Plane Crazy Down Under

Almost one year after the QF32 incident, Qantas is again in the news around the world and for a short time again appeared to be on the brink of a major disaster. At 5pm on Saturday the 29th of October, Alan Joyce (CEO of Qantas) announced that he & the board of directors had decided to ground all of Qantas’ domestic & international flights (about 108 aircraft). This unprecedented step disrupted the travel plans of almost 70,000 passengers in order to avoid a “death by a thousand paper cuts” due to ongoing damage from industrial disputes with three unions.

The three unions represented the pilots, engineers and baggage handlers working for Qantas’ “mainline” operations. The Jetstar, QantasLink and JetConnect operations were not involved in the grounding.

We have assembled a collection of discussions with a number of people involved in the disputes or monitoring it from the outside. It is our intention that we provide you with an overview of what has happened, why it happened and where things might go from here. Unlike the commercial broadcast media, our time is not rigidly controlled so our guests are able to take their time to explain their views & concerns without being restricted to sound bites.

While we also express our own views during this episode, we have tried to present enough information for you to get a better understanding of the situation & form your own decisions.

The discussions in this episode include:

• Captain Richard Woodward, Vice President of the Australian & International Pilots Association (AIPA)
• Warren Truss, leader of the National Party and Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport
• Steve Purvinas, Federal Secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA)
• Independent Senator Nick Xenophon from South Australia
• Dick Smith, an entrepreneur, pilot and past chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Civil Aviation & Safety Authority (CASA)
• Shashank Nigam from Simpliflying, a consultancy specialising in aviation branding & social media
• Ben Sandilands from the Plane Talking blog & Will Horton from the Centre for Aviation, both aviation journalists focusing on the Australasian market

We’d also like to thank Colin Lipiatt, the Manager of Coporate Communications at Virgin Australia, for taking the time to chat with us about their ability to quickly respond with extra capacity to help affected travellers. While we couldn’t include him in the show, he provided plenty of useful information for us.

While putting this episode together we did attempt to contact Qantas’ media department to arrange a representative who could talk to us about the items raised during the discussions listed above. Unfortunately we did not hear back from them and can only assume that, like Anthony Albanese (Minister for Infrastructure & Transport), they were too busy dealing with the big issues and the mainstream media to spare any time for us.

We trust that you’ll enjoy this special episode of content specifically covering the Qantas Grounding situation. It’s been a marathon effort to arrange & record the interviews then put it all together for you. It has certainly been educational & eye opening for us as we discussed the issues with our guests, and that’s got to be a good thing :)

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A few episodes ago we introduced Kathy Mexted as a new member our group of occasional PCDU contributors and this episode she’s back with some great content. She recently took a few friends in a Bonanza out to Wilpena Pound in South Australia, a trip that would usually take many days to achieve by road but, thanks to general aviation, only required two 90 minute flights to get there. Originally intended to be a trip to Ayers Rock, this adventure was trimmed down to something more manageable and a journey to just south of Lake Eyre was planned.

We spend a bit of time discussing the flight, the scenery, air sickness, some geology and what it was like loading four ladies into a high performance single then blasting off to out back of beyond. Kathy also discusses staying at Mungo Lodge, the Wilpena Pound Resort and Trevor Hancock, their tour guide while they were there.

While staying in outback South Australia, Kathy and her friends caught up with some of the pilots from Air Wilpena and recorded a discussion with them about their backgrounds, the flying they’re doing and what it’s like to be flying in outback Australia.

After this we play a few interviews from our recent visit to Coldstream Airport including:

• A chat with Judy & Andrew Doak, the owners of Coldstream Airport (YCEM)
• Dr Bruce Searle, CEO of ACMA
• Andrew Temby, aerobatic display pilot flying his Yak-52TW

We then move into reading some listener emails and discussing some future events on the calendar, including:

• Keane Bourke is 12 years old & wants to be an airline pilot
• Ed Stubbs recently attended the SAAA fly-in at Langley Park in Perth
• AusAirServices are having a Wings Night dinner on the 22nd October
• Bas sent us information about the Port Augusta Open Day that’s coming up
• Moorabbin Flight Services are having their Wings Night dinner on November 19th
• ErrolWi in NZ points us to a list of Kiwi aviation events at the ProBoards Calendar
• We then cut to a discussion about the upcoming Holbrook Ultra Light Club’s fly-in.

Our backing music for this episode comes from “The Groove Press” by Ron Soo.

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Today we’re joined by Anthony Crichton-Browne, a commercial airline pilot who also likes to take his Pitts Special out for a spin (and a few other fun manoeuvres :) In addition to chatting with Anthony, we also run a chat with Grant Piper (President of the Australian Aerobatic Club) about Australia’s recent involvement in the World Aerobatic Championship, discuss aerobatics in general and also have a chat about the recent horrific tragedy at Reno Air Races where the highly modified P51 “Galloping Ghost” lost control and plowed into specators.

We start off by hanging out with Anthony and talking about his career in aviation and more, including:

• He has an older brother who’s also a pilot
• He’s from Western Australia, learning to fly at Jandakot in Perth
• He did the usual hour building & quickly found himself in a Cessna 310 then on to First Officer on a Brasillia before stepping up to Second Officer on 747-400, after which he proceeded to his current gig as First Officer on a 767
• Anthony started flying aerobatics with friends and also scored a flight with Matt Hall
• His aerobatic training really kicked in with a Pitts and he now has his own Pitts
• We talk about G-Tolerance, G-LOC and beating the effects of high-G manoeuvres
• We discuss the recent tragic accident at the Reno Air Races, including the NTSB’s preliminary report & talk further the effects of pulling-G’s
• A discussion about stalls that leads into how advanced training really helps dispel some of the many myths, how the stall stick position works and standard GFPT training vs advanced training by groups like Red Baron in Sydney (Hi Joel! :)

You can find Anthony on his Flying Ant Online website as well as following him on Twitter where he’s known as AntCB.

We then move into the interview that Steve & Anthony recorded with Grant Piper, the President of the Australian Aerobatics Club, featuring:

• An overview of aerobatic manoeuvre’s
• How aerobatic competitions are managed & scored
• Australia’s return to the World Aerobatic Championship
• How to improve the standard in Australia with coaching by current champs
• Grant’s career in aviation including his start in the RAAF
• The benefits of including aeros in primary training

We then return to a chat with Anthony about:

• The challenges of flying competition aerobatics
• Standard aerobatic figures (loop, cuban-8, etc)
• How scoring each manoeuvre starts at 10 points then deducts points for any errors
• How it all has to look right from the ground
• The issues in dealing with wind & power
• What is the aerobatic box
• Types of propeller blades and their benefits (blade numbers, sizes, etc)

Finally we start to wrap it up with some listener mail:

• Ian Allen from New Zealand sent us some great ideas for more Kiwi Content
• Errol Cavit points us at a possible Kiwi aviation podcast
• Don’t forget to check out our Facebook page and our forums on Downwind

We then wind up with some shout outs:

• Phil Unicomb from Action Aerobatics and Combat Dragon
• Steve Tupper at the Airspeed Podcast who has a great new episode out on air show safety
• The NSW Aerobatic Champs will be held at Temora on Friday 28th Oct to Monday 31st October with more information available at the Australian Aerobatic Club’s web page

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We’re joined by our mate Dan Morris from New Zealand to discuss some news from the Land of the Long White Cloud. Topics include:

• Air Traffic Control in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake, especially the problems they encountered due to centralising all area controllers in one location
• How user fees in New Zealand have lead funding being removed for weather briefing service: pilots must now pay an annual fee to access the weather service
• What the Air NZ Aviation Academy and student loan funding by the New Zealand government (which remains interest free if you stay in NZ) mean for flight training in NZ
• Air New Zealand’s latest earnings report
• The rapidly approaching Flair 2011 industry innovation showcase & airshow
• The Will it Fly project that is working to produce a replica of the Pearse Flyer from 1903 with updates on the Will It Fly Facebook page

Next up, Steve travels back to his old high school to discover that it’s a lot better than when he was there (and NOT just because his class photo has been hidden :) Thanks to Chris Barry at Brentwood Secondary College and our friends at Aus Air Services, kids at the school have the opportunity to learn to fly as part of their studies. Steve chats with Chris, Angelina from Aus Air Services and some of the kids about this fantastic project.

Our final interview in this episode is a quick chat with Mark Pracy Sr from JetRide Australia and Pracy Racing as he gets ready to head to the 2011 Reno Air Races to fly his L39 low, fast & turning left. We discuss what it’s like to fly the course and how he’s going about keeping himself ready for it.

We wrap up the episode with a quick chat about Dale Watson’s Tiger Airways song on YouTube (thanks to Chris Fenlon for pointing us at it) and the fact that Tiger Airways are back flying, albeit at a reduced level. We also discuss how Crawford Rix was replaced by Tony Davis who is, in turn, leaving the airline shortly after working hard to bring it back from the brink.

Finally, we have some shoutouts, including:

• Charlie Willwerth from the FlightTime Radio show is currently in the Mayo clinic under going chemotherapy to fight Leukemia – good luck & get well quick, mate!
• Zyola T Mix from the Mile High Flyers has spun off her own project, a podcast about women pilots called The BoXXoffice
• The Uncontrolled Airspace podcast has just celebrated its five year anniversary on August 23rd! Woo hoo! Go guys! Congrats to Jack, Jeb & Dave!
• There’s a new aviation podcast with us from Canada called Cleared Enroute with hosts Danny Vacar & Chris Johnson (on Twitter as clearedenroute)
• Jamie Dodson who writes the Nick Grant Adventures novels and sent us a couple of copies

NOTE: You can find Dan Morris on Twitter as TheGrandVizier, on Facebook and at his blog which mixes aviation & coffee in copious quantities.

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Today Steve & Grant are chatting with Bas Scheffers, reviewing their experiences at EAA‘s AirVenture Oshkosh 2011. We talk about the long haul across the Pacific via V Australia 777 and Qantas A380, arriving in Chicago on their hottest day in 10 years and then hanging out with Rob Mark, his family and his ever watchful guard dog Simba (aka Steve’s new friend & house cat :)

From here Bas & Grant got to join the Bonanzas to Oshkosh group and fly from Rockford up to Oshkosh on the Saturday, landing on RWY 36 where even two days before the official opening, the aircraft parking spaces were filling up and the airport was a hive of activity. On the Sunday Rob, David Vanderhoof, Dan Web, Steve and his friend Mike all arrived having driven up from Chicago. Joining our friends at Firebase MyTransponder / Camp Bacon we set up the tent and settled into life in Camp Scholler, which is definitely something to be experienced at least once (& perhaps only once :)

Until we left on the Sunday at the end of the show, we were flat out experiencing the amazing sights, sounds & people that make up Oshkosh. We discuss the highlights and talk about trying to take it all in before winding up by reviewing our departure, our returns to Australia (including Steve’s flight with Milford from the FlightTime Radio show) and then our post-Oshkosh thoughts.

Following this we have a recording Steve & Grant made with Rob Mark (also from CommAvia as well as JetWhine and the Airplane Geeks) before Steve presents an interview he recorded with Bill & Earlene Hankins about Bill’s time in Strategic Air Command. Towards the end of Bill’s time with SAC he was a commander of a Titan Missile complex. While some of the chat can be like watching the movies Strategic Air Command or Gathering of Eagles, his descriptions of the Titan’s launch environment are very much like those shown at the start of the movie WarGames.

It also turns out that Bill and Earlene hosted Steve when he was an exchange student and then again when he returned to the USA to complete his US pilot’s licenses and instrument ratings. The interview includes some discussion about N4223Q, a C172L Bill used to own and Steve got to fly a lot.

After all this we have a chat with Bas about the OzRunways app then mention Ryan Hothersall’s photos of the 787 and Rob Noonan’s heads up about the Australian aerobatic pilots who are getting ready for the World Aerobatic Championships in Italy later this year.

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As all good things must come to an end, so too must our time at Oshkosh 2011. It’s been an incredible event for us and an eye-opener to just how large this Mecca of all things aviation truly is. With our final day at the show, we’ve produced a chunky episode packed full of *some* of the content we picked up here. There’s still more to come in subsequent episodes including a focus on the teams on site from New Zealand, the Bonanzas to Oshkosh group and GippsAero.

For now, here’s a list of what you’ll find in episode 72: Oshcast #3 (Hugging your Roo):

• Steve chats with Amy Laboda from Women in Aviation International
• Boyd Dellwo is an Australian listener who is now working with The Spaceship Company on White Knight 2 and Spaceship 2
• David talks to Steve Sorenson who flew a Rutan Defiant from the USA to Australia & back
• David also provides us with “A view from the tent” segment
• Bas Scheffers air tests the Remos Light Sport Aircraft
• Steve chats with Shelly Ventura of the Ninety Nines
• David talks with James Weeby about the Belite ultralight aircraft
• Steve chats with Butch Bajner about the Young Eagles Program
• Steve catches up with a South African tour group who are attending the show

After all this, we wrap up the show with a discussion between Steve, Grant, Bas, David & Mike, closing off our on-show coverage of Oshkosh 2011.

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We’re still here at Oshkosh and working hard despite heat, humidity, rain, storms and sore feet. There’s something about being at the greatest aviation event in the world & surrounded by over 10,000 aircraft that makes all those hassles fade away :)

While the only way to really appreciate & experience Oshkosh is to be here, we’re still trying to do our best to give you some feel for what it’s like to be here:

• Catching up with Mike Goulian
• An update on the EQ1 headset in the North American market
• Valerie Miller from Reno Air Races
• C.C.Gerner re: aerobatics & flying 747s & getting young people involved in aviation
• The Sikorsky X2 technology demonstrator
• Gordon Reid from Australian Aviation’s “Traffic” column
• Where’s it at with the Terrafugia

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Steve & Grant are at Oshkosh along with Bas Scheffers, David Vanderhoof and a large number of other aviation podcasters, swimming in the sea of aviation that is AirVenture Oshkosh 2011. Grant & Bas have been here since Saturday while Steve & David arrived on Sunday. We’ve recorded with the Airplane Geeks, producing an episode with Peter Moll (director of Wittman Regional Airport – @wittmanairport on Twitter) recorded in his office.

Today was the first full day we were all here and also the first official day of the show. We’ve started gathering content and have assembled some items together to create our first show episode:

• Steve reconnects with Kent Pietsch who we last spoke to back at Avalon earlier this year (in Episode 6 of our show daily coverage)
• David interviews Brandon with his Super Cub
• Bas records some chats with folks in the light-sport (Recreational) area:
• Sportair USA
• Snap Aero with their “Snap” aircraft
• Mike Hanson from Hanson Air Group regarding the FK Lightplanes Fk12 biplane
• Steve talks with Pablo Alvarez about international pilot admissions at Embry Riddle University

We then wrap up the episode with a group discussion featuring Dave Allen, Bill Williams, Kent Shook, Pilot Damon, Stu Stevenson & David Vanderhoof.

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Ben Morgan from Aviation Advertiser returns to join us in a discussion of current events in the Australian aviation scene. Following a quick intro, the first topic we discuss is the Carbon Tax our government is proposing to implement. We do try to keep the discussion coming back to the impacts this tax is likely to have on aviation but it’s a very hot topic and is certainly ringing out concerns for a number of people.

Once we get through the Carbon Tax and calm down a little, we move onto the sad state of affairs with Tiger Airways, currently grounded for failure to meet the requirements of their Air Operators Certificate (AOC) and a number of safety related issues. This is the first time CASA have grounded an all-jet airline and its timing was certainly drastic (right on the eve of the school holidays). We discuss the implications, some potential results and whether the Australian public will ever trust the airline again (very likely if there are cheap fares to be had).

Finally we discuss Aviation Advertiser’s sponsoring the PCDU Team in their “Up & Over to Oshkosh 2011” tour and the updates we’ll be providing on their website while we’re at Oshkosh.

After wrapping up our chat with Ben, we present another View From the Lounge segment, this time comparing public transport access to airports at Melbourne and various cities around the world. We then point listeners at Steve Price from Melbourne Talk Radio (MTR) having a great chat with astronaut Andy Thomas as well as similar coverage from the ABC StarStuff podcast.

Finally, we’d like to thank all the listeners who have donated to our “Up & Over to Oshkosh 2011” tour. We’ve had lots of suggestions for coverage and lots of donations that all help round out the support of our sponsors. Thanks to you we’ll be able to provide a more comprehensive coverage of Oshkosh 2011 than we could have if it were just Steve & Grant on site. Once again, we are amazed at the level of support we’ve received from our audience. You folks definitely make it all the hard work & late nights worthwhile :)

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We open this episode having a chat with James Williams of the LifeStyle PodNetwork, Australia’s global podcast network. We are very happy to announce that we’ve been invited to join and we talk with James about the network, why they invited us to join and what it means to be a part of their community of podcasters.

We then transition to a chat with Monika Petrillo and Elliott Schiffman who came to Australia in the late 90’s to fly around the country as part of a one month air safari with Mal Shipton’s GOANA (Great Outback Air Navigation Adventure) Australian Air Safaris. After returning to the USA, Monika spent a number of years producing the movie FlyAbout, a documentary film based on her adventures during the air safari.

You may also have heard Monika on other podcasts such as The Pilot’s Flight Podlog, The New Pilot Podblog and the Mile High Flyers. Each of these podcasts have chatted with Monika and presented their own unique approach to her movie & her story.

Who are we to be different, then? :)

In chatting with Monika & Elliot we touch on the following aspects of their adventure:

• What it was like for Monika to edit & produce the movie
• Why did they come to Australia for this adventure?
• Monika’s learning to fly & then flying on the safari with her father, an even more inexperienced pilot
• Elliott’s background in flying
• Getting to know each other while on safari
• What it was it like flying in the Australian outback without needing radios, having the freedom to deviate from track and so on
• The scenery they encountered and experiences with the locals as they travelled around
• How have the others from the safari gone since their big adventure?
• Comparing Australia’s aviation culture with that of the USA
• Dealing with certification, maintenance, paperwork
• A side track into ballooning (gee, thanks Grant :)
• The non flying activities they got up to during the safari
• What flying they’re currently doing
• Elliott’s involvement with Bonanzas to Oshkosh, the mass arrival of 100+ Bonanzas at Oshkosh

Following our chat with Monika and Elliott, we introduce Don McLean, an air traffic controller from New Zealand who also happens to be Grant’s 2nd cousin. Like Grant’s father, Don went through the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) flying P3 Orions then went on to Bristol Freighters before winding up in a desk job at which point he decided to leave. From there he started working as an Air Traffic Controller at Ardmore near Auckland before moving to Auckland International Airport and then on to Hong Kong. After many years working in Hong Kong he returned to New Zealand where he worked at Palmerston North airport before moving to Hamilton where he’s currently working in the tower.

In addition to a discussion of Don’s career, our chat includes:

• Oceanic Control
• ADSB in New Zealand
• Working the old school radar equipment
• What it was like working in Hong Kong – especially Kai Tak
• How airspace is structured in New Zealand
• The GAAP to Class D transition here in Australia
• Radar coverage of New Zealand airspace
• The process of centralisation in Christchurch and whether Auckland could provide a good fall back position

We then wrap up the episode with a chat about Grant & Bas joining the Bonanzas to Oshkosh group for a rather stylish arrival while they’re over there. We then get some great listener mail from Mark Fraser in Canada who has a great story about an early flying experience in his life. Finally, Steve gives Grant a Shout Out for editing the interviews then another to Glen Philp from Steve’s CFA past who recently contacted us via the podcast.

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