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 85: Tyabb Air Show 2012 & ATC Ben Answers Your Questions

By Grant (Falcon124), on March 31st, 2012%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (78.7MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

P51 at TyabbAfter 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

Leave a comment   Podcasts
  , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  

PCDU Episode 75: Talking Aerobatics with Anthony Crichton-Browne

By Grant (Falcon124), on October 5th, 2011%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (65.3MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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:

Leave a comment   Podcasts
  , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  

PCDU Episode 56: Avalon Quick Cast #3

By Grant (Falcon124), on March 3rd, 2011%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (30.0MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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.

One comment   Podcasts
  , , , , , , ,  

PCDU Episode 47: Bull Me!

By Grant (Falcon124), on November 23rd, 2010%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (74.0MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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 :)

Leave a comment   Podcasts
  , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  

PCDU Episode 45: Keeping it to Scale

By Grant (Falcon124), on October 31st, 2010%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (77.4MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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.

3 comments   Podcasts
  , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  

PCDU Episode 36: Incidentally, Matt...

By Grant (Falcon124), on July 14th, 2010%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (37.1MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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.

One comment   Podcasts
  , , , , , , , , ,  

PCDU Episode 31: Red Bull all The Way

By Grant (Falcon124), on May 8th, 2010%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (64.2MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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.

10 comments   Podcasts
  , , , , , , ,  

PCDU Episode 25: Fan Boys

By Grant (Falcon124), on February 13th, 2010%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (60.6MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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.

One comment   Podcasts
  , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  

PCDU Episode 22: Farewell 2009

By Grant (Falcon124), on December 31st, 2009%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (83.6MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

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:

13 comments   Podcasts
  , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  

PCDU Episode 20: A Tribute to Pip Borman

By Grant (Falcon124), on December 11th, 2009%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (59.7MB)

Subscribe: Android | RSS

Pip Borman in his Edge 540 (Image from JustLean on Flickr)

(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.

4 comments   Podcasts
  , , , , , , ,  
« Newer Entries  
  Older Entries »