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During August, Grant spent a week in Darwin covering Exercise Pitch Black 2014, a major multinational “war game” exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force.

Held every two years, Pitch Black is Australia’s version of the Red Flag training exercises held in the USA and in 2014 the RAAF was joined by forces from the US, Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand, France and the United Arab Emirates.

Grant joined Andrew McLaughlin, Nigel Pittaway, Mike Yeo and Eng Tiong Ow to experience fantastic access to the local & visiting forces thanks to the efforts of FLTLT Eamon Hamilton. From meeting with representatives from each group attending Pitch Black to being beside the runways & taxiways at Darwin & Tindal, we were able to capture some fantastic photos, videos & interviews.

In addition to Grant’s collection of Pitch Black 2014 content, Steve & ATC Ben recorded a chat with Ryan Campbell about his new book and his ideas for future projects.

At the time we recorded the wrappers for this episode, Steve was about to head to the USA for a family holiday and to cover the Red Bull Air Race in Las Vegas while Grant was geting ready to go to Auckland for the Wings Over New Zealand forum gathering. Unfortunately there were delays in getting everything finished so the episode didn’t come out until after the boys had left on their flights. Go figure :)

The episode’s details are:

• 0:08:20 –
  

  GPCAPT “Micka” Gray – Officer Commanding Exercise Pitch Black 2014

  Grant’s coverage of Exercise Pitch Black 2014
  • 0:09:22 – General media “door stop” interview with GPCAPT “Micka” Gray
     
  • 0:17:05 – FLTLT Ben Daly talks about the roles of Air Combat Officer (ACO) and Fighter Combat Controller (FCC)
     
  • 0:22:03 – FLGOFF Kathryn Koslowicz talks about the day to day tasks of an Air Combat Officer (ACO) and being deployed to the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO)
     
  • 0:26:31 – FLTLT Ben Daly takes us through No. 114 Mobile Control and Reporting Unit’s operations cabins and how they’re used to deploy & manage operations in remote locations
     
  • 0:31:25 – SQNLDR Tim Main reviews the RAAF’s new E7A Wedgetail AEW&C aircraft
     
  • 0:40:15 – Lt Col Scott Arbogast is the commander of the US ANG F16s & he tells us about their role in the exercise
     
  • 0:46:02 – CMSgt Joseph Smiley discusses the logistics behind getting the US ANG F16s to Australia, keeping them running here and then getting them back home afterwards
     
  • 0:52:34 –
    

    French Armed Forces in New Caledonia (FANC) CASA CN235 Transport

    WGCDR Ben Sleeman, CO of 77 SQN, tells us about being the defender
     
  • 1:00:42 – SQNLDR Rob Crawford talks about the 37SQN C130J he brought up to Tindal
     
  • 1:04:56 – WOFF Kyle Lovett is a refuelling operator (aka “boomer”) on 33SQN’s KC30A MRTTs and he walks us through a typical mission they’ve been flying
     
  • 1:14:39 – FLTLT Adam Rouessart & FLGOFF Matthew Bleach were the crew for the F18F Super Hornet handling display during the week
     
  • 1:18:52 – CASA CN235 crew from the French Armed Forces of New Caledonia
     
  • 1:29:24 – RTAF WGCDR Titan
     
  • 1:33:44 –
    

    RTAF SAAB Jas 39 Gripen departing Darwin

    Mick Gablonski is the CHC base manager for the S61 SAR helicopter at Tindal
     
  • 1:42:19 – Nobby has been part of the team restoring Graham Hosking’s F4U-5N Corsair & he lets us in on some of the effort required to bring it to flight status
     
• 1:48:05 – Steve & ATC Ben chat with Ryan Campbell about his new book “Born to Fly” and his ideas for the future
   
• 2:15:11 – Steve & Grant return to wrap up the episode with the following shout outs:
  • Paul Burfitt from Project 64 helped us to make the Airbus A350 XWB gig a success
     
  • We have A350 XWB themed wallpapers available for your phones & tablets that help make your device look cool and also help promote PCDU
     
  • Airplane Geeks listener Mehdi pointed us to the project to keep Vulcan XH558 flying in the UK
     
  • Our Tyabb Air Show 2014 DVD has been released at last and is available for purchase from the Peninsula Aero Club