PCDU Episodes: Here is a full list of all PCDU Episodes since #1 back in 2009. Click on a title to visit the episode page & download or listen to the episode from there.
- PCDU Episode 130: Avalon 2017 – Alpha April 15th, 2017
- PCDU Episode 129: Going Back to School February 28th, 2017
- PCDU Episode 128: Unprecedented October 30th, 2016
- PCDU Episode 127: From the Vault July 17th, 2016
- PCDU Episode 126: Emirates Wants You! March 11th, 2016
- PCDU Episode 125: Avalon Charlie (The Avalon Airshow Goodness Continues) August 2nd, 2015
- PCDU Episode 124: Avalon15 Bravo (Yet more Avalon Airshow Goodness) March 12th, 2015
- PCDU Episode 123: Avalon15 Alpha (It’s Avalon Airshow Time :) ) February 28th, 2015
- PCDU Episode 122: Farewell 2014 December 31st, 2014
- PCDU Episode 121: Exercise Pitch Black 2014 October 1st, 2014
- PCDU Episode 120: History & Records August 1st, 2014
- PCDU Episode 119: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: The RAAF Approach June 3rd, 2014
- PCDU Episode 118: Can you fly to NatFly 2014? April 27th, 2014
- PCDU Episode 117: Holler for a Marshall, an AIR Marshal February 26th, 2014
- PCDU Episode 116: High Performances February 16th, 2014
- PCDU Episode 115: Farewell 2013 December 31st, 2013
- PCDU Episode 114: AusFly 2013 – Back Together Under One Sky December 10th, 2013
- PCDU Episode 113: Fleeting Dreams October 21st, 2013
- PCDU Episode 112: Federal Election 2013 September 6th, 2013
- PCDU Episode 111: Radio Killed the Podcast Star (Almost :) ) August 25th, 2013
- PCDU Episode 110: A Basket Full of Flight July 8th, 2013
- PCDU Episode 109: Dave’s Cambridge Airforce May 26th, 2013
- PCDU Episode 108: On a Wing & a Chair April 27th, 2013
- PCDU Episode 107: Avalon 2013 – Globemaster Central March 31st, 2013
- PCDU Episode 106: Avalon 2013 – Day Six March 4th, 2013
- PCDU Episode 105: Avalon 2013 – Day Five March 2nd, 2013
- PCDU Episode 104: Avalon 2013 – Day Four March 1st, 2013
- PCDU Episode 103: Avalon 2013 – Day Three February 28th, 2013
- PCDU Episode 102: Avalon 2013 – Day Two February 27th, 2013
- PCDU Episode 101: Avalon 2013 – Day One February 26th, 2013
- PCDU Episode 100: The Ton February 21st, 2013
- PCDU Episode 99: RAAF C-130H – Into History January 29th, 2013
- PCDU Episode 98: Farewell 2012 December 30th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 97: Journos & Aeros December 9th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 96: “Serge” – An Australian Top Gun November 17th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 95: Northern Exposure November 3rd, 2012
- PCDU Episode 94: AusFly “Together Under One Sky” October 6th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 93: Positive Moves September 7th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 92: Helene Young – A Novel Approach to Flying August 16th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 91: New Horizons July 23rd, 2012
- PCDU Episode 90: Moments in Time July 3rd, 2012
- PCDU Episode 89: RA-Aus NatFly 2012 June 16th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 88: Dreamtime May 30th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 87: Wings Over Illawarra 2012 May 18th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 86: One Fine Day at Parafield April 26th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 85: Tyabb Air Show 2012 & ATC Ben Answers Your Questions March 31st, 2012
- PCDU Episode 84: Geoff Whitty: Pidgin Tales March 18th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 83: Replicate This! February 29th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 82: Keeping up with Owen Zupp February 16th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 81: An Infrequent Flyer goes to Europe January 29th, 2012
- PCDU Episode 80: Farewell 2011 (aka “Tom Cruise wraps my Dolmades” :) December 30th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 79: Flying Low December 10th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 78: Tim Smith: Flying Saved My Life November 16th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 77: Qantas Crisis: After the Grounding November 3rd, 2011
- PCDU Episode 76: Air Wilpena October 20th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 75: Talking Aerobatics with Anthony Crichton-Browne October 5th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 74: Kiwi User Fees … and other issues September 5th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 73: Oshkosh: The Greatest Show on Earth August 20th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 72: Oshcast #3 – Hugging your Roo July 31st, 2011
- PCDU Episode 71: AirVenture 2011 – Oshcast #2 July 29th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 70: AirVenture 2011 – Oshcast #1 July 27th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 69: Carbonated July 20th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 68: Flyabout to Memory Lane July 11th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 67: Team Pracy: Racing, JetRides & Aircraft Imports June 30th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 66: That Wasn’t in the Script! June 21st, 2011
- PCDU Episode 65: Innovative Ideas June 13th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 64: Dick Smith – Setting it Straight May 24th, 2011
- Video 001: Steve’s Flight in JetRide’s L39 May 18th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 63: RA-Aus NatFly 2011 April 30th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 62: Advertising Advocacy April 21st, 2011
- PCDU Episode 61: The Great Pilgrimage April 10th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 60: Now the Party’s Over March 26th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 59: Avalon Not-So Quick Cast #6 March 6th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 58: Avalon Quick Cast #5 March 5th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 57: Avalon Quick Cast #4 March 4th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 56: Avalon Quick Cast #3 March 3rd, 2011
- PCDU Episode 55: Avalon Quick Cast #2 March 2nd, 2011
- PCDU Episode 54: Avalon Quick Cast #1 March 1st, 2011
- PCDU Episode 53: A Ditch, Some Dutch & De-Icing February 20th, 2011
- PCDU Episode 52: The Misty Dawn of Avalon February 3rd, 2011
- PCDU Episode 51: Pig Out! January 21st, 2011
- PCDU Episode 50: Farewell 2010 December 31st, 2010
- PCDU Episode 49: Hovering Matilda December 15th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 48: ADS-B: C’est un pétard! – with Bill Hamilton November 28th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 47: Bull Me! November 23rd, 2010
- PCDU Episode 46: Qantas A380 incident – from the Ground Up November 10th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 45: Keeping it to Scale October 31st, 2010
- PCDU Episode 44: Hannes, Bas and the Rhino October 9th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 43: Back to the Air Show September 19th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 42: Wings Down Under September 4th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 41: Australian Federal Election QuickCast #3: Comments on the Greens & Labor’s White Paper August 20th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 40: Australian Federal Election QuickCast #2: Ken Hill & Tim Sheen August 19th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 39: Australian Federal Election QuickCast #1: Warren Truss August 18th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 38: Dick Smith: Around the World in Many Ways August 10th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 37: It’s “Flight Attendant,” Grant July 30th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 36: Incidentally, Matt… July 14th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 35: Perseverance & Persistence July 4th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 34: Arching over the Swamp June 17th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 33: Four Degrees of Separation from Ben Sandilands May 28th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 32: Switch to Plan Delta May 13th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 31: Red Bull all The Way May 8th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 30: Antarctica: The Last True Wilderness April 20th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 29: What’s in a Checklist? April 6th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 28: Save the Liberator March 28th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 27: Trans World Adventures March 10th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 26: Enjoying the Views February 25th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 25: Fan Boys February 13th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 24: Misuse of Accents February 4th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 23: Australia: A TSA free zone (for now) January 15th, 2010
- PCDU Episode 22: Farewell 2009 December 31st, 2009
- PCDU Episode 21: London Calling December 19th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 20: A Tribute to Pip Borman December 11th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 19: Interview with a Vampire … Pilot (& Other Stories) December 5th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 18: Tally Ho, it’s the Red Baron! November 26th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 17: The Ipanator says “Rivet Shower? Not on *my* Watch!” November 20th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 16: Rant on Steve, Rant on November 15th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 15: And now for something completely different, here is the news November 1st, 2009
- PCDU Episode 14: Lang’s Great Journeys October 29th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 13: The Only Way is Zupp October 20th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 12: It’s not that late in Adelaide… October 12th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 11: Recreationally Yours October 3rd, 2009
- PCDU Episode 10: On the Podium with Matt Hall September 27th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 9: Airplane Geeks Down Under September 22nd, 2009
- PCDU Episode 8: Riding Our Segways September 11th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 7: Matt Hall, we’re not worthy! September 5th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 6: Plugcast August 30th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 5: Jet Lag Recovery August 16th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 4: Hand Propped August 7th, 2009
- PCDU Episode 3: Flying Solo July 31st, 2009
- PCDU Episode 2: Aero Neuro What??? July 22nd, 2009
- PCDU Episode 1: And so it begins… July 16th, 2009
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By Grant (Falcon124), on March 31st, 2012% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (78.7MB) Subscribe: Android | After a long break from the show, Ben Ippolito (aka ATC Ben – ATCBen.PCDU@gmail.com) returns in this packed episode to tell us about getting current again, wrap up the Tyabb airshow and answer some of your ATC questions. We also bring on a new sponsor (OzRunways) who helped us get to the recent Parafield airshow (more on that in a later episode).
We start by chatting with Ben about the steps he took to regain currency after spending a few years focussing on becoming an Air Traffic Controller. After this, we move into our Tyabb Airshow content:
- 08:32 – Peter Bernardi & John Brett from the Peninsula Aero Club discuss the history of the show, the challenges in making it happen (the paperwork!), their involvement in the show and their aviation histories
- 22:46 – Grant chats with Paul Bennett from MaxxG Aerobatics about his aviation background, winning aerobatic competitions, flying his Pitts Special and flying warbirds
- 29:37 – Jim & Jenny Wickham talk to Grant about their 3/4 scale P51s & the latest news in Wicko’s world
- 34:56 – Scott Taberner talks about flying his 1941 Ryan ST3-KR & his flying history
- 39:44 – Mark Pracy from JetRide Australia gives us an update on the 2012 race, his perspective on the Reno crash and their expanding fleet of L39s & their new Glasair
- 47:51 – Doug Thomas talks about the Pelican Amphibian, a Russian designed seaplane and the only one in Australia
- 53:22 – Squadron Leader Adrian Burge talks about the CT4
- 57:29 – Peter Clements & Steve Death tell us about the history of the Southern Knights
- 61:04 – Guy Bourke talks to us about flying the T6 Harvard (or Texan if you’re from the USA :), the P51, the Spitfire, the P40 and the Lockheed Hudson as well as which aircraft he dreams of flying
- 67:48 – Matt Hall on making it down to Tyabb despite the weather, his recent back surgery, how his routine has modified since Avalon, his first aircraft vs car race, his new projects for 2012 & his rotary license
- 79:46 – Tim Connell returns to reprise his Timbo’s Tarmac sessions from Avalon 2011
- 81:13 – Peter Bernardi – post show
Following all this great content, Steve, Grant & Ben review their experiences & highlights of the Tyabb show then at 88:42 Ben answers a few ATC questions that have come in:
- Handling emergencies
- Who decides whether an airport is closed
- Who decides runway configurations during operations
Big thanks to Allan VP, ATC Ben, Steven Pam & Chris for their help on the day at Tyabb.
Notes:
* The Aus Air Services advert is provided courtesy of Star FM 94.3
* Cover art by Chris Visscher & David Vanderhoof
By Grant (Falcon124), on October 5th, 2011% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (65.3MB) Subscribe: Android | Today we’re joined by Anthony Crichton-Browne, a commercial airline pilot who also likes to take his Pitts Special out for a spin (and a few other fun manoeuvres :) In addition to chatting with Anthony, we also run a chat with Grant Piper (President of the Australian Aerobatic Club) about Australia’s recent involvement in the World Aerobatic Championship, discuss aerobatics in general and also have a chat about the recent horrific tragedy at Reno Air Races where the highly modified P51 “Galloping Ghost” lost control and plowed into specators.
We start off by hanging out with Anthony and talking about his career in aviation and more, including:
- He has an older brother who’s also a pilot
- He’s from Western Australia, learning to fly at Jandakot in Perth
- He did the usual hour building & quickly found himself in a Cessna 310 then on to First Officer on a Brasillia before stepping up to Second Officer on 747-400, after which he proceeded to his current gig as First Officer on a 767
- Anthony started flying aerobatics with friends and also scored a flight with Matt Hall
- His aerobatic training really kicked in with a Pitts and he now has his own Pitts
- We talk about G-Tolerance, G-LOC and beating the effects of high-G manoeuvres
- We discuss the recent tragic accident at the Reno Air Races, including the NTSB’s preliminary report & talk further the effects of pulling-G’s
- A discussion about stalls that leads into how advanced training really helps dispel some of the many myths, how the stall stick position works and standard GFPT training vs advanced training by groups like Red Baron in Sydney (Hi Joel! :)
You can find Anthony on his Flying Ant Online website as well as following him on Twitter where he’s known as AntCB.
We then move into the interview that Steve & Anthony recorded with Grant Piper, the President of the Australian Aerobatics Club, featuring:
- An overview of aerobatic manoeuvre’s
- How aerobatic competitions are managed & scored
- Australia’s return to the World Aerobatic Championship
- How to improve the standard in Australia with coaching by current champs
- Grant’s career in aviation including his start in the RAAF
- The benefits of including aeros in primary training
We then return to a chat with Anthony about:
- The challenges of flying competition aerobatics
- Standard aerobatic figures (loop, cuban-8, etc)
- How scoring each manoeuvre starts at 10 points then deducts points for any errors
- How it all has to look right from the ground
- The issues in dealing with wind & power
- What is the aerobatic box
- Types of propeller blades and their benefits (blade numbers, sizes, etc)
Finally we start to wrap it up with some listener mail:
- Ian Allen from New Zealand sent us some great ideas for more Kiwi Content
- Errol Cavit points us at a possible Kiwi aviation podcast
- Don’t forget to check out our Facebook page and our forums on Downwind
We then wind up with some shout outs:
By Grant (Falcon124), on March 3rd, 2011% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (30.0MB) Subscribe: Android | It’s time once again for the Australian International Airshow and Aerospace & Defence Exposition (aka Avalon 2011) and Team PCDU are there to arrange interviews with people & organisations that catch our eye. On the third day of the show we have been particularly busy interviewing aircrew, maintainers and other folks on site, frequently while sitting in their aircraft. The content we selected for this Quick Cast includes:
- Catching up with Matt Hall to discuss the new show he’s performing at Avalon in his MXS-R (it’s choreographed to music) and how he’s filling his days without the Red Bull Air Race being around
- An interview with a USAF F22 Raptor pilot and maintainer while standing on the tarmac as close as we were allowed to get to their aircraft
- Today’s updates from Timbo & Papa Smurf on movements at the Warbird and Keyhole tarmacs
These Avalon Quick Cast episodes are being sponsored by Aviation Advertiser and supported by Red Baron and Temby Automotive.
By Grant (Falcon124), on November 23rd, 2010% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (74.0MB) Subscribe: Android | The 2010 RedBull AirRace season was exciting, eventful and disappointing all at once. From Adilson Kindleman’s crash in Perth to Hannes Arch’s pylon hit and Matt Hall’s “walk on water” incident, G-Stalls were everywhere. Then came the news that the last two races were cancelled and, finally, that the whole 2011 season was cancelled. As if the end of the season wasn’t bad enough, we were all stunned by the news that Alejandro Maclean had died in an aerobatic training accident.
We have already presented our “End of Season” chats with Hannes Arch and Matt Hall in previous episodes so in this one, we present our chats with Nigel Lamb and Pete McLeod.
We also officially announce the winners of our Flight City Simulator Centre B777 sim session prize (Graham Neal) and two runners up (Greg Spencer & David Mitchell), both of whom win PCDU T-Shirts.
We talk briefly about Qantas’ recent 90th Birthday event at Melbourne airport and play the quick chat we recorded with Juan Serrano, John Travolta’s chief pilot.
After another View from the Lounge segment, this time paying tribute to those serving in the military, we dive into our mailbag:
- Steve Horton form Perth is worried that the RedBull AirRace will never return to Perth and lets us know about his great photo site
- Peter Baxter wrote in asking about jet engine technology and again to share a great story about an Air New Zealand DC10 that helped a ferry flight in trouble over the Pacific
- “brettkp” has some great feedback about episode 46 in our forums on Downwind
We give a shout-out to Pieter Johnson (@NascotHornet) in the UK who has just become a very proud father: welcome Beatrice :)
By Grant (Falcon124), on October 31st, 2010% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (77.4MB) Subscribe: Android | 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).
While Grant’s been able to go flying in some full sized aircraft (check out the photos on our Facebook page), Steve’s been catching up with some slightly smaller aircraft. He’s been out to the Victorian Scale Aircraft Association’s state championships and interviewed John Lamont, Noel Whitehead & David Law from the Packenham & District Aircraft Radio Control Society.
Finally, we wind up the episode some mailbag & shout-outs:
- Peter Baxter wrote in and suggested the brilliant idea of following up some engineers about jet engine issues
- Alex James wrote in from China with some comments
- Camper English from the Alcademics blog is producing a catalog of Aircraft Drinks Menus and, as mentioned in Grant’s Fly Me Friendly blog, we think you should give him a hand
- David Vanderhoof has started his own podcast called the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Military Aviation – well worth checking out!
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.
By Grant (Falcon124), on July 14th, 2010% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (37.1MB) Subscribe: Android | 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.
By Grant (Falcon124), on May 8th, 2010% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (64.2MB) Subscribe: Android | 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.
By Grant (Falcon124), on February 13th, 2010% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (60.6MB) Subscribe: Android | 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:
As usual, our theme music track is “YouNameIt5” by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com.
By Grant (Falcon124), on December 31st, 2009% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (83.6MB) Subscribe: Android | 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:
By Grant (Falcon124), on December 11th, 2009% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (59.7MB) Subscribe: Android |  (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 speeches 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.
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