It’s time to dig into the recently released Defence Strategic Review to assess its impacts on the Australian Defence Force from an aviation perspective. For this episode we’re joined by award winning defence and aerospace journalist Andrew McLaughlin, who helps assess the changes we can expect to see over the next few years. A big […]
With the recent release of the Defence Strategic Review by the Australian Federal Government, a major focus has been put on long range missiles for use by Army, Navy and Air Force to deter a potential adversary from approaching our island continent and/or blockading our ocean supply routes. With this in mind, we release an […]
Imagine a hoard of RV-6s & RV-7s flying in close formation and performing solo & pair aerobatics. Sounds intense? Well, wait for the Pacific Airshow at the Gold Coast to find out how it looks & sounds. Meanwhile, Mark Newton is one of the pilots in the Freedom Formation and he talks us through his […]
The Australian International Airshow in 2023 (aka Avalon 2023) saw not only huge crowds and amazing displays in the air, but also the end of an era as Peter Meehan performed his last show as “The Voice of Avalon,” handing over the reigns to Tony Moclair. It also saw Grant join Angela Stevenson as part […]
Welcome back to our coverage of the 2015 Australian International Air Show (aka Avalon Airshow) with our third release of content recorded at show. It’s been a while since the last episode and we’re sorry for that but as with many labours of love & fun, life gets in the way and paying the rent, keeping the family happy, doing airshow commentaries and producing the weekly Australia Desk for the Airplane Geeks often wind up taking priority over producing an episode.
For this episode, we have:
0:03:33 – Grant catches up once again with Heidi Fedak from Gulfstream and they sit on board the G650ER to discuss the bizjet market & how Gulfstream aircraft fill the various segments within it.
0:13:41 – Still on board the G650ER, Grant chats with Todd Baker who used to fly AV8B Harriers in the US Marines before transitioning to Gulfstreams to fly the top brass around.
0:21:41 – Maikha Ly spent a few minutes with Andrew Carter from The Australian Vintage Aviation Society to see how he was enjoying flying the Fokker Triplane in the gaggle of WW1 aircraft at the show. We had previously caught up with Andrew & Gordon to talk about TAVAS & the Fokker Triplane late last year at the Avalon media launch session.
0:26:06 – Maikha also recorded a chat with Gene De Marco from The Vintage Aviator Limited in New Zealand about the collection of fantastic WW1 replica aircraft they brought over for the show.
0:50:32 –WW1 Replicas from TAVAS & TVALGrant gets to meet with Dr Graham Dorrington from RMIT about RMIT’s involvement with Airbus’ Fly Your Ideas competition and I get to talk with some of the students involved before wrapping up by chatting to Isabelle Floret, Snr Vice President, Airbus Pacific. Unfortunately the background sound was pretty high & we couldn’t filter it all out so it’s a bit noisy on this one :(
1:03:41 – Inside the Airbus chalet, Grant chatted with Mike Bausor, Airbus’ A350 XWB Marketing Director about the A350 going live with Qatar Airways
1:08:23 – Bringing us back to corporate jets, Grant once again caught up with David Vellupillai to talk about Airbus Corporate Jets including the newly available ACJ330. They also discussed the A380 and its market niche, Airbus’ view on passenger seating and the nuances of supporting ACJ owners.Grant in the G650ER wondering if they’ll accept his kidney as a deposit…
1:23:35 – Show wrap up
Thanks to everyone for your patience with our delays and thanks also to those who have been contacting us to check that we’re still alive and asking when the next episode would be out. We’ve not pod faded yet & there’s still a big backlog of content for us to edit & get into the feed. Meanwhile, you can usually hear us each week on the Airplane Geeks podcast and Grant is helping out Dave Homewood with the Wings Over New Zealand Live show that comes up monthly on Warbird Radio. He’s also recently appeared on Adam Knight’s great podcast called Go Flying Australia as well as turning up as a guest on the Plane Talking UK podcast.
We’ve also been mentioned on Global Pilot Life and Airport Spotting as both sites have included us in their lists of “Favourite Aviation Shows.” Thanks to both sites for including us despite the gaps between episodes of late :)
The Australian International Airshow (aka Avalon Airshow) may well be over for 2015 but our collection of content recorded at the show is still being worked on. Here’s another hour of interviews & discussions and we suspect there may be another two episodes before we’re through with all of it. This is what happens when you let Steve, Grant & Maikha run loose with audio recorders at an airshow :) Maikha & his Selfie Stick seemed to get almost everywhere at Avalon15
Steve kicks us off with an overview of the episode which unfolds as:
0:02:42 – Grant caught up with Richard Woodward but instead of chatting in his usual ride (an A380), they’re chatting about the new coaxial rotor helicopters he’s working on with Coax Helicopters. They’re amazing machines that are being targeted at those who like to ride sports bikes without fairings.
0:10:45 –Richard Woodward at the controls of a Coax Helicopter (it’s a tad smaller than his usual A380 :) )Peta Denham Harvey is the vice president of the Australian Women Pilots’ Association (Victorian Branch) and she tells Maikha about the Round Australia Relay which features women pilots flying around australia to raise money for the Cancer Council. The relay started during the Avalon Airshow and will conclude in April at the AWPA conference in Launceston (Tasmania).
0:16:21 – Grant talks with GPCAPT Guy Adams regarding Unmanned Aerial Systems within the Australian Defence Force ranging from backpack units Army squads can use through to Global Hawk & Triton. The discussions also covers how the Heron UAV is operating with the RAAF after Afghanistan, the Scan Eagle platform trials, operations with Reapers in the USA and what was involved in getting a Global Hawk to land at Avalon Airport. GPCAPT Guy Adams in front of the Triton mockup
0:49:03 – Maikha’s managed to get into the belly of an RJ85 Fire Fighting aircraft that’s been derived from a BAe146. He’s with Ray Horton from ConAir in Canada and they’re talking about Ray’s career, ConAir’s operations, the RJ85 and fire bombing in Australia.
1:01:06 – Grant got to take a break with Jodi Davis and review what she’s been up to over the last 18 months including her aerobatic flying and working as Matt Hall Racing’s domestic business development manager based at Belmont Airport in Pelican (New South Wales).
1:06:18 – With a live-to-the-mic intro from Allan Van’t Padje, Timbo joins Grant to give us yet another Timbo’s Tarmac with the inside word on the Avalon warbird tarmac, some fun with soft ground and storing aircraft in the now empty ex-Qantas hangars.
1:09:47 – Steve wraps up the episode
ConAir Spotter, C130 & RJ85 parked in front of their hangar
PCDU Narrating at AusFlyThe Sport Aircraft Association of Australia (SAAA) held their inaugural AusFly event at Narromine, New South Wales on the 14th & 15th of September. As part of the show, Plane Crazy Down Under were invited to come & run the AusFly radio show and provide commentary for the air displays. From setting up the studio & PA system (thanks Allan & Kurt :) to interviewing live during the show and keeping the crowd informed during the air displays, it was a busy, exhausting, educational and, over-all, fun experience.
In this episode we have the first few of our AusFly content and we’ll be having more in future episodes as we arranging interviews with the exhibitors we missed out chatting to during the event. Everyone was kept busy by the steady stream of people so there wasn’t much time to stop & chat.
The full content of the show includes:
0:04:20 – Our post-show interview with David Brown from the SAAA where we discuss the successes and the lessons learned from running the event.
0:28:01 – An interview we recorded with Gordon Rich-Phillips, the Victorian minister for the Aviation Industry (among other portfolios). We discuss his background in aviation, the aircraft he’s been flying and his views on the aviation industry in Victoria.
0:47:27 – We play some of our AusFly Radio content
0:47:36 – Hunter Jones from AutoGyro Australia talks to us about autogyros, their presence at AusFly and their formation arrival.
0:58:30 – Matt Maude from Performance Metals lets us know about a whole lot of new metal they’ve got arriving shortly.
1:03:10 – Jenny Wickham joins us on “The Perch” at AusFly to provide commentary on her husband Jim’s flying.
1:08:55 – Grant has a quick chat with Chris Brown who was on the Elgas Balloon Trek that worked its way to Narromine during the week leading up to the 14th
1:11:42 – We chat with Ben Jones about his experiences at AusFly (including flying a Zenith CH650), at WestFly and at the Sport Aircraft Builders Club Annual Fly In
1:22:24 – We review some Listener Mail:
Brian from Kentucky is wading through our archives & has almost listened to all of them (yes, he’s very brave! :)
Mick (aka “Bom1”) relates a few of his aviation passenger experiences and is wondering what to do next in aviation (yes, he should get his license for a start! :)
1:29:16 – We give a few Shout Outs:
Thanks to Analogue Al (aka Allan Van’t Padje) and his brother Kurt for all their efforts to setup & tear down the PA system used at Narromine as well as Allan’s great work running the sound gear through out the event
Well done to Chris Visscher for being the PCDU Camp Cook and general errand boy
Thanks to everyone who came & said HI at AusFly, especially our mate The Air Stig who visited AusFly as part of a long journey he was undertaking
Steve on “The Perch” at AusFlyGrant doing Commentary at AusFly
Allan in the Studio Marquee trying to make us sound good :)
All photos in these show notes (including the episode title image) were taken by Phil Buckley. Thanks mate :)
The Great PCDU Road Trip of 2012 covered over 1,700km in the course of a single weekend. From late on Friday night to early on Monday morning, Steve, Grant & Allan drove from Melbourne up to Wollongong (just south of Sydney) to attend the Wings Over Illawarra 2012 air show. Firmly ensconced in the Southern Biplanes hangar with a great view of the show unfolding beyond “Lilly Warra” (their big red Boeing Stearman), the mobile studio was set up (thanks Allan! :) allowing Steve, Grant & Anthony Crichton-Browne to record lots of great content.
The Great PCDU Road Trip of 2012 covered over 1,700km in the course of a single weekend. From late on Friday night to early on Monday morning, Steve, Grant & Allan drove from Melbourne up to Wollongong (just south of Sydney) to attend the Wings Over Illawarra 2012 air show. Firmly ensconced in the Southern Biplanes hangar with a great view of the show unfolding beyond “Lilly Warra” (their big red Boeing Stearman), the mobile studio was set up (thanks Allan! :) allowing Steve, Grant & Anthony Crichton-Browne to record lots of great content.