Plane Crazy Down Under

Episode 41: Australian Federal Election QuickCast #3: Comments on the Greens & Labor’s White Paper

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:46:38 +0000

In our third & final Election QuickCast, we take a look at the published transportation policies from the The Greens and the Labor Party’s “Aviation White Paper.” Sadly, Christine Milne from the Greens and Anthony Albanese from Labor were unable to accommodate us in their busy schedules. Both groups have indicated that they’ll be happy to talk to us once the dust has settled from the election so we look forward to bringing them on for future episodes.

Meanwhile, Steve & I didn’t have much time for a full analysis & discussion but we did record our thoughts on the information we could gather. As you’d expect, the Greens are very much into public transport and eco-friendly fuels while the Labor party are standing very firmly behind their Aviation White Paper.

As previously noted, we’re not trying to tell you how to vote, just doing our bit to raise awareness of the importance of aviation within the political community and hopefully give you some information that might help you make an informed decision.

Episode 40: Australian Federal Election QuickCast #2: Ken Hill & Tim Sheen

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 06:52:16 +0000

Australians are about to go to the election booths on Saturday 21st August so we’re working to bring our listeners information about the aviation policies of the various political parties. We’re not trying to tell you how to vote, just doing our bit to raise awareness of the importance of aviation within the political community and hopefully give you some information that might help you make an informed decision.

In our second Election QuickCast, we’re taking to two representatives from one of Australia’s more “interesting” parties. This party approaches politics from the small business and civil liberties environment and has a rather distinctive, catchy and memorable name: The Australian Sex Party.

We were fortunate enough to speak with Ken Hill and Tim Sheen about their views on the current election, Australian politics and aviation. Ken is a private pilot in Melbourne who is working on the party’s aviation & transportation policies while Tim Sheen is a candidate for the Sex Party in Queensland and also a commercial pilot flying in the New Guinea area.

The discussion covers a lot of issues that are of importance to pilots within Australia and raises a number of the problems currently facing people who are trying to make a living in this industry.

Episode 39: Australian Federal Election QuickCast #1: Warren Truss

Grant (Falcon124) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:59:49 +0000

In our first Election QuickCast, we’re interviewing Warren Truss, the leader of the National Party and shadow minister for trade, transport and local government. Warren was gracious enough to give us some time to talk about his interest in aviation as well as his party’s views on the importance of aviation to Australia, the cost of flying, airspace safety, airport encroachment and ways to get more people flying. We even touch on high speed rail and how it stands compared to airlines. We also discover that Warren’s a bit of an aircraft lover and has a good collection of models in his office.

We’re working with the other parties to see if we can get time with their representatives before the election. Everyone is, of course, extremely busy in the final days of meeting constituents, appearing at events and being in the media. Watch the space to see who else we can get for you :)

Episode 38: Dick Smith: Around the World in Many Ways

Grant (Falcon124) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:24:53 +0000

Dick Smith is an entrepreneur well known to most Australians, ranging from the country wide chain of Dick Smith Electronics stores he created to Dick Smith Foods and Australian Geographic.

Another very important aspect of Dick’s life has revolved around aviation. In addition to owning & flying his own aeroplanes & helicopters, he has also flown around the world multiple times, made the first helicopter landing at the North Pole, and flown balloons across Australia as well as from New Zealand back to Australia (against the prevailing winds). He was on the board of (and then director of) both the Civil Aviation Authority and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). Dick is also a very vocal champion of air space reform in Australia and aviation safety in general.

We were very fortunate to have been given some of Dick’s valuable time to discuss his early days learning to fly, his adventuring around the world and his thoughts on a number of different aircraft he’s owned & flown. We also touch briefly on his time with the CAA/CASA and his thoughts on aviation safety & airspace reform, all of which will be covered in more detail in future interviews we hope to bring you as soon as Dick’s schedule permits.

The new look site

Grant (Falcon124) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:14:12 +0000

We’ve revamped the site layout yet again with the aim of making it easier to find information and important stuff. Mostly this is handled via the menu bar across the upper part of the page (About Us, You can Help Us, etc) but also by putting some more white space in the design to make it a bit easier on the eye.

Another key part of the redesign is the list of episodes are now highlighted down the left hand side of the page, rather than buried in the stream of messages like this. Hopefully that makes it easier for you to find them if you’re playing them from the site rather than getting them through the feed.

There’s also the large space at the top for big announcements and such, like the one there now telling you that yes, we’ve been picked up by another group of aviation podcasters. Milford & Charlie at the Flight Time Radio show in Florida have graciously offered us a space to run a “Flying Down Under” segment. The Flight Time Radio show is broadcast every Saturday on radio W-BOB in Jacksonville, Florida so we’re tailoring this segment to recreational flyers and the general public. Stay tuned for more about “Flying Down Under.”

Meanwhile, feel free to let us know what you think of the new layout, either by leaving comment here or using our forum.

We tried to get to Oshkosh 2010

Grant (Falcon124) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 02:37:03 +0000

Air Venture: Oshkosh is the place to be if you’re into aviation. There’s something for everyone from home builts to military to warbirds to commercial to seaplanes to antiques to balloons and everything else imaginable. If you love aviation, you have to get to Oshkosh.

For the past four years a group of aviation podcasters have been gathering to produce the “Podapalooza” session. Imagine a room full of people and a table at one end packed with many of the people behind the voices in your head. All hanging out, talking about flying, aviation topics and social media. Pure podcasting fun :)

Since we started Plane Crazy Down Under, we’ve tried twice but never been able to make it to Oshkosh. Back in 2009, Stephen Force of the Airspeed podcast took a quick “Hello Oshkosh” piece we produced and had it played at the Podapalooza and on the EAA radio show during the event.

This year we couldn’t make it again (DOH!) so we put another promo together. It’s longer but encapsulates what we’ve been up to for the past year. They played part of it at the Podapalooza so we’re adding the original piece to our feed so you can hear how we tried to get there but couldn’t quite make it.

Maybe 2011 will be “third time’s the charm” and we’ll get there at last? :)

Episode 37: It’s “Flight Attendant,” Grant

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:51:01 +0000

It seems that Grant has always had troubles with the label “Flight Attendant” ever since his sister joined Australian Airlines and mistakenly told him she would be a “Trolley Dolly.” Ooops :)

In this episode we’re joined by Janene Murdoch, Tania Tracey and Amelia Kelly. Janene used to be a flight attendant with Ansett in the 70′s & 80′s, Tania was with Australian Airlines & Qantas in the 90′s and Amelia is currently working in the industry. We have a great chat with them comparing “then & now” in recruitment, work environments, passenger expectations and challenges.

It was a great chat and we hope to have the ladies back with us again in the future to continue exploring the “then & now” of being a flight attendant.

For those of you who want to keep up with Amelia’s latest news, you can follow her on Twitter (traytablestrvls) or through her blog (Tray Tables Travels).

Episode 36: Incidentally, Matt…

Grant (Falcon124) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:01:32 +0000

Most of you will have already seen Matt Hall’s splash on the river at Windsor back in June. Then he was denied a go at racing in New York, to which he responded very diplomatically, which in turn taught some of us how to “take our lumps.”

This episode we have a good chat with Matt Hall about exactly what happened during his splash in Windsor (including what was going through his mind at the time), the physics of a G-Stall, where the Red Bull Air Race folks dredged up the “two prior incidents” they mentioned, how the other pilots reacted to the news and what Matt’s learned from all of this.

Great listening and very educational, especially on the subject of how even a top-notch pilot like Matt can help make the holes in the swiss cheese align.

Episode 35: Perseverance & Persistence

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 19:15:20 +0000

These days it’s quite common to find ladies in command of commercial airliners, bizjets and combat aircraft. Thirty years ago, however, this was certainly not the case here in Australia and a female required a stubborn streak & thick skin to push through and gain acceptance in a very male dominated world.

While the situation for ladies in aviation is still not completely balanced it is significantly improved over the scene in the mid-70s. One reason for that improvement was thanks to the efforts of Deborah Lawrie (aka Deborah Wardley) who was the first female pilot with Ansett Airlines, one of Australia’s biggest airlines until it’s demise in 2001.

Deborah’s story is one of determination and a drive to achieve her goals, no matter what obstacles society and some organisations put in her path. We are fortunate enough in this episode to have had Deborah join us for a great chat about her interest in aviation, learning to fly, her early commercial days, getting into Ansett, the Australian Pilots’ Dispute of 1989 and her subsequent career working with KLM before returning to Australia where she is currently working with Jetstar as their manager of Safety Investigations (while still also flying their A320s).

It’s an incredible chat and we think that in addition to learning about Deborah’s life, you’ll also learn a lot about the Australian airline environment of the past & present.

Episode 34: Arching over the Swamp

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:32:23 +0000

This episode we feature an interview with Hannes Arch, the Austrian Red Bull champion in 2008 who came second in 2009 and is currently second on points for 2010. We have a great chat with Hannes about his involvement in extreme sports, his love of flying and his approach to the Red Bull racing world.

We were also fortunate to get some time with Gary Clark, the creator of the Swamp cartoon strip. Gary’s experiences in learning to fly and his on going adventures in the air have provided a solid source of inspiration for many of the characters & moments depicted in the Swamp series. It is not uncommon to find his cartoons on the walls in flying clubs & schools, hangars and aviation organisations.

This episode also includes the following:

A discussion with Angie Morino from Aus Air Services about the changes they’ve made at the Tooradin Flying School (YTDN).
Grant’s quick chat with Richard Turnbull, a hot air balloon pilot from the UK
Anthony Simmons’ latest View from the Lounge segment
Our listener mail, including:
- Stephen Silk points us at Ask the Pilot
- Steven Pam provides still more checklist examples
- Trent Donnovan from WA shows that Jandakot (YPJT) is only just behind Bankstown (YSBK) for total movements in February
We give a few shout outs:
- The Airplane Geeks podcast reaches 100 episodes – well done guys!
- We’ve launched our PCDU Commentaries blog
- Kathy Mexted mentioned us in her article about the Melton Centenary Air Show that appeared in AOPA’s Australian Pilot magazine
- Milford & Charlie from the Flight Time Radio Show over in Florida
- Don’t forget to give PCDU a good comment (or two :) ) over at the iTunes store

Introducing PCDU Commentary

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:34:31 +0000

We’ve set up a blog where Steve & I can post our opinionated observations & commentary on the aviation scene down under. We still have our personal blogs (Grant’s is Fly Me Friendly and Steve’s is AusFlier) but they’re more for our own flying adventures.

So check out PCDU Commentary and add your thoughts & comments to ours.

1000 Downloads for Episode 1

steve — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 11:28:18 +0000

Some time over the past few days, our fledgling episode number 1, “And so it begins” has crossed the 1000 downloads mark! This surely is cause for a small measure of celebration, considering that in it’s first week, we were pretty happy to see it hit 40 downloads. Over the following few weeks, it struggled up to around the 200 mark, and has trickled slowly upwards ever since.

Our first few shows, and episode 1 in particular, were basically just the uncut versions of the Airplane Geeks Australia News Desk that we have been producing since March 2009. Listening back to those earlier shows now, made as they were with cheap PC microphones, no mixer, and recorded directly off Skype, it’s almost a little cringe worthy compared to the standard we strive for now. However, if you’re new to our show, and are perhaps reading this page before heading off to iTunes to download our earlier efforts, please do so with the view to coming on a journey with us – not only in terms of content, but with a view to observing the learning curve we’ve been on that’s taken us to the magazine style, radio show format you hear today.

Our statistics show us that many first time listeners happen across episode one but don’t continue on with us. Given the lower production standards back then, we understand why this is the case, however we suggest sampling one of our shows from, say, episode 20 onwards. These shows were made using studio quality microphones, mixers and solid state recording devices. And frankly, we feel we’re delivering the shows far more professionally now. As time has gone on, we’ve been privileged to meet and interview a wide range of fascinating people and have introduced a number of segments designed to make the show just a little bit different with each release.

For those of you who continue to faithfully download Plane Crazy Down Under each week and participate in our community, we thank you sincerely for your support. We plan to continue delivering quality content to you each fortnight, and we encourage our new listeners to take the step and venture past our initial effort. Come on the journey with us and become another valued member of the PCDU community!

Episode 33: Four Degrees of Separation from Ben Sandilands

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:02:43 +0000

In this episode we join noted aviation journalist Ben Sandilands from Plane Talking to review the latest news & information. When we called Ben, he was experiencing a heat wave of 11 degrees Celsius at his home in the mountains near Canberra. Meanwhile, here in Melbourne we were thinking winter was upon us as the temperature dipped to 15 degrees Celsius. Four degrees of separation but a very different pair of perspectives on cold vs hot.

Fortunately, we were all spot on with our news analysis, including such topics as:

Use of composites in airliners and the indications that it won’t really be effective for another 10 to 20 years
QANTAS still claiming that they’re going to get their 787-9s on a date that would be before Air New Zealand (the launch customer) despite Boeing making a statement contradicting this
The changes that are afoot with the Virgin Blue group being under new leadership:
- Brett Godfrey’s farewell bash
- John Borghetti not getting the top job at QANTAS but, perhaps, getting something better with running Virgin Blue
- Fleet choices and the possibility that they’ll get A330s or B767s, especially on high density routes like Sydney to Melbourne
- The likelihood that they’ll rebrand the group (Virgin Blue, V Australia, Pacific Blue, Polynesian Blue) under a single name
Singapore Airlines having veto rights over the name Virgin for any new international airline
Tiger Airways recording a profit and becoming more of a stable, solid threat in the market
Australia’s transport minister Anthony Albanese wanting to restrict cockpit access to only the two pilots flying and any check pilots or safety reviewers
The F35 and how Australia seems to be one of the few countries NOT getting upset about all the delays and problems

After chatting with Ben, we have an interview with James Baldwin & Glen Somerville from EmptyJets, an organisation that gives you the chance to get rides in charter aircraft that would otherwise be flying empty on positioning flights. From helicopters to Gulfstream Vs, they’re all on the list and well worth checking out.

After that we dive into the mail bag where:

Matt McCabe compares the cost of learning to fly here in Australia against the USA
Errol Cavit enjoyed the Red Bull show and will be catching up with us when he comes over from New Zealand (for a Sci Fi convention, no less)
Vince Bezzina who volunteers at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook was checking if we knew about the DC6 coming to Australia from South Africa. Oh yes, do we ever!

We also have a couple of shout outs to:

Damien Rose who is now a private pilot and on his way to a commercial license (and speaking of the cost of learning – Damien sold his house to fund all this! He must have a VERY understanding wife, that’s for sure :)
Steve Cooke from the Flying Podcast in the UK has released his latest episode on a topic that’s very important for Grant: ballooning

Open Day at Tooradin this coming Saturday

steve — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:04:08 +0000

The flying school at Tooradin, just south east of Melbourne, is back in action! After a few quiet years, the school has been bought by Aus Air Services who have quickly set about restoring an operational status.
Steve & Grant ventured out the Tooradin and recorded a quick interview during which we discovered that an open day is being held this Saturday, May 22nd from 12pm, AEST.
This is a chance for everyone to head down and have a look at this great little airfield, meet the staff and have a look at their fleet of training aircraft. The airfield also houses the Commando Sky Divers operation and Wings & Fins restaurant, which has also recently re-opened for business.
Tooradin Airfield is located on the South Gippsland Highway, just south of the township, and just a pleasant 60 minute drive from central Melbourne. Check out their website at www.ausairservices.com.au for details of the RA-AUS training aircraft, Tiger Moth flights, and Piper Chieften charter aircraft.

Grant & Steve help out with the Airplane Geeks

Grant (Falcon124) — Tue, 18 May 2010 01:20:41 +0000

Grant & Steve produce a weekly “Australia Desk” segment for the Airplane Geeks podcast that provides some news & information from down under. It’s usually presented with a bit of a cheeky theme and makes use of Steve’s extensive sound effect library. That’s the usual process and we have a blast doing it for the guys over in the USA.

Recently, however, we were too tired to make an episode so Max Flight invited us to join the Geeks and record live with them. The results are, suffice to say, hillarious and their guest, Karlene Petitt, demonstrated true mettle by not only sticking around to record with us but joining in the fray.

So if you’ve not already heard the episode, go and check out Episode 96: Karlene’s Flight to Success and you’ll hear a great interview with Karlene, Grant & Steve joining in the fun for the news review and a set of out takes at the end of the show that go longer than entire episodes of some podcasts :)

Episode 32: Switch to Plan Delta

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:41:44 +0000

This episode features a discussion with Peter Gibson, the manager of corporate communications at CASA. He’s joined us to explain the airspace changes that will come into effect on June 3rd, changes which will impact Class D, see the transition of GAAP to Class D and introduce the mandatory carriage of radios at all certified, registered or military non-towered aerodromes (plus any others as designated in the ERSA).

We also talk to Owen Zupp just before he departed on his There and Back trip around Australia as well as Tim Pryse and Ken Evers a few days prior to the start of their Millions Against Malaria trip around the world. We feature another “View from the Lounge” and introduce ATC_Ben‘s new “Controllers Corner” segment.

As we wind up the show, we discuss the Australian Capital Territory funding yet another feasibility study for a much needed secondary airport near Canberra. You can read more about it in an news entry from Australian Aviation and also follow up progress through the Canberra Region Aviators Association web site.

If you want to see a 737-200 land at Jandakot (Perth’s secondary airport), check out the video of the landing that Ed Stubbs pointed us at. Not bad.

Just in time to make our cut off for this episode, we had a quick chat with Owen as he was half way around his trip. A great update on his progress and how things have been going.

Catching up with Owen Zupp at Point Cook

Grant (Falcon124) — Wed, 12 May 2010 22:30:59 +0000

Owen Zupp will be arriving at Point Cook on Sunday the 16th by about 12:30 so he can be on the ground before the RAAF Museum’s 1pm flying display starts. We’re going to be on site to meet up with him and watch the display.

If any of you are in Melbourne then come on down and . . . → Read More: Catching up with Owen Zupp at Point Cook

Two Great Journeys are Under Way

Grant (Falcon124) — Wed, 12 May 2010 04:57:30 +0000

Owen Zupp is half way around his There and Back Australian tour, raising funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Flying a Jabiru J230, Owen’s trying to raise $10,000 in donations to the RFDS so go to his site and “give a dollar to the doctor.”

Meanwhile, Ken Evers and Tim Pryse have left Australia and are flying around the world in a Gippsland Aeronautics GA-8 Airvan. Their Millions Against Malaria flight is raising funds towards malaria research so if you can spare a few dollars, go to their site and donate.

Check in regularly with both sites as their routes may take them near you. Owen, Ken & Tim welcome the opportunity to meet people at each stop, so feel free to go and say HI as they pass through.

Episode 31: Red Bull all The Way

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:01:56 +0000

The Red Bull Air Race came back to Perth this year and Steve was there, flexing his newly minted press credentials and discovering the amazing world of the Red Bull media centre. Sadly, Grant was working in Indonesia and so couldn’t be there to help hang out, rub shoulders with the stars and quaff a few cans of Red Bull.

Fortunately Steve was well & truly up to the task and managed to capture a few interviews while he was there. First up in this episode we have Steve’s summary of the race, including his interview with Hannes Arch, the press conference at the end of the race and a collection of content from the Red Bull Media Pool.

After the break we get to hear a great chat with Nigel Lamb recorded while he was in Rio getting ready for the third race. We learn about how he flies the race and just what benefit he is getting from those amazing winglets. Grant drops a clanger during the interview but fortunately Steve cut that bit out, putting it at the very end of the episode in the bloopers ‘cos hey, no one ever listens to them, right? Right? (“Please don’t!” says Grant) :)

The final pair of interviews are with Lenny Raulson, Matt Hall’s mechanic at the time of the Perth race. He finished up with Matt’s team just after the race and they’ve now transitioned to an Australian mechanic, Jack Moshovis. After Steve’s chat with Lenny, we have a chat with David Lyall, Matt’s team coordinator. He tells us what it’s like to work with Matt, why they changed from Lenny to Jack and much more.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Feel free to leave us feedback via email, comments on the site or on our forum on Downwind.com.au.

Episode 30: Antarctica: The Last True Wilderness

Grant (Falcon124) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:55:45 +0000

The first aircraft to be used in Antarctica was Henry Mawson’s Vickers REP monoplane. Sadly, it had been damaged in Australia before arriving in Antarctica and was used as an “air tractor” to pull sleds. Even that didn’t work out and it was dumped, eventually being found again only recently.

Given that inauspicious start, it’s hard to believe that there are multiple ice & snow runways in Antarctica receiving visits from C130s, C17s and now an Australian A319 carries scientists on regular flights to the ice. It is also possible to go on one of the QANTAS sight seeing flights that are proving to be very popular with their great views of the ice & mountains.

With all this in mind, we decided to put together a special episode focusing on the land that’s even more “down under” than we are. To kick things off we have an interview with Captain Dan Colborne of Skytraders. Dan flies the Airbus A319/ACJ from Australia to the Wilkins Blue Ice runway in Australian Antarctic territory. He also flies the CASA 212-400 aircraft that are based in Antarctica for the summer, including the long ferry flights at the start & end of the season.

We chat with David Vanderhoof about Air New Zealand Flight 901, the DC-10 that tragically crashed on Mount Erebus during a sight seeing tour over Antarctica in the 70′s. We also discuss some of the other runways on Antarctica and the aircraft that visit them.

The final section in this episode has a discussion with Phil Asker from The Captain’s Choice Tours and Croydon Travel who has been arranging Antarctic sight seeing flights for many years. Working with QANTAS, the flights are in Boeing 747 or Airbus A380 aircraft and are very much in demand, especially the New Years Eve flight.

We talk with Phil about what’s involved in preparing the flights and what passengers can expect to encounter. We also talk with David Halls about what it was like as a passenger on the New Years Eve flight on Dec 31st, 2009. Finally, we prove that nepotism is alive & well in podcasting by bringing Grant’s sister Tania on the show to talk about her time working as a Trolley Dolly (sorry, Flight Attendant) on an Antarctic flight. She also gives Steve LOTS of material to use against Grant, much of it unfit for public consumption (even in the outtakes).

So, put your survival suit on and prepare to meet some penguins as we talk about Antarctica.

If only I could do this…

Grant (Falcon124) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 05:50:27 +0000

How cool would it be if the seat selection process at the check-in kiosk system allowed you to do this:

XKCD's "Seat Selection" cartoon

If you like the cartoon, send an email to orders@xkcd.com and ask them to add #726 to the list of signed comic prints that are available to purchase. Heck, even if you don’t, please send the email anyway – some of us are hanging to buy a signed copy of this one :)

PCDU on Sun n Fun Radio

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:57:17 +0000

Thanks to Stephen Force (aka Steve Tupper) of the Airspeed podcast, we were invited to appear on a special “Aviation Podcasters” event being held on Sun N Fun Radio at the Sun N Fun air show. We were on first and, given the joys of timezones, it meant an early morning start for us to be on the show. For Steve it was 8am in Melbourne but for Grant it was 5am in Indonesia where he’s working at the moment.

So despite a bit of a lag and a very flakey connection in Indonesia, we managed to do our bit on the show. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed the opportunity to hang out and chat for a bit.

If only we could have been there, rather than connecting via Skype. Oh well :)

Pending GAAP to Class D conversion

Grant (Falcon124) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 10:17:35 +0000

In June of this year, Australia’s General Aviation Aerodrome Procedures (GAAP) airports are going to convert a US FAA based Class D airspace. We’re trying to arrange an episode dedicated to this topic before June but meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) have arranged a number of workshops around the country for pilots to learn about the changes and how they will affect them.

If you haven’t already, go to the CASA GAAP page and follow the links there to sign up. This is critical not only for any pilot who flies at these airports but even those who fly near them. You never know when you may have to divert to one. Besides, as Bas Scheffers points out in his CTAF(R) blog article on these workshops, it’ll be a great way to meet pilots in your area :)

Who’s going to the Red Bull Air Race in Perth?

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:07:51 +0000

If any of you are going to the Red Bull Air Race in Perth, let us know so we can arrange a meet up (or tweet-up if you’re so inclined :) Steve’s got media accreditation and will be taking photos & recording interviews with the pilots, their teams and the race organisers.

Sadly, Grant’s being sent to Indonesia with his work so he’ll be sitting in the middle of Java gnashing his teeth at the thought of what he’s missing. Hopefully the distractions of work, culture and learning a new language will keep him from getting too distraught :)

So chime in if you’re going to be in Perth and we’ll arrange some sort of gathering.

Episode 29: What’s in a Checklist?

Grant (Falcon124) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:21:35 +0000

Some in-cockpit audio provided by a listener triggered a discussion on the differences in pre-landing checklists (GUMPS vs BUMFTH vs BUMFOH vs whatever). All of Grant’s aviation books & manuals are still in boxes after moving house so he had to rely on his memory with predictable results. Talk about incentive to go out and get current again…

Given we couldn’t do a whole episode around the concept of “gas” in different countries, we also discuss recent aviation news items (so many to chose from lately) and have a collection of interviews we recorded at the RAAF’s Air Pageant at Point Cook.

Here’s how the episode hangs together this time:

We have yet another opinionated discussion on recent news items:
- QANTAS are very much in the news due to an engineering dispute and maintenance woes
- Virgin Blue has signed up with Boeing for new 737s
  - Virgin Blue signs order for 50 new Boeing 737 jets (Bill Lindsay @ The Australian)
  - The Blue’s big Boeing buy (Australian Aviation)
- New boss to aim for bigger Tiger (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
- Tower, ILS upgrades for Melbourne (Australian Aviation)
- Sydney Airport flags huge rise for plane berths (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
- Last boarding calls for Sydney’s tarmac tours (Ben Sandilands @ Crikey)
- Brindabella closes flying school (Australian Aviation)
- Rhinos arrive (Australian Aviation) (First 5 RAAF Super Hornets land in Australia)
- CASA are converting our GAAP airports to Class D in June. Have you booked in to attend one of their workshop seminars on the transition? You’d better. Check out the CASA web page about the transition.
- We shamelessly rip off UCAP’s “Off field landing of the week” segment
  - Plane lands on Hobart highway (Yahoo! 7 News)
  - Pilot praised over highway crash landing (ABC News)

We recorded a few interviews with pilots at the RAAF’s Air Pageant at Point Cook airbase
- Jim & Jenny Wickham (Yak9 & Robinson R22)
- Jim Whalley (CA-13 Boomerang)
- Murray Colquhoun (chief experimental test pilot with Pilatus & the PC21)

Anthony Simmons returns with his “View from the Lounge” segment

What’s in our mailbag for this episode?
- Luke Harris raises the issue of laser pointers being used to tag aircraft
- Bob Livingstone makes some comments about the B24
- Damien Rose provides some in-cockpit audio (we play his intro but the cockpit audio is at the end of the episode)

We definitely have some shout outs this episode
- Marty at Flight.org has been of great assistance to us, helping to promote the podcast & much more
- Thanks to those folks mentioning @pcdu in their Follow Friday tweets
- Check out errolwi on Twitter for his tweets while at the Warbirds over Wanaka air show in New Zealand (and yes, you’re welcome for the F18s :)
- Good luck to Zyola from the Mile High Flyers podcast as she’s going through the “joys” of losing her job recently. We also want to know if our photos on our About us page scared off her friends who thought our accents were cool/hot/sexy :)
- Thanks to Stuart Stevenson of the Pilots Journey podcast for setting up the Aviation Podcasts Network aggregator site

As usual, our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com.

Episode 28: Save the Liberator

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:28:19 +0000

The B24 Liberator was the most produced heavy bomber of World War 2 and saw service in all theaters of the war. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flew B24s along side those of the USAAF, based in northern Australia and Papua New Guinea. These aircraft flew long range missions of many hours duration, typically without fighter escort. Providing bombing, maritime patrol and transport services, the advanced & complicated B24 was, perhaps, the unsung hero of heavy bomber operations.

Very few of these aircraft still exist (see the list of remaining B24s) and in Australia, only a single example remains. It is currently being restored by a group of dedicated and passionate individuals, many of whom flew B24s during or immediately after the war.

Based in Werribee, just outside Melbourne, the Australian B24 Restoration project is definitely worth visiting and supporting. We were fortunate to visit the team, admire the aircraft and interview John Temby (President of the association) and Ed Crabtree (ex B24 pilot). Another trip down is currently being planned and we expect to have more great content from the restoration team in a later episode.

Meetup at the Centenary of Powered Flight Airshow

Grant (Falcon124) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:14:10 +0000

The Centenary Air Show is being held this Saturday (20th March) at Diggers Rest near Melbourne. The air show is being held to celebrate 100 years of controlled powered flight in Australia and will feature flying & static displays along with other entertainment and attractions.

Naturally we will both be there which no doubt means Grant will be busy tweeting & texting madly yet again. We’re going to be interviewing pilots, crew & staff, meeting up with folks and hopefully lining up a few visits & reports for future episodes.

If you’re going to be at the airshow (and let’s face it, you should be :) then post a message here or in the forums, email us, tweet us or SMS us on the day to arrange a meet up. The weather is looking pretty friendly with predictions of light winds, a few clouds and a top of 26 Celsius.

NOTE: The start of the flying display will have Ken Evers & Tim Pryse flying off in their Gippsland Aeronautics GA-8 Airvan to start their Millions Against Malaria around the world journey. You may recall that we interviewed them in Episode 27: Trans World Adventures :)

Episode 27: Trans World Adventures

Grant (Falcon124) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:09:34 +0000

The common theme in this episode is about going around the world, first by bringing Saj Ahmad (Fleetbuzz Editorial) in the UK and Ben Sandilands (Plane Talking) in Australia together to talk about financial reports from QANTAS, Virgin & Tiger plus general discussions about airlines in Australia, past, present & future.

We then chat with Ken Evers & Tim Pryse, a couple of local lads who are going to fly a Gippsland Aeronautics GA-8 Airvan around the world to raise funds to help fight against malaria. You can read more about their epic journey at Millions Against Malaria.

We also give a few shout outs & read some mail:

Tom for listening to all 25 episodes in less than a week – now *that’s* masochism :)
Steve Cooke in the UK and his Flying Podcast that gives a great perspective on flying in the UK and Europe.
Christie Walker who we’ll be chatting to soon and is interested in learning more about Australian airline cadet pilot programs
Grant’s sorry for being behind on all the emails that have come in

As usual, our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com.

Meet up at Point Cook Air Pageant

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:09:43 +0000

If you’re going to the RAAF Museum’s Point Cook Air Pageant this weekend (Feb 28th) then post a comment here or send a tweet to @PCDU, @Falcon124 or @SteveVisscher to let us know. We’ll try and organise a meet up somewhere before the show starts depending on who’s around and what interview slots we manage to . . . → Read More: Meet up at Point Cook Air Pageant

Episode 26: Enjoying the Views

Grant (Falcon124) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:24:39 +0000

You can always count on this podcast to have some interesting, opinionated and, occasionally, diverse points of view. This episode really brings them all and (bonus!) includes a whole new view as we introduce Anthony Simmons and the “View from the Lounge” segment for your listening pleasure.

We’ve also got another great discussion with Owen Zupp as his trip around Australia draws closer, a quick chat we recorded with David Optimal (one of our listeners) and Bas Scheffers returns (at last) with his friend John Squires to tell us about a fly-away trip they did not too long ago.

Here’s how this episode unfolds:

Here’s a “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” for you: man attacks plane with machete to prevent his bride-to-be from leaving him.
- Fleeing bride’s plane attacked with machete
- Man hit plane with machete
We have a discussion with Owen Zupp about
- His trip around Australia (There & Back)
- Flying the DA20 & DA40
- ADSB in Australia and flying RNP approaches
- What it was like to fly with Matt Hall
We introduce Anthony Simmons and his amusing view on commercial flying in the new segment: “View from the Lounge”
we recorded a quick chat with listener David Optimal in Steve’s PCDU-Mobile when he came down to visit ~~us and~~ the airports around Melbourne
David Vanderhoof presents another great Aviation History segment
Bas Scheffers returns with his friend John Squires to tell us about how the Aeroscene Flying Group arranged a fly-in at the Asses Ears Lodge at the Grampians Airfield in Victoria. They also chat briefly about the Parafield Airshow they’re organising for April 2010.

As usual, our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com.

The Jetstarisation of QANTAS is not over yet

Grant (Falcon124) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:00:49 +0000

Thanks to an opportunity presented by Shashank Nigam, Grant’s just had an article about the ongoing Jetstarisation of QANTAS published on Shashank’s Simpliflying site.

It provides a background on the birth of Jetstar, its growth to date and how it is destined to consume more of QANTAS’ mainline routes & aircraft. Head on over to Simpliflying and check out the article.

Thanks to Shashank for giving us the opportunity to gain further exposure to the global aviation world, it’s very much appreciated :)

So you want to help?

Grant (Falcon124) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:17:43 +0000

Are you one of the many people who have been enjoying this podcast and want to help ensure it grows and continues into the future? Well, we certainly appreciate your intent and would like to work with you to make it happen (funny that :)

Here are three great ways that you can help us to keep bringing in the fun & interesting content for you:

Donate: If you’ve got a few spare dollars, donating them to a worthy cause is always a wonderful thing. In the absence of a suitably worthy cause, please consider clicking on the big yellow “Donate” button and sending some to us. Even $5 helps if enough of you do it. We’re trying to get an advertising system set up but it’s early days and we’re not sure if it will ever work out, so donations really help.
Put up our Flyer: We’ve created a nifty flyer that promotes our podcast and is intended to be put up on notice boards around the world. It’s already showing up in a few flying clubs, flight schools, pilot shops and airport cafes around Australia. If it’s not appearing where you work, fly or hangout, why not download our flyer (150k PDF), print out a few, put them up around the place and maybe even send us a photo. Don’t forget to ask permission first before you put them up, just in case :)
Tell your friends: As the guys at the Airplane Geeks podcast keep reminding us, another great way to boost listener numbers and help keep Steve & Grant motivated is to “tell your friends about our podcast”

Feel free to contact us if you have some other suggestions for helping us to grow and keep the fun happening. We certainly don’t have all the answers but are enjoying finding a few new ones as we go along.

Download, print & distribute our flyer

Episode 25: Fan Boys

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 10:14:09 +0000

Yes, Steve & Grant are Fan Boys (big Fan Boys, in fact :) and this episode we demonstrate it once again by interviewing Matt Hall and hanging out with some more fans at the Flight Experience Melbourne Facebook fan page open night in their 737 flight simulator. Seems we’re not the only ones who think a publically accessible 737 simulator is a great thing :)

Here’s how this episode flows:

First class to be stripped from Qantas 747s? (Australian Aviation)
QANTAS 767 involved in a tail strike at Sydney
- Qantas 767 returns to Sydney after tailstrike (Australian Aviation)
- Qantas plane in tail strike drama (Kate Schneider @ Herald Sun)
Air New Zealand has a couple of emergency situations
- Full-scale emergency response as Air NZ jet aborts take-off (Sydney Morning Herald)
- Air NZ 777 involved in emergency at Narita (Australian Aviation)
Jetstar are rolling out self-service & SMS based check in
- Jetstar jettisons check-in desks for self-service kiosks (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
- Jetstar to roll out SMS boarding passes from February (Australian Aviation)
Jetstar expect big results from their expansion into Asia
- Jetstar chooses Singapore for Asian hub (Australian Aviation)
- Jetstar expects payoff from expansion in Asia (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
Garuda are preparing for an IPO
- PT Garuda, Indonesia’s state-owned carrier, planning a $340 million IPO (P R Venkat & Tom Wright @ The Wall St Journal / The Australian)
- Garuda to list this year, cancels 787s (Australian Aviation)
We have another interview with Matt Hall
- Matt Hall announces his supporter’s tour for Perth
- AVTours set up Matt’s supporter’s tour
We attended the Flight Experience Melbourne Facebook fan open night and recorded some interviews with the instructors & guests who were there at the 737 simulator.
Shout outs
- Congratulations to Jack Seymour in Wangaratta for doing his trial introductory flight in a Eurofox. You can read about his adventures in flight at his blog: StudentFlight.
- Thanks to Brendan from Essendon (YMEN) for letting Grant tag along when he went flying out to Tooradin (YTDN). While he didn’t get atthe controls, being in the backseat of a C172 is still flying :)
- We have a discussion on our forum about where to find the best coffee at airports.

As usual, our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com.

Episode 24: Misuse of Accents

Grant (Falcon124) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:06:19 +0000

Despite the annoying habit of our “day jobs” and families encroaching into our PCDU time, we’ve finally managed to get some time to record an episode. Steve even managed a marathon effort of post production to edit a coherent episode from our opinionated news discussion and an interview with Saj Ahmad. Go Steve! :)

Despite my best efforts to drone on endlessly, Steve’s also managed to keep the episode under 2 hours, but not by much. Hopefully this will give you heaps of fun listening as you travel to & from work, mow the lawns or do your household chores :)

Here’s how the show came together this time:

Robinson R44 crashes on a mountain beside a massive drop
Tiger’s IPO closes over subscribed – oh wow!
Australia’s “self-serve” passport gates not working well
- Self-serve passport gates ‘easy to cheat’ (Monique Ross @ ABCNews)
- SmartGate passport hits 1m milestone (Sydney Morning Herald)
Lie down all the way to LA: Air NZ (Thanks to Mike for pointing out the article)
RNZAF aerobatic team lose a pilot in a training crash
Scathing report released on the F35 JSF project
- JSF faces another scathing report (Australian Aviation)
- Some notes concerning Australia’s exposure to the risk that the Joint Strike Fighter is a failed project (Ben Sandilands @ Plane Talking on Crikey)
We review a recent “Traffic Report” from the Australian Aviation magazine (our favourite aviation magazine :)
- VH-EBK (A330) withdrawn from QF domestic and repainted in JetStar colours in Manilla
- VH-OGA (a 767-300ER) withdrawn from service
- JetConnect withdrew it’s last 300 series 737 (ZK-JNC) which has gone to storage in Tucson – entered service with Australian Airlines on Dec 31, 1988 as VH-TJB “Fortitude” – transferred to JetConnect on Jul 29th 2004
- Some new aircraft with funky names have arrived for Virgin Blue
  - E-190 VH-ZPO = “Portia Macquarie”
  - 737-800 VH-VUT = “Yabba Dabba Blue”
  - 737-800 VH-VUR = “Star City”
  - 737-800 VH-VUS = “Chitty Chitty Broome Broome”
- VB’s 737-800 VUA that was previously used for mile-high karaoke with the Black Eyed Peas as they toured Australia has been returned to normal configuration & colour scheme.
We have a chat with Saj Ahmad about 737/A320 re-engining and lots more
Instead of reading some listener mail, we review a recent discussion on our forum about Podcasting Beer between Turb, Grand Vizier, Scofreyjet and ourselves
We have a stack of shout outs for this episode:
- Ms Dark Sarcasm (aka Jennifer Barry) had her first solo (YAY!). You can follow her flying adventures on her blog: A need for Airspeed
- David Optimal is now a Grade 3 instructor (YAY!). You can follow his news via his blog at DavidOptimal.com
- Robert Cigliano has started a new aviation podcast called The New Pilot Podlog
- Zyola from the Mile High Flyers podcast has been getting lots of her lady pilot friends in Hawaii’i to listen in to PCDU – go go Aussie accent power :)
- Also big thanks to our anonymous donor from Canberra

As usual, our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com.

Ten minutes of fame in a 737 Simulator?

Grant (Falcon124) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:35:10 +0000

The crew at Flight Experience Melbourne are having an Open Night on the 27th January and we’re going along. They’re giving away 10 minute sessions in their 737 sim to the first 20 people in the door (need to register before hand).

We’re going to be there to interview people for a future episode as well as have some fun (and enjoy the drinks & nibbles :)

If you’re in Melbourne, Australia and can get to the QV Building in the city from 6pm on the 27th January, you really should get yourself there. More information about the event and the registration form is available on their blog.

Hope to see you there :)

Episode 23: Australia: A TSA free zone (for now)

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:53:35 +0000

Even down here in Australia we’re being impacted by the out-of-control antics of the TSA, so what the heck, we’ll have a bit of a c’est la vent moment about it. We also have our usual opinionated discussion on some other news items and chat with Shashank Nigam from SimpliFlying.

Here’s how the show proceeds:

Prosecutors want Garuda pilot back in jail (ABC News)
Farmer’s flight path message for charity (ABC News)
The first aircraft taken to Antarctica has been found again:
- Remains of Antarctica’s first plane found (ABC News)
- Future of Antarctic plane undecided (ABC News)
David Vanderhoof gives us an Aviation History segment
Air NZ’s new cabin crew outfits like ‘drag queens’ (Greer McDonald & Kiran Chug @ Sydney Morning Herald)
Phrase “elephant in the room” is most popular cliche of 2009 (The Mirror) (AirNZ’s use of the phrase “disestablished”)
Tiger Airways carries 3 millionth passenger (Travel Daily News)
Tiger’s flight delayed 10-hours (The Morning Bulletin)
Tiger Airways advances aircraft delivery (Yahoo! Singapore)
Discussion about Tiger’s callsign on our forum @ Downwind
Jetstar and AirAsia form a Joint Venture:
Australian executives at Jetstar Pacific not allowed to leave Vietnam:
- Jetstar Pacific executives questioned in Vietnam (ABC News)
- Jetstar Pacific probe set to last months (ABC News)
QANTAS are impacted by another Amadeus crash:
We chat with Shashank Nigam from SimpliFlying
We have a c’est la vie moment about the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
Technical glitch strands Qantas passengers (ABC News)
Listener Mail:
- Jack Seymour’s got a blog up about his learning to fly (Student Flight
- Mark mentions Coronal Mass Ejections and their potential impacts on GPS systems
Shout Outs:
- The new Mile High Flyers podcast is well worth listening to (and they refer to our show in their second episode – w00t :)
- Will & Dave at The Pilot’s Flight Podlog podcast have provided us with a promo piece and are joining in the fun of cross-promoting other podcasts

As usual, our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com.

iTunes Feed Glitch

Grant (Falcon124) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 04:14:15 +0000

Some of you may have experienced some problems downloading from our feed lately. This was all thanks to updating to the latest version of the PodPress plugin, unfortunately. It seems the latest version didn’t mix well with our site and started sending out broken URLs to each episode’s MP3 file in our RSS feed (we’re not the only ones to have experienced this).

The problem was fixed by rolling back to the previous version of the plugin, but for about 4 to 6 hours around New Years’ Day the feed was broken (episode description text was fine but the episodes wouldn’t download).

If you’re still experiencing a problem downloading our episodes, make sure you’ve got the latest version of the feed in your system. In iTunes, this means right-clicking (or cmd-clicking :) on the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast entry and selecting “Update Podcast.” This will force iTunes to download the most recent copy of the RSS feed file.

Once that’s done, retry the broken download and it should all work nicely.

Meanwhile, I’m waiting for a fix from the PodPress developer and will, in future, try not to be amongst the first to try out a new version of a plugin :)

We’re interviewed on Erk Pod

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:35:10 +0000

In the relatively quiet time between Christmas & New Year, Erk from the Erk Pod podcast bravely travelled down from Sydney to Melbourne, seeking sites to enjoy, experiences to be had and southern podcasters to interview. Having found PCDU a few months earlier, Erk asked if we wanted to be interviewed about the podcast, how it came to be and what’s involved in keeping it running. Who were we to say no to some publicity? :)

The results can be found at Erk Pod Episode 236 and it’s worth listening to for some insight into what goes into making PCDU is produced each week.

Episode 22: Farewell 2009

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:05:34 +0000

It’s the Christmas & New Year holiday period, plus down here it’s Summer so we’re totally into listening to long aviation podcasts when we’re not distracted by having fun. So, for all of our listeners who have long drives or lots of chores to do around home, we give you our longest episode yet. With a bit of Christmas cheer, we produce just over two hours of PCDU goodness including an interview with Michael Gilmour from Downwind.com.au, our usual opinionated review of the news and listener mail. We also wrap up the year with a tip of the wing to the podcasts that inspire us and the guests who have helped give us some great content.

Here’s how the episode came together this time:

Indian company buys Gippsland Aeronautics and Aerostaff (Australian Aviation)
CASA ups GAAP circuit limit, to use FAA Class D (Australian Aviation)
Satellite-based navigation system to allow air-traffic controllers to pinpoint aircraft (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
Air N.Z. More Affected by 787 Delay Than Slump, Airlines Says (Tracy Withers @ Bloomberg.com) plus interview with Rob Fyfe on IATA.org
Qantas to launch A380 Melbourne-London services (Australian Aviation) and Qantas to operate A380 on Melbourne-London route
Defence Dept to fix Amberley base creek pollution
Tiger Airways IPO reduced following luke-warm reactions and may be withdrawn
QANTAS 747-400 has an engine failure not long after take off at Changi (Singapore)
QANTAS pilots union upset over JetConnect pilots
Interview with Michael Gilmour from Downwind.com.au
We review our Listener Mail
It’s Christmas, so of course everyone’s going on strike
Here’s our end of year wrap
- Special thanks to the podcasts that inspired us to start PCDU
- Our great guests in 2009 were
  - Matt Hall
  - Nigel Lamb
  - Owen Zupp
  - Bas Scheffers
  - Saj Ahmad
  - Ben Ipolito & Jeremy Peck
  - Michael Gilmour
  - David Vanderhoof
  - Lang Kidby
  - Joel Haski
  - Shashank Nigram
  - Karla Courtney
  - Carlo Santoro
  - Nick Brau
- Special thanks also to
  - Dane Golden & Leo Laporte
  - Adam Visscher (about to be our photographer)
As from now, we have a forum. Yes, that’s right, a place where you can come and chat about our episodes and anything else related to PCDU. Thanks to Michael @ Downwind for making a space available to us.

As usual, our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com.

Episode 21: London Calling

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:04:57 +0000

Regent Street in the snow (by Jon Curnow)

For the majority of our listeners it’s warm and getting warmer down here in the Southern Summer with Christmas just around the corner. Not so in London where it’s bleak and somewhat miserable (and that’s the economy, let alone the weather). Saj Ahmad from FleetBuzz Editorial is based in London and recently returned from the scorching skies of Dubai where he’d been attending the Dubai Airshow 2009. Saj generously took some time away from his family to record with us last Sunday (morning his time, evening our time), trying not to look out the window at the winter weather while we discussed the warmth Melbourne was experiencing. The discussion covers the Dubai Airshow, Middle East airlines and their flights to Australia, aircraft orders and the (then) pending first flight of the 787. It’s an enlightening chat and we’ll be sure to have Saj on again early in the new year.

In addition to our chat with Saj, we also recorded some news items to round out the episode. We actually recorded these on the same day the 787 flew and, thanks to the miracle of modern technology, have spliced it all together into a single show. Neat, hey! :)

Topics in this episode include:

The 787 finally flew – you can check out Boeing’s ‘first flight’ site for all the videos
Jet star’s check-in system goes down and then a few days later, so does Virgin Blue’s:
Former doctor Geoffrey Edelsten crashes his helicopter on his first solo
- Lucky escape as Edelsten’s chopper crashes (ABC News)
- Geoffrey Edelsten in helicopter crash landing at Moorabbin Airport (Wayne Flower @ The Herald Sun)
Delta & V Australia tighten their alliance in steps towards the full Delta-V marriage
- Virgin’s V Australia agrees key deal with Delta Air Lines (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
- V Australia and Delta sign lounge and loyalty agreements (Australian Aviation)
Discussion with Saj Ahmad
Air New Zealand opens direct Sydney to Rotorua flights
- Rotorua: International Air Service Begins (Scoop NZ)
- Trouble on first Rotorua trans-Tasman flight (Stuff.co.nz)
The Garuda pilot who was convicted for negligence in the cause of a fatal crash ha his conviction quashed
The Australian Federal Government releases their eagerly awaited aviation white paper
- A National Aviation Policy Statement – the Aviation White Paper (download it from the federal government)
- Albanese releases Aviation White Paper (Australian Aviation)
Sydney Flight Training Centre collapses leaving many students with debts (Pilot pupils left grounded after flight school collapse (Andrew Carswell @ the Daily Telegraph))
A DC-10 fire bomber arrives for the Victorian forest fire season
- DC-10 firebomber arrives at Avalon (Australian Aviation)
- Giant water bomber ready for fire season (ABC News)
First use of a SkyCrane fire bomber this season (Air crane used on Blue Mountains blaze (ABC News))
David Vanderhoof’s aviation history down under segment (at last – Grant forgot to include it in episode 19 – ooops)
Listener mail, including George from New Zealand with his super sexy Falco aircraft
There’s a chartered Air New Zealand 747 flying to Oshkosh 2010 (details with Avtours Australia) and we’re dreaming of being on it (it’s only AUS$4k each including accommodation – anyone want to help donate to get us there? :)

As usual, our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com.

Episode 20: A Tribute to Pip Borman

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:58:30 +0000

(Image from JustLearn on Flickr)

As part of the recent Show us ya Wheels event in Numurkah the PCDU team attended a memorial tribute dinner for Pip Borman, a famous Australian aerobatics pilot from Shepparton who died in a crash during a photo shoot flight. The presentations at the dinner included speaches from David Fertel at Castrol and Julian Frazier from QBE Insurance along with a keynote presentation from Matt Hall, Australia’s only Red Bull Air Race pilot.

There is a video clip of Pip Borman flying the Pitts Samson on YouTube that is well worth watching. The Samson is a radial powered aerobatic biplane (truely a “muscle plane”) and the video gives you an idea of what it is capable of. It was shot at Shepparton airport (YSHT) only a week before Pip crashed in it.

We were fortunate to be allowed to record the speaches and have been given permission to include them in the episode. It was a great night and we’re glad that we are able to bring you along for part of it.

Episode 19: Interview with a Vampire … Pilot (& Other Stories)

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:27:37 +0000

Steve’s out sick (he must have eaten the fish :) so Grant’s flying solo on this one and cheating madly by assembling a few interviews and a slightly modified version of the Australia Desk segment we recorded for the Airplane Geeks’ Thanksgiving episode. The interviews include:

Matt Hall & Nigel Lamb
Carlo Santoro from Flight Experience Melbourne
Nick Brau on flying hot air balloons over Melbourne city

The news items we covered include:

British Airways again discussing a merger with QANTAS
The US FAA wil be conducting an Air Safety examination of Australia’s air operations
30th Anniversary of Air New Zealand’s DC10 crashing on the side of Mt Erebus in Antarctica
Virgin Blue likely to have a profit in FY09/10
QANTAS to purchase additional aircraft and will be assigning more of their 787s to Jetstar
QANTAS introduces the airport of the future concept
Airport capacity in Sydney and the need for a second airport
Australian Transport Safety Bureau provides interim reports on the QANTAS A330 ADIRU issues and QANTAS 747 oxygen bottle incidents
RAAF to purchase 14 F35 fighters even though Lockheed has admitted the project is running late
The first two Wedgetail AEW aircraft have been delivered
Last flight of the Caribou in Australia & it’s potential replacement

We hope you enjoy the show and we will return to our usual levels of interviews, discussions & opinionated news reviews in a week or so.

Episode 18: Tally Ho, it’s the Red Baron!

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:16:23 +0000

The Red Baron's Pitts Special

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.

Episode 17: The Ipanator says “Rivet Shower? Not on my Watch!”

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:46:24 +0000

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.

Episode 16: Rant on Steve, Rant on

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:08:59 +0000

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 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
It seems that it’s not just in the USA that airline pilots make silly mistakes
We chat with Owen Zupp about our recent competition, the runners up and the big winner
David Vanderhoof provides a look at “this week in aviation”
Qantas will not be ‘Jetstarised’: Joyce (The Age)
We discuss the expansion of Tiger Airways as they open new routes
Steve has a major “What Cheese Me Off!” session about the advertising for Melbourne Airport (you can see the adverts as a banner on the Melbourne Airport website
We discuss JAL’s new premium economy class seating on the Sydney to Narita route (thanks to Dan Web for the lead)
Final F-111 exits deep maintenance (Australia Aviation)
Boeing completes Wedgetail counter-measures testing (Australian Aviation) (plus a ‘heads up’ by David Vanderhoof)
We review some listener mail

As usual, our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com and our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5).

Running late, but not gone

Grant (Falcon124) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:27:02 +0000

This is a quick update for everyone who reads the blog & doesn’t just grab episodes via their podcatcher software (Hi gang! Great to have you here :)

We’re working on a couple of episodes at the moment, one of which we’re recording later tonight and should have out in a few days depending on:
a: How well the recording flows – we try to get rid of the “hang on, what was I going to say?” moments for you
and
b: How much time Steve gets to do the post production work

You see, Steve works wonders in post production to tidy things up, blend them together and make it all sound coherent and cool (let’s face it, anyone who can make me sound good has to have talent :) As any podcast producer can tell you, the post-production work can easily take 2 to 3 times as long to complete as the episode took to plan & record. Well, it does if they’re trying to make it sound professional.

We’ve also got a great discussion we recorded recently that’s almost ready to release and it will come out shortly after the next episode (yes, it’s the dreaded Episode 17!). To give you a hint, it talks about showers & learning. Can you guess it?

Doing this podcast around the demands of our day jobs does slow us down and make it tricky to get time for planning, recording and producing. We’ve also had the recent distractions of flying around the place in a DC3 and my aerobatics session in a Yak-52. Don’t worry, we’ll be releasing the recorded sounds & discussions from these events shortly. Of course, that’s what I’ve been saying about my work on the Dawn Patrol recordings too – sorry, my bad :(

The upshot of all this is that we’re working to get the next few episodes out and have plans for many more. We certainly they’ll be worth the wait :)

Cheers,

Grant

Episode 15: And now for something completely different, here is the news

Grant (Falcon124) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:37:51 +0000

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
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 ‘refused’ on Black Saturday (Melissa Jenkins @ NineMSN)
General Aviation & RA-Aus round-up
- Australia’s centenary of powered flight to be celebrated at Diggers Rest between March 18th & 21st, 2010 (see Victorian government’s release
- RFDS enters jet age (Australian Aviation)
- The Last Super Beaver (Australian Aviation)
- Mayor calls for Jandakot curfew
- Bas reports on his experiences at the Jamestown airshow
- Discussion on changes coming up in RA-Aus (25nm over water, 600kg for non-ISA but no increase of weight to 760kg)
- Bas talks about the AeroScene flying group
RNZAF A4 Skyhawks battle bureaucracy to get sold
Update on RAAF Airbus KC-30 MRTT
- Third tanker enters conversion facility (Australian Aviation)
- Second RAAF tanker flies (Australian Aviation)

$1bn industry package & early availability for a RAN Romeo buy

As usual, our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com and our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5).

Episode 14: Lang’s Great Journeys

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:52:28 +0000

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.

Win a copy of Owen Zupp’s Book

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:45:27 +0000

As mentioned during our interview with Owen Zupp in episode 13, we’re doing our first ever give-away.

Owen has graciously donated a signed copy of his book, Down to Earth, for one of our lucky listeners to win. All you have to do is go to the There and Back website and see where Owen’s journey is taking him (check out The Route for details). Then, suggest a location you think Owen should go to during his journey and say why he should go there.

Send your recommendation to us at PlaneCrazyDownUnder@gmail.com” and we’ll review them with Owen. He will then select a winner and we’ll contact them to send them the book.

Easy, isn’t it? So, what are you waiting for? It doesn’t matter where you live, come up with a suggestion and send it to us.

Please note that Owen’s decision is final and that all submissions become the property of Owen to use as he sees fit.

Episode 13: The Only Way is Zupp

Grant (Falcon124) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:15:07 +0000

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:

Champagne PC Services flight planning software

Our First Ever Give Away

Send your recommendation to us at PlaneCrazyDownUnder@gmail.com” and we’ll review them with Owen. He will then select a winner and we’ll contact them to send them the book.

Easy, isn’t it? So, what are you waiting for? It doesn’t matter where you live, come up with a suggestion and send it to us.

Please note that Owen’s decision is final and that all submissions become the property of Owen to use as he sees fit.

As usual, our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com and our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5).

Episode 12: It’s not that late in Adelaide…

Grant (Falcon124) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:39:02 +0000

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:

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

Episode 11: Recreationally Yours

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:15:18 +0000

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
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
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).

Combined PCDU/UCAP Meet Up at Temora

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:25:28 +0000

Looks like a few of the PCDU listeners are going to fly from Essendon Airport (YMEN) to Temora (YTEM) to catch the Temora Aviation Museum‘s next flying days on October 24th & 25th. I had planned to go up there to catch the show and interview some of the staff, pilots and engineers, although I’d originally planned to drive up & back. I’d prefer to fly up there but it depends on weather and if those doing the flying are staying for both days.

As if you didn’t need enough reasons to go and check out the flying at Temora, Matt Hall is going to be flying his Mustang there. It promises to be quite the experience!

Given a bunch of us will be up there, we’re considering doing a combined PCDU/UCAP meet up. Depending on when people are going to be there, we’ll do it on one or both days of the show and/or arrange a dinner session on the Saturday night.

If you’re interested in meeting up at Temora, please post here and let us know. Tell us whether you want to fly yourself there, drive or come along as a passenger in one of the planes if space permits.

Episode 10: On the Podium with Matt Hall

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:45:14 +0000

Matt Hall

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.

Episode 9: Airplane Geeks Down Under

Grant (Falcon124) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:17:38 +0000

Andrew Temby

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.

Dr Bruce Searle

The topics discussed in this episode include:

A general discussion of airline issues down under with the Airplane Geeks
Talking about Air Traffic Control issues with Rob & David
David Vanderhoof presents “This week in Australian aviation history” covering the official approval for the establishment of the Central Flying School at Point Cook (now referred to as RAAF Williams)
Grant went to the Mission Aviation Fellowship airshow at Coldstream Airport (YCEM) and recorded these interviews
- Dr Bruce Searle, Dean of the Australian Centre for Mission Aviation
- Andrew Temby, aerobatics pilot and owner of a Yak-52TW
Matt Hall came 3rd at the Porto RedBull AirRace in Portugal – YAY!
We discuss some military news
We review some of the “Traffic” entries from the latest Australian Aviation magazine
- OzJet 737-200s
- V Australia’s latest 777
- RAAF KC30 MRTT
- Air New Zealand’s 767 with blended winglets

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

Episode 8: Riding Our Segways

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:48:27 +0000

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
The Australian Government is putting its travel management up to tender
Interview with Karla Courtney from the QANTAS Travel Insider
Tiger Airlines aircraft hits a flock of birds
- Bird strike grounds Tiger plane at Adelaide Airport (Sam Rodrigues @ Adelaide Now)
- Airplane hits flock of birds in Australia, take off rejected (AvioNews)
Airline review results are in
- Australians reveal their worst airline (Angela Saurine @ news.com.au)
Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam may have breached the law
- Jetstar Pacific told to quit using the orange star and ‘Jet’ logo (Look At Vietnam)
Interview with Shashank Nigam” from SimpliFlying
Final missing RAAF aircrew from the Vietnam conflict found and returned for burial

Student pilot makes emergency landing after engine fails (same pilot as the runway overrun reported a few weeks ago)

Observer has to fly King Air until pilot recovers (thanks to @DavidOptiimal and others for the inside story)
- Passenger flies plane after pilot passes out (ABC News)
Government is taking steps to halt inappropriate development on airports
- Airport building hopes reined in: Bankstown (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
We mention some web sites:
- Owen Zupp’s website about his trip around Australia to raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (There and Back)
- Noel Kruse has released some free flight training books online (Fly Better)

Episode 7: Matt Hall, we’re not worthy!

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:37:04 +0000

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.

Flight Experience Melbourne

Grant (Falcon124) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:50:53 +0000

In Episode 6 we interviewed Carlo Santoro, the owner of Flight Experience Melbourne, a fixed base 737 simulator that is open to the public. People can come in and fly a 737 with an instructor, getting the chance to experience what it’s like flying a commercial airliner.

Having flown a number of full motion simulators, I can assure you that the lack of motion is not something you really notice. During your flight you are so busy flying the aircraft that the sounds and sight picture displayed for you are sufficient to fool you into thinking you really are moving.

In addition to their store in the QV building in Melbourne’s CBD, they also have an online store where you can purchase aviation merchandise, including clothing, DVDs and aircraft models. They also run the Experience This! blog that has interviews with their staff & customers, stories about the flight packages they offer, information about merchandise and much more.

You can also follow them on Twitter via FlightExpQV as well as through their FaceBook page.

If you can make it to Melbourne and haven’t checked them out yet, we totally recommend that you do. Whether you are a pilot, a sim junkie or an aviation enthusiast, a session in this simulator will be an amazing experience. From practicing for an interview with a major airline to just seeing what’s involved up front, you won’t regret giving it a go at least once.

Episode 6: Plugcast

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:38:35 +0000

After almost two weeks we finally get another episode out, but this one should be worth the wait. We have our first guest discussion session (@MaxFlight from the Airplane Geeks Podcast) and we have our first interview (Carlo Santoro from the Flight Experience Melbourne 737 simulator). In addition to all this, we also discuss the following topics:

Bodies of the passengers on the Airlines PNG Twin Otter crash at Kokoda are returned
Virgin Blue to drop their code share with United (thanks to @DanWebbage for the lead)
- Virgin Blue to end codeshare partnership with United (Brendan Sobie @ FlightGlobal)
QANTAS profits drop dramatically
Flight Centre also has a dramatic drop in their profit
- Flight Centre hits financial crisis turbulence (Michael Janda @ ABC News)
- Flight Centre optimistic on travel sector recovery in fiscal 2010 (Bill Lindsay @ The Australian)
We talk briefly about travel agents vs online travel planning and Grant shamelessly plugs Cloud 9 Travel in Melbourne, his favourite boutique travel agency
Falling profits are the norm at the moment with Macquarie Airports and Air New Zealand also earning less than expected
We discuss military flying in New Zealand, including the RNZAF 757, selling their A4 Skyhawks, their success with the Kaman Seasprites, buying the RAN’s A4s and the RNZAF’s A4 formation aerobatic team
Australia and New Zealand getting closer to having open borders between them
- Cheap NZ flights as Tasman union looms (Josh Gordon @ The Age)
@MaxFlight from the Airplane Geeks Podcast bravely agrees to chat with us and be recorded
Do you think you have what it takes to save the day when your flight crew “eat the fish” but want to be sure in advance? Flight Experience Melbourne provide a 737 simulator and instructors to help you find out. Grant interviews Carlo while sitting in the sim
Regional Express tries to expand into Queensland again
- Rex’s second tilt at Queensland: Regional Express (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
Optus launch a 3rd satellite
- Ariane 5 Rocket Launches Satellite Duo for Japan, Australia (Justin Ray @ SpaceFlightNow)
QANTAS passenger tries to open door in flight
- Midair drama: man restrained on Qantas flight (ABC News)
- Man tries to open door on Qantas flight (Yahoo!7 News)
Bomb scare on Singapore Airlines
- Bomb scare: Passengers herded to back of plane (ABC News)
We hope the winds drop further (Wind causing flight delays: Qantas (ABC News))

Our sounds come SoundSnap.com and our title track is “Younameit5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5).

A new look and a delayed episode

Grant (Falcon124) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:26:56 +0000

Those of you who’ve been following our site prior to now will notice that we’ve (finally) revamped the site’s theme, moving from something bland and hard to follow to a much better layout and colour scheme. We’ve also highlighted the iTunes subscription and RSS feed links towards the top right hand side of the page. This should help to address the hassles some folks have had finding our feeds.

Unfortunately, our next episode is going to be a little delayed. While we usually try to release one every week, this week is proving difficult. Steve’s had a hard drive failure on the machine he uses to record & edit the podcasts and Grant’s burning the candle at both ends (and the middle) at his day job. Throw in Steve’s work putting him on night shifts for the next few days and it’s going to be difficult for us to synch up to record.

That said, we should be recording the next episode (#6) in a few days and expect that it will be ready for release by the weekend. We are at least getting the Australia Desk segments done for the Airplane Geeks podcast. Fortunately, they’re easier to record, remix and get out to the world.

Stick with us and your patience will be rewarded as episode #6 promises to have lots of news, commentary and an interview. Don’t forget to subscribe via our entry in iTunes or point your podcatcher software at the podcast feed. You can also subscribe to the full blog feed and get the episodes as well as general postings like this one.

Episode 5: Jet Lag Recovery

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:41:05 +0000

Steve’s back from his trip to the USA and, despite some jet lag woes, he’s in the recording studio and the banter is flowing in our longest episode yet. Sadly, the first 15 minutes sound like Grant’s testing NASA’s new Interplanetary Internet and experiencing a really crappy connection. Not to worry, it soon clears up and the rest of the episode quite clearly reveals our usual commentary on this week’s local aviation news stories, including the following topics:

Airlines PNG Twin Otter crash at Kokoda
- Pilot in PNG crash had six months’ experience (Michael McKenna and Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
- Flyers may have lost their bearings (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
Landing gear incidents @ Bankstown (YSBK)
- Planes Lose Wheels (The Torch newspaper)
Regional airlines worrying about aircraft
- Regional airlines face plane shortage (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
Flying Doctor losing a contract
Steve discusses his visit to the TWiT Cottage and meeting Leo Laporte (go on gang, you *know* you’re jealous :)
Steve clarifies that he went to Eaker AFB while in the USA but named it incorrectly during his update on the previous episode
Steve talks about his flights with V Australia
- Tainted Virgin Blue chicken wraps induced births (Jamie Walker @ The Australian)
- Virgin-Delta joint venture to get a clear run (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
We discuss an article by Andrew McLaughlin in the July issue of Australian Aviation magazine about United Airlines fighting to retain share on the Pacific route
Tiger is taking steps to improve its image
- Airline complaints head sky-high (Clive Dorman @ The Age)
V Australia wants to fly to Fiji
- V Australia applies for Fiji route (Greg Waldron @ Flight Global)
Grant talks about his experiences going to Sydney for the SimpliFlying/PCDU Tweet Up along side the Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009 conference
QANTAS links its frequent flyer program to the Woolworths loyalty program
- Qantas loyalty deal with Woolies a big seller (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
AirAsiaX news
- Capital city rivals out to land Asia (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
- AirAsiaX will boost its Gold Coast route
Malaysia Airlines getting stung by low cost carriers
- Discount rivals hit MAS results (Geoff Easdown @ The HeraldSun)
Laser taggers arrested
- Laser pointer accused faces court (ABC News)

Spreading the Word

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:50:12 +0000

In addition to having our feed going through iTunes and our web site here, we’ve also gone to a number of other podcast listing sites, including Odeo, PodFeed.net and Podcast Alley.

Right now we’re waiting for some of them to approve the listing, but if you have a favourite podcast listing site that doesn’t have us included, let us know and we’ll try to get listed with them.

Episode 4: Hand Propped

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:47:41 +0000

This week’s episode comes out a little late as Steve’s still in the USA and Grant was up in Sydney for the PCDU / SimpliFlying TweetUp that happened along side the Asia / Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009. A great time was had by all who attended the event but now it’s back to work as there’s news to read, interviews to arrange and a podcast to produce.

This week’s episode includes the following topics:

Jetstar launches world first SMS based boarding pass
- Jetstar’s SMS boarding passes (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
Comparing Geoff Dixon with Alan Joyce at QANTAS
QANTAS fights back
Swine Flu impacts air travel and Cathay Pacific struggles
- Asia-Pacific travel recovery falls foul of flu (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
- Times are turbulent for Cathay as it faces storm (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
Virgin fights back, raises money and has a health scare
V Australia Launches New One Way Fares to USA
Virgin share offer takes flight (Matt O’Sullivan @ WA Today)
Food poisoning scare on Virgin flights (ABC News)

Tiger Improves its Act

Complaints drop as Tiger Airways listens to customers (John Wright @ The Courier Mail)

Remains of last missing RAAF airmen returned from Vietnam

Missing Vietnam airmen’s remains found (ABC News)

Merpati Twin Otter crashes

Plane wreckage found in Papua (ABC News)

Bangkok Airways ATR72 crashes at Koh Samui

Pilot killed as plane skids off runway (ABC News)

RNZAF Upgrades Tech Training Fleet

NZAF to Upgrade Aircraft for Training (Aviation Today)

Hand Propping Accident

Cessna takes off without pilot (ABC News)

Steve Visscher presents an update from the USA including flying an old tail dragger, seeing more C130s than the RAAF could ever own and starting the long flights back home

Greetings Oshkosh, 2009

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:58:14 +0000

A recent event at Oshkosh has been the Podapalooza “gathering of aviation podcasters” where attendees get to meet some of the voices in their heads. Much as we would have loved to go to Oshkosh this year and attend Podapalooza, it’s a long long way to swim from down here so all we could do was listen to the other podcasters talking about how they were going and gnash our teeth while trying not to stomp on our iPods.

Fortunately for us, Stephen Force of the Airspeed podcast told us he was willing to smuggle in a short “Hey there” piece for us and get it played at the event. Well, not only was he able to smuggle it in, he even got it played on EAA radio. Wow! Thanks Steve – yet more beers we owe you when we meet!

For those of you who, like us, couldn’t be there and couldn’t listen to the live feed, here’s the little greeting we recorded for everyone at Podapalooza 2009.

Episode 3: Flying Solo

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:23:28 +0000

We were a little delayed because Grant was trying to do it all this week, but better late than never. With Steve in the USA, Grant was flying solo and discovering that he missed having someone to put the gear up on take off.

This week’s episode includes the following topics:

Air New Zealand joins Tiger to say that Delta teaming up with V Australia (Delta V) is bad, but QANTAS stays out of it
- Qantas aloof as Air NZ joins Delta V opponents (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
QANTAS 737 de-pressurises during flight
- Engineers probe Qantas midair mishap (ABC News)
Jetstar upsetting Kiwi pax with baggage charges
- Bags cost shocks traveller (Rebecca Lewis @ the New Zealand Herald)
It’s official, Regional Express (REX) is the world’s best regional carrier
- Rex ruled the world’s best regional carrier (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
Virgin Blue 737 loses a nose wheel
- Safety fears raised after plane wheel falls off (ABC News)
Brett Godfrey announces he’ll retire from Virgin Blue
- Brett Godfrey to retire from Virgin Blue (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
Virgin Blue to raise capital
- Godfrey to quit as Virgin raises capital (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
John Holland Group wins Virgin Blue’s Embraer maintenance work
- John Holland in 10-year deal to maintain Virgin Blue’s Embraer jets (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
Macquarie Airports to separate from the Macquarie Group
PelAir chosen for Ambulance Victoria contract
- Pel-Air Chosen As Preferred Contractor By Ambulance Victoria (Aero-News)
Steve Visscher presents an update from the USA, including flight comparisons and the TSA

TweetUp at the Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009

Grant (Falcon124) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:07:47 +0000

From the 3rd to 6th of August 2009, the Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009 is being held in Sydney at the Four Seasons Hotel down at the Rocks end of George St (near the Harbour). Shashank Nigam from SimpliFlying will be in town to attend the conference and present a keynote.

You may have heard Shashank interviewed on episode 29 of the Airplane Geeks podcast. He’s also been interviewed on CNBC Arabia, the Things With Wings blog at Aviation Week, Asian Airlines & Airports (PDF) and many other places.

I’m going to fly up to Sydney for the day on the 5th August to meet Shashank and interview him for the podcast. We’re also going to hold a combined SimpliFlying/PCDU TweetUp while we’re there.

In addition to having a drink and mixing with other aviation enthusiasts, the event will also offer a panel discussion moderated by Shashank and featuring Karla Courtney from the Frequent Buyer blog and myself. More panelists are being arranged and I’ll list them as they sign up.

Update: Karla’s going to be at the Summit on behalf of her work with the QANTAS Travel Insider site and their associated Twitter account, QFTravelInsider.

You’re more than welcome to come and ask questions, suggest topics and otherwise join in. Dress is smart casual and we’ll be starting at 5:30 on Wednesday 5th of August.

Sign up to follow the event via TwtVite and Facebook. You can also post a comment here or email us so we can keep you updated about when & where we’re meeting.

So, if you’re in Sydney on the 5th of August and can make it down to the rocks from 5:30 onwards (exact venue to be confirmed), you’re more than welcome to come and join us for a few drinks and join in the discussion. It promises to be a great night of fun and information.

Update: Venue has been locked in: Top level bar at Jacksons on George (176 George St) – looking forward to seeing you all there :)

Thanks for the Promotions

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:33:34 +0000

Steve and I would like to say “Thanks!” to all the aviation podcasters and Twitterati who have made the effort to welcome us to the ranks of content producers. People like Jack Hodgson at Uncontrolled Airspace, Steve Tupper at the Airspeed Podcast, Rod Rakic of MyTransponder, Captain Chris (ex Plane Madness, now LightPlane), @redrowen, @EAARentals and many others have all helped retweet our “We’re here” messages and have recommended our podcast to the people they know. Major thanks to you all, folks.

Of course, no thank you could be complete without very special mention to the guys at the Airplane Geeks podcast. Max, Dan, Rob and Courtney have really helped us get started, from the early “Australia Desk” entries in their podcast to the invitation to join in with a whole episode (we’ll figure out a way, don’t you worry about that!). Even if Courtney is too busy becoming a Canadian to be involved in the weekly episodes, his podcasting guidance has been invaluable.

So thanks once again to everyone who has made us feel so welcome. You’re guaranteed a few beers from Steve & I if we ever get to catch up with you in the real world.

Episode 2: Aero Neuro What???

Grant (Falcon124) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:12:42 +0000

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)

We’re on iTunes

admin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:20:16 +0000

After managing to jump through a few hoops, our podcast is now available through iTunes. You can find it under the Aviation section of the Hobbies & Games category. Woo hoo :)

Now to link our Twitter feed (@PCDU) with the blog, get the blog & podcast feeds on clearly marked on the blog, add an iTunes “subscribe” icon and get the look n feel sorted out.

Never a dull moment down under, that’s for sure :)

Episode 1: And so it begins…

admin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:54:35 +0000

Weighing in at a whole 27 minutes and 18 seconds, here’s the first episode of the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast. During this episode, we discuss the following news items:

Emirates EK407 tailstrike – the Captain tells his story and we comment on fatigue issues
The RAAF’s first F/A-18F Super Hornet rolls off the production line plus comments on the pending F-111 & DH4C Caribou retirements
Tiger Airways adds a 7th aircraft to get an incredible increase in capacity out of Melbourne and their reality TV show launches
QANTAS has bad customer service (and associated PR) in Perth following a lightning strike on an A330, cops freight fines in Canada and has an A380 go around at LHR
Jetstar apologises for their bad service in New Zealand
Virgin Blue’s V Australia is experiencing low yields so far
Delta operates their first flight into SYD

Got to start somewhere…

admin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:47:59 +0000

Welcome to Plane Crazy Down Under, an aviation podcast with a focus on the Asia/Pacific area. Produced by Steve Visscher of the AusFlier blog and Grant (Falcon124) McHerron of the Fly Me Friendly blog, Plane Crazy Down Under will feature discussions about aviation news, interviews and anything else we think is suitable for an aviation podcast in this part of the world.

The idea for this podcast came to us when we had been producing the “Australia Desk” segment for the Airplane Geeks weekly podcast and finding that, in the process of editing our sessions down to 5-7 minutes in length, lots of stories and discussions were being dropped. It wasn’t long before we realised that all this material could be made into a podcast of our own and thus, Plane Crazy Down Under was born.

We’re still going to be editing down a 5-7 minute “best of” from each podcast to make the “Australia Desk” segment for the Geeks. After all, we’d be mad to miss out on the exposure we get from all their listeners and they’re a lot of fun to work with :)

For now, the site is active and the first episode is about to be uploaded. In the near future we’ll have the podcast set up properly so you can subscribe to it in your favourite podcatcher. We’ll also get the site looking a LOT better when we get a chance.

Feel free to post comments here in the blog or contact us via planecrazydownunder@gmail.com. We’d really like to get your feedback on what you like, what we’re doing wrong and any ideas you might have for content, interviews, etc.

Plane Crazy Down Under

Episode 41: Australian Federal Election QuickCast #3: Comments on the Greens & Labor’s White Paper

Episode 40: Australian Federal Election QuickCast #2: Ken Hill & Tim Sheen

Episode 39: Australian Federal Election QuickCast #1: Warren Truss

Episode 38: Dick Smith: Around the World in Many Ways

The new look site

We tried to get to Oshkosh 2010

Episode 37: It’s “Flight Attendant,” Grant

Episode 36: Incidentally, Matt…

Episode 35: Perseverance & Persistence

Episode 34: Arching over the Swamp

Introducing PCDU Commentary

1000 Downloads for Episode 1

Episode 33: Four Degrees of Separation from Ben Sandilands

Open Day at Tooradin this coming Saturday

Grant & Steve help out with the Airplane Geeks

Episode 32: Switch to Plan Delta

Catching up with Owen Zupp at Point Cook

Two Great Journeys are Under Way

Episode 31: Red Bull all The Way

Episode 30: Antarctica: The Last True Wilderness

If only I could do this…

PCDU on Sun n Fun Radio

Pending GAAP to Class D conversion

Who’s going to the Red Bull Air Race in Perth?

Episode 29: What’s in a Checklist?

Episode 28: Save the Liberator

Meetup at the Centenary of Powered Flight Airshow

Episode 27: Trans World Adventures

Meet up at Point Cook Air Pageant

Episode 26: Enjoying the Views

The Jetstarisation of QANTAS is not over yet

So you want to help?

Episode 25: Fan Boys

Episode 24: Misuse of Accents

Ten minutes of fame in a 737 Simulator?

Episode 23: Australia: A TSA free zone (for now)

iTunes Feed Glitch

We’re interviewed on Erk Pod

Episode 22: Farewell 2009

Episode 21: London Calling

Episode 20: A Tribute to Pip Borman

Episode 19: Interview with a Vampire … Pilot (& Other Stories)

Episode 18: Tally Ho, it’s the Red Baron!

Episode 17: The Ipanator says “Rivet Shower? Not on *my* Watch!”

Episode 16: Rant on Steve, Rant on

Running late, but not gone

Episode 15: And now for something completely different, here is the news

Episode 14: Lang’s Great Journeys

Win a copy of Owen Zupp’s Book

Episode 13: The Only Way is Zupp

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

Our First Ever Give Away

Episode 12: It’s not that late in Adelaide…

Episode 11: Recreationally Yours

Combined PCDU/UCAP Meet Up at Temora

Episode 10: On the Podium with Matt Hall

Episode 9: Airplane Geeks Down Under

Episode 8: Riding Our Segways

Episode 7: Matt Hall, we’re not worthy!

Flight Experience Melbourne

Episode 6: Plugcast

A new look and a delayed episode

Episode 5: Jet Lag Recovery

Spreading the Word

Episode 4: Hand Propped

Greetings Oshkosh, 2009

Episode 3: Flying Solo

TweetUp at the Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009

Thanks for the Promotions

Episode 2: Aero Neuro What???

We’re on iTunes

Episode 1: And so it begins…

Got to start somewhere…

Episode 17: The Ipanator says “Rivet Shower? Not on my Watch!”