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.
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 :)
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.
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 :)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 :)
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.
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 :)
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.
