It’s our first episode for 2025 so we’re allowed to say Happy New Year, right? Even though it’s February, right? We may be Australia’s longest running aviation podcast but we’re taking a very long time to get to episode 200 :) This episode we follow our dreams into the stratosphere and beyond, featuring a great […]
We’ve been a little busy lately and it’s been a while since our last episode, so to make up for it we’ve released this rather chunky episode of aviation goodness covering the Pacific Airshow Gold Coast 2024 event. It’s just like the old days when our episodes were long and the pause button was […]
We’re on the Gold Coast and getting ready for the Pacific Airshow once again. This year’s line-up is bigger and even more packed with amazing aircraft, including a T-33 Shooting Star which is the first of it’s kind to ever fly in Australia. Its pilot is Greg “Wired” Colyer from Ace Maker Airshows and we […]
With the Pacific Airshow returning to the Gold Coast in August, Steve and Grant caught up with Aarron Deliu, an Australian aerobatics pilot who is now based in Florida and performing at airshows and events in the USA, Europe and South Africa. Aarron put on a spectacular display at last year’s show on the Gold […]
The Australian International Airshow in 2023 (aka Avalon 2023) saw not only huge crowds and amazing displays in the air, but also the end of an era as Peter Meehan performed his last show as “The Voice of Avalon,” handing over the reigns to Tony Moclair. It also saw Grant join Angela Stevenson as part of the commentary team for the show.
05:11 We chat with Peter Meehan about his experience with Avalon commentary and Tony Moclair about taking over as commentary team anchor.
21:18 Angela Stevenson talks about her experiences in aviation, as a pilot, as an author and as an air show commentator.
30:53 We capture the official announcement of the AMDA Foundation taking over the Wings Over Illawarra airshow from Bright Events, renaming it to Airshows Down Under: Shell Harbour and making it a biennial event that will alternate with the Avalon event. We also chat with Justin Giddings, CEO of AMDA Foundation, and Mark Bright of Bright Events.
They say patience is a virtue and hopefully our audience has plenty of it because it’s been a while since our last episode was released. Fortunately we’ve been able to make some time available to record content, edit it and get this episode into the feed. For this one Steve & Grant are joined by Maikha Ly for interviews with guests on topics including Emirates recruiting, photography at Melbourne Airport, the inaugural Womens’ World Hot Air Balloon champion and breaking an ATC simulator (no, really, Maikha somehow managed to do it!). Want to fly for Emirates? (Image courtesy of Victor Pody – www.victorpodyphotography.com)
This episode unfolds as:
0:09:17 – Emirates are recruiting people from around the world to join their expanding crew ranks, both in the cockpit and the cabin. We speak with Andy Longley, Emirates’ Recruitment Manager (Flight Operations) about the airline, their selection criteria & process and career opportunities. With an expanding fleet of aircraft including a healthy collection of Airbus A380s & Boeing 777s, there are plenty of good reasons to consider flying with Emirates. If you’re interested in joining them, check out the Emirates Careers page for more information.
0:56:39 – Steve catches up with Anna Gillett from Melbourne Airport to clarify a few issues relating to aircraft spotting & photography options at the airport, especially with the recent introduction of the Terminal 4 car park.
1:06:45 – Back in 2014 Grant caught up with Nicola Scaife who had recently become the inaugural Womens’ World Hot Air Balloon Champion. They chat about how she got started in ballooning, her career as a commercial balloon pilot, developing her competition skills, winning the championship and what it’s like to compete alongside (and at times against) her husband.
1:42:32 – During the Avalon Airshow in 2015, Maikha traded his turboprop for the Control Tower as he had a try at Airservices Australia’s Air Traffic Control Tower simulator with Peter McMillan.
1:51:49 – Steve, Grant & Maikha wrap up the episode with the news that:
PCDU will be at the Tyabb Air Show in March (we’re once again producing the official air show DVD)
We’ll also be at Wings Over Illawarra on the 30th of April & 1st of May where, in addition to producing the official air show DVD, Steve & Grant will be joining Peter “Ando” Anderson on the commentary team.
The Kyneton Air Show will be in October and although it’s a long way off it’s looking very promising.
Photo credit: Cover art image courtesy of Victor Pody
