Plane Crazy Down Under » Owen Zupp

PCDU Episode 80: Farewell 2011 (aka “Tom Cruise wraps my Dolmades” :)

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:49:15 +0000

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
Adam Wooley from JoeyGlide chats with us about the National Junior Gliding Championships recently held in Queensland

As usual we have some great listener mail, including:

Ryan Hothersall sent us a link to the 2011 STOL competitions – amazing stuff!
Congrats to the AirStig who is celebrating the arrival of a new Stigette
Thanks to Keane Bourke for his Merry Christmas wishes
Thanks also to Garry Collins for his train jargon & congrats for Steve
Big shout out to Owen Zupp for his Owen Zupp Author page on Facebook and his new OwenZupp.com.au blog

Given it’s our end of year episode, we have a list of people & groups to thank:

Our sponsors over the course of the year:
- Aviation Advertiser
- GippsAero
- Andrew Temby from Temby Automotive
- Jetride Australia & Pracy Racing
- Joel Haski at Red Baron Adventures
- Thromby Air & Robert E Coli
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.

PCDU Episode 63: RA-Aus NatFly 2011

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 03:37:05 +0000

Every year at Easter, Recreational Aviation Australia holds its National Fly In (NatFly). This is an event where RA-Aus members, vendors & interested folks come to meet, attend workshops, review vendor offerings, undertake test flights and show off their aircraft. Aircraft range from powered parachutes & ultralights through to home builds and the latest sport & recreational aircraft. Importers and manufacturers are present to showcase their equipment, the circuit is filled with aircraft undertaking demo flights and the local hotels & bars are filled at night with tall tales and recollections.

We were fortunate to be invited to attend along with the team from Aviation Advertiser, setting up our mobile recording studio in one of the Temora Aviation Museum’s hangars (along with their Mk VIII Spitfire and Cessna A37). We arrived on the Friday morning and departed on the Saturday evening, experiencing two very busy days packed with interviews, discussions, aircraft & equipment inspections and a couple of demo flights.

Suffice to say there was plenty of material captured and we’ve managed to squeeze the best of it into yet another very large episode. We considered splitting it over two but there’s more great content on the way on other topics so we felt it best to pack it all into one large package.

The content we present in this episode is:

An introduction with Steve, Grant, Ben & Bas
Brumby Aircraft with Paul Goward
Laurie Hines and his Revolution Mini-500 helicopter
John Garton from Leisure Sport Aircraft talks about the Paradise P1 aircraft from Brazil
Gyrocopter pilot Sam Polyak talks about the EVA Aviacion ELA 08
Gary Flood from Bert Flood Imports discusses the latest Rotax engines
Owen Zupp joins us to chat about how he undertakes an air test
Paul Chernikeef talks with us about Rotec Engineering’s latest radial engines
Nick Sharples talks about the AVOCET aircraft his father Mike has created from a Jabiru 230
Tony Blair talks to us about flying aerobatics and RAAF ab initio training
Jon Johansen from Flymore steps us through the TruTrak EFIS, EMS & autopilot systems on offer
John Lindner gives us a visitor’s view of the show
Bryce Hughes joins us from Cub Crafters
Matthew Maude from Performance Metals Australia gets detailed on metal
Some of the cockpit audio from Steve’s test flight of a Brumby R600
John Conte from Aerochute talks to us about their powered parachutes
Gary Sargeant discusses the amazing EQ1 Wireless Headset he’s invented

We then wrap up the episode with a review of the show between Steve, Grant, Ben & Bas along with a quick chat about the OzRunways application that Bas has been developing.

PCDU Episode 57: Avalon Quick Cast #4

Grant (Falcon124) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 11:59:43 +0000

We’re up to day 4 of the Australian International Airshow and Aerospace & Defence Exposition (aka Avalon 2011) and the general public are arriving as of today. The PCDU team are pushing through more interviews, catching up with old friends and meeting listeners. The content we selected for this Quick Cast includes:

An interview with a B1B pilot & systems operator
A chat Grant recorded with Squadron Leader Phil O’Donnell, the RAAF’s only permanent hot air balloon pilot
Catching up with Owen Zupp
Talking with Squadron Leader Louise Burr about base construction, administration & juggling family life with RAAF life
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.

Avalon “Not So” Quick Casts Are Here

Grant (Falcon124) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 12:52:11 +0000

Team PCDU are at the Avalon International Airshow (#Avalon11) and we’re putting out a daily Quick Cast episode with interviews & information gathered that day during the show.

March 1st: Day 1:

Brendan Nelson – past Defence Minister
Mark Robinson & Martin Hoffensetz from SAAB – Remote Tower system
Peter Dow from TVSA Pilot Training – Flight Camp & VET FEE-HELP system
Timbo’s Tarmac & Through the Keyhole with Papa Smurf segments

Click here to listen to the full Day 1 audio quick cast

March 2nd: Day 2:

RAAF Heron operators
Lockheed Martin’s ISR flying testbed aircraft
Timbo’s Tarmac

Click here to listen to the full Day 2 audio quick cast

March 3rd: Day 3:

Matt Hall
USAF F22 Raptor pilot & maintainer
Timbo’s Tarmac & In the Keyhole with Papa Smurf segments

Click here to listen to the full Day 3 audio quick cast

March 4th: Day 4:

B1B crew
RAAF Hot Air Balloon pilot
Owen Zupp
Squadron Leader Louise Burr
Timbo’s Tarmac & In the Keyhole with Papa Smurf tarmac reports

Click here to listen to the full Day 4 audio quick cast

March 5th: Day 5:

SQDN LDR Matt Harper, RAAF F22 Pilot
David Wheatland & the GA8 Airvan
Flight Lieutenant Skye Smith
Timbo’s Tarmac & Taffy covers the keyhole for Papa Smurf

Click here to listen to the full Day 5 audio quick cast

March 6th: Day 6:

Paul Simmons, CA27 Sabre pilot
Nikolay Timofeev, world champion aerobatics pilot
A view from the B52′s Lounge
Kent Pietsch & Chris Williams from the Jelly Belly team
Ian Honnery
Ed Stubbs
The final Timbo’s Tarmac & In the Keyhole with Papa Smurf tarmac reports

Click here to listen to the full Day 6 audio quick cast

These Avalon Quick Cast episodes are being sponsored by Aviation Advertiser and supported by Red Baron and Temby Automotive.

Video summary entries produced by Steven Pam.

PCDU Episode 43: Back to the Air Show

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 17:48:06 +0000

Back in March we attended the Centenary Air Show at Melton airport near Diggers Rest (a short drive from Melbourne). In addition to being a great air show that celebrated 100 years of powered flight in Australia, this was also the first event where we had media passes. We recorded lots of great interviews, caught up with Owen Zupp and bumped into a few old friends.

It’s now 6 months on and we’re finally getting an episode out with these interviews plus a wrap-up chat we had with Owen Zupp after he finished his “There and Back” fund raising flight around Australia. We’ve been meaning to get this content out for a while but have had so many other things to do, it just kept getting put on the back burner.

Finally we’re able to present these interviews along with a more recent chat we had with Glyn Butchard, the organiser of the Centenary Air Show. We caught up with him this month and discussed how everything went once the dust settled and the people went home.

Here’s a list of the interviews & chats we present in this episode:

Chris Sperou and Warren Stewart are the “Skyblazers” formation team
Bernie Ferrie flew in a Citabria and we chatted with him while sitting under its wing
Clin Ashton-Martin flies a gorgeous Avro Cadet biplane
Grant’s friend Andrew Temby flew an aerobatics routine with his Yak-52TW so we had a quick chat while sitting on its wing
Phil, Mark & Shane who were providing unicom & air show coordination services
Grant had a quick chat with Glyn Butchard at the end of the day as everyone was leaving
Steve & Grant have a recent chat with Glyn Butchard and we look back at how it went in the months after the show
We chat with Owen Zupp about how things are going after his “There and Back” fundraising flight around Australia
We give a quick shout-out to Peter Johnson from the UK who is now producing the “Across the Pond” segment for the Airplane Geeks show

NOTE: Additional music in this show was from Glenne Petersen’s “Empty Cars”

PCDU Episode 32: Switch to Plan Delta

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:41:44 +0000

This episode features a discussion with Peter Gibson, the manager of corporate communications at CASA. He’s joined us to explain the airspace changes that will come into effect on June 3rd, changes which will impact Class D, see the transition of GAAP to Class D and introduce the mandatory carriage of radios at all certified, registered or military non-towered aerodromes (plus any others as designated in the ERSA).

We also talk to Owen Zupp just before he departed on his There and Back trip around Australia as well as Tim Pryse and Ken Evers a few days prior to the start of their Millions Against Malaria trip around the world. We feature another “View from the Lounge” and introduce ATC_Ben‘s new “Controllers Corner” segment.

As we wind up the show, we discuss the Australian Capital Territory funding yet another feasibility study for a much needed secondary airport near Canberra. You can read more about it in an news entry from Australian Aviation and also follow up progress through the Canberra Region Aviators Association web site.

If you want to see a 737-200 land at Jandakot (Perth’s secondary airport), check out the video of the landing that Ed Stubbs pointed us at. Not bad.

Just in time to make our cut off for this episode, we had a quick chat with Owen as he was half way around his trip. A great update on his progress and how things have been going.

Catching up with Owen Zupp at Point Cook

Grant (Falcon124) — Wed, 12 May 2010 22:30:59 +0000

Owen Zupp will be arriving at Point Cook on Sunday the 16th by about 12:30 so he can be on the ground before the RAAF Museum’s 1pm flying display starts. We’re going to be on site to meet up with him and watch the display.

If any of you are in Melbourne then come on . . . → Read More: Catching up with Owen Zupp at Point Cook

Two Great Journeys are Under Way

Grant (Falcon124) — Wed, 12 May 2010 04:57:30 +0000

Owen Zupp is half way around his There and Back Australian tour, raising funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Flying a Jabiru J230, Owen’s trying to raise $10,000 in donations to the RFDS so go to his site and “give a dollar to the doctor.”

Meanwhile, Ken Evers and Tim Pryse have left Australia and are flying around the world in a Gippsland Aeronautics GA-8 Airvan. Their Millions Against Malaria flight is raising funds towards malaria research so if you can spare a few dollars, go to their site and donate.

Check in regularly with both sites as their routes may take them near you. Owen, Ken & Tim welcome the opportunity to meet people at each stop, so feel free to go and say HI as they pass through.

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.

PCDU Episode 16: Rant on Steve, Rant on

Grant (Falcon124) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:08:59 +0000

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:

Jetstar engine fire forces evacuation at Newcastle airport (ABC News)
Victoria launches bid for Red Bull Air Race (Australian Aviation)
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
V Australia to get 777-200LRs?
We discuss Air New Zealand replacing its 737-300′s with A320′s
Air New Zealand’s Chris Nassenstein Tapped For Qantas Post (Aero-News Net)
We discuss the political turn-around associated Victoria trialling heavy jet fire bombers
It seems that it’s not just in the USA that airline pilots make silly mistakes
We chat with Owen Zupp about our recent competition, the runners up and the big winner
David Vanderhoof provides a look at “this week in aviation”
Qantas will not be ‘Jetstarised’: Joyce (The Age)
We discuss the expansion of Tiger Airways as they open new routes
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)
Final F-111 exits deep maintenance (Australia Aviation)
Boeing completes Wedgetail counter-measures testing (Australian Aviation) (plus a ‘heads up’ by David Vanderhoof)
We review some listener mail

As usual, our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com and our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5).

Win a copy of Owen Zupp’s Book

Grant (Falcon124) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:45:27 +0000

As mentioned during our interview with Owen Zupp in episode 13, we’re doing our first ever give-away.

Owen has graciously donated a signed copy of his book, Down to Earth, for one of our lucky listeners to win. All you have to do is go to the There and Back website and see where Owen’s journey is taking him (check out The Route for details). Then, suggest a location you think Owen should go to during his journey and say why he should go there.

Send your recommendation to us at PlaneCrazyDownUnder@gmail.com” and we’ll review them with Owen. He will then select a winner and we’ll contact them to send them the book.

Easy, isn’t it? So, what are you waiting for? It doesn’t matter where you live, come up with a suggestion and send it to us.

Please note that Owen’s decision is final and that all submissions become the property of Owen to use as he sees fit.

PCDU Episode 13: The Only Way is Zupp

Grant (Falcon124) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:15:07 +0000

Of all the times for the technical gremlins to strike, it had to be for our “Lucky” 13th episode. We recorded a great discussion with Owen Zupp and, despite a fault in the call recorder that made us repeat a part, we thought we had it in the bag. We even feature our first ever give away in this episode and it’s a beauty (see the notes below for details).

However, it seems that it’s not just the Apollo missions that have problems at 13 as, sadly, the sound quality in this episode is not at all up to our usual levels of quality. Poor Steve has been tearing what’s left of his hair out but has managed to work his magic once again and produce an episode that preserves most important part of all, our guest’s great content.

We start off discussing Owen’s early work with the Ambulance Service of New South Wales and how that provided a foundation for dealing with flying’s more “interesting” moments. Moving into flying, Owen talks about learning to fly with his father, an ex-RAAF instructor, then moving on to instructing others with the Royal Aero Club of NSW (sadly no longer in existence) and eventually shifting to his times flying with Ansett Airlines.

During this discussion we review the pros & cons of the Multi-crew Pilot License (MPL) and various aircraft, including the Skycraft Scout. Owen also discusses Bert Hinkler, the town of Bundaberg, Hinkler House and the Hinkler Hall of Aviation.

With the collapse of Ansett, Owen moved into flight instruction and also started writing articles. A regular contributor to Australian Aviation (our favourite flying magazine, thank you :) and other publications, Owen has also written a book called “Down to Earth,” the story of Squadron Leader McGlashan, a pilot during WWII.

There And Back, a charity flight for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Next year (2010) will mark the 100th anniversary of powered flight in Australia so Owen is flying a light aircraft around Australia, visiting various historic landmarks and promoting aviation in Australia as well as raising funds for the RFDS. His sponsors include:

Champagne PC Services flight planning software

Our First Ever Give Away

Send your recommendation to us at PlaneCrazyDownUnder@gmail.com” and we’ll review them with Owen. He will then select a winner and we’ll contact them to send them the book.

Easy, isn’t it? So, what are you waiting for? It doesn’t matter where you live, come up with a suggestion and send it to us.

Please note that Owen’s decision is final and that all submissions become the property of Owen to use as he sees fit.

As usual, our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com and our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5).