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 December 31st, 2014% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:13:22 — 92.1MB) Subscribe: As the final hours of 2014 draw to a close, we’re getting our last episode for 2014 out the door. The boys have been kept pretty busy with their day jobs lately but, despite this, they’ve managed to do some flying:
- Grant’s been taking friends on their first balloon flights including Evan Schoo and Darren Craven
- Fred Samson took Steve for a fly over San Francisco while he was there a back in October
- Steve got to fly a 172 in Las Vegas thanks to Rod Rakic & AirWork Las Vegas, an OpenAirplane member
- The PCDU aeroplane fleet has expanded thanks to Jonesy picking up a 1974 model Cessna 172
After the hangar talk settles down, we get into the episode itself which includes the recent Avalon Airshow Media Launch, Steve’s time at the Red Bull Air Race in Las Vegas and Grant’s trip to Auckland in New Zealand for the Wings Over New Zealand Forum meet up. The episode stacks up in the following list:  Steve with the AirWork Cessna 172 he flew over Las Vegas
- Grant attended the media launch for the Avalon Airshow which was held in the old Qantas hangar where they used to park a 747 while doing heavy maintenance on it. There was wind on the hangar walls, doors opening, vehicles moving and people talking which all made it a rather “interesting” place to record the following chats:
- 0:16:29 – Jeff “Trappo” Trappett finally gets a chance to appear on PCDU (that or he couldn’t run away fast enough :) ) and talks to Grant about his P51, his C47 & his Sabre
- 0:22:34 – Paul Bennet talks about his new Wolf Pitts aircraft, the manoeuvres it’s letting him do and where things are at with Paul Bennet Airshows (sounds like he’s got a bit of an airforce happening :) )
- 0:26:36 – Darren Craven talks about owning & flying a Winjeel
- 0:33:30 – Gordon Robinson talks about flying Australia’s only Fokker Dr.1 triplane replica all the way down to Melbourne from Brisbane
- 0:39:38 – Andrew Carter owns & flies the Dr.1 replica that Gordon flew down. He talks to us about setting up the Australian Vintage Aviation Society to commemorate WW1 & bring to life aircraft of the era.
- 0:48:28 – Of course, there wouldn’t be aircraft at Avalon without a session on Timbo’s Tarmac and Grant made sure to record one at this event
- Back in October, Steve went to the USA to experience the Red Bull Air Race in Las Vegas (his family still thinks it was a family trip :) ). While at the event he recorded the following interviews:
 Steve chats with Matt Hall at the Red Bull Air Race in Las Vegas 0:54:27 – Matt Hall talks about his results in the Fort Worth race & the challenges he’s found this season
- 0:59:33 – Eric Cieslar & Peter Wezenbeek are Matt Hall’s race technician & race tactician and they talk about their roles in keeping Matt flying in top form during the races
- 1:05:30 – Hannes Arch talks about standardised engines and how they’ve highlighted the pilot’s skills as opposed to engine power
- 1:09:06 – Kirby Chambliss talks about the challenges he’s faced this season and the changes he’ll be making for the next season
- 1:13:42 – Mike Goulian talks about his involvement with Cirrus aircraft and the hassles he’s worked through this season
- 1:19:48 – Steve catches up with Matt once again just prior to the start of the second day to discuss qualifying
- 1:21:55 – Steve presents a wrap up of the race after the winds came up and they had to cancel the day’s flying (audio courtesy of the Red Bull Air Race content pool)
- 1:24:21 – Rod Rakic talks about OpenAirplane
- As Steve was on a Qantas A380 heading to the USA, Grant was on an Air New Zealand A320 heading to New Zealand to attend the Wings Over New Zealand Forum gathering at Ardmore Airport near Auckland. More than just a gathering, this event included plenty of presentations on great topics, all hosted within the New Zealand Warbirds hangar. While Dave Homewood is releasing much of the content from the event on his Wings Over New Zealand show, Grant recorded a few items of his own:
- 1:33:54 – Brett Nicholls talks about owning two ex-RNZAF BAC 167 Strikemasters and what it’s taken to get them running for publically available joy flights with Jetfighter Military Adventure Flights
 Graham Wood taxies the DH.83 Fox Moth 1:42:20 – Grant got the opportunity to take a ride in a DH.83 Fox Moth along with fellow passenger Grant Newman. In addition to recording some of the sounds from the flight, he also chatted with Graham Wood about his career and flying the DH.83
- While Grant didn’t get a chance to record with Melanie Salisbury from Aviation Tours NZ, she did pass on some information about their “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” tour of the UK in July 2015 which includes Duxford’s “Flying Legends” airshow. It looks like a great tour with plenty of aviation goodness packed into it :)
 Steve & Grant recommend you check out Spotters Mag 1:48:38 – Steve & Grant wrap up the year including a couple of items from the mailbag (including Luke Murphy, Andrew Brown & Shaun Dwyer) and a few shout outs for the end of the year:
- Steve & Grant have been enjoying the new Spotters Mag, an eMag for aviation spotters with a version just for Australia & New Zealand. Highly recommended!
- Carlos Stebbings from the Plane Talking UK show is doing his pilot’s license: onya, mate!
- Steve would like to thank Captain Harry Wubbin for his hospitality on board QF93
- Steve & Grant thank Paul Burfitt from 64 for his great help this year
- Don’t forget that the Avalon Airshow 2015 is coming up in a few months and we’re looking forward to seeing you there
- With tickets on sale already, it’s definitely time to start thinking about the Temora Aviation Museum‘s Warbirds Down Under event coming up in November
By Grant (Falcon124), on July 3rd, 2012% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:26:23 — 59.3MB) Subscribe: Steve’s been considering buying an aircraft so he got together with Anthony Crichton-Browne and Ben Morgan to discuss the costs of owning an aircraft. After that we’re joined by Kathy Mexted to interview Justin Sheedy about his book “Nor the years condemn” before heading off into a discussion of various items (including Grant getting on his soapbox about ‘aircraft snobs’). It’s worth sticking around to the very end for a huge, 5 minute mega-blooper reel at the end :)
The whole show comes together as:
- 0:03:36 – Aircraft ownership discussion between Steve, Anthony Crichton-Browne and Ben Morgan, recorded at Wollongong during the “Wings Over the Illawarra” airshow
- 0:30:55 – Steve & Kathy Mexted talk with Justin Sheedy about his new book “Nor the years condemn” (here’s a link to Kathy’s article about Justin’s book)
- 0:56:51 – Steve, Grant & Kathy further discuss aircraft ownership & the joys of flying Piper Cubs. They also give a shout out to Steve Tupper for his recent glider training efforts and Grant gets on his soap box for a rant about aviation snobs
- 1:03:46 – Kathy gives us an update on the council meeting about fate of the Kyneton Aerodrome (an overwhelming flood of support for the aerodrome was received)
- 1:12:11 – Kathy is looking for more stories for her book so contact her via her website
- 1:14:47 – Shout Outs:
- Congratulations to Evan Schoo for getting his navigation endorsement (read more about it at Evan’s blog)
- The 12th Annual Aviation Careers Expo is running in Brisbane on August 25th and PCDU is an official media partner for the event
- We then sign off & mention that ATC_Ben will be representing PCDU at Oshkosh 2012 while Pieter Johnson will be at Farnborough 2012 representing his own Aviation Xtended podcast as well as the Airplane Geeks & PCDU
Don’t forget to stick around to the end for the mega-blooper reel :)
Notes:
* Episode introduction by Andrea Crook from Scripts & Voices
By Grant (Falcon124), on May 30th, 2012% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:02 — 26.7MB) Subscribe:  787 ZA003 provides our Cover Art for this episode Boeing have been taking their 787 Dreamliners on the DreamTour, a series of 7 multi-stop flights, or segments, that take one of the 787 test aircraft around the world. Each segment visits multiple countries, allowing airlines & invited guests to get up close to the advanced new airliner. Perhaps saving the best for last, the DreamTour came to the Dreamtime during it’s 7th segment. As part of this segment, the aircraft visited Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Auckland (yes, that’s New Zealand, we know) and then on to Cairns before heading north of the equator once again.
Team PCDU were invited to tour the 787 while it was in Melbourne as guests of Qantas & Jetstar. Despite the cold, grey weather & occasional rain, our spirits were high & we were excited to once again encounter the Dreamliner. We’d met ZA001 at Oshkosh 2011 but been too busy to go through the interior so with ZA003 parked on the BAe Systems ramp, this was our chance to finally check out the cockpit.
After chatting with Reid Templin, one of Boeing’s flight test engineers, we recorded an interview with Captain Todd Abraham, one of the Boeing 787 technical pilots flying the aircraft on segment #7. Todd answered our questions about the training program, the electric brakes, the engines, the fly-by-wire system, adherence to the Boeing philosophy and the tactile feedback provided by the control yoke & throttles. Like the other Boeing airliners, the computer systems on the 787 supplement & assist the pilot but do not override, despite being fully computerised.
Our interview with Todd starts at 02:11.
 Steve & Grant on the Flight Deck of 787 ZA003 Following this interview we climbed on board and checked out the cockpit (cool!!!!!) before heading back through the demonstration interior which featured example seating arrangements, galleys, toilets, large dimmable windows, high ceilings (with the new storage bins) & crew rest areas. All very impressive but the chance to hang out & chat with some more Boeing flight test engineers at the rear of the aircraft & talk about systems, structures & designs was fascinating.
Eventually we left & went back down to the tarmac to get some more photos of engines, landing gear, vents, inlets & more. From there we returned to the bus & went back to our vehicles, coming back to the reality of a cold, grey Melbourne day.
Team PCDU would like to thank Qantas & Jetstar for inviting us to join the 787 DreamTour here in Melbourne. We’d also like to thank Boeing for bringing the 787 down under and for allowing us to interview Captain Todd Abraham as well as spend so much time chatting with their flight test engineers.
Naturally, we’ve loaded our photos from the day as a 787 set on our Flickr stream for you to check out. We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode and that you can appreciate the need to balance a short-length ‘quick-cast’ episode against getting our interview published while the DreamTour is still underway.
Notes:
* Cover art image courtesy of Steven Pam from SmartShots
* Thanks to Owen Zupp and also the crew at Junior Flyer for technical help with this episode
* Intro by Andrea Crook of Scripts & Voices
By Grant (Falcon124), on June 21st, 2011% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (63.6MB) Subscribe: It’s been a while since we got down & dirty with the Australian commercial airline scene so with that in mind, we called up Ben Sandlilands from the PlaneTalking blog on Crikey.com.au for a chat. There’s some amazing developments going on in the “big iron” side of people moving here in Australia and we went through the following subjects:
- The joys of ash clouds (Thanks Chile!)
- Virgin Australia taking on Qantas & Jetstar with their new pricing structures & business class, including just what kind of passenger they were targeting at the front of the cabin
- Qantas & JetStar’s industrial issues with their unions
- Tiger regrouping & focusing on routes where it can do the most damage to the others (watch out Melbourne <-> Sydney and maybe even the Golden Triangle of Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane)
- Strategic’s foray into the Pacific
In this episode we also include an interview with Kathy Mexted, a freelance writer who we met *way* back at the Centenary of Flight airshow in 2010. Flying is in Kathy’s blood by birth & by marriage and she’s been writing articles for a variety of aviation magazines as well as working on a book about being the spouse of an airline pilot. We’re very happy to announce that Kathy’s also going to be producing some content for us in the near future mostly covering Recreational & General Aviation areas.
Finally, we’re including some new music in our show as Steve’s found out about the royalty free production music by JewelBeat. Watch out for whole new background tracks & cross-over music in this & future episodes :)
By Grant (Falcon124), on November 15th, 2009% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (61.7MB) Subscribe: 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:
As usual, our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com and our theme music track is “YouNameIt5″ by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5).
By Grant (Falcon124), on July 31st, 2009% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (21.2MB) Subscribe: We were a little delayed because Grant was trying to do it all this week, but better late than never. With Steve in the USA, Grant was flying solo and discovering that he missed having someone to put the gear up on take off.
This week’s episode includes the following topics:
- Air New Zealand joins Tiger to say that Delta teaming up with V Australia (Delta V) is bad, but QANTAS stays out of it
- QANTAS 737 de-pressurises during flight
- Jetstar upsetting Kiwi pax with baggage charges
- It’s official, Regional Express (REX) is the world’s best regional carrier
- Virgin Blue 737 loses a nose wheel
- Brett Godfrey announces he’ll retire from Virgin Blue
- Virgin Blue to raise capital
- John Holland Group wins Virgin Blue’s Embraer maintenance work
- Macquarie Airports to separate from the Macquarie Group
- PelAir chosen for Ambulance Victoria contract
- Steve Visscher presents an update from the USA, including flight comparisons and the TSA
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