Plane Crazy Down Under » SimpliFlying http://www.planecrazydownunder.com Looking at the world of aviation from an Australia / Pacific point of view Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:34:38 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 CreativeCommons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ planecrazydownunder@gmail.com (Steve Visscher & Grant McHerron (www.planecrazydownunder.com)) planecrazydownunder@gmail.com (Steve Visscher & Grant McHerron (www.planecrazydownunder.com)) Aviation 1440 http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/images/PCDU_RSS_Feed_Logo.jpg Plane Crazy Down Under http://www.planecrazydownunder.com 144 144 An aviation based podcast with a focus on the Australia/Pacific area aviation, australia, new, zealand, asia, pacific, flying, aircraft Steve Visscher & Grant McHerron (www.planecrazydownunder.com) Steve Visscher & Grant McHerron (www.planecrazydownunder.com) planecrazydownunder@gmail.com no no PCDU Episode 77: Qantas Crisis: After the Grounding http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2011/11/03/pcdu-episode-77-qantas-crisis-after-the-grounding/ http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2011/11/03/pcdu-episode-77-qantas-crisis-after-the-grounding/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:35:41 +0000 Grant (Falcon124) http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/?p=1388 Almost one year after the QF32 incident, Qantas is again in the news around the world and for a short time again appeared to be on the brink of a major disaster. At 5pm on Saturday the 29th of October, Alan Joyce (CEO of Qantas) announced that he & the board of directors had decided . . . → Read More: PCDU Episode 77: Qantas Crisis: After the Grounding]]> Almost one year after the QF32 incident, Qantas is again in the news around the world and for a short time again appeared to be on the brink of a major disaster. At 5pm on Saturday the 29th of October, Alan Joyce (CEO of Qantas) announced that he & the board of directors had decided to ground all of Qantas’ domestic & international flights (about 108 aircraft). This unprecedented step disrupted the travel plans of almost 70,000 passengers in order to avoid a “death by a thousand paper cuts” due to ongoing damage from industrial disputes with three unions.

The three unions represented the pilots, engineers and baggage handlers working for Qantas’ “mainline” operations. The Jetstar, QantasLink and JetConnect operations were not involved in the grounding.

We have assembled a collection of discussions with a number of people involved in the disputes or monitoring it from the outside. It is our intention that we provide you with an overview of what has happened, why it happened and where things might go from here. Unlike the commercial broadcast media, our time is not rigidly controlled so our guests are able to take their time to explain their views & concerns without being restricted to sound bites.

While we also express our own views during this episode, we have tried to present enough information for you to get a better understanding of the situation & form your own decisions.

The discussions in this episode include:

We’d also like to thank Colin Lipiatt, the Manager of Coporate Communications at Virgin Australia, for taking the time to chat with us about their ability to quickly respond with extra capacity to help affected travellers. While we couldn’t include him in the show, he provided plenty of useful information for us.

While putting this episode together we did attempt to contact Qantas’ media department to arrange a representative who could talk to us about the items raised during the discussions listed above. Unfortunately we did not hear back from them and can only assume that, like Anthony Albanese (Minister for Infrastructure & Transport), they were too busy dealing with the big issues and the mainstream media to spare any time for us.

We trust that you’ll enjoy this special episode of content specifically covering the Qantas Grounding situation. It’s been a marathon effort to arrange & record the interviews then put it all together for you. It has certainly been educational & eye opening for us as we discussed the issues with our guests, and that’s got to be a good thing :)

The Aus Air Services advert is provided courtesy of Star FM 94.3

]]> http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2011/11/03/pcdu-episode-77-qantas-crisis-after-the-grounding/feed/ 2 2:15:08 PCDU Episode 77: Qantas Crisis: After the Grounding Qantas Crisis: After the Grounding aviation, australia, new, zealand, asia, pacific, flying, aircraft www.planecrazydownunder.com no no The Jetstarisation of QANTAS is not over yet http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2010/02/22/the-jetstarisation-of-qantas-is-not-over-yet/ http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2010/02/22/the-jetstarisation-of-qantas-is-not-over-yet/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:00:49 +0000 Grant (Falcon124) http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/?p=369 Thanks to an opportunity presented by Shashank Nigam, Grant’s just had an article about the ongoing Jetstarisation of QANTAS published on Shashank’s Simpliflying site.

It provides a background on the birth of Jetstar, its growth to date and how it is destined to consume more of QANTAS’ mainline routes & aircraft. Head on over to . . . → Read More: The Jetstarisation of QANTAS is not over yet]]> Thanks to an opportunity presented by Shashank Nigam, Grant’s just had an article about the ongoing Jetstarisation of QANTAS published on Shashank’s Simpliflying site.

It provides a background on the birth of Jetstar, its growth to date and how it is destined to consume more of QANTAS’ mainline routes & aircraft. Head on over to Simpliflying and check out the article.

Thanks to Shashank for giving us the opportunity to gain further exposure to the global aviation world, it’s very much appreciated :)

]]> http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2010/02/22/the-jetstarisation-of-qantas-is-not-over-yet/feed/ 2 PCDU Episode 23: Australia: A TSA free zone (for now) http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2010/01/15/episode-23-australia-a-tsa-free-zone-for-now/ http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2010/01/15/episode-23-australia-a-tsa-free-zone-for-now/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:53:35 +0000 Grant (Falcon124) http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/?p=324 Even down here in Australia we’re being impacted by the out-of-control antics of the TSA, so what the heck, we’ll have a bit of a c’est la vent moment about it. We also have our usual opinionated discussion on some other news items and chat with Shashank Nigam from SimpliFlying.

Here’s how the show proceeds:

. . . → Read More: PCDU Episode 23: Australia: A TSA free zone (for now)]]> Even down here in Australia we’re being impacted by the out-of-control antics of the TSA, so what the heck, we’ll have a bit of a c’est la vent moment about it. We also have our usual opinionated discussion on some other news items and chat with Shashank Nigam from SimpliFlying.

Here’s how the show proceeds:

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

]]> http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2010/01/15/episode-23-australia-a-tsa-free-zone-for-now/feed/ 12 1:36:44 Even down here in Australia we’re being impacted by the out-of-control antics of the TSA, so what the heck, we’ll have a bit of a c’est la vent moment about it. We also have our usual opinionated discussion on some other news items[...] Even down here in Australia we’re being impacted by the out-of-control antics of the TSA, so what the heck, we’ll have a bit of a c’est la vent moment about it. We also have our usual opinionated discussion on some other news items and chat with Shashank Nigam from SimpliFlying. Here’s how the show proceeds: Prosecutors want Garuda pilot back in jail (ABC News) Farmer’s flight path message for charity (ABC News) The first aircraft taken to Antarctica has been found again: Remains of Antarctica’s first plane found (ABC News) Future of Antarctic plane undecided (ABC News) David Vanderhoof gives us an Aviation History segment Guy Menzies with his crashed Avian (image) Image of an Avian in a pprune.org story QANTAS Super Constellation Air NZ’s new cabin crew outfits like ‘drag queens’ (Greer McDonald & Kiran Chug @ Sydney Morning Herald) Phrase “elephant in the room” is most popular cliche of 2009 (The Mirror) (AirNZ’s use of the phrase “disestablished”) Tiger Airways carries 3 millionth passenger (Travel Daily News) Tiger’s flight delayed 10-hours (The Morning Bulletin) Tiger Airways advances aircraft delivery (Yahoo! Singapore) Discussion about Tiger’s callsign on our forum @ Downwind Jetstar and AirAsia form a Joint Venture: http://au.biz.yahoo.com/100105/2/2am5y.html (Yahoo! FInance) Analyst tips fruitful Jetstar-AirAsia alliance (ABC News) Two-for-one budget airlines (Stephen Bartholomeusz @ Business Spectator) Jetstar maintenance stays onshore (Geoff Easdown @ HeraldSun) Australian executives at Jetstar Pacific not allowed to leave Vietnam: Jetstar Pacific executives questioned in Vietnam (ABC News) Jetstar Pacific probe set to last months (ABC News) QANTAS are impacted by another Amadeus crash: Flights delayed after Qantas glitches (ABC News) Another computer glitch for Qantas (Australian Aviation) Qantas may be just another eyes wide victim of IT ‘lies’ (Ben Sandilands @ Plane Talking on Crikey) Passengers suffer as Qantas check-in fails (Lanai Vasek @ The Australian) We chat with Shashank Nigam from SimpliFlying  We have a c’est la vie moment about the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)  Technical glitch strands Qantas passengers (ABC News)  Listener Mail: Jack Seymour’s got a blog up about his learning to fly (Student Flight Mark mentions Coronal Mass Ejections and their potential impacts on GPS systems Shout Outs: The new Mile High Flyers podcast is well worth listening to (and they refer to our show in their second episode – w00t :) Will & Dave at The Pilot’s Flight Podlog podcast have provided us with a promo piece and are joining in the fun of cross-promoting other podcasts As usual, our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com. Podcasts Steve Visscher & Grant McHerron (www.planecrazydownunder.com) no no PCDU Episode 8: Riding Our Segways http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2009/09/11/episode-8-riding-our-segways/ http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2009/09/11/episode-8-riding-our-segways/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:48:27 +0000 Grant (Falcon124) http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/?p=114 We thought we’d have this episode out within a few days of our previous one, but there was so many news items to review, so much to discuss and so many bits to splice together that it took a whole week to bring it to you. Weighing in at almost 2 hours, this episode has . . . → Read More: PCDU Episode 8: Riding Our Segways]]> We thought we’d have this episode out within a few days of our previous one, but there was so many news items to review, so much to discuss and so many bits to splice together that it took a whole week to bring it to you. Weighing in at almost 2 hours, this episode has interviews, GA, follow ups and much much more.

With some brilliant segways between topics (and a few clangers), this episode includes the following items:

]]> http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2009/09/11/episode-8-riding-our-segways/feed/ 0 1:49:06 We thought we’d have this episode out within a few days of our previous one, but there was so many news items to review, so much to discuss and so many bits to splice together that it took a whole week to bring it to you. Weighing in at almost[...] We thought we’d have this episode out within a few days of our previous one, but there was so many news items to review, so much to discuss and so many bits to splice together that it took a whole week to bring it to you. Weighing in at almost 2 hours, this episode has interviews, GA, follow ups and much much more. With some brilliant segways between topics (and a few clangers), this episode includes the following items: Changes after the Kokoda accident Australia pledges $2m for Kokoda airstrip upgrade (ABC News) Virgin Blue and Delta rebuttal against Air New Zealand Virgin and Delta slam Air NZ attacks (Ari Sharp @ The Age) As we predicted, JetStar are going to Fiji Qantas and Virgin Blue in Fiji fight (Steve Creedy @ The Australian) Jetstar to spoil V Australia’s Fiji flights? (Alex @ AusAviation) Webjet pressured by competition to drop fees Pressure On Webjet As Zuji and Expedia Drop Fees (Martin Kelly @ Travel Trends) Listener comments about laser pointers and aircraft @DanWebbage from the Airplane Geeks provides feedback on United Airlines and their 747-400s on the Pacific route @DanWebbage also gives us a report on a recent conference where he got to try different aircraft seats Some QANTAS stories from mechanical to financial Qantas makes emergency landing in Perth (Geoffrey @ The West Australian) Qantas yields remain under pressure (Bill Lindsay @ The Australian) Qantas feels the heat from the east (Geoff Easdown @ the Herald Sun) Qantas braces for long haul in red: IATA figures (Steve Creedy @ The Australian) Qantas yield contractions continue, but appear to have stabilised; SIA downgraded on yield squeeze (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation) Discounted tickets lure more to Qantas in July (news.com.au) It’s a Jetstar a rising at Qantas (Ben Sandilands @ Crikey) The Australian Government is putting its travel management up to tender Federal air travel tender to hit Qantas (Scott Rochfort @ the Sydney Morning Herald) More bad news for Qantas – Federal air travel tender up for grabs (eTravel Blackboard) Virgin hails move to tighten airfare policy (Steve Creedy @ The Australian) Interview with Karla Courtney from the QANTAS Travel Insider Tiger Airlines aircraft hits a flock of birds Bird strike grounds Tiger plane at Adelaide Airport (Sam Rodrigues @ Adelaide Now) Airplane hits flock of birds in Australia, take off rejected (AvioNews) Airline review results are in Australians reveal their worst airline (Angela Saurine @ news.com.au) Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam may have breached the law Jetstar Pacific told to quit using the orange star and ‘Jet’ logo (Look At Vietnam) Interview with Shashank Nigam” from SimpliFlying Final missing RAAF aircrew from the Vietnam conflict found and returned for burial Diggers’ bodies to return from Vietnam (news.com.au) Vietnam airmen’s remains flown home (Max Blenkin @ The Courier Mail) 39yr wait over as Toowoomba farewells Vietnam pilot (Sam Burgess @ ABC News) State funeral for Vietnam War airman (ABC News) http://www.airforce.gov.au/raafmuseum/research/aircraft/series2/A84.htm About #2 Squadron in Vietname and more about #2 squadron History of Canberras with the RAAF Images of the Canberra that crashed Thanks to David Vanderhoof for the research Student pilot makes emergency landing after engine fails (same pilot as the runway overrun reported a few weeks ago) Plane makes emergency landing in paddock (ABC News) Man survives plane crash in Abbotsbury (Michael Chammas & Stacey Vanoska @ the Fairfield City Champion) Student pilot crash lands in paddock in Prospect (Vikki Campion @ the Daily Telegraph) NOTE: Thanks to @DavidOptimal for the info Observer has to fly King Air until pilot recovers (thanks to @DavidOptiimal and others for the inside story) Passenger flies plane after pilot passes out (ABC News) Government is taking steps to halt inappropriate development on airports Airport building hopes reined in: Ba[...] Podcasts Steve Visscher & Grant McHerron (www.planecrazydownunder.com) no no PCDU Episode 5: Jet Lag Recovery http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2009/08/16/episode-5-jet-lag-recovery/ http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2009/08/16/episode-5-jet-lag-recovery/#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:41:05 +0000 Grant (Falcon124) http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/?p=69 Steve’s back from his trip to the USA and, despite some jet lag woes, he’s in the recording studio and the banter is flowing in our longest episode yet. Sadly, the first 15 minutes sound like Grant’s testing NASA’s new Interplanetary Internet and experiencing a really crappy connection. Not to worry, it soon clears up . . . → Read More: PCDU Episode 5: Jet Lag Recovery]]> Steve’s back from his trip to the USA and, despite some jet lag woes, he’s in the recording studio and the banter is flowing in our longest episode yet. Sadly, the first 15 minutes sound like Grant’s testing NASA’s new Interplanetary Internet and experiencing a really crappy connection. Not to worry, it soon clears up and the rest of the episode quite clearly reveals our usual commentary on this week’s local aviation news stories, including the following topics:

]]> http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2009/08/16/episode-5-jet-lag-recovery/feed/ 3 1:15:48 Steve’s back from his trip to the USA and, despite some jet lag woes, he’s in the recording studio and the banter is flowing in our longest episode yet. Sadly, the first 15 minutes sound like Grant’s testing NASA’s new Interp[...] Steve’s back from his trip to the USA and, despite some jet lag woes, he’s in the recording studio and the banter is flowing in our longest episode yet. Sadly, the first 15 minutes sound like Grant’s testing NASA’s new Interplanetary Internet and experiencing a really crappy connection. Not to worry, it soon clears up and the rest of the episode quite clearly reveals our usual commentary on this week’s local aviation news stories, including the following topics: Airlines PNG Twin Otter crash at Kokoda Pilot in PNG crash had six months’ experience (Michael McKenna and Steve Creedy @ The Australian) Flyers may have lost their bearings (Steve Creedy @ The Australian) Landing gear incidents @ Bankstown (YSBK) Planes Lose Wheels (The Torch newspaper) Regional airlines worrying about aircraft Regional airlines face plane shortage (Steve Creedy @ The Australian) Flying Doctor losing a contract Flying doctor service loses $70m contract (Steve Creedy @ The Australian) Royal Flying Doctor Service – history Royal Flying Doctor Service – Wikipedia Steve discusses his visit to the TWiT Cottage and meeting Leo Laporte (go on gang, you *know* you’re jealous :) Steve clarifies that he went to Eaker AFB while in the USA but named it incorrectly during his update on the previous episode Steve talks about his flights with V Australia Tainted Virgin Blue chicken wraps induced births (Jamie Walker @ The Australian) Virgin-Delta joint venture to get a clear run (Steve Creedy @ The Australian) We discuss an article by Andrew McLaughlin in the July issue of Australian Aviation magazine about United Airlines fighting to retain share on the Pacific route Tiger is taking steps to improve its image Airline complaints head sky-high (Clive Dorman @ The Age) V Australia wants to fly to Fiji V Australia applies for Fiji route (Greg Waldron @ Flight Global) Grant talks about his experiences going to Sydney for the SimpliFlying/PCDU Tweet Up along side the Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009 conference QANTAS links its frequent flyer program to the Woolworths loyalty program Qantas loyalty deal with Woolies a big seller (Steve Creedy @ The Australian) AirAsiaX news Capital city rivals out to land Asia (Steve Creedy @ The Australian) AirAsiaX will boost its Gold Coast route Malaysia Airlines getting stung by low cost carriers Discount rivals hit MAS results (Geoff Easdown @ The HeraldSun) Laser taggers arrested Laser pointer accused faces court (ABC News) Podcasts Steve Visscher & Grant McHerron (www.planecrazydownunder.com) no no TweetUp at the Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009 http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2009/07/26/tweetup-at-the-asia-pacific-aviation-outlook-summit-2009/ http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2009/07/26/tweetup-at-the-asia-pacific-aviation-outlook-summit-2009/#comments Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:07:47 +0000 Grant (Falcon124) http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/?p=37 From the 3rd to 6th of August 2009, the Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009 is being held in Sydney at the Four Seasons Hotel down at the Rocks end of George St (near the Harbour). Shashank Nigam from SimpliFlying will be in town to attend the conference and present a keynote.

You may have . . . → Read More: TweetUp at the Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009]]> From the 3rd to 6th of August 2009, the Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009 is being held in Sydney at the Four Seasons Hotel down at the Rocks end of George St (near the Harbour). Shashank Nigam from SimpliFlying will be in town to attend the conference and present a keynote.

You may have heard Shashank interviewed on episode 29 of the Airplane Geeks podcast. He’s also been interviewed on CNBC Arabia, the Things With Wings blog at Aviation Week, Asian Airlines & Airports (PDF) and many other places.

I’m going to fly up to Sydney for the day on the 5th August to meet Shashank and interview him for the podcast. We’re also going to hold a combined SimpliFlying/PCDU TweetUp while we’re there.

In addition to having a drink and mixing with other aviation enthusiasts, the event will also offer a panel discussion moderated by Shashank and featuring Karla Courtney from the Frequent Buyer blog and myself. More panelists are being arranged and I’ll list them as they sign up.

Update: Karla’s going to be at the Summit on behalf of her work with the QANTAS Travel Insider site and their associated Twitter account, QFTravelInsider.

You’re more than welcome to come and ask questions, suggest topics and otherwise join in. Dress is smart casual and we’ll be starting at 5:30 on Wednesday 5th of August.

Sign up to follow the event via TwtVite and Facebook. You can also post a comment here or email us so we can keep you updated about when & where we’re meeting.

So, if you’re in Sydney on the 5th of August and can make it down to the rocks from 5:30 onwards (exact venue to be confirmed), you’re more than welcome to come and join us for a few drinks and join in the discussion. It promises to be a great night of fun and information.

Update: Venue has been locked in: Top level bar at Jacksons on George (176 George St) – looking forward to seeing you all there :)

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