Steve & Grant go north of Melbourne thanks to the aid of some members of Team PCDU, both current & new. First up we tag along with ATC_Ben on his visit to Oshkosh 2012, discussing his journey there & listening to a few of the interviews he recorded (yes, we’re still jealous we couldn’t get there!). We then introduce long-time listener Damien Rose who’s joining us as our Queensland correspondent & lives about 2,000km north of PCDU HQ. Finally, we play a few of the interviews Steve & Grant recorded at Oshkosh 2011 to help us feel a bit better about not being there this year (nope, still jealous! :)
The whole episode unfolds as:
0:02:05 – We chat with ATC_Ben about his US trip and being at Oshkosh 2012
ATC_Ben channelling Dan “Seat Pitch” Webb
ATC_Ben’s Oshkosh interviews:
0:12:47 – Malcolm Savill at Classic Aviation Designs discusses their timber-construction Cubflyer CA18 kitset & Dick Sybrandy from Auroa Helicopters discusses their two seat turbine-powered microlight helicopter
0:22:46 – Peter Maloney from Composite Helicopters International talks about the ongoing development & flight testing of their kitset composite turbine-powered helicopter
0:26:20 – Shaun Mitchell from Kiwi Propellers talks about their high-performance propellers
0:32:16 – Glen Towler (@NZAircraftFan) is a listener from New Zealand has a quick chat about drinking from the Oshkosh firehose
0:35:11 – Matthew Hassall from GippsAero & Elizabeth from Groom Aviation talk about the increased recognition the GA8 is getting in the USA these days
0:42:39 – We wrap up the interviews with ATC_Ben
Ben wishing he could be flying the A6 Intruder
0:44:35 – Damien Rose (OzFlyBoy) joins us give us an update on his aviation activities since last we had him on the show and officially join us as our Queensland reporter
We run a few recordings from our time at Oshkosh 2011:
1:14:37 – George Morgan, co-founder of GippsAero talks about the history of the company, the development of the GA8, Mahindra Corporation & future directions
1:23:26 – Karthik Krishnamurty of Mahindra Aerospace talks about Mahindra, why they purchased GippsAero & future directions
1:28:15 – Rod Rakic talks about flying the GA8 with the Civil Air Patrol
1:31:49 – We wrap up the Oshkosh 2011 interviews & talk some more about GippsAero
1:34:28 – Listener Mail:
Steve Davis at Warneet tells us about his attempts at learning to fly & asks about how ultralights fit into the Australian airspace
Brian Judd from Kentucky was wrapped when we read out his email previously and has come back with a new question: can we get RC Cola here?
1:42:17 – Shout Outs:
Aus Air Services are hosting the Tooradin Open Day on December 1st
Matt Hall Racing will be offering adventure flights at the Open Day
Thromby Air‘s art department have done it again with more PCDU cartoons and have even spun off into apparel at Fighter Jox
Aviation has a rich & storied history with over 100 years separating our current complex, high speed & long range aircraft from those produced of wood, metal & fabric during our fledgling beginnings as we first pushed into the sphere of powered, heavier than air flight.
While grainy photos & stuttering films can try to convey a vista of the past, there is nothing like being able to walk around, touch & examine the aircraft as they were. You can truly appreciate how far we have come (and how brave our pioneers were) when you can see an aircraft from 100 years ago in the foreground while behind it sits a modern combat fighter.
Eugene Ely launches from USS Birmingham (US Navy photo)
In some cases preservation of these original machines has been possible, but in many instances there is only one example of the type which is kept on static display in a museum. The ability to get up close is often limited and there are very few that can actually be flown, allowing you to see how it handled & hear it as it flies past.
Enter the replica builders. Dedicated men & women who have a dream of recreating the past so we can enjoy it today. Spending months & years researching a specific aircraft type (or even a single example), hunting through archives to find plans, drawings, specifications & photos. Sometimes going to great lengths to use materials, colours & techniques that were in use when the original was flying. Agonising over changes required to allow a replica to actually fly with some level of safety. Painstakingly creating components, building sections and assembling them into the completed aircraft.
Boxkite at Pt Cook (RAAF Museum Archive, via Project 2014)
Often unappreciated by many, even within the aviation industry, it is thanks to their hard work that aviation’s pioneering beginnings can be preserved & displayed. We have been fortunate enough to meet a few replica builders and this show brings together a few of them to talk about their aircraft.
Bristol Military Boxkite:
We start by talking with Geoff Matthews who has been the primary builder of the Bristol Military Boxkite at the RAAF Museum in Point Cook. The Boxkite was the first aircraft to fly at Point Cook on March 1st, 1913 and “Project 2014” is producing a flying replica in time for the centenary celebrations in 2014.
With Ron Gretton AM working as project manager & arranging the many sponsors required to help fund the project, Geoff has built the aircraft and they are now arranging the paperwork necessary to allow the flight testing programme to commence.
Following our chat with Geoff, we moved around the hangar a bit to meet Andrew Willox who is scratch building a BE2a replica from the original plans. The BE2a joined the Boxkite and a Deperdussin as the first aircraft available for military aviation at Point Cook in 1913. The museum already has a Deperdussin replica and Andrew’s efforts on the BE2a will ensure that all three types will be represented at the centenary in 2014.
The level of care & detail that Andrew is putting into this non-flying replica is fantastic, potentially producing an aircraft that exceeds the quality of those produced back in the early 1900s.
Andrew talks to us about the history of the BE2 in general, how he has gone about building the replica and the decisions he’s had to make to ensure it remains accurate to the original.
Farnborough:
We also had a chat with Richard Gardner, Chairman of the Trustees at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST). With a history of aviation knowledge going back to the original Balloon School and Army Engineers experimenting with various forms of aviation, FAST seeks to preserve Farnborough’s contribution to the development of aviation. Focusing on the scientific developments that have brought aviation to where it is today, the Trust helped supply a number of the plans & diagrams for the BE2a replica project.
Curtis Pusher:
Eugene Ely Curtis Pusher Replica (photo supplied by Bob C & Andrew K)
Back when we were at Oshkosh 2011, David Vanderhoof & Grant caught up with Bob Coolbaugh, the builder & pilot of a replica of the Curtis Pusher flown by Eugene Ely. Together with Andrew King who also flies the replica, they talk about Ely becoming the first person to land an aircraft on a ship & then take off again, an act that eventually lead to naval aviation as we currently know it.
We also discuss the handling characteristics of the replica and how Eugene & Andrew are flying it to air shows around the USA rather than shipping it, covering subjects such as tracking the aircraft, talking with ATC and flying into the Washington ADIZ.
Barnstorming Movie and the Wright Brothers:
After talking about the Curtis Pusher, Bob departs & Paul Glenshaw joins Andrew to talk with us about the Barnstorming Movie that Paul and a friend have produced. The movie captures Andrew & some pilot friends flying old aircraft to a gathering in the USA’s rural midwest that has been going on for a number of years around the time of Oshkosh.
The aircraft land in a field belonging to Matt Dirksen, a farmer who has been hosting the event for over 10 years. People from the surrounding area come bringing food and a great home-cooked meal is provided while aircraft fly “competitions” such as ribbon cutting, flour bombing & more.
After discussing Barnstorming, Andrew leaves and we spend some time talking to Paul about a movie he has reassembled from historical footage that shows the Wright Brothers at Fort Myer for the US Army’s speed & distance trials. This film is significant as it is the only one showing both Wilbur & Orville together as well as capturing Orville’s first flights since his recovery after the 1908 crash in which Thomas Selfridge became the first person to die in a powered-aircraft crash.
All good things must come to an end and so too must the year 2011. It has been an amazing year of growth for PCDU as we’ve covered Avalon 2011, NatFly 2011 and Oshkosh 2011 along with a number of major events (eg: Qantas grounding) and added some new voices to the team. So as the year draws to a close and 2012 is waiting in the wings, Steve, Grant and Anthony ”The Infrequent Flyer” bring you our Farewell 2011 episode:
Steve & David Vanderhoof discuss the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Sea King helicopters at the time of their decommissioning, developments with the C130 Hercules and a special Christmas greeting from David
We chat with Mo Ferrando from High Alpha Media about the Hexacopter and Octocopter units he was displaying for us at Tooradin
David Pilkington talks with us about his career in aeronautical engineering and aerobatics
David & Grant go up in David’s Decathlon to fly an aerobatic routine above Tooradin (YTDN) and broadcast the manoeuvres and sensations during the flight
All the listeners who donated to help us cover the costs of being at Oshkosh & producing the show all year
The contributors who have helped us create content for the show:
Bas Scheffers
Anthony Crichton Browne
Kathy Mexted
ATC Ben (aka Ben Ippolito)
David Vanderhoof
Dan Morris
Pieter Johnson
Anthony Simmons, the Infrequent Flyer
Adam Visscher
Steven Pam
Allan Van’t Padje
Mike Wilson who helped us at Oshkosh
We’d also like to say thanks to:
AusAir Services
Ian Kershaw for his help with the survey
James Williams & Dave Gray from LPN
Milford & Charlie from Flight Time Radio
Max Flight & Courtney Miller for making this happen
Rob Mark for his hospitality at Camp Jetwhine
Mike Miley & Rod Rakic from MyTransponder for the help at Oshkosh
Stu Stevenson for his hospitality post Oshkosh
Special thanks to Kitt & Cathey for their continuing status as podcast widows!
So thanks again to our growing audience who have been with us as we’ve expanded PCDU over the course of 2011. Happy holidays and here’s to a whole new year of bringing you the most amazing aviation experiences & information from Australia & New Zealand that we can.
As all good things must come to an end, so too must our time at Oshkosh 2011. It’s been an incredible event for us and an eye-opener to just how large this Mecca of all things aviation truly is. With our final day at the show, we’ve produced a chunky episode packed full of *some* of the content we picked up here. There’s still more to come in subsequent episodes including a focus on the teams on site from New Zealand, the Bonanzas to Oshkosh group and GippsAero.
For now, here’s a list of what you’ll find in episode 72: Oshcast #3 (Hugging your Roo):
Steve & Grant are at Oshkosh along with Bas Scheffers, David Vanderhoof and a large number of other aviation podcasters, swimming in the sea of aviation that is AirVenture Oshkosh 2011. Grant & Bas have been here since Saturday while Steve & David arrived on Sunday. We’ve recorded with the Airplane Geeks, producing an episode with Peter Moll (director of Wittman Regional Airport – @wittmanairport on Twitter) recorded in his office.
Today was the first full day we were all here and also the first official day of the show. We’ve started gathering content and have assembled some items together to create our first show episode:
Steve reconnects with Kent Pietsch who we last spoke to back at Avalon earlier this year (in Episode 6 of our show daily coverage)
David interviews Brandon with his Super Cub
Bas records some chats with folks in the light-sport (Recreational) area:
It is our intention to cover Oshkosh from a “down under” perspective to the best of our ability. We’ll be looking for the Aussie/Kiwi angle from attendees to volunteers to businesses to government agencies. We plan to produce three episodes during the week of the show and provide constant coverage on our home page, at Aviation Advertiser and through various social media portals. This will include a mixture of audio, video and photographs, presented with the aim of giving you a genuine feel for the spectacle that is AirVenture 2011. As was the case with our Avalon 2011 coverage, we anticipate several follow up episodes featuring additional content after the event. Steve will also be travelling to Arkansas, the place where he completed the bulk of his flight training, to collect interviews with some of the people that influenced his passion for aviation.
We would like to offer our audience the chance to give us some indications of what you’d like to see, hear and (virtually) experience about Oshkosh while we’re over there. By posting your own comments on our updates, you can give us some direction and we’ll try to come through for you if we can.
Joining us at Oshkosh will be Bas Scheffers and David Vanderhoof as well as Mike Wilson who is going to help us with transport, camera and other technical work. We’ve received some amazing sponsorship from Pracy Racing and Jetride Australia who have covered our airfares to Chicago and back (thanks guys!!!! :) while Aviation Advertiser is chipping in to help cover a lot of the accommodation and food costs while we’re there. This has helped immensely but we’re still going to be out of pocket a rather large amount and we’d like to chip in some $$$ to say THANKS to our friends who’ll be helping us while they’re there.
If you’d like to help ensure we can get the coverage you want to hear, feel free to chip in some $$$ via the DONATE button on our home page. We’ve already received a few “Go hard!” packages from friends and every little bit helps. The more we get the more chances we have of being able to run around & pump out the content you want to hear, read & see.
As always, we are not entirely comfortable asking our audience for donations, however, this is a huge undertaking which may exceed the generous funding levels of our wonderful sponsors. In this unique instance, we ask you to consider the substantial effort we put into this programme, entirely on our own time, and give away each month at no cost. We believe our product compares favourably to monthly print publications, yet for less than the cost of a magazine you can help us achieve our goals on your behalf. Your financial assistance for this series of shows would be greatly and humbly appreciated.
We’re really looking forward to this and no matter what, we’re going to bring you along for the ride :)
Meanwhile, here’s the latest animated video from our friends at Thromby Airlines about their foray into online media and podcasters. We hope you enjoy it and recommend you visit their site for more great Thromby Air fun.
In November 2010 the PCDU team were invited to attend the Media Day at RAAF Amberley where members of 6 Squadron were gathered to give us one final look at the F111 before it was retired from service. We have gathered the interviews we recorded during the Media Day and combined them with a couple of discussions to present our tribute to the F111 and all those who helped to keep them in the air.
This is our longest episode to date so you may want to make use of the PAUSE button to get through it all. Like the PIG, it’s big, but we think the content is just too good to leave any of it out. The F111 has been a major part of our lives over the last 30 years in Australia and New Zealand and anyone who has experienced the RAAF’s trademark “Dump & Burn” display will have some idea why we’re so sad to see them go.
From seeing an F111 doing 4-point hesitation rolls, aileron rolls and a loop at Avalon to watching them racing past while sitting on the beach on a summer’s day, the F111 became an icon of Australia’s military as they provided us with a long range projection of power. They leave a large gap in our force structure now that they have been retired and a hole in the hearts of many who kept them flying.
So long, pig and remember: That’ll do, Pig. That’ll do!
The contents of this episode include:
The Media Day’s opening press conference (starts at 06:08)
A discussion with David Vanderhoof about the history of the F111 including its inception and service with the USAF & RAAF (starts at 32:06)
We talk to Wing Commander Terry Deeth about his time as a bombadier/navigator (or Weapons Systems Officer) with the F111 while on rotation to the USAF (starts at 51:33)
We visited the F111 simulator on the base and got to meet:
Steve Clark, an ex-RAAF F111 pilot who has more hours in an F111 than almost anyone else in the world (starts at 1:05:40)
Brett Denton, a computer technician who helps to keep the simulator operating (starts at 1:11:29)
While everyone likes to focus on the guys in the cockpit, an F111 needs a lot of maintenance between flights so we managed to catch up with a few of the techos:
Flight Lieutenant Adam Firth & Sergeant Chris Walker (starts at 1:15:32)
Corporal James Morton (starts at 1:30:19)
Corporal David Bash, an American now living in Australia (starts at 1:35:50)
We talk with Flight Lieutenant Vlad Bismark about flying the F111 (starts at 1:47:25)
We have a chat with Brendan Cowan from ADF Serials about the history of the RAAF’s F111s and with Chris Daley from the Save the F111 page on Facebook about how the page developed and where it’s going now (starts at 1:55:28)
We interview Wing Commander Al Curr who ejected from an F111 on take off from RNZAF Ohakea in New Zealand (starts at 2:14:12)
Our final chat is with Wing Commander Michael (Micka) Gray, officer commanding 6 Squadron and the world’s last F111 unit commander (starts at 2:20:42)
We also have a couple of “Shout Outs” in this episode:
Flight Lieutenant Skye Smith for her tireless efforts in making the Media Day run smoothly, not to mention herding us about the base and ensuring we didn’t wind up where we shouldn’t be (wonder if there’s a “Keeping media on track” medal in the ADF??? :)
It’s been a while since our last episode but at last we’re able to present our latest update with some more great content. First up, Matt Hall joins us once again to look back on his 2010 RedBull AirRace season, discuss the lessons he’s learned and give us his thoughts about 2011 & beyond.
Next up we are proud to introduce our latest advertiser, Flight City Simulator Centre at Jandakot in Perth, with their Boeing 777 simulator. We chat with Richard Zandvliet, the CEO at Flight City, about their various simulators, the courses they can offer for the professional pilot and the packages they have for the general public. Richard also makes a generous offer of a one-hour flight package in the 777 simulator that we can give away on the show (see below).
NOTE: We had some additional content from our Matt Hall interview that was no longer current so we’ve moved it from the episode to our Extras collection. You can find it at our “Extras” page.
Competition: Win a one hour flight package with Flight City Simulator Center’s Boeing 777 simulator
Just listen to this episode to hear a jingle from the past. If you know who owned that jingle, send us an email at planecrazydownunder@gmail.com telling us who you think it was. We’ll draw the winner live on uStream in the near future.
In an effort to reassure you that we’re not trying to cut any corners as we build towards our 50th episode, this episode comes in at over 2 hours in length (our longest ever, in fact). It’s jam packed with great content, including:
A chat with Bas Scheffers about:
The impact of the Class D changes at Parafield
The flying he’s been doing lately in his Evektor Sportstar
A discussion between Steve & David about the history of the F18, its current status with the Super Hornet (aka Rhino) and the implications of the F35 JSF
The Flaps Podcast from the UK is an awesome new show – we highly recommend it
Andrew Offen from Brisbane took Grant & Nykolai for a flight in his Cirrus SR22 with the new Avidyne Release 9 package – an amazing aircraft & systems and a lot of fun catching up with Andrew for a flight
Brendan Viti is getting his IFR rating – wow!
Please note that our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com and our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5).
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.
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