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 admin, on October 30th, 2016% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:15:05 — 135.2MB) Subscribe: From Grant’s collection of ballooning interviews to a chat with Owen Zupp about his latest book and our tribute to Hannes Arch, this episode is our biggest yet (yes, even bigger than Episode 51, our tribute to the RAAF’s F-111s!). We’ve even captured Anthony “The Infrequent Flyer” Simmons’ first ever viewing of the movie TopGun (in IMAX 3D no less :) ).  Balloons and Tiger Moths. Gotta love old school flying :)
The episode unfolds as:
- 00:00:00 – Our tribute to Hannes Arch, the Red Bull Air Race champion pilot who tragically died in a helicopter crash in September, 2016.
- 00:04:54 – Show start & introduction.
- 00:14:12 – We talk with Owen Zupp about his new book: Without Precedent. It’s the biography of his father that covers his time as a commando in World War 2, flying Meteors during the Korean War, flying Constellations with QANTAS and later flying in General Aviation. It’s a fantastic read and highly recommended.
We started by discussing Steve’s recent Tiger Moth flight with Vintage Airways at Lilydale and how much fun he had finally flying an aircraft he swore he’d never go in.
- 01:05:22 – Grant talked with Phil Kavanagh back in 2013 about the early days of sport ballooning in Australia in the 60’s & 70’s, manufacturing balloons in Australia, teaching themselves to fly, setting up Kavanagh Balloons, sourcing materials, new developments and the future of ballooning technology.
- 01:27:09 – After talking to Phil, Grant caught up with Sean Kavanagh about his career in aviation ranging from being an aircraft engineer with QANTAS through to flying & making hot air balloons. Sean has flown in competitions and also been a commercial pilot flying at various locations around Australia, including the challenging city of Melbourne. In 2013 Sean was designing new balloons and burners for the company, including producing the inevitable paperwork and dealing with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). We also discuss in some detail the effort that has gone into designing the new Series IV Crossfire burner.
- 01:52:50 –
 Owen Zupp’s “Without Precedent” John Wallington is the Flight Director of the Canberra Balloon Spectacular, an annual event which has been running since the 80’s. He talked with Grant in 2015 about the experience of flying over Canberra and keeping the flying side of the event running smoothly and safely.
- 01:55:37 – Don Whitford is the meteorologist of choice for ballooning events in Australia and he spoke with Grant about his career of more than 40 years in aviation weather forecasting. They also talk about the impacts of the changing weather patterns that are being experienced recently.
- 02:05:06 – Frank Wechter was at Canberra flying the Angry Birds special shape balloon.
- 02:06:53 – SQNLDR Damien Gilchrist used to be with the RNZAF flying Strikemasters, Macchi 339s and A-4 Skyhawks before transferring to the RAAF about fifteen years ago and in 2015 & 2016 was the primary pilot of the RAAF hot air balloon.
- 02:10:33 – Richard Turnbull is back from the UK flying for commercial operators around Australia and returns to the show to briefly talk about what he’s been up to lately.
- 02:12:56 – Grant chats with Ruth Wilson, Australia’s first female commercial hot air balloon pilot who has been flying balloons for over 40 years and also has a fixed wing license. She was also the first Australian hot air balloon champion and represented Australia at events around the world. They talk about flying over Canberra and being involved in the Women Fly It Forward event by taking young ladies for their first flights.
- 02:17:01 – Grant flew with Kevin Cooper in his Thunder & Colt Chariot balloon which is essentially a two seat chair lift hanging under a small balloon that is a LOT of fun to fly. They also talk about his career flying balloons around the world and the experience of flying over Canberra.
- 02:23:43 –
 Cameron’s “UP” Balloon was designed to look like a collection of small helium balloons. Jeff Vella is an ex-RAAF pilot who currently flies airliners for Cathay Pacific and is based out of Hong Kong. He’s also one of the pilots flying the RAAF hot air balloon as well as flying the Cathay Pacific hot air balloon.
- 02:32:58 – Nick Purvis is the Sales Director of Cameron Balloons and he talks with Grant about the “UP” balloon on its “Up Down Under” tour and the new 250kg RAAF special shape balloon. They also talk about building special shape balloons including printing graphics on envelope, the interior gusseting & supports that help to keep the shape and the “dead air” that doesn’t contribute to lift but helps pressurise the shape of the balloon. Nick also gives us a quick history of the Cameron Balloon company.
- 02:46:05 – SQNLDR Damien Gilchrist returns to talk about flying the new RAAF special shape hot air balloon.
- 02:49:24 – Grant, Ms Kitt and Steven Pam took Anthony “the Infrequent Flyer” Simmons to see TopGun in 3D at the giant IMAX cinema in Melbourne. They chat about their expectations before going into the cinema and then perform a debrief after the movie. We’ve got the need, the need for speed! Oh my!
- 03:04:06 – Steve & Grant wrap up the episode and discuss Grant’s recent commentary at the Wings Over Macleay air show at Kempsey in New South Wales plus the upcoming Angel Flight charity event at Lake Macquarie on November 6th with Matt Hall, OzRunways and AOPA. Steve will be MC for the event and Steven Pam will be there shooting stills and video.
The boys also discuss how Steve’s trying to get used to flying a Cessna with a glass cockpit along with how Steve recently dobbed Kathy Mexted in as a guest host for the Plane Talking UK show. Finally, Grant’s getting his notes ready to do the commentary for OzKosh at Narromine. It’s all go especially as Steve’s getting ready to move into a new house that’s almost finished being built and will include a cool new studio for future recording.
 Kevin Cooper about to take a friend for a flight in his Chariot. |
 Angry Birds with the Dodo balloon |
 Ruth Wilson took two young ladies up for their first flights as part of Women Fly it Forward. |
 The new RAAF “Flying Helmet” special shape hot air balloon |
By Grant (Falcon124), on August 1st, 2014% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:21:22 — 97.1MB) Subscribe: Steve’s very happy to have finally started converting currency into currency as he’s logging hours in a Flysynthesis Texan and progressing towards getting his RA-Aus license. Grant’s been too busy with work to get many hours but did finally get to log some “special shape” time in his balloon logbook. Naturally, both Steve & Grant are VERY happy to have finally released another episode.
 Air Marshal Geoff Brown with Steve at Pt Cook This episode the boys are joined by Kathy Mexted and Maikha Ly so you know the blooper reel at the end will be “interesting” to say the least. Kathy & her hubby have been flying their Piper Cub while Maikha’s been flying for work but, thanks to Adelaide’s weather lately and a recent house purchase, he’s not been able to do any personal flying.
For this episode we’re bringing you a mixed bag of content from the RAAF’s Pt Cook Centenary of Military Aviation airshow (including Steve’s chat with AIRMSHL Geoff Brown), Kathy’s chat with Kingsley Just about his new world record, catching up with John Fisher to talk L39s & USAF and Grant’s recent visit to the B24 restoration project in Werribee for their heritage recognition award ceremony
- 0:13:15 – Steve chats with Air Marshal Geoff Brown (Chief of Air Force) about the Royal Australian Air Force’s celebration of their centenary at Point Cook, his career with the RAAF, the RAAF’s fleet upgrades & current operations, the C-27J & F-35, flying gliders and transitioning from flying CH-47 Chinooks to flying fast jets.
- 0:30:34 –
 Tony Maher demonstrates the electrically driven mid-upper turret Grant visited the B24 restoration project at Werribee for their Heritage Recognition award ceremony and recorded a few chats with the following people:
- Doug Lindsay (President of the B24 Restoration project)
- Professor Alex Baitch (National President, Engineers Australia)
- Andrew Elsbury MLC (Member of State Parliament)
- Dan O’Connell (Volunteer)
- Before chatting with Tony Maher (volunteer), Grant also recorded the sound of Tony demonstrating the electrically driven mid-upper turret
- 0:50:41 – Kathy chats with Kinglsey Just about setting the Guinness World Record for the most continuous rolls performed in an aircraft (an amazing 987 in his Pitts Special!). They talk about the planning & preparation, the method, the reason and how it all worked out (complete with a dramatic ending). They also talk about his interest in aviation including his gliding & flying tow planes in Europe.
- 1:05:08 –
 Kevin Bailey and his wife with their Stinson Reliant Maikha was with us at the RAAF’s Pt Cook event and he spent most of his time with the antiques and warbirds where he recorded the following:
- Chris Shine with his Beech Staggerwing
- Kevin Bailey and his Stinson Reliant
- Allan Harding and his MkIII Auster
- Allan’s young assistant Lloyd Galloway talks about flying, the RA-Aus scholarship he was awarded and his involvement with the Auster
- Steve Death talks about the Southern Knights formation team
- Maureen Massey is the Vice President of the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) and she talks about the C-47, DHC-4 Caribou and PBY Catalina
- Robert ‘Bob’ StJohn, a Vietnam veteran, volunteers with HARS to help keep the Caribou flying. He talks about what’s involved in keeping it going and his experiences in Vietnam with “Wallaby Airlines” (the RAAF’s Caribou operations)
- Warren Gengos flies the HARS PBY Catalina
- 1:42:55 – John “Viper” Fisher from Top Gun Australia talks about Top Gun Australia’s operations, flying the L-39, being a WSO on the F-4 & flying the A-10 with the USAF plus his exchange rotation with the French
- 1:59:04 – We come back for some shout outs:
- Thanks to Barry Moore for suggesting we chat with John Fisher
- Shane Simpson has recently completed his first solo in a Cessna 152 at Moorabbin (YMMB). Onya mate!
- Congratulations to Anthony Crichton-Browne and his wife Prudence for the recent arrival of their son Andrew
- Our friend Owen Zupp who is making the transition from Boeing 737s to a command position with Jetstar A320s as well as releasing his new book “50 More Tales of Flight” and his new site “The Pilots Blog“
- Maikha recommends that everyone should check out the South Australian Aviation Museum in Adelaide
- Grant’s ecstatic to hear that OzRunways are producing an Android version of their app (“Project Marvin” – awesome! :) ). With AvPlan also producing an Android version, Grant is very happy to not need to buy an iThing :)
- Congratulations to Steven Pam who has done a marathon effort producing the Tyabb Airshow DVD and also to Karl von Moller from the Broken Wings project who’s been helping out as well
Music for this episode was “Short Change Hero” by “The Heavy” (2009 on Counter Records)
By Grant (Falcon124), on December 31st, 2013% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:25:52 — 100.4MB) Subscribe:  Steve & AntCB chatting with Chris Sperou It’s been an amazing year but as 2013 draws to a close, we’re squeezing one more episode out for you. We’ve combined some content not yet published from Avalon & AusFly with some great reports supplied by other members of the PCDU team. We’ve also got a competition running to win one of five copies of Owen Zupp’s new book.
In keeping with our trend for 2013, this is yet another 2+ hour episode packed with great avation content, including:
- 0:09:06 – Steve & AntCB chat with Chris Sperou at Avalon 2013
- 0:18:30 – Grant talks with Bevan Anderson from AvPlan
- 0:25:11 – Peter Edwards from Cirrus talks about their latest aircraft
- 0:31:53 – Sue Woods talks with Grant about the latest Jabiru news
- 0:37:09 – Maikha Ly reports on a recent Free Flight model aircraft competition
- 0:49:21 – Dave Homewood talks with Peter Daniell, the CEO of Air Wakatipu at Queenstown in New Zealand
- 1:19:27 – Damien Rose reports on Caribou Cargo
- 1:46:14 – Listener Mail:
- Ian Kershaw sent us an audio comment about Owen Zupp’s eBook “50 Tales” which leads into the news that Owen has released a new eBook called Solo Flight about his fund-raising flight around Australia in a Jabiru. We have a competition running where you can win one of five copies of the eBook but you’ll need to listen to the show to find out how to enter (it’s easy! :)
- Evan Schoo sent us an audio comment about his perspective on Grant’s balloon flight with Kathy Mexted
- Mick from Fankston (our good friend, source of many interesting emails & Shangri-La pal) has found that Virgin Australia’s 737-800’s don’t have a window at seat 9A … OUCH!
- Rashidi Merrifeld sent us a link to a video he’s created about wanting become an airline pilot when he’s older
- Paul O’Rourke told us about the Cobden Fly-in coming up on Feb 15th & 16th, 2014. You can arrive around 10 am and stay or pop in whenever and say hi. A BBQ lunch will be available. You can camp under your wing or check out accommodation on the Cobden Aeroclub Facebook page. Monitor their page for updates and ‘LIKE’ it or call before departing for the fly-in. AVGAS will be available. Contact: Warren 0428-024-633 or Bill 0403-498-005 E: cobdenaeroclub@gmail.com
- Melanie Salisbury from Travel Managers in NZ wrote to us about their Bomber Country tour of the UK happening in July 2014. It’s a 19 day escorted tour covering Duxford’s “Flying Legends,” Waddington & RIAT plus has options for Farnborough. If you can cover the price tag ($9,200 per person) then it looks like it’ll be a great tour
- Steve Tupper from Airspeed has released a trilogy of great episodes about his entry into being an airshow performer
- 2:09:30 – We talk about a few of our favourite moments from 2013 and the things we’re looking forward to in 2014
- 2:19:21 – We give some shoutouts to some of those who have helped us during 2013
Just for the fun of it, here’s a few photos of the team during 2013
 Grant & Steve in the main Studio  Team PCDU at Avalon 2013  Anthony Simmons at the Media Room Work Desk during Avalon 2013
 Ben Wickham & Kathy Mexted about to fly in the MRH-90 Taipan
 Steve & Grant with Ryan Campbell at AusFly 2013  Steve & Grant chatting with the F18F Super Hornet Demo Crew
 Kathy Mexted after her Taipan Ride  Maikha Flying a Lightie
By Grant (Falcon124), on October 21st, 2013% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:04:52 — 86.0MB) Subscribe:  JQ’s new 787 arrives at Melbourne The past month has included a number of events related to the Royal Australian Navy’s International Fleet Review 2013 as well as the arrival of Jetstar’s new 787-8. Grant’s been visiting a few ships & interviewing their aircrew while Kathy’s had a flight on Australia’s brand new MRH-90 Taipan transport helicopters. Not long after that, Grant was in Sydney to watch the mass-flypast of aircraft as the fleet steamed into Sydney harbour then both Steve & Grant were on the tarmac in Melbourne for the new Jetstar 787 arrival celebrations.
 HMS Daring’s Lynx Naturally this generated lots of great new content and we’ve packaged it all up as follows:
- 0:06:43 – LT Hamish Walker, Lynx Pilot on HMS Daring
- 0:13:37 – LT CDR Teilo Elliot-Smith, Air Warefare Officer on HMS Daring
- 0:27:15 – CDR Angus Essenhigh, Commanding Officer of HMS Daring
- 0:34:37 – LT David Roderick, Seasprite Pilot on HMNZS Te Mana
- 0:46:17 – LT Hamish Liddy, Seasprite Observer on HMNZS Te Mana
- 0:57:22 – Leading Hand Zach Taylor, Seasprite crew on HMNZS Te Mana
 6 SQN is combined RNZAF & RNZN 1:06:29 – David presents Grant with their 6 Squadron patch & explains its symbolism
- 1:07:43 – Grant chats with listener “Mick from the Frankston line”
- 1:14:45 – Kathy Mexted chats with Steve about flying in the MRH-90
- 1:17:45 – LT Jack Wadey, MRH-90 Taipan Pilot
- 1:31:40 – CPT Brett Chandler, Commanding Officer of HMAS Creswell
- 1:38:27 – Kathy chats about how she knew Brett Chandler from some time ago
- 1:43:20 – David Hall, CEO of Jetstar Australia & New Zealand
- 1:48:53 – Captain Jeremy Schmidt, lead pilot on Jetstar’s 787 programme
- 1:55:19 – Gordon Rich-Phillips, Victoria’s Minister for Aviation Industry
- 1:59:23 – We wrap it up and sign off
 Kathy’s aircraft for her media flight  Ben Wickham & Kathy Mexted getting ready to board the MRH-90
By Grant (Falcon124), on July 8th, 2013% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:38:38 — 109.3MB) Subscribe:  Grant about to take Kathy flying in a hot air balloon All good things take time & so do our episodes, with this one taking perhaps the longest to produce of any of them. It’s also packed full of great content covering magazine editors, wing walkers, AOPA, another give-away competition, antique aircraft, solo trips around the world & even hot air balloons. Make use of the pause button where you need to but be sure to listen right through to the very end of the episode for another set of classic “Kathy Mexted Bloopers” :)
This episode is indeed a basket full of flight & it unfolds as:
- 0:03:30 – We chat with Kathy Mexted about her father, Pat Whitty, who passed away recently. She mentions his influence on her flying and their flights in VH-MAU, a 1978 Piper Warrior
- 0:11:35 – Kathy joins with us to chat with Kreisha Ballantyne-Dickes, the Publications Editor at AOPA Australia and their Australian Pilot magazine. She also has her own blog (Girl with a Stick) and we chatted about a number of topics including:
 Pat Whitty with VH-MAU How Kreisha got into flying, especially her first solo
- Her love of Bonanzas
- Avalon 2013 & why people don’t fly
- Kreisha’s career in writing and becoming editor of the Australian Pilot magazine
- Wingwalking with the Breitling team on the top of their Stearman
- Working with AOPA, their efforts to get more people flying, the benefits of being a member, the “new approach” of AOPA and Andrew Andersen’s open letter to everyone involved in General Aviation
- Getting involved with CASA’s regulation changes
- 0:50:32 – Maikha Ly went to the Antique Aircraft Association of Australia’s annual fly-in at Echuca and recorded some great content for us. You can find the photos he took on his Echuca Flickr collection
- 1:34:48 – Steve chats with Ryan Campbell two days prior to starting his TeenWorldFlight adventure
 Kreisha after her flight in an Extra 330 1:45:52 – Grant recently took Kathy for a balloon flight over Bacchus Marsh while listener Evan Schoo tagged along with the ground crew & got some great photos of the flight. During the flight, Grant & Kathy recorded a quick in-flight chat that we listen to here, after which, Steve asks Kathy just how the flight really went!
- 2:14:30 – We announce the winners of our first 50 Tales of Flight eBook give-away competition:
- Gary Clarkson
- Will Coleman
- Darren Eastwood
- Brad Rule
- Mitchell Royal
- Graham Slingsby
- Trent Stewart
- Lahra Warry
 Kreisha being prepared for her wing walking 2:15:34 – We have another give-away this episode with Owen Zupp‘s second (& trickier!) question about famous Australian aviators. The first five (5) people to email us the correct answer at contact@planecrazydownunder.com will win a copy of Owen’s “50 Tales of Flight” eBook.
- 2:17:47 – Listener Mail:
- SoapyHB noted that the Concorde prototype was in Melbourne in 1972 while British Airways ran some proving flights in 1975 with a production aircraft. He also really enjoyed our Avalon 2013 coverage and admits to being a real fan of Anthony’s The View from the Lounge segments. Finally, he wonders how we manage to do all this and yet still stay married … yup, so do we! :)
- Justin Sarda sent us through a link to a beautiful set of HD cockpit photos
- Mick (aka Bom1) sent through some great comments on lap belts in aircraft having the potential to cause severe abdominal & spinal injuries in a crash (note: rather topical given the reports of similar injuries in survivors of the Asiana crash at San Francisco)
- Brian Grinter sent through a link to photos of Peter Jackson’s Lancaster that will be used for his remake of The Dam Busters. As Brian says: “It’s not your average Airfix kit!” :) :)
 Maikha consults his notes while interviewing Maurie Evans 2:22:49 – Kathy mentioned that Col Griffin (ex RAAF Mosquito pilot) recently passed away. We interviewed Col back in Episode 61 (The Great Pilgrimage) and you can read more about him in Kathy’s articles in Australian Flying and Outback Mag
- 2:24:07 – Shout Outs:
 Maikha interviewing Murray & Andrea Wallace 2:26:39 – We’ve been hearing from many people about issues at RA-Aus and are considering producing a show dedicated to the topic. Do you have any recommendations for people & issues you’d like to have covered in such an episode?
- 2:29:09 – We’re now producing a weekly 1 hour radio show for Kinglake Ranges Radio, a local community radio station. You can tune in at 9am on Saturday’s (Melbourne time) via 94.5FM or via their livestream feed
As noted, the Kathy Mexted driven bloopers can be found at 2:34:25 – definitely worth checking out :)
By Grant (Falcon124), on December 9th, 2012% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:02:55 — 84.4MB) Subscribe: We have a variety of content for you in this episode including:
- 0:03:50 – A great chat we recorded with Andrew McLaughlin, previously co-owner and deputy editor of Australian Aviation and now a freelance aviation writer
- 1:00:59 – Kathy Mexted went flying with Anatole Mills from Warbird Air Adventures and got to experience some aerobatics in a Nanchang (NOTE: Kathy can also be found at kascribe & Kathy Mexted Photography)
- 1:33:48 – Grant had a chat with Mike Dunn, General Manager & Chief Pilot of Heli-Serv after being an air-to-air photo shoot with one of HeliServe’s aircraft
- 1:43:07 – We review some of our listener emails:
- Daniel Pearson asked about where to find a list of Australian air shows so we pointed him at Allan Van’t Padje’s “Australian Air Shows” page on Facebook
- Mick (aka Bom1) is jealous of Steve’s C130H ride
- Rob Lawrie pointed us to the SAAA’s Chapter 1 in Sydney and linked us to their Facebook page
- Grant gives a shout out to the gang at the Stuck Mic Avcast and the Hangar 49 podcast to say thanks for the birthday wishes
- Steve notes that Larry Beyer (USAF Retired), a friend of his from the USA when he was living in Arkansas, passed away recently & will be greatly missed
The music featured in Kathy Mexted’s segment is “Pool Party” by CC Martini.
By Grant (Falcon124), on August 16th, 2012% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:20:47 — 55.6MB) Subscribe:  Episode 92 Cover Art Kathy Mexted joins Steve & Grant to interview Helene Young, a Dash-8 pilot who’s written three great books based around pilots flying for Australia’s border patrol in the far north of Queensland. In addition to being a captain with the regionals, Helene has managed to juggle her home & social life with work and writing, producing three great books in a relatively short period of time.
Her first book (Wings of Fear) was released in 2011 and throws two female pilots & their crew against a bunch of terrorists attempting to infiltrate the country through the vast, empty stretches of coastline and baked earth in Australia’s north. The second book (Shattered Sky) was released earlier this year and takes one of the pilots into a whole new adventure deep in the Australian outback while Helene’s third book (Burning Lies) has just been released, bringing closure to the trilogy.
We chat with Helene about her career in aviation, what it’s like flying the Dash 8, where she gets her inspiration & ideas for her stories and much more. You can find additional information about Helene & her books via her website and follow her on Twitter via @HeleneYoung.
 Helene with her latest book’s promotional poster The whole episode unfolds as:
- 0:02:44 – Our chat with Helene.
- 0:42:58 – Steve’s interview with Peter Sobey, the Director and Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) at Sharp Airlines.
- 0:54:11 – Grant’s chat with Chris Dewhirst, the first person to fly a hot air balloon over Mt Everest and also the person who started commercial hot air balloon flights over the city of Melbourne way back in 1986.
- 1:01:54 – Anthony Simmons returns with another “View from the Lounge” segment that takes us Up, Up & Away in a continuation of the ballooning theme.
- 1:06:51 – Our shout-outs this episode include:
- Kathy says “Hi” to Mike Williamson (her newest online follower).
- Gary Clarkson let us know about the Nhill Aviation Heritage Centre‘s project to restore an Avro Anson plus their fly-in event coming up on October 20th.
- The great New Zealand De Havilland Mosquito restoration project is coming along very nicely with first flight planned for September 29th at Ardmore in Auckland.
- The “Will It Fly” project is almost ready to fly their Pearse replica (check them out on Facebook).
- If you’re not already aware of it, you should be listening to the Wings Over New Zealand podcast, a great effort by Dave Homewood with awesome content that’s well worth listening to.
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 March 18th, 2012% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (64.6MB) Subscribe:  The Apron at Aropa We’re joined by Kathy Mexted and her brother Geoff Whitty who is a real adventurer, having worked in Papua New Guinea managing aviation operations. As we learn in this episode, he has a LOT of very interesting tales to tell.
Starting with Ansett in their reservation system, Geoff moved to Qantas and then in 1989 got a job working with Air New Guinea in Papua New Guinea (PNG). He’s now working with PNG’s 2nd largest RPT carrier managing airports & operations.
While there are some well built roads in parts of PNG (mostly thanks to the mining companies), air travel is one of the only viable methods of transporting people & equipment regularly about the rugged landscape. From Chevron’s “C130 Air Bridge” through to current “Fly In, Fly Out” (FIFO) mining operations, flying in PNG offers some amazing experiences for pilots with some saying 1 year in PNG is worth 10 years mustering cattle in the outback.
 Customs & Quarantine Staff at Kieta In addition to supply chain management & keeping mining operations happy, Geoff has also managed the training of PNG nationals who operate the airline, learn to fly and also do aircraft maintenance in-country (except for heavy maintenance). Thanks to the demands of the mining companies and CASA, they are, perhaps, the most audited aviation operation in the world.
A major aspect of having a foreign company in PNG is that they are required to train PNG nationals to fly aircraft, run the airline, and perform maintenance in-country (except for heavy maint). They are flying ATRs & Dash8s and Geoff believes the ATR is more suited to their needs than the Dash8, although they’re running both at the moment. They’ve also had Caribous & Dash-7s and are running a diverse range of helicopters as well as lighter aircraft from Twin Otters down.
As if the rugged environment and rapidly changing weather systems weren’t enough to cause problems flying or running an airline, people in Papua New Guinea also have to contend with tribal warfare, the volcano at Rabaul and local ground staff throwing as much cargo on an aircraft as they can. Weight & balance? What’s that? :)
It’s a fascinating chat with Geoff and we really enjoyed learning more about life in our northern neighbour. We’d like to thank Geoff for his time chatting with us in the studio and with Kathy for introducing us to him.
 On Finals at Aropa
After our chat with Geoff & Kathy, Steve talks with Tammy Augostin, the Promotion & Marketing Manager of the Parafield Airshow. They discuss the acts that have been lined up for the show and the issues involved in putting it all together.
Many of our listeners in Sydney have been commenting to us about seeing a number of Army Blackhawk helicopters flying around Sydney Harbour. It turns out they were part of a training exercise that was also open to media to ride along & experience a typical training flight. Sadly, Steve & Grant weren’t able to get up to Sydney for the flight (despite their best efforts) but Anthony Crichton-Browne was. In addition to getting lots of great photos, Anthony also recorded a quick chat with one of the pilots.
Finally, we wrap up the episode with another of Anthony Simmons’ “View from the Lounge” segments. This time, Anthony is looking at aviation in the media, ranging from movies through to jingles.
You can find Kathy’s work in many places, including:
By Grant (Falcon124), on December 10th, 2011% Podcast: Play in new window | Download (80.1MB) Subscribe: Steve’s finally picked up his instructor’s rating although it’s in trains, not aircraft, but don’t worry, we’re not switching the show over to Train Crazy Down Under :)
Once again we’re joined by Kathy Mexted and this time we’re discussing what’s involved in being an Ag Pilot and how the industry has developed here in Australia. We then switch to Kathy’s interview with Georgia Maxwell in Gunnedah. Georgia is the first female ag pilot in Australia qualified to fly the Air Tractor 802 with Pay’s Air Service. Georgia discusses what it’s like working in the Aerial Application world (aka being an Ag Pilot).
After the interview we talk about the Aerial Agricultural Association of Australia and how the season is booming following the breaking of the drought. Anthony Crichton-Browne joins us to continue talking about Ag pilots & the nature of their work.
Anthony has recently been at Red Baron Australia’s open day chatting with Joel Haski and the guys from Combat Dragon who are now basing their A37 at Red Baron’s hangar. We get to sit in on a Combat Dragon briefing, then listen to the sound of the A37 starting its engines before discussing the A37’s typical departure from Bankstown (YSBK).
We then play Anthony’s chat with Joel Haski about the latest developments at Red Baron and their new hangar facility. Anthony talks briefly with Jeff from Combat Dragon about their missions and working with Red Baron. You can hear more about Combat Dragon from an interview Anthony had with them in episode 2 of his podcast, Flying Ant.
Next up, Pieter Johnson from XTP Media in the UK takes time out from his “Across the Pond” segment in the Airplane Geeks to bring us his first “From Up Here to Down There” report. In today’s report, he provides an interview with Matt Falcus about his Far East and Australasia airport spotting guide. If you’re spotting in the Asia/Pacific area, you should check out Matt’s book.
Having listened to Pieter’s chat with Matt, Anthony chats with us about a pilot’s view of the ‘plane spotters’ he sees at most of the major Australian airports.
After the break, we return to Grant’s chat with Geoff Morrison from GT Gyroplanes at Echuca. We talk about Geoff’s background in aviation in New Zealand hunting deer & working on warbirds before he came over to Australia to work on gyroplanes with his brother Alistair. After that we get into a discussion about gyroplanes in general, the Australian Sports Rotorcraft Association (ASRA) and their Kruza gyroplane in particular.
We then have a discussion about gyrocopters before bringing Pieter Johnson back onto the show to chat with us about his background in aviation, his goals for linking Australian/NZ flying with the UK and his interview with his father.
Moving onto Listener Mail, we have:
- Andrew Brown from the UK talking about our Qantas Grounding episode
- Voice mail from Ian Kershaw in Canada
- Chris Howard-Bath who likes the C130 & works with ATC Ben
- Peter Anderson talks about our website
If you want us to send you a CD copy of our content, please send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to:
PO Box 70
Cranbourne VIC 3977
Australia
Don’t forget about our Aus Air Services + PCDU BBQ & Fly In on December 17th at Tooradin Airport (YTDN). Come on down and say HI, folks :)
The Aus Air Services advert is provided courtesy of Star FM 94.3
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