Plane Crazy Down Under

This episode we're joined by Dan, David & Rob from the Airplane Geeks podcast to discuss airline news and have a great discussion about air traffic control issues here & in the USA. We also have interviews with Dr Bruce Searle, dean of the Australian Centre for Mission Aviation, and Andrew Temby, aerobatic pilot & owner of a YAK-52TW. Both were recorded at the Mission Aviation Fellowship airshow held at Coldstream Airport (YCEM) a few weeks back.

While Max Flight from the Airplane Geeks couldn't be with us, having the other guys from the show record with us was a hoot and certainly generated a LOT of content for a future "Bloopers Only" episode. We're definitely looking forward to recording with them again once our sanity recovers.

The topics discussed in this episode include:

• A general discussion of airline issues down under with the Airplane Geeks
• Emirates and V Australia to codeshare on Tasman routes (Leithen Francis @ FlightGlobal)
• V Australia to Codeshare with…Emirates? (Dan Webb @ Things in the Sky)
• High fuel prices may clip recovery (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Premium passengers slowly return to flights (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Qantas CEO: See No Further Room For Capacity Cuts In This FY (Wall St Journal)
• INTERVIEW: Qantas CEO: Passenger Demand Higher Than Expected (Wall St Journal)
• Qantas jettisons JAL merger rumour (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Virgin in talks to buy $4b planes (Matt O'Sullivan @ The Age)
• Virgin Blue to buy 30 to 50 737s? (Australian Aviation magazine)
• Virgin Blue's plan to seat more passengers (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Brett Godfrey true believer in 50pc Virgin share (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Talking about Air Traffic Control issues with Rob & David
• Staff shortage sparks national flight delays (ABC News)
• Flights delayed or cancelled as air controllers "unavailable" (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Sydney's flight schedule 'to return to normal' (ABC News)
• Airservices, staff on collision course (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Virgin Blue to pursue AirServices Australia for compensation for its air traffic failures (Ben Sandilands @ Crikey)
• Military to lose airspace in $300m savings push (Cameron Stewart & Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• David Vanderhoof presents "This week in Australian aviation history" covering the official approval for the establishment of the Central Flying School at Point Cook (now referred to as RAAF Williams)
• Grant went to the Mission Aviation Fellowship airshow at Coldstream Airport (YCEM) and recorded these interviews
• Dr Bruce Searle, Dean of the Australian Centre for Mission Aviation
• Andrew Temby, aerobatics pilot and owner of a Yak-52TW
• Matt Hall came 3rd at the Porto RedBull AirRace in Portugal - YAY!
• We discuss some military news
• Questions over F-35's stealth capability (ABC News)
• Air Marshall Mark Binskin wants more fighters (Mark Dodd @ The Australian)
• F-111 maintenance blamed for creek contamination (ABC News)
• We review some of the "Traffic" entries from the latest Australian Aviation magazine
• OzJet 737-200s
• V Australia's latest 777
• RAAF KC30 MRTT
• Air New Zealand's 767 with blended winglets

Please note that our theme music track is "YouNameIt5" by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5) and our sound effects come from SoundSnap.com.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Blubrry - https://create.blubrry.com/resources/about-blubrry/privacy-policy

We thought we'd have this episode out within a few days of our previous one, but there was so many news items to review, so much to discuss and so many bits to splice together that it took a whole week to bring it to you. Weighing in at almost 2 hours, this episode has interviews, GA, follow ups and much much more.

With some brilliant segways between topics (and a few clangers), this episode includes the following items:

• Changes after the Kokoda accident
• Australia pledges $2m for Kokoda airstrip upgrade (ABC News)
• Virgin Blue and Delta rebuttal against Air New Zealand
• Virgin and Delta slam Air NZ attacks (Ari Sharp @ The Age)
• As we predicted, JetStar are going to Fiji
• Qantas and Virgin Blue in Fiji fight (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Jetstar to spoil V Australia’s Fiji flights? (Alex @ AusAviation)
• Webjet pressured by competition to drop fees
• Pressure On Webjet As Zuji and Expedia Drop Fees (Martin Kelly @ Travel Trends)
• Listener comments about laser pointers and aircraft
• @DanWebbage from the Airplane Geeks provides feedback on United Airlines and their 747-400s on the Pacific route
• @DanWebbage also gives us a report on a recent conference where he got to try different aircraft seats
• Some QANTAS stories from mechanical to financial
• Qantas makes emergency landing in Perth (Geoffrey @ The West Australian)
• Qantas yields remain under pressure (Bill Lindsay @ The Australian)
• Qantas feels the heat from the east (Geoff Easdown @ the Herald Sun)
• Qantas braces for long haul in red: IATA figures (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Qantas yield contractions continue, but appear to have stabilised; SIA downgraded on yield squeeze (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation)
• Discounted tickets lure more to Qantas in July (news.com.au)
• It’s a Jetstar a rising at Qantas (Ben Sandilands @ Crikey)
• The Australian Government is putting its travel management up to tender
• Federal air travel tender to hit Qantas (Scott Rochfort @ the Sydney Morning Herald)
• More bad news for Qantas - Federal air travel tender up for grabs (eTravel Blackboard)
• Virgin hails move to tighten airfare policy (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Interview with Karla Courtney from the QANTAS Travel Insider
• Tiger Airlines aircraft hits a flock of birds
• Bird strike grounds Tiger plane at Adelaide Airport (Sam Rodrigues @ Adelaide Now)
• Airplane hits flock of birds in Australia, take off rejected (AvioNews)
• Airline review results are in
• Australians reveal their worst airline (Angela Saurine @ news.com.au)
• Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam may have breached the law
• Jetstar Pacific told to quit using the orange star and ‘Jet’ logo (Look At Vietnam)
• Interview with Shashank Nigam" from SimpliFlying
• Final missing RAAF aircrew from the Vietnam conflict found and returned for burial
• Diggers' bodies to return from Vietnam (news.com.au)
• Vietnam airmen's remains flown home (Max Blenkin @ The Courier Mail)
• 39yr wait over as Toowoomba farewells Vietnam pilot (Sam Burgess @ ABC News)
• State funeral for Vietnam War airman (ABC News)
• http://www.airforce.gov.au/raafmuseum/research/aircraft/series2/A84.htm
• About #2 Squadron in Vietname and more about #2 squadron
• History of Canberras with the RAAF
• Images of the Canberra that crashed
• Thanks to David Vanderhoof for the research

Student pilot makes emergency landing after engine fails (same pilot as the runway overrun reported a few weeks ago)

• Plane makes emergency landing in paddock (ABC News)
• Man survives plane crash in Abbotsbury (Michael Chammas & Stacey Vanoska @ the Fairfield City Champion)
• Student pilot crash lands in paddock in Prospect (Vikki Campion @ the Daily Telegraph)
• NOTE: Thanks to @DavidOptimal for the info
• Observer has to fly King Air until pilot recovers (thanks to @DavidOptiimal and others for the inside story)
• Passenger flies plane after pilot passes out (ABC News)
• Government is taking steps to halt inappropriate development on airports
• Airport building hopes reined in: Bankstown (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• We mention some web sites:
• Owen Zupp's website about his trip around Australia to raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (There and Back)
• Noel Kruse has released some free flight training books online (Fly Better)

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Blubrry - https://create.blubrry.com/resources/about-blubrry/privacy-policy

This episode detours from our usual opinionated discussion of the news and instead features an interview we were fortunate enough to arrange with Matt Hall, an ex-RAAF F18 pilot who has flown the F15 on exchange with the USAF and is currently flying an MXS aerobatic aircraft in the RedBull AirRace. We were expecting to get a half hour or so to chat with Matt and were thrilled to discover an hour had passed before we all thought to double check the time.

 The discussion ranges from Matt's early days learning to fly through to his experiences with the RAAF and USAF then on to flying in the RedBull AirRace. Matt talks with us on many topics, including gliders, air-to-air refuelling, pylon hits and the dreaded bridge.

 We were delighted that Matt accepted our request for an interview and cannot sufficiently express our gratitude for his time. We're looking forward to following his progress through the remaining races this year and chatting with him again at the end of the season.

You can find Matt on his home page, Wikipedia, FaceBook, Flickr and Twitter. Be sure to join up to follow his progress in the races and show your support.

 

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Blubrry - https://create.blubrry.com/resources/about-blubrry/privacy-policy

After almost two weeks we finally get another episode out, but this one should be worth the wait. We have our first guest discussion session (@MaxFlight from the Airplane Geeks Podcast) and we have our first interview (Carlo Santoro from the Flight Experience Melbourne 737 simulator). In addition to all this, we also discuss the following topics:

• Bodies of the passengers on the Airlines PNG Twin Otter crash at Kokoda are returned
• Kokoda crash victims arrive home (Paul Millar @ The Age)
• 'Bubbly' pilot broke down barriers (Michael McKenna and Natasha Bita @ The Australian)
• Fellow pilots remember Kokoda crash victims (Sarah Elks and Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Virgin Blue to drop their code share with United (thanks to @DanWebbage for the lead)
• Virgin Blue to end codeshare partnership with United (Brendan Sobie @ FlightGlobal)
• QANTAS profits drop dramatically
• Qantas profit plunges 88pc, misses market forecasts (Bill Lindsay @ The Australian)
• Qantas shares defy profit plunge (Bill Lindsay @ The Australian)
• Qantas says LA and London routes behind profit nosedive (The Australian)
• Boeing Tells Qantas 787 Will Fly This Year (Aero News Network)
• Qantas targets costs as profit tumbles (Matt O'Sullivan @ The Age)
• Flight Centre also has a dramatic drop in their profit
• Flight Centre hits financial crisis turbulence (Michael Janda @ ABC News)
• Flight Centre optimistic on travel sector recovery in fiscal 2010 (Bill Lindsay @ The Australian)
• We talk briefly about travel agents vs online travel planning and Grant shamelessly plugs Cloud 9 Travel in Melbourne, his favourite boutique travel agency
• Falling profits are the norm at the moment with Macquarie Airports and Air New Zealand also earning less than expected
• Macquarie Airports hit by fall in asset values, air traffic (Iain MacDonald @ The Australian)
• Air New Zealand posts 90pc profit slump (ABC News)
• Air NZ rejects cartel charges (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• We discuss military flying in New Zealand, including the RNZAF 757, selling their A4 Skyhawks, their success with the Kaman Seasprites, buying the RAN's A4s and the RNZAF's A4 formation aerobatic team
• Australia and New Zealand getting closer to having open borders between them
• Cheap NZ flights as Tasman union looms (Josh Gordon @ The Age)
• @MaxFlight from the Airplane Geeks Podcast bravely agrees to chat with us and be recorded
• Do you think you have what it takes to save the day when your flight crew "eat the fish" but want to be sure in advance? Flight Experience Melbourne provide a 737 simulator and instructors to help you find out. Grant interviews Carlo while sitting in the sim
• Regional Express tries to expand into Queensland again
• Rex's second tilt at Queensland: Regional Express (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Optus launch a 3rd satellite
• Ariane 5 Rocket Launches Satellite Duo for Japan, Australia (Justin Ray @ SpaceFlightNow)
• QANTAS passenger tries to open door in flight
• Midair drama: man restrained on Qantas flight (ABC News)
• Man tries to open door on Qantas flight (Yahoo!7 News)
• Bomb scare on Singapore Airlines
• Bomb scare: Passengers herded to back of plane (ABC News)
• We hope the winds drop further (Wind causing flight delays: Qantas (ABC News))

Our sounds come SoundSnap.com and our title track is "Younameit5" by Brian Simpson (aka t3cat5).

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Blubrry - https://create.blubrry.com/resources/about-blubrry/privacy-policy

Steve's back from his trip to the USA and, despite some jet lag woes, he's in the recording studio and the banter is flowing in our longest episode yet. Sadly, the first 15 minutes sound like Grant's testing NASA's new Interplanetary Internet and experiencing a really crappy connection. Not to worry, it soon clears up and the rest of the episode quite clearly reveals our usual commentary on this week's local aviation news stories, including the following topics:

• Airlines PNG Twin Otter crash at Kokoda
• Pilot in PNG crash had six months' experience (Michael McKenna and Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Flyers may have lost their bearings (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• SLanding gear incidents @ Bankstown (YSBK)
• Planes Lose Wheels (The Torch newspaper)
• Regional airlines worrying about aircraft
• Regional airlines face plane shortage (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Flying Doctor losing a contract
• Flying doctor service loses $70m contract (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Royal Flying Doctor Service - history
• Royal Flying Doctor Service - Wikipedia
• tSteve discusses his visit to the TWiT Cottage and meeting Leo Laporte (go on gang, you *know* you're jealous :)
• Steve clarifies that he went to Eaker AFB while in the USA but named it incorrectly during his update on the previous episode
• Steve talks about his flights with V Australia
• Tainted Virgin Blue chicken wraps induced births (Jamie Walker @ The Australian)
• Virgin-Delta joint venture to get a clear run (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• We discuss an article by Andrew McLaughlin in the July issue of Australian Aviation magazine about United Airlines fighting to retain share on the Pacific route
• Tiger is taking steps to improve its image
• Airline complaints head sky-high (Clive Dorman @ The Age)
• V Australia wants to fly to Fiji
• V Australia applies for Fiji route (Greg Waldron @ Flight Global)
• Grant talks about his experiences going to Sydney for the SimpliFlying/PCDU Tweet Up along side the Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009 conference
• QANTAS links its frequent flyer program to the Woolworths loyalty program
• Qantas loyalty deal with Woolies a big seller (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• AirAsiaX news
• Capital city rivals out to land Asia (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• AirAsiaX will boost its Gold Coast route
• Malaysia Airlines getting stung by low cost carriers
• Discount rivals hit MAS results (Geoff Easdown @ The HeraldSun)
• Laser taggers arrested
• Laser pointer accused faces court (ABC News)

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Blubrry - https://create.blubrry.com/resources/about-blubrry/privacy-policy

This week's episode comes out a little late as Steve's still in the USA and Grant was up in Sydney for the PCDU / SimpliFlying TweetUp that happened along side the Asia / Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2009. A great time was had by all who attended the event but now it's back to work as there's news to read, interviews to arrange and a podcast to produce.

This week's episode includes the following topics:

• Jetstar launches world first SMS based boarding pass
• Jetstar's SMS boarding passes (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Comparing Geoff Dixon with Alan Joyce at QANTAS
• Qantas boss a cautious optimist (Matt O'Sullivan @ The Age)
• Global aviation faces slow return to profits: Dixon (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Joyce rules out Qantas merger (Matt O'Sullivan @ The Age)
• Alan Joyce kills off IPO plans amid Pacific rationalisation forecast (Ross Kelly @ The Australian)
• QANTAS fights back
• Qantas vows to slug out fare ware (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Qantas relaunches branded website (The Age)
• Qantas business blitz to hit Virgin (Steve Creedy @The Australian)
• Swine Flu impacts air travel and Cathay Pacific struggles
• Asia-Pacific travel recovery falls foul of flu (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Times are turbulent for Cathay as it faces storm (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Virgin fights back, raises money and has a health scare
• V Australia Launches New One Way Fares to USA
• Virgin share offer takes flight (Matt O'Sullivan @ WA Today)
• Food poisoning scare on Virgin flights (ABC News)
• Tiger Improves its Act
• Complaints drop as Tiger Airways listens to customers (John Wright @ The Courier Mail)
• Remains of last missing RAAF airmen returned from Vietnam
• Missing Vietnam airmen's remains found (ABC News)
• Merpati Twin Otter crashes
• Plane wreckage found in Papua (ABC News)
• Bangkok Airways ATR72 crashes at Koh Samui
• Pilot killed as plane skids off runway (ABC News)
• RNZAF Upgrades Tech Training Fleet
• NZAF to Upgrade Aircraft for Training (Aviation Today)
• Hand Propping Accident
• Cessna takes off without pilot (ABC News)
• Steve Visscher presents an update from the USA including flying an old tail dragger, seeing more C130s than the RAAF could ever own and starting the long flights back home

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Blubrry - https://create.blubrry.com/resources/about-blubrry/privacy-policy

A recent event at Oshkosh has been the Podapalooza "gathering of aviation podcasters" where attendees get to meet some of the voices in their heads. Much as we would have loved to go to Oshkosh this year and attend Podapalooza, it's a long long way to swim from down here so all we could do was listen to the other podcasters talking about how they were going and gnash our teeth while trying not to stomp on our iPods.

Fortunately for us, Stephen Force of the Airspeed podcast told us he was willing to smuggle in a short "Hey there" piece for us and get it played at the event. Well, not only was he able to smuggle it in, he even got it played on EAA radio. Wow! Thanks Steve - yet more beers we owe you when we meet!

• For those of you who, like us, couldn't be there and couldn't listen to the live feed, here's the little greeting we recorded for everyone at Podapalooza 2009.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Blubrry - https://create.blubrry.com/resources/about-blubrry/privacy-policy

We were a little delayed because Grant was trying to do it all this week, but better late than never. With Steve in the USA, Grant was flying solo and discovering that he missed having someone to put the gear up on take off.

This week's episode includes the following topics:

• Air New Zealand joins Tiger to say that Delta teaming up with V Australia (Delta V) is bad, but QANTAS stays out of it
• Qantas aloof as Air NZ joins Delta V opponents (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• QANTAS 737 de-pressurises during flight
• Engineers probe Qantas midair mishap (ABC News)
• Jetstar upsetting Kiwi pax with baggage charges
• Bags cost shocks traveller (Rebecca Lewis @ the New Zealand Herald)
• It's official, Regional Express (REX) is the world's best regional carrier
• Rex ruled the world's best regional carrier (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Virgin Blue 737 loses a nose wheel
• Safety fears raised after plane wheel falls off (ABC News)
• Brett Godfrey announces he'll retire from Virgin Blue
• Brett Godfrey to retire from Virgin Blue (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Virgin Blue to raise capital
• Godfrey to quit as Virgin raises capital (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• John Holland Group wins Virgin Blue's Embraer maintenance work
• John Holland in 10-year deal to maintain Virgin Blue's Embraer jets (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Macquarie Airports to separate from the Macquarie Group
• Macquarie Airports takes over management from Macquarie Group (Allison Jackson @ The Australian)
• Sydney airport traffic declines; Melbourne rises (Business Day)
• Airports fly against economic downturn (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• PelAir chosen for Ambulance Victoria contract
• Pel-Air Chosen As Preferred Contractor By Ambulance Victoria (Aero-News)
• Steve Visscher presents an update from the USA, including flight comparisons and the TSA

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Blubrry - https://create.blubrry.com/resources/about-blubrry/privacy-policy

Surprisingly less than one week after our first episode was released, we're releasing our second episode. During this one, we discuss the following items:

• Singapore Airlines to fly A380 to Melbourne
• Superjumbo threat to Qantas stepped up (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• British Airways cutting flights to Australia
• British Airways to cut flights to Australia (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Garuda ends their only flight to Darwin
• Plea for Garuda to retain Darwin flights (Daniel Bourchier @ the Northern Territory News)
• Tiger Airlines protests V Australia's agreement with Delta
• Tiger Airlines out to disrupt Delta Airways deal (Geoff Easdown @ the Courier Mail)
• Virgin's joint venture deal with Delta has upset Tiger (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Steve says Tiger Airways' reality show is terrible but he's going to keep watching it (Airways)
• Virgin Blue halts shares and appears to be seeking more money
• Virgin defers on call for funds (Matt O'Sullivan @ WA Today)
• Virgin goes to Gulf for cash (Adele Ferguson @ The Australian)
• Push for second Sydney area airport to be at the Richmond RAAF base
• Airlines push for second airport at RAAF base (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Wikipedia information on RAAF Richmond airbase
• RAAF Sabre jet flies again
• Temora Aviation Museum
• Australian RAAF Sabre Flies Again (AVweb)
• We comment on Robyn Riley of the Sunday Herald Sun panning Air New Zealand's Nothing To Hide campaign
• QANTAS ground staff in Perth are upset with management leaving them to deal with angry passengers
• Perth ground staff lash Qantas inaction (Steve Creedy @ The Australian)
• Jockeys smuggle beer onto REX flight and drink them while returning from a responsible drinking course
• Drunken flight lands jockeys in hot water (ABC News)

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Blubrry - https://create.blubrry.com/resources/about-blubrry/privacy-policy

Weighing in at a whole 27 minutes and 18 seconds, here's the first episode of the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast. During this episode, we discuss the following news items:

• Emirates EK407 tailstrike - the Captain tells his story and we comment on fatigue issues
• The RAAF's first F/A-18F Super Hornet rolls off the production line plus comments on the pending F-111 & DH4C Caribou retirements
• Tiger Airways adds a 7th aircraft to get an incredible increase in capacity out of Melbourne and their reality TV show launches
• QANTAS has bad customer service (and associated PR) in Perth following a lightning strike on an A330, cops freight fines in Canada and has an A380 go around at LHR
• Jetstar apologises for their bad service in New Zealand
• Virgin Blue's V Australia is experiencing low yields so far
• Delta operates their first flight into SYD

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Blubrry - https://create.blubrry.com/resources/about-blubrry/privacy-policy