New Zealand Facebook page.

After our chat with Dave we feature more Avalon 2013 content including our KC-30A interview, a chat about the Heron Remotely Piloted Vehicle’s operations in Afghanistan and part two of Grant’s chat with Charles Cheeseman from Eco 2000. As if all that wasn’t enough, we introduce Maikha Ly who is joining the team as a roving reporter covering regional aviation events.

We’ve also got a new competition where the first 5 people who email us the correct answer to Owen Zupp’s question will win a copy of his “50 Tales of Flight” eBook. After that, it’s time for listener mail, shout outs and the wrap up.

Whew, no wonder it’s almost 2 hours long :)

The show unfolds as:

• 0:08:29 – We chat with Dave Homewood
• 0:42:11 – Interview with FLTLT Simon Press & WOFF David Bull on the flight deck of the RAAF KC-30A
• 0:55:33 – Interview with WGCDR Jonathan McMullan about the Heron Remotely Piloted Vehicle and its operations in Afghanistan
• 1:07:18 – Introducing Maikha Ly, our roving reporter covering regional events
• 1:17:21 – The second part of Grant’s chat with Charles Cheeseman from Eco 2000 (part 1 was back in Episode 103: Avalon 2013 – Day Three)
• 1:24:48 – We announce winners of our FlightPathTV competition:
• Errol Cavit from NZ
• Alex James from China
• Gary Clarkson from Melbourne
• 1:26:49 – Thanks to the donors from our audience who helped us exceed the $250 we needed to join Ryan Campbell’s “$500 Club” from his Teen World Flight project:
• Peter Gossner
• Doug & Kerri Worrall
• Brian Grinter
• Chris Fenelon
• Peter Baxter
• Gary Clarkson
• Ben Jones
• Andrew Van Der Saag
• Nick Christiansen
• Gareth Little-Hales
• Evan Schoo
• 1:29:29 – We announce a new competition, this time featuring a question from Owen Zupp. The first five people who email us with the correct answer will win a copy of his “50 Tales of Flight” eBook.
• 1:31:17 – Listener Mail:
• The AirStig has laid down a challenge for Doug Worrall’s LEO game & has completed all the missions & logged a score of 5641. Do you think you can beat his...

Ryan Campbell is a 19 year old pilot from Australia who’s currently flying solo around the world to grab the record as the youngest pilot yet to make the epic journey. Steve caught up with Ryan just a couple of hours after he had arrived in Hilo, Hawaii to discuss the experience of island-hopped his way across the Pacific.

You can follow Ryan’s flight & get more information about him on his TeenWorldFlight website.

NOTE: If you check out Ryan’s sponsor list, you’ll see “Plane Crazy Down Under Podcast – Listeners and Crew.” We’re proud to have helped raise some money for Ryan’s journey and, thanks to the generosity of our audience, we were able to exceed our goal of putting $500 towards his flight.

All good things take time & so do our episodes, with this one taking perhaps the longest to produce of any of them. It’s also packed full of great content covering magazine editors, wing walkers, AOPA, another give-away competition, antique aircraft, solo trips around the world & even hot air balloons. Make use of the pause button where you need to but be sure to listen right through to the very end of the episode for another set of classic “Kathy Mexted Bloopers” :)

This episode is indeed a basket full of flight & it unfolds as:

• 0:03:30 – We chat with Kathy Mexted about her father, Pat Whitty, who passed away recently. She mentions his influence on her flying and their flights in VH-MAU, a 1978 Piper Warrior
•  0:11:35 – Kathy joins with us to chat with Kreisha Ballantyne-Dickes, the Publications Editor at AOPA Australia and their Australian Pilot magazine. She also has her own blog (Girl with a Stick) and we chatted about a number of topics including:
• How Kreisha got into flying, especially her first solo
• Her love of Bonanzas
• Avalon 2013 & why people don’t fly
• Kreisha’s career in writing and becoming editor of the Australian Pilot magazine
• Wingwalking with the Breitling team on the top of their Stearman
• Working with AOPA, their efforts to get more people flying, the benefits of being a member, the “new approach” of AOPA and Andrew Andersen’s open letter to everyone involved in General Aviation
• Getting involved with CASA’s regulation changes
• 0:50:32 – Maikha Ly went to the Antique Aircraft Association of Australia’s annual fly-in at Echuca and recorded some great content for us. You can find the photos he took on his Echuca Flickr collection
• 1:34:48 – Steve chats with Ryan Campbell two days prior to starting his TeenWorldFlight adventure
• 1:45:52 – Grant recently took Kathy for a balloon flight over Bacchus Marsh while listener Evan Schoo tagged along with the ground crew & got some great photos of the flight. During the flight, Grant & Kathy recorded a quick in-flight chat that we listen to here, after which, Steve asks Kathy just how the flight really went!
• 2:14:30 – We announce the winners of our first 50 Tales of Flight eBook give-away competition:
• Gary Clarkson
• Will Coleman
• Darren Eastwood
• Brad Rule
• Mitchell Royal
• Graham Slingsby
• Trent Stewart
• Lahra Warry
• 2:15:34 – We have another give-away this episode with Owen Zupp‘s second (& trickier!) question about famous Australian aviators. The first five (5) people to email us the correct answer at contact@planecrazydownunder.com will win a copy of Owen’s “50 Tales of Flight” eBook.
• 2:17:47 –...

As the F111 was late & delayed by all sorts of issues, so too has our Episode 111 been late in arriving. Our big excuse has been discovering that the PCDU Radio Show has taken a LOT more effort than we expected. All this plus our day jobs, families AND our PCDU Commentary & Announcing gigs have, in turn, made it almost impossible to get an episode out. Suffice to say, we’re parking the radio show production for a while as we try to find a new way of working that lets us produce radio shows AND episodes. It’s very much a learning experience!

Meanwhile, we have managed to get this episode out and it’s packed with lots of great content, including:

• 0:01:55 – Grant recently took a holiday in Bali & flew with Virgin Australia. He provides a review of their short-haul international business class service & the GA scene on Bali.
• 0:12:50 – We chat with Mark Pracy from Pracy Racing about his preparations for Reno 2013 and the “feel” of the event now that it’s coming up on two years since the big crash back in 2011.
• 0:34:46 – We present a summary of the chats Steve recorded with Dave Jacka as he made his solo-flight around Australia to become the first quadriplegic person to do so as part of his On A Wing & A Chair charity. These chats were recorded during Dave’s journey and after his return to Tooradin airport (YTDN), giving a great overview of the many issues & experiences he encountered.
• 1:03:46 – During Exercise Talisman Saber, Damien Rose interviewed Jake Press, a pilot with the KC135. He then went on to enjoy a great ride in a USAF C17 doing a low-level airdrop. You can watch his summary video posted to the PCDU YouTube channel:
• 1:08:20 – Back in 2012, Grant had a great chat with David Cottee, the curator of the Qantas Heritage Collection
• 1:29:28 – Also back in 2012, Grant had a fantastic chat with Paul Gianniotis, an ex-Cathay Pacific Flight Engineer who learned to fly in a Piper at Kai Tak in Hong Kong (no, really :) ) and even started flying hot air balloons in Hong Kong. As you could imagine, he’s got some amazing stories to tell!
• 1:47:23 – We give some shoutouts:
• The Stuck Mic AvCast has not only passed their 50th episode, they’re about to release their 55th! Awesome!
• Dave Homewood is about to release his 50th Wings Over New Zealand podcast episode and it’s going to be a fantastic one!
• We’ve released our 200th Australia Desk segment for the Airplane Geeks podcast
• Bevan Anderson from AvSoft has seen his AvPlan application turn 2 years old
• Steve’s daughter Rachel turned 18 and his wife now has her Yellow Belt in Karate
• Australia’s Federal Election is coming up & once again we’re going to do some Election Quick Cast episodes to give you an insite to the aviation policies (if any) of the major parties

It’s time for Australians to vote for their favourite (or least disliked :) ) politicians and, once again, we’ve gone into bat for our audience to present information about the transportation policies of the main parties. Unfortunately, our cunning plan to wait for the parties to have revealed their policies has not been as successful as we’d like as a) some parties are still holding their cards close to their chest and b) all the candidates are running around frantically to shore up support & win voters to their side.

Oh well, on with the show :)

At 0:03:40, we start with Anthony Albanese from the Australian Labor Party. Anthony is the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Infrastructure & Transport, Minister for Broadband, Communications & the Digital Economy and the Leader of the House. While unable to come on the show, Anthony was able to provide written answers to our questions (which we’ve listed below) so we provide some commentary on his answers:

1. How important do you consider aviation to be to Australia’s economic growth, especially with respect to foreign earnings through training and the production & export of aircraft & components? If so, how will your policies help aviation boost economic growth? (eg: Carbon Tax subsidies as per other forms of transport, easier access to VET FEE Help for pilot training, employment legislation changes, boosts for trainee/apprentice programs, reduced user fee costs, etc)

Last year was another record year for aviation in Australia with more than 86 million passengers flying domestically and internationally. This is a 4.5 per cent increase on 2011.

Passenger growth in Australia was more than three times the rate of the United States, which registered a 1.3 per cent increase in passenger numbers in 2012.

We're committed to working with the sector to build Australia's aviation industry. Over $120 million in assistance has been provided for students undertaking aviation-related studies. This assistance has provided more than 12,000 places for students to gain the qualifications necessary to build Australia's aviation industry.

Federal Labor has announced we're abolishing the carbon tax and moving to an Emissions Trading Scheme next year, which will reduce the cost for the sector further.

2. Do you consider aviation to be important to the development & prosperity of country Australia? If so, how will your policies help boost aviation for rural areas? (eg: route subsidies, rural airport development, etc)

Absolutely. That's why Federal Labor has injected more than $261 million of assistance into regional and remote aviation - more than five times that spent by the former Coalition Government in the preceding six years.

We are upgrading:

• 47 regional airports in every state
• 237 remote airstrips, making them safer and guaranteeing medical services

There is more money and support going into regional aviation than ever before. Growth in total passenger movements at regional airports continues to be higher than at airports in major cities, growing at 4.6 per cent versus 3.5 per cent respectively.

In addition, the number of regional airports receiving services increased by 31 airports to 171 last year - the highest in almost a decade.

3. Will Aviation have its own minister? Or even a dedicated full-time Transport minister? If aviation...

The past month has included a number of events related to the Royal Australian Navy’s International Fleet Review 2013 as well as the arrival of Jetstar’s new 787-8. Grant’s been visiting a few ships & interviewing their aircrew while Kathy’s had a flight on Australia’s brand new MRH-90 Taipan transport helicopters. Not long after that, Grant was in Sydney to watch the mass-flypast of aircraft as the fleet steamed into Sydney harbour then both Steve & Grant were on the tarmac in Melbourne for the new Jetstar 787 arrival celebrations.

Naturally this generated lots of great new content and we’ve packaged it all up as follows:

• 0:06:43 – LT Hamish Walker, Lynx Pilot on HMS Daring
• 0:13:37 – LT CDR Teilo Elliot-Smith, Air Warefare Officer on HMS Daring
• 0:27:15 – CDR Angus Essenhigh, Commanding Officer of HMS Daring
• 0:34:37 – LT David Roderick, Seasprite Pilot on HMNZS Te Mana
• 0:46:17 – LT Hamish Liddy, Seasprite Observer on HMNZS Te Mana
• 0:57:22 – Leading Hand Zach Taylor, Seasprite crew on HMNZS Te Mana
• 1:06:29 – David presents Grant with their 6 Squadron patch & explains its symbolism
• 1:07:43 – Grant chats with listener “Mick from the Frankston line”
• 1:14:45 – Kathy Mexted chats with Steve about flying in the MRH-90
• 1:17:45 – LT Jack Wadey, MRH-90 Taipan Pilot
• 1:31:40 – CPT Brett Chandler, Commanding Officer of HMAS Creswell
• 1:38:27 – Kathy chats about how she knew Brett Chandler from some time ago
• 1:43:20 – David Hall, CEO of Jetstar Australia & New Zealand
• 1:48:53 – Captain Jeremy Schmidt, lead pilot on Jetstar’s 787 programme
• 1:55:19 – Gordon Rich-Phillips, Victoria’s Minister for Aviation Industry
• 1:59:23 – We wrap it up and sign off

September 2013 rolled around and it was time for the second AusFly event at Narromine in New South Wales. Team PCDU squeezed into a bus that was loaded with Analog Al’s airshow PA system, our gear and a certain trade stand then drove over 800km in a day to get there. Whew!

Once there we cleared out the studio, set up the sound system & got ready to run AusFly Radio & do the air display commentary. We applied the lessons we learned from AusFly 2012 and, over the course of the event, wound up learning all new lessons so AusFly 2014 will be even better. We also recorded a stack of content and have packaged some of it up into this first AusFly 2013 episode. Even though it’s over 2 hours long, there’s still more yet to come but we’ll save that for later episodes.

For now, here’s the AusFly 2013 content we have for you in this episode:

• 0:02:13 – Ben Jones joins us for a recap of AusFly 2013 with David Brown from the SAAA.
• 0:09:32 – Rob Fisher from Superior Air Parts covers the aviation components & parts they’re able to supply
• 0:15:01 – Anton Meier from Aerosport Aviation in New Zealand talks about the Triton Sport, a derivation of the Sport Cruiser
• 0:21:27 – Russell Milton from Atlas Aviation Australia talks about their SkyLeader aircraft
• 0:26:22 – Stephen Gale talks us through learning to fly the SIA Marchetti S211 jet with input from Willie “Godfather” Chew (ex-RSAF instructor). We’re also joined by Jodie Davis from SkyThrills who went flying with Stephen in the jet.
• 0:34:13 – Allan Barton from Zenair Australia tells us about the Zenith aircraft they’re importing from the USA
• 0:37:11 – Dianne McNamara produces custom aircraft covers for Punkin Head Air Sports
• 0:43:08 – Michael Coates represents Pipistrel in Australia
• 0:51:36 – David Baddams runs Snow Goose International and ferries aircraft around the world. He also flew David Brown’s RV10 in an RV formation at AusFly
• 1:00:31 – Grant & Ben chat with Dick Smith and Ryan Campbell about flying solo around the world
• 1:09:50 – Amanda Pond from Puddle To Pond Financial talks about life insurance for pilots
• 1:13:45 – Steve & Ben talk to Paul Holler & Norm Edmunds from the SAAA about home building aircraft
• 1:38:17 – Bas Scheffers went up with Jeremy from SkyThrills to do some aerobatics in their Super Decathalon. He also tells us a bit about the latest OzRunways news
• 1:46:14 – Steve, Grant, Ben & David Brown wrap up their AusFly 2013 review

Don’t forget to go & support Steven Pam’s

It’s been an amazing year but as 2013 draws to a close, we’re squeezing one more episode out for you. We’ve combined some content not yet published from Avalon & AusFly with some great reports supplied by other members of the PCDU team. We’ve also got a competition running to win one of five copies of Owen Zupp’s new book.In keeping with our trend for 2013, this is yet another 2+ hour episode packed with great avation content, including:

• 0:09:06 – Steve & AntCB chat with Chris Sperou at Avalon 2013
• 0:18:30 – Grant talks with Bevan Anderson from AvPlan
• 0:25:11 – Peter Edwards from Cirrus talks about their latest aircraft
• 0:31:53 – Sue Woods talks with Grant about the latest Jabiru news
• 0:37:09 – Maikha Ly reports on a recent Free Flight model aircraft competition
• 0:49:21 – Dave Homewood talks with Peter Daniell, the CEO of Air Wakatipu at Queenstown in New Zealand
• 1:19:27 – Damien Rose reports on Caribou Cargo
• 1:46:14 – Listener Mail:
• Ian Kershaw sent us an audio comment about Owen Zupp’s eBook “50 Tales” which leads into the news that Owen has released a new eBook called Solo Flight about his fund-raising flight around Australia in a Jabiru. We have a competition running where you can win one of five copies of the eBook but you’ll need to listen to the show to find out how to enter (it’s easy! :)
• Evan Schoo sent us an audio comment about his perspective on Grant’s balloon flight with Kathy Mexted
• Mick from Fankston (our good friend, source of many interesting emails & Shangri-La pal) has found that Virgin Australia’s 737-800’s don’t have a window at seat 9A … OUCH!
• Rashidi Merrifeld sent us a link to a video he’s created about wanting become an airline pilot when he’s older
• Paul O’Rourke told us about the Cobden Fly-in coming up on Feb 15th & 16th, 2014. You can arrive around 10 am and stay or pop in whenever and say hi. A BBQ lunch will be available. You can camp under your wing or check out accommodation on the Cobden Aeroclub Facebook page. Monitor their page for updates and "LIKE" it or call before departing for the fly-in. AVGAS will be available. Contact: Warren 0428-024-633 or Bill 0403-498-005 E: cobdenaeroclub@gmail.com
• Melanie Salisbury from Travel Managers in NZ wrote to us about their Bomber Country tour of the UK happening in July 2014. It’s a 19 day escorted tour covering Duxford's Flying Legends, Waddington & RIAT plus has options for Farnborough. If you can cover the price tag ($9,200 per person) then it looks like it’ll be a great tour
• Steve Tupper from Airspeed has released a trilogy of great episodes about his entry into being an airshow performer
• 2:09:30 – We talk about a few of our favourite moments from 2013 and the things we’re looking forward to in 2014
• 2:19:21 – We give some shoutouts to some of those who have helped us during 2013

After a break due to injuries, surgery & a wedding, we’re back on deck and our first episode for 2014 is packed with Down Under aviation goodness :)

From Matt Hall and the long awaited return of the Red Bull Air Race to our media flight in a pair of C130Js over Melbourne to promote the RAAF’s Centenary of Military Aviation air show, this episode really got us exited for the year ahead.Our first episode for 2014 unfolds as:

• Steve & Grant chat about surgery, a wedding and some recent media publicity after a couple of unusual hot air balloon landings in Melbourne
•  0:12:35 – We chat with Matt Hall about the long awaited return of the Red Bull Air Race and get lots of great info about the changes to the race itself, his new team, how they’ve been preparing and the telemetry system he’s using.
•  0:46:20 – Steven Pam & ATC Ben got to represent PCDU at a recent RAAF C130J media flight over Melbourne to promote the Centenary of Military Aviation air show at Pt Cook on March 1st & 2nd. In the process they recorded the following content:
• Air Commodore Phil Byrne (RAAF’s Head of Special Events) talking about the historical significance of Pt Cook and the RAAF’s preparations for their Centenary of Military Aviation air show
•  David Gardner (Director, RAAF Museum) talks about the Bristol Boxkite replica
•  Flight lieutenant Matt Fleet, an RAF C130J pilot on exchange with the RAAF
•  Sergeant Greg Milne, an RAAF C130J loadmaster
•  We have some announcements:
• PCDU will be at the Tyabb Airshow 2014 (A Salute to Veterans) on Sunday, March 9th and are looking forward to catching up with any of you who can be there
• We want your stories, especially “grass roots” content and, as Steve Riley wrote in about, more “stories about flying”
• We have some shout outs:
• Thanks to Steve’s surgical staff for doing his knee reconstruction, including Mr Eden Raleigh, Dr Peter Larkins & Dr Joshua Hoppe from the Epworth Hospital
• Thanks to Pieter Johnson & David Vanderhoof for the long-distance support from around the world to help Steve get through some difficult times
• Steve wants to thank Grant & the rest of the PCDU team for helping out with the Australia Desk episodes while he was recovering
• Thanks to the Hangar 49 & Aviation Xtended podcasts for being brave enough to let Grant join them when recording their latest episodes (Hangar 49’s “G’Day Mate” … Aviation Xtended’s “Plane Crazy”)
• Good luck to Dave Gray (formerly from the Lifestyle...

Steve & Grant discuss all the latest news items that were of interest over the past couple of weeks. Steve also gets to have a few “c’est la vent” moments on some topics that were annoying him.

As if all that wasn’t enough, we also have a chat with Owen Zupp and reveal the winner of our first ever give away competition. Sorry, you’ll have to listen to the episode to discover who were the close runners up and who was the winner :)

So, sit back, relax and enjoy episode 16, in which we discuss:

• Jetstar engine fire forces evacuation at Newcastle airport (ABC News)
• Victoria launches bid for Red Bull Air Race (Australian Aviation)
• We both express displeasure that the Red Bull Air Race was not available online via web-streaming for Australians despite Channel 10 not showing it live
• V Australia to get 777-200LRs?
• We discuss Air New Zealand replacing its 737-300’s with A320’s
• Air NZ opts for Airbus (Australian Aviation)
• Air New Zealand to replace Boeing fleet with Airbus A320 (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Airbus knocks 50 per cent off New Zealand deal (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Air New Zealand’s Chris Nassenstein Tapped For Qantas Post (Aero-News Net)
• We discuss the political turn-around associated Victoria trialling heavy jet fire bombers
• Victoria to trial fire-fighting jet (The Age)
• Victoria commissions fire fighting jet (SBS)
• Giant water bomber to soak Victorian bushfires (ABC news)
• Water bomber could have saved lives (ABC News)
• Victoria looks to bigger fire bombers (Australian Aviation)
• It seems that it’s not just in the USA that airline pilots make silly mistakes
• Qantas pilots forgot to lower landing gear (ABC News)
• Qantas pilots forgot to lower wheels (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)

With the RAAF’s Centenary of Military Aviation air show only a couple of days away, we thought we’d mix up some content that promotes the event as well as some chats Grant recorded with a number of past & present members of the RAAF at the Temora Aviation Museum’s “Warbirds Down Under” event back in November. To round the whole thing off, we’ve also got Steve’s chat with Tammy Augostin about the Women of Aviation Worldwide Week event that will be running from March 3rd to 9th around the world.

The episode’s content run is:

• Steve & Grant give an overview of what to expect in the episode
• 0:09:42 – Grant catches up with Air Marshal Mark Binskin at the Temora Aviation Museum to discuss his career, the role of Vice Chief of the Defence Force and flying his Cessna O-1 Birddog
• 0:15:57 – Air Vice Marshal (retired) Mark Skidmore talks to us about flying the Bristol Boxkite replica
• 0:20:33 – Air Vice Marshal Leo Davies (Deputy Chief of Air Force) tells us about the Centenary of Military Aviation air show, his career and the type of work he does in his role
• 0:28:17 – Keith Webb explains the Temora Aviation Museum‘s “Unsung Heroes” project and the work involved in collecting the reminiscences of veterans
• 0:34:42 – Grant catches up with Captain Jack Curtis, DC3 pilot extraordinaire and perhaps the only pilot flying DC3s who’s actually older than the aircraft he’s flying :)
• 0:43:01 – Dick Simms talks about being an Officer Cadet in the RAAF & flying Mustangs, Vampires & Meteors then his career selling aircraft and his restoration of a 1930’s Ryan STM that can now be found at the Temora Aviation Museum
•  0:58:10 – Mick Haxel (DFC) chats with Grant about his career in the military and the Civil
• Aviation Authority (CAA) at the time that it became the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) before winding up with his current position with Flight Safety Pty Ltd. He also talks about how he was awarded DFC for his flying in Vietnam (Audio courtesy of the Australian War Memorial)
•  1:16:50 – Steve talks with Tammy Augostin about the Women of Aviation Worldwide...

Just to be different, this episode Steve joins ATC Ben on a BenAir flight from Essendon (YMEN) to Temora (YTEM) to attend the NatFly 2014 event. With the Cirrus SR20’s autopilot keeping them on track, Captain Ben & FO Steve introduce the show before opening up their packed lunches. Sadly, Sierra Juliette Alpha (VH-SJA) did not include a flight attendant so they had to arrange their own drinks.

Meanwhile, as you may have heard on a recent Australia Desk Segment, Grant was flying hot air balloons in Leeton, about 60 nautical miles south west of Temora. While Steve & Ben were at NatFly & recording a few interviews, Grant managed to corner a pilot for a chat in Leeton.This episode unfolds with the following content:

• 0:03:54 – Paul Goard from Brumby Aircraft Australia (based in Cowra, New South Wales) talks about their high-wing aircraft, the change to the Rotax engine and their production schedule.
•  0:08:49 – Robin Lowe from Lowe Flight (based at Kilcunda, Victoria) talks about the Fresh Breeze XCitor Paratrike which subsequently won the “Best Powered Parachute” award at NatFly 2014. It also turns out that Robin is looking for an instructor to join his team so if you’re interested, his contact details are on the website :)
•  0:14:54 – Bob & Marya Phillips at AvTours Australia have been in the aviation tours business since 1989. They talk about the tours they’ve previously run to Oshkosh and their plans for this year’s tour.
•  0:24:57 – Matt Hall from Matt Hall Racing talks about pylon hits, assessing the other competitors, the removal of the knife-edge pass pylons from the Red Bull Air Race‘s track design and his schedule for the next month or two.
•  0:31:31 – Grant catches up with Niall Higgins after another fun morning flying hot air balloons over Leeton. Niall talks about his background in aviation and why he flies fixed wing AND hot air balloons. In addition to flying a Yak52 with the Russian Roolettes, Niall also flies Tiger Moths and he talks about a very special gig on ANZAC Day this year: as part of the lead up to the Great Tiger Moth Air Race, Niall flew one of 4 Tigermoths up Sydney Harbour with WWII veterans on board. While we recorded the chat before ANZAC Day, this episode came out a few days after, allowing us to give you this link to an ABC News report on the flight :)
•  0:38:17 – As ATC Ben flies Sierra Juliet Alpha back to Essendon, he records a NatFly 2014 wrap up with Steve while they were somewhere over Mt Kosciuszko.

With Australia’s confirmed purchase of a total of 72 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, Steve & Grant are joined by Andrew McLaughlin from COMINT (Communications Intelligence) to discuss the F-35 and its operation within the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). We also feature a number of great interviews with Lockheed Martin staff and an in-depth discussion with Air Vice Marshall Kym “Koz” Osley regarding the work required to integrate the F35 into the RAAF.

After an introductory discussion on the F35 between Andrew, Steve & Grant, this episode features:

• 0:09:49 – Excerpts from the press conference held at RAAF Base Pt Cook in March 2014 where AVM Kym Osley discussed the F35 purchase and Deputy Chief of Air Force (DCAF) AVM Leo Davies introduced the first two RAAF pilots to go to the USA for F35 training: SQNLDR David “Belly” Bell & SQNLDR Andrew “Jacko” Jackson.
•  0:13:19 – Lockheed Martin test pilot Billie Flynn talks to us about his career from a Canadian F18 pilot seeing combat in Kosovo to a test pilot on the Eurofighter Typhoon and on to the F35. 
• 0:23:17 – Graham Bentley is ex-RAAF and the Lockheed Martin Business Development Manager in Australia. We talk to him about his career from flying P3 Orions to commanding the Australian Forces in the Middle East and on to his role as Air Attache in Washington, USA. He also discusses LockMart’s preparations to bring the F35 to Australia and the technologies it’ll bring with it.
•  0:32:42 – Steven L Over, Lockheed Martin’s Director of F-35 International Business Development, talks to us about component manufacturing being undertaken within Australia.
•  0:40:44 – Billie Flynn returns to talk with Grant in more detail regarding the F-35’s new high-tech helmet.
•  0:52:39 – Grant catches up with AVM Kym “Koz” Osley for an in-depth discussion on the work involved in bringing the F-35 into the RAAF, including infrastructure construction at airports, staffing & training, support equipment and perhaps the most complex part of the F-35’s support environment: Autonomic Logistics Information System (aka “ALIS”)
•  1:52:49 – We wrap up the episode with a further discussion between Andrew, Steve & Grant on the F-35 aircraft, the program and the potential for Australia to operate the F-35B on our new Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships (gotta use that ski-ramp, right?)

Steve’s very happy to have finally started converting currency into currency as he’s logging hours in a Flysynthesis Texan and progressing towards getting his RA-Aus license. Grant’s been too busy with work to get many hours but did finally get to log some “special shape” time in his balloon logbook. Naturally, both Steve & Grant are VERY happy to have finally released another episode.

This episode the boys are joined by Kathy Mexted and Maikha Ly so you know the blooper reel at the end will be “interesting” to say the least. Kathy & her hubby have been flying their Piper Cub while Maikha’s been flying for work but, thanks to Adelaide’s weather lately and a recent house purchase, he’s not been able to do any personal flying.

For this episode we’re bringing you a mixed bag of content from the RAAF’s Pt Cook Centenary of Military Aviation airshow (including Steve’s chat with AIRMSHL Geoff Brown), Kathy’s chat with Kingsley Just about his new world record, catching up with John Fisher to talk L39s & USAF and Grant’s recent visit to the B24 restoration project in Werribee for their heritage recognition award ceremony.

• 0:13:15 – Steve chats with Air Marshal Geoff Brown (Chief of Air Force) about the Royal Australian Air Force’s celebration of their centenary at Point Cook, his career with the RAAF, the RAAF’s fleet upgrades & current operations, the C-27J & F-35, flying gliders and transitioning from flying CH-47 Chinooks to flying fast jets.
•  0:30:34 – Grant visited the B24 restoration project at Werribee for their Heritage Recognition award ceremony and recorded a few chats with the following people:
• Doug Lindsay (President of the B24 Restoration project)
• Professor Alex Baitch (National President, Engineers Australia)
• Andrew Elsbury MLC (Member of State Parliament)
• Dan O'Connell (Volunteer)
• Before chatting with Tony Maher (volunteer), Grant also recorded the sound of Tony demonstrating the electrically driven mid-upper turret.
•  0:50:41 – Kathy chats with Kinglsey Just about setting the Guinness World Record for the most continuous rolls performed in an aircraft (an amazing 987 in his Pitts Special!). They talk about the planning & preparation, the method, the reason and how it all worked

During August, Grant spent a week in Darwin covering Exercise Pitch Black 2014, a major multinational "war game" exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force.

Australia's version of the Red Flag training exercises held in the USA and in 2014 the RAAF was joined by forces from the US, Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand, France and the United Arab Emirates.

Grant joined Andrew McLaughlin, Nigel Pittaway, Mike Yeo and Eng Tiong Ow to experience fantastic access to the local & visiting forces thanks to the efforts of FLTLT Eamon Hamilton. From meeting with representatives from each group attending Pitch Black to being beside the runways & taxiways at Darwin & Tindal, we were able to capture some fantastic photos, videos & interviews.

In addition to Grant's collection of Pitch Black 2014 content, Steve & ATC Ben recorded a chat with Ryan Campbell about his new book and his ideas for future projects.

At the time we recorded the wrappers for this episode, Steve was about to head to the USA for a family holiday and to cover the Red Bull Air Race in Las Vegas while Grant was geting ready to go to Auckland for the Wings Over New Zealand forum gathering. Unfortunately there were delays in getting everything finished so the episode didn't come out until after the boys had left on their flights. Go figure :)

The episode's details are:

• 0:08:20 - Grant's coverage of Exercise Pitch Black 2014
• 0:09:22 - General media "door stop" interview with GPCAPT "Micka" Gray
• 0:17:05 - FLTLT Ben Daly talks about the roles of Air Combat Officer (ACO) and Fighter Combat Controller (FCC)
• 0:22:03 - FLGOFF Kathryn Koslowicz talks about the day to day tasks of an Air Combat Officer (ACO) and being deployed to the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO)
• 0:26:31 - FLTLT Ben Daly takes us through No. 114 Mobile Control and Reporting Unit's operations cabins and how they're used to deploy & manage operations in remote locations
• 0:31:25 - SQNLDR Tim Main reviews the RAAF's new E7A Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft
• 0:40:15 - Lt Col Scott Arbogast is the commander of the US ANG F16s & he tells us about their role in the exercise
• 0:46:02 - CMSgt Joseph Smiley discusses the logistics behind getting the US ANG F16s to Australia, keeping them running here and then getting them back home afterwards
• 0:52:34 - WGCDR Ben Sleeman, CO of 77 SQN, tells us about being the defender
• 1:00:42 - SQNLDR Rob Crawford talks about the 37SQN C130J he brought up to Tindal
• 1:04:56 - WOFF Kyle Lovett is a refuelling operator (aka "boomer") on 33SQN's KC30A MRTTs and he walks us through a typical mission they've been flying
• 1:14:39 - FLTLT Adam Rouessart & FLGOFF Matthew Bleach were the crew for the F18F Super Hornet handling display during the week
• 1:18:52 - CASA CN235 crew from the French Armed Forces of New Caledonia
• 1:29:24 - RTAF WGCDR Titan
• 1:33:44 - Mick Gablonski is the CHC base manager for the S61 SAR helicopter at...

How many of you folks have wanted to be Air Traffic Controllers? Do you dream of Pushing Tin around the skies? Think you can keep The Flick in your head? Want to tell pilots in aircraft of all sizes where to go? (ahem! :) Steve & Grant both applied for ATC and were both knocked back for a number of reasons. Fortunately, we know a couple of guys who weren’t.

Join us as we chat with Ben Ippolito (the Ipanator) and Jeremy Peck, discussing being selected for ATC, the long hard slog of learning & practicing in the simulator and the terrors (ummm, joys) of taking their first few steps in the real world outside of the academy.

We also discuss GAAP changes, oceanic control, airspace classes, working with the RAAF and much more.

You can find out more about becoming an Air Traffic Controller on the Air Services ATC page. Recruitment for the 2010 class closes by January 3rd.

As the final hours of 2014 draw to a close, we're getting our last episode for 2014 out the door. The boys have been kept pretty busy with their day jobs lately but, despite this, they've managed to do some flying:

• Grant's been taking friends on their first balloon flights including Evan Schoo and Darren Craven
• Fred Samson took Steve for a fly over San Francisco while he was there a back in October
• Steve got to fly a 172 in Las Vegas thanks to Rod Rakic & AirWork Las Vegas, an OpenAirplane member
• The PCDU aeroplane fleet has expanded thanks to Jonesy picking up a 1974 model Cessna 172

After the hangar talk settles down, we get into the episode itself which includes the recent Avalon Airshow Media Launch, Steve's time at the Red Bull Air Race in Las Vegas and Grant's trip to Auckland in New Zealand for the Wings Over New Zealand Forum meet up. The episode stacks up in the following list:

• Grant attended the media launch for the Avalon Airshow which was held in the old Qantas hangar where they used to park a 747 while doing heavy maintenance on it. There was wind on the hangar walls, doors opening, vehicles moving and people talking which all made it a rather "interesting" place to record the following chats:
• 0:16:29 - Jeff "Trappo" Trappett finally gets a chance to appear on PCDU (that or he couldn't run away fast enough :) ) and talks to Grant about his P51, his C47 & his Sabre
•  0:22:34 - Paul Bennet talks about his new Wolf Pitts aircraft, the manoeuvres it's letting him do and where things are at with Paul Bennet Airshows (sounds like he's got a bit of an airforce happening :) )
•  0:26:36 - Darren Craven talks about owning & flying a Winjeel
•  0:33:30 - Gordon Robinson talks about flying Australia's only Fokker Dr.1 triplane replica all the way down to Melbourne from Brisbane
•  0:39:38 - Andrew Carter owns & flies the Dr.1 replica that Gordon flew down. He talks to us about setting up the Australian Vintage Aviation Society to commemorate WW1 & bring to life aircraft of the era.
•  0:48:28 - Of course, there wouldn't be aircraft at Avalon without a session on Timbo's Tarmac and Grant made sure to record one at this event
•  Back in October, Steve went to the USA to experience the Red Bull Air Race in Las Vegas (his family still thinks it was a family trip :) ). While at the event he recorded the following interviews:
• 0:54:27 - Matt Hall talks about his results in the Fort Worth race & the challenges he's found this season
• 0:59:33 - Eric Cieslar & Peter Wezenbeek are Matt Hall's race technician & race tactician and they talk about their roles in keeping Matt flying in top form during the races
• 1:05:30 - Hannes Arch talks about standardised engines and how they've highlighted the pilot's skills as opposed to engine power
• 1:09:06 - Kirby Chambliss talks about the challenges he's faced this season and the changes he'll be making for the next season
• 1:13:42 - Mike Goulian talks about his involvement with Cirrus aircraft and the hassles he's worked through this season
• 1:19:48 -...

The Australian International Airshow (aka Avalon Airshow) is held every two years and runs for 6 days with the first 3 being trade-only. The 4th day of the show is always on a Friday and the public start coming in around midday then stay for the night show, a feature of Avalon for well over 15 years. The final two days are the weekend and, as you might expect, are packed with public enjoying the action and static displays.T

Once again Team PCDU are at Avalon every day gathering plenty of content for your listening pleasure. This episode holds the first block of interviews we've prepared while the show is still going. At the rate we're going we'll have another two episodes of Avalon content but for now, here's how this one unfolds:

• 0:03:38 - Sergeant Xavier "X" Sheriff is a loadmaster on the C130J and he's recently returned from Red Flag at Nellis.
•  0:11:47 - Flying Officer "Guns" was also at Red Flag but while he is command rated on the C130J, he spent the duration of Red Flag performing the tactical planning for each mission.
•  0:21:07 - Steve caught up with Simon Hackett in his PC12 (VH-TCP) and they talk about gliding, the Cirrus SR22, the PC12 and Simon's next aircraft, the Pilatus PC24 jet.
•  0:46:37 - Maikha Ly caught up with Graeme Horne from Cirrus and they review the Cirrus Jet, the market for Cirrus aircraft in Australia and the "Australis" version of the SR22
• 0:57:40 - Steve talks to Basil Lenzo about Evektor Aircraft's Sportstar & Harmony aircraft, the scene at their home base in Perth and their new operation at Moorabbin
•  1:02:57 - Grant & Steve ran into Matt Hall and had a good chat about his recent podium finish in the Red Bull Air Race, his new winglets & aircraft handling, developments at Belmont airport (YPEC) that Matt & a consortium recently purchased and QBE's Airmanship program.
•  1:17:08 - Following on from his chat with Simon in the PC12, Steve caught up with Andre Zimmerman to discuss the Pilatus PC24.
•  1:24:40 - We wrap up the episode and talk about the Airbus A400M transport. We also mention that in addition to Steven Pam taking lots of amazing images, Maikha's running around with his selfie-stick & distinctive hat. If you get your photo taken with Maikha, you'll be in the running to get some prizes :)

If you’ve ever looked skyward in Sydney, there’s a high chance you’ve seen a bright red aircraft with old-style German crosses on the wings. Originally flying an old Tiger Moth, the Red Baron flew out of Bankstown and gave joy flights to members of the public, flying over Sydney’s beaches and occasionally doing aerobatics.

Roll forward to today and Red Baron scenic & aerobatic flights is now owned by Joel Haski (RedBaronSydney on Twitter) with a number of aircraft, including Pitts Specials, Robins/Alphas, an Extra and a new Airvan. Some are painted in Red Baron colours while others fly under the Red Bull logos.

We were fortunate enough to get some of Joel’s time for a chat about his flying history, running the Red Baron operation, being involved with Red Bull and the recent New South Wales Aerobatic competition.

The Australian International Airshow (aka Avalon Airshow) may well be over for 2015 but our collection of content recorded at the show is still being worked on. Here's another hour of interviews & discussions and we suspect there may be another two episodes before we're through with all of it. This is what happens when you let Steve, Grant & Maikha run loose with audio recorders at an airshow :)

Steve kicks us off with an overview of the episode which unfolds as:

• 0:02:42 - Grant caught up with Richard Woodward but instead of chatting in his usual ride (an A380), they're chatting about the new coaxial rotor helicopters he's working on with Coax Helicopters. They're amazing machines that are being targeted at those who like to ride sports bikes without fairings.
•  0:10:45 - Peta Denham Harvey is the vice president of the Australian Women Pilots' Association (Victorian Branch) and she tells Maikha about the Round Australia Relay which features women pilots flying around australia to raise money for the Cancer Council. The relay started during the Avalon Airshow and will conclude in April at the AWPA conference in Launceston (Tasmania).
•  0:16:21 - Grant talks with GPCAPT Guy Adams regarding Unmanned Aerial Systems within the Australian Defence Force ranging from backpack units Army squads can use through to Global Hawk & Triton. The discussions also covers how the Heron UAV is operating with the RAAF after Afghanistan, the Scan Eagle platform trials, operations with Reapers in the USA and what was involved in getting a Global Hawk to land at Avalon Airport.
• 0:38:04 - Craig Duncan from the Airline Academy of Australia has come down from Queensland for the show and he talks with Steve about their training operations at Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport at Toowoomba.
• 0:49:03 - Maikha's managed to get into the belly of an RJ85 Fire Fighting aircraft that's been derived from a BAe146. He's with Ray Horton from ConAir in Canada and they're talking about Ray's career, ConAir's operations, the RJ85 and fire bombing in Australia.
• 1:01:06 - Grant got to take a break with Jodi Davis and review what she's been up to over the last 18 months including her aerobatic flying and working as Matt Hall Racing's domestic business development manager based at Belmont Airport in Pelican (New South Wales).
• 1:06:18 - With a live-to-the-mic intro from Allan Van't Padje, Timbo joins Grant to give us yet another Timbo's Tarmac with the inside word on the Avalon warbird tarmac, some fun with soft ground and storing aircraft in the now empty ex-Qantas hangars.
• 1:09:47 - Steve wraps up the episode