Plane Crazy Down Under
Plane Crazy Down Under is an aviation podcast that explores flying and aviation topics from an Australian and Pacific perspective. It offers discussions, news, and stories aimed at pilots, enthusiasts, and the wider aviation community in the region. The show is produced by Southern Skies Media. It uses third-party analytics services including Blubrry for audience measurement.
Episodes
From Drone Racing to Military Operations
Did you hear a *THUD* when this episode arrived in your player? Weighing in at two hours and fourty one minutes, this episode is packed with content recorded at the Military International Drone Racing Tournament in Sydney back in March 2026, along with a great chat with WGCDR Keirin Joyce, one of the people organising the event. Unless you're going on a long journey, we suspect you'll need your pa
Australian Beechcraft Society's Pilot Proficiency Program 2026
The Australian Beechcraft Society is holding their Pilot Proficiency Program for 2026 at Cowra from the 19th to 22nd of March, so if you own, fly or maintain Bonanzas and/or Barons, you're going to want to be there. There will be a comprehensive flying program, detailed maintenance reviews, and two days of presentations from specialists on the Bonanza and Baron, plus other speakers including Airse
Talking E2 with Embraer & Virgin Australia
Many in Australia will have flown the Embraer E190 as there are a few flying here with Airnorth, Alliance Airlines (as QantasLink) and National Jet, plus the ones Virgin Australia used to operate back prior to COVID. The E190 and E195 include such wonderful features as large, well positioned windows (no bending down to look out horizontally), no middle seats, and good economics for the operators.
Staying Cool at AusFly 2025
It was a baking hot 42 Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) under the scorching Australian sun when the Sport Aircraft Association of Australia held its AusFly 2025 event at Wentworth, New South Wales, during the middle of March. Grant was on the commentary team but Steve couldn't make it due to a scheduling conflict, so Grant recorded a stack of interviews at the event to give those who missed it a chance to
To the Stratosphere & Beyond
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 chat with the Monash High Powered Rocketry team from Monash University. These amazing st
Pacific Airshow Gold Coast 2024
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 your friend... The episode unfolds as per the details below. Enjoy!0:01:11 - Steve & Grant chat about
Getting Wired with the Ace Maker
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 caught up with him before he came out to Australia. This episode also includes the third &
Aerobatics & Goal Setting with Aarron Deliu
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 Coast and will be performing again at this year's show.03:45 - We start our chat with Aar
Tyabb Airshow 2024
The Peninsula Aero Club at Tyabb Airport near Melbourne puts on an epic air show every two years, although everyone's really been looking forward to this year's event as the last one was in 2020 thanks to COVID. The waiting was certainly worth it, as the Tyabb Airshow 2024 was another cracker with plenty of warbirds, aerobatic displays, a car vs aircraft race, and handling displays from many other
Tibbsy the Aussie Airboss and a Day Trip to Tocumwal
Setting up and running the air display component of an airshow takes a lot of effort, awareness of pilot and aircraft capabilities, an understanding of what makes a display interesting to the public, and the ability to deal with variables such as weather and aircraft availability. To find out more about this topic, we caught up with Chris "Tibbsy" Tibbetts, the Aussie Airboss. Grant also crossed o
Exclusive: OzRunways Acquired by Boeing
It's big news down under as Bas Scheffers, CEO of OzRunways, joins us to announce that Boeing have purchased the company. It's a massive validation of the efforts put in by the OzRunways team over the past 10+ years and provides the opportunity for the OzRunways, ForeFlight and Jeppesen teams to work close together to help improve their respective products.In this exclusive interview, Bas talks ab
Bush Flying 737s in Alaska, a long-haul Gipsy Moth, & more of the Steve Padgett Story
Welcome to our first episode for 2024 with this episode featuring a great set of interviews to kick off the new year. From Grant recording chats with Jerry & Jan Chisum in their incredible hangar home over in New Zealand to the next part in the Steve Padgett story, this episode covers flying from the UK to NZ in a Gipsy Moth back in 1934, bush flying 737s in Alaska, setting up Sunshine Express
Flying with Angels & the Padgett Story Begins
Steve's back in the studio after his heart attack and subsequent surgery. As you'd expect, it was a major experience for him and he's very appreciative of the support he's received from our audience. He's now a member of the zipper club, has been cleared to drive cars again, and is working towards his Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) medical so he can drive trains once again. Y
Pacific Airshow Vibes
It's been a while between episodes but Steve's been in hospital for a major operation plus Grant's been travelling for airshows and also getting current in hot air balloons once again (yup, there's a new danger area being declared for operations in the vicinity of YBLA, YWGT & YILA :) ). With Steve in hospital, Grant turns to ATC Ben for help with the intro and outro on this episode which is p
Test Flying the F-35
Way back in June 2014 we released Series 1 Episode 119 about the RAAF bringing the F-35A into service, including the first two pilots selected to learn how to fly it, discussions with Lockheed Martin representatives (including test pilot Billie Flynn) and an hour long discussion with AVM Kym "Koz" Osley about the infrastructure work, staffing build up, training and logistics preparations that were
Gold Coast Dreaming
The team from the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach in California have come down under to stage the first Pacific Airshow Gold Coast event at Surfers Paradise in August, right around the corner as we release this episode. Steve and Grant will be attending the event to gather more content from the performers who will be displaying there, but in advance of the event, they've scored a couple of int
Reaching Skyward
They say that if you can't see it, you can't be it and that certainly seems to be the case with getting more women into aviation. The recently released documentary Touch the Sky seeks to help encourage more women to consider flying for fun and/or employment, particularly looking at the "soft" (aka "human") issues that are part of the answer to the question: "Why are there so few female pilots?".We
Traffic Sighted
There are plenty of beaches in Australia and many cities have an "Eye in the Sky" traffic reporter giving commuters updates on where the bottlenecks are, but what if you could provide traffic reports plus beach reports, all while logging hours? Our voice-over guy, Terry Daniel, steps out of the recording booth and into the studio to chat with Steve & Grant about doing just that in the skies ov
Leaning Into It
We recorded so much content at Avalon 2023 that it's going to take a few more episodes to get it all released. This episode brings us the Scandanavian wing walker team, the return of Timbo's Tarmac and a chat with UK aerobatic pilot Mark Jefferies and Dee Ebeling from Perth, so lets lean into the slipstream and have a listen.This episode flies past with:06:42 Scandanavian Airshows' Sky Cats wing w
All Change for the Defence Strategic Review
It's time to dig into the recently released Defence Strategic Review to assess its impacts on the Australian Defence Force from an aviation perspective. For this episode we're joined by award winning defence and aerospace journalist Andrew McLaughlin, who helps assess the changes we can expect to see over the next few years. A big change is the focus on long range strike and missiles for RAAF, Nav
Extended Ranges
With the recent release of the Defence Strategic Review by the Australian Federal Government, a major focus has been put on long range missiles for use by Army, Navy and Air Force to deter a potential adversary from approaching our island continent and/or blockading our ocean supply routes. With this in mind, we release an interview recorded at Avalon 2023 with John Fry, general manager of Kongsbe
The Sound of Freedom
Imagine a hoard of RV-6s & RV-7s flying in close formation and performing solo & pair aerobatics. Sounds intense? Well, wait for the Pacific Airshow at the Gold Coast to find out how it looks & sounds. Meanwhile, Mark Newton is one of the pilots in the Freedom Formation and he talks us through his aviation history, his aircraft and the genesis of the show. All this plus a flying car an
The Commentators
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 Av
Owen Zupp on Resilience
We recently caught up with our friend Owen Zupp to talk with him about the many ups and downs he's experienced in his career and, most importantly, his current grounding for medical reasons (starts at 1:20 into the episode). We touch on the importance of resilience and how many of the traits that make a good pilot can also help a person get through adversity. In the second half of the show, we als
Pushback & Start
The new series has officially launched with the release of this episode and, what better way to come back to the world than at the Australian International Airshow (aka Avalon 2023) where we caught up with plenty of old friends and made lots of new contacts. It seems only fitting that our first released content should be chats with Matt Hall, Bas Scheffers and Bob Carlton so lets get into the show
PCDU Episode 131: Reflections
Rumours of our demise have, sadly, been accurate ... well, until now that is!We're back and looking to give PCDU another whirl with a new series coming out shortly, but we thought a good way to get back in the groove would be to do that "Farewell" episode we'd planned to do *way* back in 2018. We are indebted to those who sent in the amazing farewell messages you're going to hear in this episode,
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 all the video he collected so we can show you a few of the s
PCDU Episode 129: Going Back to School
Steve & Grant have both been back to school in the past week with Steve revisiting his old high school (Brentwood Secondary College and yes, it’s still standing) where they have a great aviation curriculum. Meanwhile, Grant’s been out to Bacchus Marsh airport to the TVSA flying school’s open day. This one’s a short episode as we’re trying to get some topical information out before Avalon Air S
PCDU Episode 128: Unprecedented
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 :) ).The episode unfolds as:00:00:00 - Our tribute
PCDU Episode 127: From the Vault
We've gone back into our archives to pull out some great content that we never got around to releasing before. We have some more interviews from Avalon 2015 (yes, we recorded lots didn't we? :) ) and we also have WGCDR Tim Alsop (now a GPCAPT :) ) walking us through planning & implementing an F-18 Hornet handling display and doing a pre-flight walk-around.Thanks to the heroic efforts of Maikha
PCDU Episode 126: Emirates Wants You!
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 Melbou
PCDU Episode 125: Avalon Charlie (The Avalon Airshow Goodness Continues)
Welcome back to our coverage of the 2015 Australian International Air Show (aka Avalon Airshow) with our third release of content recorded at show. It's been a while since the last episode and we're sorry for that but as with many labours of love & fun, life gets in the way and paying the rent, keeping the family happy, doing airshow commentaries and producing the weekly Australia Desk for the
PCDU Episode 124: Avalon15 Bravo (Yet more Avalon Airshow Goodness)
The Australian International Airshow (aka Avalon Airshow) may well be over for 2015 but our collection of content recorded at the show is still being worked on. Here's another hour of interviews & discussions and we suspect there may be another two episodes before we're through with all of it. This is what happens when you let Steve, Grant & Maikha run loose with audio recorders at an airs
PCDU Episode 123: Avalon15 Alpha (It’s Avalon Airshow Time :) )
The Australian International Airshow (aka Avalon Airshow) is held every two years and runs for 6 days with the first 3 being trade-only. The 4th day of the show is always on a Friday and the public start coming in around midday then stay for the night show, a feature of Avalon for well over 15 years. The final two days are the weekend and, as you might expect, are packed with public enjoying the a
PCDU Episode 122: Farewell 2014
As the final hours of 2014 draw to a close, we're getting our last episode for 2014 out the door. The boys have been kept pretty busy with their day jobs lately but, despite this, they've managed to do some flying:Grant's been taking friends on their first balloon flights including Evan Schoo and Darren CravenFred Samson took Steve for a fly over San Francisco while he was there a back in OctoberS
PCDU Episode 121: Exercise Pitch Black 2014
During August, Grant spent a week in Darwin covering Exercise Pitch Black 2014, a major multinational "war game" exercise hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force.Australia's version of the Red Flag training exercises held in the USA and in 2014 the RAAF was joined by forces from the US, Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand, France and the United Arab Emirates.Grant joined Andrew McLaughlin, Nigel Pit
PCDU Episode 120: History & Records
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.This epi
PCDU Episode 119: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: The RAAF Approach
With Australia’s confirmed purchase of a total of 72 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, Steve & Grant are joined by Andrew McLaughlin from COMINT (Communications Intelligence) to discuss the F-35 and its operation within the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). We also feature a number of great interviews with Lockheed Martin staff and an in-depth discussion with Air Vice Marshall Kym “Koz” Osley regar
PCDU Episode 118: Can you fly to NatFly 2014?
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.
PCDU Episode 117: Holler for a Marshall, an AIR Marshal
With the RAAF’s Centenary of Military Aviation air show only a couple of days away, we thought we’d mix up some content that promotes the event as well as some chats Grant recorded with a number of past & present members of the RAAF at the Temora Aviation Museum’s “Warbirds Down Under” event back in November. To round the whole thing off, we’ve also got Steve’s chat with Tammy Augostin about t
PCDU Episode 116: High Performances
After a break due to injuries, surgery & a wedding, we’re back on deck and our first episode for 2014 is packed with Down Under aviation goodness :) From Matt Hall and the long awaited return of the Red Bull Air Race to our media flight in a pair of C130Js over Melbourne to promote the RAAF’s Centenary of Military Aviation air show, this episode really got us exited for the year ahead.Our firs
PCDU Episode 115: Farewell 2013
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
PCDU Episode 114: AusFly 2013 – Back Together Under One Sky
September 2013 rolled around and it was time for the second AusFly event at Narromine in New South Wales. Team PCDU squeezed into a bus that was loaded with Analog Al’s airshow PA system, our gear and a certain trade stand then drove over 800km in a day to get there. Whew!Once there we cleared out the studio, set up the sound system & got ready to run AusFly Radio & do the air display comm
PCDU Episode 113: Fleeting Dreams
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
PCDU Episode 112: Federal Election 2013
It’s time for Australians to vote for their favourite (or least disliked :) ) politicians and, once again, we’ve gone into bat for our audience to present information about the transportation policies of the main parties. Unfortunately, our cunning plan to wait for the parties to have revealed their policies has not been as successful as we’d like as a) some parties are still holding their cards c
PCDU Episode 111: Radio Killed the Podcast Star (Almost :) )
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 rad
PCDU Episode 110: A Basket Full of Flight
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 th
TeenWorldFlight: Update #1 with Ryan Campbell
Ryan Campbell is a 19 year old pilot from Australia who’s currently flying solo around the world to grab the record as the youngest pilot yet to make the epic journey. Steve caught up with Ryan just a couple of hours after he had arrived in Hilo, Hawaii to discuss the experience of island-hopped his way across the Pacific.You can follow Ryan’s flight & get more information about him on his Tee
PCDU Episode 109: Dave’s Cambridge Airforce
We’re joined by Dave Homewood from the Wings Over New Zealand forum & podcast to talk about his time with the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), the warbird scene over there and the comprehensive forum he established. We also discuss his excellent Wings Over New Zealand podcast which has a large number of fascinating interviews & recordings covering the Kiwi scene. You can follow Dave’s
PCDU Episode 108: On a Wing & a Chair
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 fir
PCDU Episode 107: Avalon 2013 – Globemaster Central
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 c
PCDU Episode 106: Avalon 2013 – Day Six
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,
PCDU Episode 105: Avalon 2013 - Day Five
Day Five of the Avalon Airshow 2013 is the first full public day and they turned out in force to enjoy great aviation action under clear blue skies. Despite the crowds we still managed to get around the airport to complete a number of interviews & meet up with plenty of people.This episode includes:Grant’s interviews with some RAAF AP-3C crew:Air Combat Officer (ACO) Flying Officer Tristan Hul
PCDU Episode 104: Avalon 2013 – Day Four
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
PCDU Episode 103: Avalon 2013 – Day Three
Day Three of Avalon 2013 brought us a busy schedule of interviews and aviation experiences. From a Gulfstream G650 to the RAAF’s C17 heavy transport, we’ve been running around shooting even more video and recording interviews, such as those that make up today’s episode:We talk to Flight Lieutenant Tony O’Neil & Flight Lieutenant Mathew Stade about being the crew who fly the RAAF’s F18F Super H
PCDU Episode 102: Avalon 2013 – Day Two
Day Two of the Avalon 2013 Airshow has kept Team PCDU very busy shooting video & recording interviews. Here’s some of the content we recorded today:Captain Robin Pursey, Chief Pilot for Airbus Corporate Jets talks about flying the ACJ319David Velupillai, Marketing Director for Airbus Corporate Jets discusses interior fit outs & typical missions for ACJsSteve meets with one of the UAV Chall
PCDU Episode 101: Avalon 2013 – Day One
It’s been a good start to the Avalon 2013 Airshow with Team PCDU recording a few interviews and setting up their schedule for the rest of the week. For our first day’s coverage we present:Grant talks with John McCormick (Director of Flight Safety at CASA) about his military & airline experience, flying his Yak50 and how that all links into managing CASA.Steven Pam talks to Mal Hurman about the
PCDU Episode 100: The Ton
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, dabb
PCDU Episode 99: RAAF C-130H – Into History
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
PCDU Episode 98: Farewell 2012
As 2012 draws to a close come & spend a bit of time with Steve, Grant, Bas & ATC Ben as they wrap up the year with some new content, some discussions and a bit of fun. It’s another long episode but we think it’s a pretty good way to send out the year :)The episode unfolds as:0:03:30 – We discuss issues CASA are having with RA-Aus that has seen a number of LSA grounded due to administrative
PCDU Episode 97: Journos & Aeros
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 writer1:00:59 – 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 &
PCDU Episode 96: “Serge” – An Australian Top Gun
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-adventure
PCDU Episode 95: Northern Exposure
Steve & Grant go north of Melbourne thanks to the aid of some members of Team PCDU, both current & new. First up we tag along with ATC_Ben on his visit to Oshkosh 2012, discussing his journey there & listening to a few of the interviews he recorded (yes, we’re still jealous we couldn’t get there!). We then introduce long-time listener Damien Rose who’s joining us as our Queensland corr
PCDU Episode 94: AusFly “Together Under One Sky”
The Sport Aircraft Association of Australia (SAAA) held their inaugural AusFly event at Narromine, New South Wales on the 14th & 15th of September. As part of the show, Plane Crazy Down Under were invited to come & run the AusFly radio show and provide commentary for the air displays. From setting up the studio & PA system (thanks Allan & Kurt :) to interviewing live during the sho
PCDU Episode 93: Positive Moves
After three years of lamenting the hassles involved in getting to the West Coast of Australia to report on aviation happenings wwwaaayyy over there on the other side of the big empty, we’ve finally done something about it: we’ve set up a PCDU-WestCoast office and found someone just as aviation-crazy as we are to run it :)In this episode we introduce Ben Jones who is based in West Australia and has
PCDU Episode 92: Helene Young – A Novel Approach to Flying
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 f
PCDU Episode 91: New Horizons
After a number of years and the inevitable stumbling blocks that life throws at us, Grant has finally become a balloon pilot having completed his check flight up at Mildura just the other day. From how the final stages of solos & check flight unfolded to a comparison of “first solo” moments, Steve & Grant talk briefly about the realisation that a new license & $5 can now buy you a beer
PCDU Episode 90: Moments in Time
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 arou
PCDU Episode 89: RA-Aus NatFly 2012
Way back in April, Steve & ATC Ben flew “Ben Air” from Lilydale (YLIL) to Temora (YTEM) for the RA-Aus NatFly 2012 event, leaving Grant behind in Melbourne attempting to recover from bronchitis. While not as vibrant as 2011, there was still plenty of activity to keep Steve & Ben busy recording the following items:0:02:46 – Introduction to NatFly 20120:03:25 – RA-Aus directors Steve Runcle
PCDU Episode 88: Dreamtime
Boeing have been taking their 787 Dreamliners on the DreamTour, a series of 7 multi-stop flights, or segments, that take one of the 787 test aircraft around the world. Each segment visits multiple countries, allowing airlines & invited guests to get up close to the advanced new airliner. Perhaps saving the best for last, the DreamTour came to the Dreamtime during it’s 7th segment. As part of t
PCDU Episode 87: Wings Over Illawarra 2012
The Great PCDU Road Trip of 2012 covered over 1,700km in the course of a single weekend. From late on Friday night to early on Monday morning, Steve, Grant & Allan drove from Melbourne up to Wollongong (just south of Sydney) to attend the Wings Over Illawarra 2012 air show. Firmly ensconced in the Southern Biplanes hangar with a great view of the show unfolding beyond “Lilly Warra” (their big
PCDU Episode 86: One Fine Day at Parafield
Thanks to the support of OzRunways, Steve was able to go to Adelaide to attend the Parafield Airshow where he spent the day with Bas recording interviews. After learning his lesson at Tyabb, Steve kept the sunscreen flowing and got through the day with a good stack of interviews & no sunburn :)Steve’s collection of Parafield interviews includes:0:04:17 – John McArdle of the Adelaide & Para
PCDU Episode 85: Tyabb Air Show 2012 & ATC Ben Answers Your Questions
After a long break from the show, Ben Ippolito (aka ATC Ben – ATCBen.PCDU@gmail.com) returns in this packed episode to tell us about getting current again, wrap up the Tyabb airshow and answer some of your ATC questions. We also bring on a new sponsor (OzRunways) who helped us get to the recent Parafield airshow (more on that in a later episode).We start by chatting with Ben about the steps he too
PCDU Episode 84: Geoff Whitty: Pidgin Tales
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
PCDU Episode 83: Replicate This!
Aviation has a rich & storied history with over 100 years separating our current complex, high speed & long range aircraft from those produced of wood, metal & fabric during our fledgling beginnings as we first pushed into the sphere of powered, heavier than air flight.While grainy photos & stuttering films can try to convey a vista of the past, there is nothing like being able to
PCDU Episode 82: Keeping up with Owen Zupp
Our good friend Owen Zupp takes time out from his very busy schedule to hang out & chat with us:Owen’s got a new blog on www.owenzupp.com where he talks about aviation (mostly). Readership is ramping up quickly and we chat about some of his content and the questions readers are sending to him.Steve met up with Owen at the GippsAero factory recently when Owen was flight testing the GA8 Airvan f
PCDU Episode 81: An Infrequent Flyer goes to Europe
There’s been a few delays in getting our first episode for 2012 out but what can you expect with the Summer heat to enjoy and games of Cricket to watch (or avoid :). It is with Cricket in mind that our very own Infrequent Flyer, Anthony Simmons, took some time out of his European adventures to visit the Imperial War Museum at Duxford (home of the Duxford Aviation Society) at the time of their last
PCDU Episode 80: Farewell 2011 (aka “Tom Cruise wraps my Dolmades” :)
All good things must come to an end and so too must the year 2011. It has been an amazing year of growth for PCDU as we’ve covered Avalon 2011, NatFly 2011 and Oshkosh 2011 along with a number of major events (eg: Qantas grounding) and added some new voices to the team. So as the year draws to a close and 2012 is waiting in the wings, Steve, Grant and Anthony “The Infrequent Flyer” Â bring yo
PCDU Episode 79: Flying Low
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.
PCDU Episode 78: Tim Smith: Flying Saved My Life
Many people in Australia know of Tim Smith, a Melbourne comedian who’s worked on television and in radio for years. What many people don’t know is that Tim is a pilot who is working towards his goal of running charter operations taking people around Australia, visiting places many folks have never heard of let alone visited.We were fortunate enough to get some time chatting with Tim in one of the
