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 111: Radio Killed the Podcast Star (Almost :) )

By Grant (Falcon124), on August 25th, 2013%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:58:37 — 81.5MB)

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As the F111 was late & delayed by all sorts of issues, so too has our Episode 111 been late in arriving. Our big excuse has been discovering that the PCDU Radio Show has taken a LOT more effort than we expected. All this plus our day jobs, families AND our PCDU Commentary & Announcing gigs have, in turn, made it almost impossible to get an episode out. Suffice to say, we’re parking the radio show production for a while as we try to find a new way of working that lets us produce radio shows AND episodes. It’s very much a learning experience!

Meanwhile, we have managed to get this episode out and it’s packed with lots of great content, including:

  • 0:01:55 – Grant recently took a holiday in Bali & flew with Virgin Australia. He provides a review of their short-haul international business class service & the GA scene on Bali.
     
  • 0:12:50 – We chat with Mark Pracy from Pracy Racing about his preparations for Reno 2013 and the “feel” of the event now that it’s coming up on two years since the big crash back in 2011.
     
  • 0:34:46 – We present a summary of the chats Steve recorded with Dave Jacka as he made his solo-flight around Australia to become the first quadriplegic person to do so as part of his On A Wing & A Chair charity. These chats were recorded during Dave’s journey and after his return to Tooradin airport (YTDN), giving a great overview of the many issues & experiences he encountered.
     
  • 1:03:46 – During Exercise Talisman Saber, Damien Rose interviewed Jake Press a pilot with the KC135. He then went on to enjoy a great ride in a USAF C17 doing a low-level airdrop. You can watch his summary video posted to the PCDU YouTube channel:
     
  • 1:08:20 – Back in 2012, Grant had a great chat with David Cottee, the curator of the Qantas Heritage Collection
     
  • 1:29:28 – Also back in 2012, Grant had a fantastic chat with Paul Gianniotis, an ex-Cathay Pacific Flight Engineer who learned to fly in a Piper at Kai Tak in Hong Kong (no, really :) ) and even started flying hot air balloons in Hong Kong. As you could imagine, he’s got some amazing stories to tell!
     
  • 1:47:23 – We give some shoutouts:
    • The Stuck Mic AvCast has not only passed their 50th episode, they’re about to release their 55th! Awesome!
    • Dave Homewood is about to release his 50th Wings Over New Zealand podcast episode and it’s going to be a fantastic one!
    • We’ve released our 200th Australia Desk segment for the Airplane Geeks podcast
    • Bevan Anderson from AvSoft has seen his AvPlan application turn 2 years old
    • Steve’s daughter Rachel turned 18 and his wife now has her Yellow Belt in Karate
       
  • Australia’s Federal Election is coming up & once again we’re going to do some Election Quick Cast episodes to give you an insite to the aviation policies (if any) of the major parties
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PCDU Episode 108: On a Wing & a Chair

By Grant (Falcon124), on April 27th, 2013%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:35:06 — 65.5MB)

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Dave Jacka with his Jabiru 230

Flying solo around Australia is a challenging & amazing experience, even today (just ask Owen Zupp :) ). It’s even more mind-blowing when you’re a quadriplegic! This episode Steve & Grant talk to Dave Jacka who is setting out to be the first quadriplegic person to fly solo around Australia! We also include a chat Steve recorded with Laurie Jones from Adventure Wings about his role as a fire-bomber and the Nanchang adventure flights they operate from Tooradin (YTDN) plus a new View from the Lounge and even a competition!

  • 0:04:40 – Our chat with Dave Jacka about his flight around Australia and his On a Wing and a Chair charity.
     
  • 0:42:41 – Steve chats with Laurie Jones from Adventure Wings.
     
  • 1:01:15 – The View from the Lounge: Flight or Fright
     
  • 1:07:57 – Listener Mail:
    • “Shoeless Joe” from Virginia has completed his PPL
    • Andrew van der Saag has some feedback on our Avalon 2013 coverage
    • Adam Knight also has comments on our Avalon 2013 coverage (especially the F22 interviews)
    • Scott Tavasci is an ex-RAAF C130H pilot and he wanted to correct a small error by Steve regarding his Sydney harbour flight (yes, *that* flight :) )
       
  • 1:17:24 – Shout Outs:
  • 1:22:30 – We’re going to help Ryan Campbell’s Teen World Flight by putting some money towards it (along with help from our fantastic audience :) )
     
  • 1:26:10 – we have a competition to win one of three Flight Path TV Series 1 DVD sets but you need to listen to the episode to hear how to win
     
    If you can’t enter the competition or don’t manage to be one of the winners, you can get 20% off the Series 1 DVD pack by purchasing it by using this special 20% discount link. Thanks again to Fletch & Mal from Flight Path TV for making the discount available to our audience.

All this AND we appeared in Episode 46 of the Stuck Mic AvCast when Len Costa came down under for a quick holiday.

Don’t forget that our new email address is contact@planecrazydownunder.com

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PCDU Episode 100: The Ton

By Grant (Falcon124), on February 21st, 2013%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:26:38 — 100.8MB)

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Our 100th Episode – a Ton of great content

When we began producing this show WAY back in July 2009, we had no idea that we’d make it to 100 episodes, have travelled to multiple events within Australia, been to Oshkosh and be just about to cover a second Avalon Airshow with a bigger team than ever before. We’ve learned so much about producing a quality & enjoyable aviation show, had aviation related experiences we never dreamed of, dabbled with video production and even spun off a few side-projects for other shows. We’re also very appreciative of you, our audience. The fact that you’re all still here with us, telling us what we’re getting right (& wrong :) ) and enjoying the results of our efforts makes the late nights all worth while.

For this episode we’ve resisted the temptation to do a retrospective or rehash earlier content (except for a bit at the start & the end of the episode :) ). Instead, we’ve put together some interviews with well known people about a couple of up-coming events and a discussion about the dreaded Biennial Flight Review (BFR), now known as an Aeroplane Flight Review (AFR).

Here’s how Episode 100 unfolds:

  • 0:06:09 – Grant talks a little about his recent trip to Malaysia as a guest of Malaysia Airlines
     
  • 0:11:54 – ATC Ben talks about the proposed new Australian ATC Management system called oneSky with Lockheed Martin being demonstrating their SkyLine Enterprise system as a contender
     
  • 0:15:46 – We chat with Peter Meehan about his career as a RAAF Reserve media officer, doing air show commentary, being the “Voice of Avalon” and even learning to fly
     

  • Paul McKeown is a CFI with Recreational Flying Company in Gympie, QLD

    0:35:48 – Damien Rose talks about his recent Aeroplane Flight Review (AFR) that was previously referred to as the Biennial Flight Review (BFR). He then interviews Paul McKeown, CFI with Recreational Flying Company in Gympie, QLD & his instructor for the AFR
     
  • 1:19:14 – Matt Hall joins us once again to discuss a few things he’s working on including a day-long fly past of aircraft from Super Hornets to Tiger Moths as part of the Bicentennial celebrations for the first crossing of the Blue Mountains in Sydney. He also chats about his new book (The Sky is Not the Limit) and gives us an updated on whether the RedBull AirRace will ever return
     
  • 1:58:19 – We return to summarise the episode and review a few of the key points
     
  • 2:01:34 – Listener mail!
    • David Neafsey sent us a letter and a 100th birthday card – all via snail mail! Yes, remember that? Good thing we have a snail mail address, eh? (PO Box 70, Cranbourne VIC 3977)
    • Ian Kershaw from Calgary sent in an audio message
    • Steve at Warneet asks us to organise an interview with Judy Pay
    • “Mick from the Frankston Line” has sent us a number of great emails that have been a LOT of fun to read. Awesome stuff, mate!
    • Ryan Hothersall writes in to express his disdain of NIMBYS. No argument from us on that one!
    • We give a Shout Out to Carl Valeri from the Stuck Mic Avcast for gaining his A320 type rating! Well done, mate! :)
       
  • 2:10:57 – Steve’s wife Cathey finally joins us on the podcast and, of all events, it’s to help with the drawing of the winner of our “First to 750” competition. The lucky winner is Gary Murphy who has scored himself a free Trial Introductory Flight with Aus Air Services at Tooradin (YTDN). WOO HOO! :)
     

So there you go, our 100th episode! Thanks to all our supporters for keeping us motivated and lets see how many of you are able to make it to Avalon 2013 :)

NOTE: Check out the blooper reel: It’s a quick montage of glitches from the past four years including our Australia Desk and Flying Down Under shows.

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PCDU Episode 97: Journos & Aeros

By Grant (Falcon124), on December 9th, 2012%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:02:55 — 84.4MB)

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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:

     

  • 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.

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PCDU Episode 65: Innovative Ideas

By Grant (Falcon124), on June 13th, 2011%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (69.6MB)

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There’s no denying that aviation has been the home of many innovative ideas when it comes to aerodynamics, systems and so on. Sometimes we even get to hear about innovation in many of the business & training aspects of aviation and this episode is bringing us a few of them, from new ways to bring aviation education to kids through to recognising the need to store aircraft in the Asia/Pacific area. We also have a number of other content items including a few more of our Avalon interviews.

Eagle Microlight at Porepunkah

This episode contains:

  • Tom Vincent from Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage (APAS) talking about the new “boneyard” facility they are creating at Alice Springs in the middle of Australia
  • Angelina Morino from Aus Air Services joins us again to review their past year of operation and discuss their involvement with Brentwood College (Steve’s old high school) to provide aviation study to students. They’re also planning to extend this out to other high schools in the area. NOTE: As with Peter Dow at TVSA, it’s great to see local flying schools thinking outside the box to make it easier and/or cheaper to learn to fly)
  • Some more content from Avalon, including:
    • The crew of a KC135 tanker
    • Flying Officer Johnno Pearson on flying the F/A-18 Hornet
    • Flight Lt Liam Webler, a techo who helps to keep the F/A-18 Hornet in the air
  • Steve & Lisa Ruffles talk about their Eagle School of Microlighting at Porepunkah

The view of the runway and "ramp" at Porepunkah

We wrap up with the following Listener Mail and Shout Outs:

  • Miles Rados wrote in about gliding at Tocumwal
  • Toby Robb wrote in about Steve’s recent microphone levels and had some comments on our recent chat with Dick Smith
  • The Airplane Geeks podcast reaches episode 150 – well done, guys!
  • Kudos to the RAAF social media team for helping to promote our work via the “I love jet noise” Facebook page
  • There’s a new aviation podcast – The Stuck Mic AvCast – from the folks at The Pilot Report. They’re two episodes in and have been producing great content so far
  • PCDU can now be found on Stitcher & SlapDash Radio
  • Thanks to all those who’ve left feedback at the iTunes store – much appreciated and keep it up!
  • Don’t forget to check out our website where we’ve made some recent layout changes plus we’ve also been loading more videos on our YouTube channel.
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