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PCDU Episode 130: Avalon 2017 – Alpha

Steve, Grant and Maikha were on-site at Avalon recording plenty of content and this episode is our first collection of audio content covering some of the companies, people and aircraft we encountered while there. Steve & Grant have already started editing the next batch of content for Episode 131 and Maikha’s starting to wade through . . . → Read More: PCDU Episode 130: Avalon 2017 – Alpha

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PCDU Episode 120: History & Records

By Grant (Falcon124), on August 1st, 2014%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:21:22 — 97.1MB)

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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)

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

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

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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

PCDU Episode 107: Avalon 2013 – Globemaster Central

By Grant (Falcon124), on March 31st, 2013%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:09 — 39.7MB)

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One of the many RAAF C17s at Avalon 2013

We still have some Avalon 2013 coverage not yet released so we decided to produce a single episode dedicated to the C17 as there were multiple RAAF C17s and a USAF C17 present on the final day. In keeping with our previous Avalon 2013 episodes, this one is under an hour and gathers the following content together:

0:03:08 – RAAF C17 pilot FLTLT Dirk Taylor talks about flying the aircraft & his career
0:10:59 – RAAF C17 techo Sgt David Everett talks about maintaining the aircraft & his transition from the DHC-4 Caribou
0:22:09 – RAAF Loadmaster WOFF Paul Lemarshall walks us through the C17s cargo hold
0:33:29 – USAF Capt Brian Carron talks about interoperability between USAF & RAAF C17 aircraft & crew
0:39:22 – We wrap up the episode

Given the focus on the C17 in this episode, it was a given that we’d include a promotion for the Australian Defence Force Recruiting, right? You can call them on 13 19 01 :)

PCDU Episode 106: Avalon 2013 – Day Six

By Grant (Falcon124), on March 4th, 2013%

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We had contemplated a quiet final day at Avalon 2013 where the team could gather a few last interviews but it wasn’t to be. There were still so many people to see, content to capture and experiences to share with our audience. In fact, there’s so much content that we couldn’t fit it all into our daily episodes so we’re going to have to release more Avalon coverage in our later episodes.

Meanwhile, for this episode we’re presenting:

Ryan Campbell from the Teen World Flight project
Melissa & Rex Pemberton talk about flying aerobatic demonstrations & wingsuiting
Mark Jefferies talks about his aerobatic career
Dieter Ebeling introduces us to Awesome Aviation and their Extra 330LX
Anton Meir from Aerosport Aviation in New Zealand
Nelson Aviation College
Kangan Institute provides aviation courses
Captain Natassia Cherne from the USAF’s Pacific Air Force media team
Timbo’s Tarmac
In the Keyhole with Papa Smurf

PCDU Episode 104: Avalon 2013 – Day Four

By Grant (Falcon124), on March 1st, 2013%

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The sun came out in force on Day 4 of Avalon 2013 and with mostly clear blue skies we finally felt like we’d arrived at a real airshow. With aircraft putting on some amazing performances, the F22 once again took to the skies and let us experience the “High Show” and what a fantastic show that was!

For today’s episode, we have the following content:

Master Sergeant Bo Brewer talks about maintaining the F22 & its systems
Major Henry Schantz is the current F22 demo pilot & he compares its handling with an F15C, walks us through the manoeuvres in the demo and talks about the experience of flying it
Damien Rose chats with Stephen Buckle about the Carbon Cub
Steve & Grant get to hang out & chat with the Breitling Wing Walker team
Grant chats with Stewart Wilson from Aero Australia magazine
We corner listener Ben Wickham & ask how Avalon 2013 is going for him
This time it’s ATC_Ben heading out to bring us Timbo’s Tarmac and In the Keyhole with Papa Smurf

PCDU Episode 99: RAAF C-130H – Into History

By Grant (Falcon124), on January 29th, 2013%

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:01:42 — 83.8MB)

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C-130H A97-005 with the ‘Farewell’ tail art

In November of 2012 the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) decommissioned their C-130H fleet, transitioning to the C-130J and reaching the end of an era for flight engineers & navigators in the Air Lift Group (ALG). We were fortunate enough to be invited to partake in some of the decommissioning events including a final media flight over Sydney Harbour, watching a formation flyby practice from RAAF Base Richmond’s control tower and the delivery of C-130H A97-011 to the RAAF Museum at Point Cook.

In the course of these events we obtained a number of great interviews with past & present air crew which are gathered here in our tribute episode to the C-130H in RAAF service:

0:07:48 – Air Commodore Gary Martin’s (Commander Air Lift Group) press conference held on the ramp at RAAF Base Richmond before the Sydney Harbour media flight
0:11:39 – RAAF C-130H pre-flight safety briefing
0:17:25 – Onboard recording of C-130H engine startup & cruise sounds
0:17:50 – Flight Lieutenant Tony Charles, pilot of A97-005 on the media flight over Sydney, discusses the flight
Steve gets to fly the C130H simulator
0:19:54 – Flight Lieutenant Richard Aughie, C-130H flight simulator instructor, talks about C-130H performance specs, simulator training, his involvement in the C27J Spartan training program and Steve’s landings in the simulator
0:31:41 – Phil Brown, a former RAAF Warrant Officer C130H Flight Engineer & now an instructor with CAE, talks about his RAAF career and the role of the Flight Engineer on the C130H
0:54:37 – Squadron Leader Rob Sokol, pilot of the final flight of A97-011, talks about the flight to Point Cook, his time at 1FTS at Point Cook, his RAAF Reserve service and his “day job” as an A380 pilot
Special tail art for the C130H farewell
1:00:29 – Air Vice Marshall (ret) Greg Evans (DSC, AM) talks about his RAAF career as a C130H pilot from 1983 to 1992 including:
- His exchange posting to the USAF and Little Rock AFB with the 40th Tactical Airlift SQN between 1998-90 (which naturally leads to comparing notes with Steve about flying the skies of Arkansas :)
- Some “interesting” missions & training flights he flew with the USAF & RAAF
- Comparing the C130H to the older C130E
- The differences encountered with the C130J
- The advantages of the C27J Spartan
- Being Commander Joint Task Force 633 MEAO (Iraq) during 2004 & 2005

Thanks to Eamon Hamilton (ALG Public Affairs Officer) & Ben Wickham (ADF Regional Public Affairs Officer for NSW) for arranging our access to the events & people so we could gather the content used in this episode.

PCDU Episode 96: “Serge” – An Australian Top Gun

By Grant (Falcon124), on November 17th, 2012%

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Serge’s “Fighter Pilot” book cover

It takes a special breed to push an F18 out to the edge of the envelope, fly missions ranging from surface attack to dog fights and then blow off steam with your squadron mates. It’s certainly not Top Gun but it does make amazing fodder for a book that highlights the good, the bad and the crazy.

Just such a book has been written by ‘Mac “Serge” Tucker‘ and it’s called “Fighter Pilot: mis-adventures beyond the sound barrier with an Australian Top Gun”

Steve & Grant chat to “Serge” about being a fighter pilot, flying & partying hard, blowing off steam and dealing with bureaucrats. We also cover:

The size of the fighter community in Australia and the camaraderie that has developed among them
The mentoring that occurs within the community covering both technical & behavioural aspects of being a fighter pilot
The interaction of fighter pilots with pilots from other parts of the RAAF
Serge’s career progressing from high school through basic training in the CT4, progression to the Aermacchi MB 326H (the Macchi) and on to the F18 via a stint on the Nomad.
Wing Commander Ross Fox’s influence as Serge’s mentor and the impact of his death in an F18 mid-air collision
Serge’s thoughts on the Australian Army & Royal Australian Navy
Working with the fighter pilots from the USA & comparing USA pilots with RAAF pilots
Old timer stories and their influence on current procedures
RAAF exchange pilots flying F15s & F22s with the USAF
The F35 JSF and its issues with kinematics
Drones and their use in the military environment
How the military have missed out on changing their operations & equipment to deal better with the Middle East environment & the modern political power dynamics
Serge’s love of hang gliding
Transitioning from being a fighter pilot to being an airline pilot
His final flight: a one-on-one dogfight with Matt Hall

PCDU Episode 59: Avalon Not-So Quick Cast #6

By Grant (Falcon124), on March 6th, 2011%

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We’ve made it to the end of day 6 of the Australian International Airshow and Aerospace & Defence Exposition (aka Avalon 2011). It’s the final day of the airshow and once again Team PCDU have been flat out interviewing, editing and generally having fun. We’ve spent some time chatting with the crew of a KC-135 inside their aircraft, interviewed a number of acts, caught up with the Temora Aviation Museum crew and generally had a great time.

We’re also acknowledging that these daily episodes should have been called “Daily Avalon Updates” or anything other than “Quick Casts.” To really confirm that, we’ve put quite a lot of content in this episode, including:

Grant’s chat with Paul Simmons recorded while sitting on the wing of the CA27 Sabre
Nikolay Timofeev talks about flying aerobatics in his Sukhoi 26
Anthony Simmons presents a short View from the B52’s Lounge
Kent Pietsch talks to us about flying the “Jelly Belly” Cadet & his various routines while Chris Williams from the same team talks about driving the mobile landing-platform vehicle
Being updated by Colonel Seth Bretscher on the amount of work involved in getting so many USAF & USN aircraft & airmen down to Avalon (and why there was no B2 & the F22s didn’t fly)
An update from Ian Honnery on how the airshow is going so far
A quick chat with Ed Stubbs, a listener from Perth who came over to Avalon for the show
The final tarmac updates from Timbo with the warbirds & Papa Smurf at the Keyhole

These Avalon Quick Cast episodes are being sponsored by Aviation Advertiser and supported by Red Baron and Temby Automotive.

PCDU Episode 58: Avalon Quick Cast #5

By Grant (Falcon124), on March 5th, 2011%

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It’s day 5 of the Australian International Airshow and Aerospace & Defence Exposition (aka Avalon 2011) and it’s the first whole day open to the general public. The PCDU team have had one of the most amazing days of their lives with time in the venerable B52, getting up close & personal with the Wedgetail, checking out the GA8 Airvan and relaxing on the wing of the CA27 Sabre. The content we selected for this Quick Cast includes:

Our chat with Squadron Leader Matt Harper, an RAAF pilot on exchange with the USAF who’s flying the F22 Raptor
Steve’s in-cockpit discussion with David Wheatland, the chief pilot for the GippsAero GA-8 Airvan
Talking with Flight Lieutenant Skye Smith about RAAF Public Affairs, her career to date & where it may lead in the future
Today’s tarmac updates from Timbo with the warbirds & Taffy reluctantly agrees to cover for Papa Smurf at the Keyhole

These Avalon Quick Cast episodes are being sponsored by Aviation Advertiser and supported by Red Baron and Temby Automotive.

Avalon “Not So” Quick Casts Are Here

By Grant (Falcon124), on March 1st, 2011%

Team PCDU are at the Avalon International Airshow (#Avalon11) and we’re putting out a daily Quick Cast episode with interviews & information gathered that day during the show.

March 1st: Day 1: