We’ve launched our first episode of Avalon 2017 coverage and it contains the following items: Kimberley Turner from Aerosafe Patrick Coleman from Garmin Associate Professor Andrew Kornberg and the Fly for the Kids charity Matt Hall on the F-35A and also on his new aircraft for the Red Bull Air Race Kurt Lyall from RocketRoute […]
The team at the Cast Away Podcast Awards have recognised that there’s a lot of great content being produced in Australia so they are holding the first ever Australian podcasting awards event. PCDU has been included in the Industry Focus section and we have a number of other great shows that we’re up against. We’re […]
Our friends at TVSA Pilot Training will be having an open day at the Bacchus Marsh airport near Melbourne on Saturday the 25th of February, starting at 10am and running until 3pm. They will have a Pilot Panel with commercial airline pilots talking about their careers, a BBQ sausage sizzle and Trial Introductory Flights in […]
Grant’s pulled out a big collection of ballooning interviews including discussions with military & commercial fixed wing pilots who enjoy the challenge of flying hot air balloons. We’ve also got a fun chat with Owen Zupp about his new book: Without Precedent, our tribute to Hannes Arch and the Infrequent Flyer finally gets to see […]
Just to be different, this episode Steve joins ATC Ben on a BenAir flight from Essendon (YMEN) to Temora (YTEM) to attend the NatFly 2014 event. With the Cirrus SR20’s autopilot keeping them on track, Captain Ben & FO Steve introduce the show before opening up their packed lunches. Sadly, Sierra Juliette Alpha (VH-SJA) did not include a flight attendant so they had to arrange their own drinks.
BenAir’s VH-SJA after arriving at Temora (YTEM)Meanwhile, as you may have heard on a recent Australia Desk Segment, Grant was flying hot air balloons in Leeton, about 60 nautical miles south west of Temora. While Steve & Ben were at NatFly & recording a few interviews, Grant managed to corner a pilot for a chat in Leeton.
This episode unfolds with the following content:
0:03:54 – Paul Goard from Brumby Aircraft Australia (based in Cowra, New South Wales) talks about their high-wing aircraft, the change to the Rotax engine and their production schedule.
0:08:49 – Robin Lowe from Lowe Flight (based at Kilcunda, Victoria) talks about the Fresh Breeze XCitor Paratrike which subsequently won the “Best Powered Parachute” award at NatFly 2014.
It also turns out that Robin is looking for an instructor to join his team so if you’re interested, his contact details are on the website :)
0:14:54 – Bob & Marya Phillips at AvTours Australia have been in the aviation tours business since 1989. They talk about the tours they’ve previously run to Oshkosh and their plans for this year’s tour.
0:24:57 – Matt Hall from Matt Hall Racing talks about pylon hits, assessing the other competitors, the removal of the knife-edge pass pylons from the Red Bull Air Race‘s track design and his schedule for the next month or two.
0:31:31 –Grant firing the burners during inflation (Photo by Greg Maunder Sports Photography) Grant catches up with Niall Higgins after another fun morning flying hot air balloons over Leeton. Niall talks about his background in aviation and why he flies fixed wing AND hot air balloons. In addition to flying a Yak52 with the Russian Roolettes, Niall also flies Tiger Moths and he talks about a very special gig on ANZAC Day this year: as part of the lead up to the Great Tiger Moth Air Race, Niall flew one of 4 Tigermoths up Sydney Harbour with WWII veterans on board.
0:38:17 – As ATC Ben flies the Sierra Juliet Alpha back to Essendon, he records a NatFly 2014 wrap up with Steve while they were somewhere over Mt Kosciuszko.
VH-SJA parked back at Essendon (YMEN) after the flightBalloons flying over Leeton (Grant’s in there somewhere :) )
Most people interested or involved in aviation have a special love for warbirds and antique aircraft and we at PCDU are certainly no exception. This episode features a number of interviews with pilots of Warbirds & antique aircraft that were recorded at Avalon Airshow and at Point Cook when the RAAF Pilgrimage arrived.
The RAAF Pilgrimage was held to celebrate the 90th birthday of the RAAF & comprised a collection of more than 50 aircraft that flew from Temora to Tocumwal to Ballarat and finally to Point Cook. The Pilgrimage aicraft arrived at Point Cook (the birth place of the RAAF) and we were there to greet them.
This episode contains the following interviews from the RAAF Pilgrimage:
Air Commodore Rodney Luke
Steve Death
Doug Hamilton
Egon Mahr from the Russian Roolettes
Col Griffin & Warren Canning
We also have some other warbird related discussions, including:
Kenny Love, CEO of the Temora Aviation Museum
Ben Morgan from Aviation Advertiser and the Macchi 326H restoration project he is a member of
Matt from New St Films for the help with our photo shoots
Listener Andrew Tsousis for putting us in touch with Ben Merkenhof
Iat-Fai Leong for his support of the show
Erk for his support & his new book
We also have some additional content that can be found in our Extras section. This time we have a recording of the post-flight debrief by the Yak Attack formation pilots.
Finally, we would like to offer our condolences to our friend Milford Shirley from the Flight Time Radio Show in Florida, USA, who’s wife Barbara passed away recently.