Fire Scout – Plane Crazy Down Under

Test Flying the F-35 (S02E011)

Way back in June 2014 we released Series 1 Episode 119 about the RAAF bringing the F-35A into service, including the first two pilots selected to learn how to fly it, discussions with Lockheed Martin representatives (including test pilot Billie Flynn) and an hour long discussion with AVM Kym “Koz” Osley about the infrastructure work, […]

Gold Coast Dreaming (S02E010)

The team from the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach in California have come down under to stage the first Pacific Airshow Gold Coast event at Surfers Paradise in August, right around the corner as we release this episode. Steve and Grant will be attending the event to gather more content from the performers who will […]

Reaching Skyward (S02E009)

They say that if you can’t see it, you can’t be it and that certainly seems to be the case with getting more women into aviation. The recently released documentary Touch the Sky seeks to help encourage more women to consider flying for fun and/or employment, particularly looking at the “soft” (aka “human”) issues that […]

Traffic Sighted (S02E008)

There are plenty of beaches in Australia and many cities have an “Eye in the Sky” traffic reporter giving commuters updates on where the bottlenecks are, but what if you could provide traffic reports plus beach reports, all while logging hours? Our voice-over guy, Terry Daniel, steps out of the recording booth and into the […]

Episode 127 is Live featuring lots of great detailed content

We’ve released out latest episode at last and it’s got a stack of great content, including some very detailed information about planning & performing the F-18 Handling Display at the Tyabb Air Show in 2014 and doing an F-18’s preflight inspection. All that plus information about the Triton and Fire Scout unmanned aerial systems, managing the C-17 in the RAAF, the Japanese Air Self Defence Force KC-767, MAF and Mahindra’s GA-10.

Click here to access the episode.

PCDU Episode 127: From the Vault

We’ve gone back into our archives to pull out some great content that we never got around to releasing before. We have some more interviews from Avalon 2015 (yes, we recorded lots didn’t we? :) ) and we also have WGCDR Tim Alsop (now a GPCAPT :) ) walking us through planning & implementing an F-18 Hornet handling display and doing a pre-flight walk-around.

Thanks to the heroic efforts of Maikha (the king of the aviation selfie stick), the collection of content has been edited and put together ready for Steve to finalise and Grant to make the show notes. Send your thanks his way for having the time & energy to get it put together :)

The episode unfolds as:

00:01:29 – Steve & Grant take a break from Steve’s daughter’s birthday to introduce the episode.
Avalon Coverage:
- 00:06:54 – Grant talks to SQNLDR Adrian about flying the PC-9 in the Forward Air Control role.
- 00:16:48 – Maikha catches up with Dave Wheatland from Mahindra about the GA10.
- 00:27:29 – Mike Seers from Northrop Grumman describes how the Triton UAS is providing Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS).
- 00:32:42 – Maikha speaks to three dedicated Mission Aviation Fellowship volunteers, long serving MAF Pilot Ron Watts, State MAF Advocate and retired MAF Pilot Max Chapman and MAF Promotional volunteer Daniel Prowse.
- 00:48:14 – CMDR James Walker of the US Navy talks about the upgraded Fire Scout UAS which is produced using the Bell Long Ranger helicopter.
- 00:56:38 – FLGOFF Moles talks to Grant about being a load master on the RAAF C-17.
- 01:00:58 – Grant discusses flying the RAAF C-17 with FLTLT Marshall.
- 01:06:49 – Maikha speaks to members of the Japan Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) during their visit to Avalon 2015, starting with JASDF Staff Sergeant Yoshi Uesugi (translated by Public Relations officer Major Shigenari Tomioka) regarding the JASDF’s travelling Taiko Drums band, followed by an interview with Lieutenant Colonel Takahiro Seki, the Pilot In Command of the visiting JASDF KC-767 and also the Commander of 404th Squadron from Komaki Air Force Base in Japan.
RAAF F18 Handling Display Interviews:
- 01:15:17 – WGCDR Tim ‘Slops’ Alsop discusses his flying career from learning to fly at Tyabb and Moorabbin to his current role as CO 3SQN.
- 01:38:21 – WGCDR Tim Alsop discusses the planning and performance of the RAAF F-18 Handling Display performed for the Tyabb Air Show 2014.
- 02:06:19 – Grant catches up with FLGOFF Michael “Newbs” Newby to discuss his flying background and career to date the with RAAF.
- 02:14:47 – WGCDR Tim Alsop walks us through an F-18 Hornet preflight.
02:26:14 – Steve & Grant wrap up the episode.

PCDU Episode 60: Now the Party’s Over

The Australian International Airshow (aka Avalon 2011) is over but the show must go on. We have mountains of content from Avalon 2011 in addition to the interviews we released in each of our daily episodes.

Yes, that’s right: If you haven’t downloaded & listened to each of the daily episodes then you should stop right now and go do it. There is some amazing content in those episodes that will NOT be in the post-show Avalon episodes, including F22 Raptor pilots, B1B crew, Dr Brendan Nelson, remote tower systems, Simmo & the CA27 Sabre plus much much more.

This episode we focus on the Trade Show aspect of Avalon 2011, gathering together the interviews we recorded with various corporations during the first few days of the show:

Dan Schroter, head of strategy & business development at BAe Systems, talks to us about BAe Systems’ work in Australia
Paul Cooke, director of business development in defense avionics at BAe Systems, talks to us about their amazing Q-Sight system
Walter Kreitler, direct of BAMS UAS business development at Northrop Grumman talks to us about the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance system
Mike Fuqua, director of tactical unmanned systems at Northrop Grumman, talks to us about the MQ-8B Fire Scout helicopter UAS
Paul Levett, CEO of Levett Engineering, talks to us about landing more work with Pratt & Whitney on the F35 JSF’s 135 engine

After some intense trade show coverage, we also step back a bit with the latest ‘View from the Lounge’ update from Anthony Simmons before winding up the episode with some Listener Mail:

David Thornton says “Hi” from the UK and thinks our Avalon Quick Cast episodes were just like being there.
Mac Coble from Florida
Bruce Dickerson from Georgia

We also have a few important shout outs:

Gary Towart who helped escort us at the KC135 and warbirds tarmac, preventing us from getting hassled :)
MozzMan from SRS Photography who escorted us during our interviews with Nikolay, Bob, Kent & Chris plus took a few photos of us in action
Ian Kershaw who’s put together our new audience survey
We now have a PCDU Flickr stream where our Avalon 2011 photos are being loaded along with others from past events

Thanks once again for downloading & listening to our show. Be sure to catch up with our Avalon Daily episodes as there is lots of great content in those too.