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
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 :)
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 :)
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:
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
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)
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
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!
