Plane Crazy Down Under » ADSB

PCDU Episode 68: Flyabout to Memory Lane

Grant (Falcon124) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 08:18:44 +0000

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

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

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

Who are we to be different, then? :)

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

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

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

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

Oceanic Control
ADSB in New Zealand
Working the old school radar equipment
What it was like working in Hong Kong – especially Kai Tak
How airspace is structured in New Zealand
The GAAP to Class D transition here in Australia
Radar coverage of New Zealand airspace
The process of centralisation in Christchurch and whether Auckland could provide a good fall back position

We then wrap up the episode with a chat about Grant & Bas joining the Bonanzas to Oshkosh group for a rather stylish arrival while they’re over there. We then get some great listener mail from Mark Fraser in Canada who has a great story about an early flying experience in his life. Finally, Steve gives Grant a Shout Out for editing the interviews then another to Glen Philp from Steve’s CFA past who recently contacted us via the podcast.

Music supplied from the royalty free production music at JewelBeat.

PCDU Episode 53: A Ditch, Some Dutch & De-Icing

Grant (Falcon124) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 11:37:32 +0000

Steve & Grant are joined once again by Bas Scheffers from Adelaide to discuss a few items, including:

A follow up to the ADSB discussion we had with Bill Hamilton back in episode 48
A discussion of the iPhone/iPad application Bas & a partner have been developing called OzRunways covering what it does & how it came to be
The revelation that Grant actually doesn’t like the TV show “Ice Pilots” (oh, the shame! :)
Parafield airshow is changing dates to March 25th, 2012 due to weather concerns and to help ensure more Australian Defence Force assets will be available
Avalon is coming up soon
Bas is going to Oshkosh and as we may not be able to make it, he may have to be the PCDU correspondent for us (not sure how we’ll get him a more Australian accent though!)
Hassling Bas to provide a bio for the PCDU “About Us” page

We also have another great chat with our man “Across the Ditch,” Dan Morris from New Zealand, including:

A review of the amazing Walsh Memorial Scout Flying School, an event that should definitely be set up here in Australia if it’s not already being done
Some information about Palmerston North where Dan’s based (check it out on the map)
Mention is made of the Ministry of Transport & Technology museum in Auckland
We talk briefly about Air New Zealand and Air Nelson as Air Nelson will be flying new services into Paraparaumu (also called Paraparam :) – check out the map

As if all this wasn’t enough, we also have a chat with James Williams from the Podcaster’s Emporium about his recent Business Class trip with Emirates across the ditch to New Zealand & back.

Finally, we wrap up the show with some Listener Mail & Shout Outs, including:

Bill Morelli from the USA who flies a Zenith Zodiac (nice plane!)
Paul Bridges who supplied the photo of the Qantas DC3 that graces this episode’s notes
Colin Sweetman from the UK who has started getting back into his flying and wants to do aerobatics (YES!!!! says Grant :) and also offered to be our tour guide to a number of aviation museums if we can get there (we’ll hold you to that, Colin! :)
And finally, a big shout out to the people who decided to take part in the “$50 for Episode 50″ concept – thanks folks!

PCDU Episode 50: Farewell 2010

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 11:01:38 +0000

As the final hours of 2010 pass by and the year draws to a close, we release our 50th episode with a mix of annual review, Christmas greetings and a new experiment. In conjunction with a live video stream of the proceedings, we gathered Steve, Grant, Anthony and Ben in the recording studio to attempt the unthinkable: capturing a whole show in a single take.

We start with a look back at a few of the big stories from 2010 and an additional discussion on ADSB driven by Ben’s perspective from behind the controller’s console. Mixed in with the discussion are:

A discussion we recorded with Matt Wardell from AirServices Australia about their Santa NOTAM, the Santa Tracker and various other efforts they make at Christmas
An interview with Michael & Roselyn from Downwind.com.au about the site and aviation in general
Various Christmas greetings from other aviation podcasters around the world

We then start to wrap it all up with some feedback from listeners:

Ian Kershaw from Canada sent in recorded message
Ahmet Hussein emailed us looking for information to help him track down episodes of the TV series “Big Sky” (which Ben recalled watching)
Jay Swanepoel left us some positive feedback on our Facebook page

Finally we worked through some shout outs, including:

The many guests we’ve had on PCDU during 2010
Andrea Sammut from Scripts & Voicers for her great support this year
Dane Golden for his support & promotion of our show on Hey.com
James Williams & Dave Gray from the Podcasters Emporium on the Lifestyle Podnetwork for helping to promote our show (they’ve also been promoted recently on iTunes as a premium provider – awesome news!)
To all the organisations that have advertised with us, providing both in-kind help and some actual funds
Milford & Charlie from the FlightTime Radio Show for their faith in our product
David Hook from PlaneHook Aviation Services for his sponsorship of our Flying Down Under segment
Max, Dan, Rob & David at the Airplane Geeks Podcast for all the help & encouragement they’ve given us over the year

We’d also like to especially thank all of you, our audience who have given us your precious time to listen to our show. Your numbers are growing along with your feedback and it’s your support that helps us put in the effort to produce the show.

PCDU 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.

PCDU 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.