Grant's back on deck (& so is Nykolai :) ) but he's struggling to remember how to do the AusDesk. Not to worry, Steve helps him get back in the groove and the guys report on:

• CASA warning drone operators to stay clear of bush fires
• Alan Joyce awarded Airline CEO of the Year by CAPA (say WHAT??? :) )
• Alan is also talking about non-stop flights from London to Perth when their new 787-9s come on line

Finally back after a bit of a break although Grant has subbed out due to family reasons, being ably replaced by ATC Ben.

Ben tells us about his recent slight change of job, and location, having moved from the world of en-route controller in Melbourne to tower controller in the remote Western Australian town of Karratha. He tells about the aircraft movement this predominantly mining based town hosts each day, including scheduled airline services through to multiple helicopter flights going out to the oil and gas rigs off the coast.

In the news, the RAAF has used a KC-30A tanker to successfully conduct air to air refuelling sorties with a USAF F-35A in the skies over California recently. Using the boom system, the Lighting II make 59 contacts, taking on 23,000lbs of fuel in total. A busy day for all involved.

Ben then talks about his participation in the annual World Flight event, the Australian version of which raises funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Ben is a regular participant in this virtual around the world flight, using a fixed based 737 simulator in Hobart, Tasmania. More details can be found at http://worldflight.com.au/.

Grant's back and the boys are gobsmacked by Alan Joyce's $12 million salary! They're pretty sure their morals would get corrupted for that amount of money!

Still with Qantas, they've painted A380 VH-OQH to support the Wallabies rugby union team (Grant tries to explain what that means).

Getting into the computer games, the RAAF C130J sim at Richmond was used to take part in the global event Virtual Flag 2015.

Keeping to the Hercules theme, a Coulson C130 tanker has arrived at RAAF Richmond for NSW's fire season.

Steve is solo this week as Grant is out of action with a throat infection. Steve covers the huge turnaround in the Qantas full year profit ($575 million profit after a $2.8 billion loss the year before) with an excerpt of Ross Greenwood from Sydney radio station 2GB interviewing CEO Alan Joyce about why he thinks such a turnaround has been possible.

NOTE: You can hear the full version of that interview by clicking here.

Qantas confirm their order for 8 787-9s in Red Tail livery plus they still have 15 firm options and another 30 slots reserved in case they want more.

Meanwhile, Australia's Matt Hall returned to the podium in the Red Bull Air Race recently, this time coming second to Britain's Paul Bonhomme at Ascot in the UK. Steve plays some audio from the post race press conference.

Steve has declared that the boys won't be talking about the Australian Sex Party despite Grant's protestations (don’t worry, you can hear our chat with two of their pilots, Ken Hill & Tim Sheen, back in PCDU Episode 40). After getting past that tricky topic, they proceed to discuss:

• Virgin Australia are going to use their subsidiary TigerAir on flights to Bali as well as completely pulling out of flights to Phuket
• Virgin are also converting 17 of their 737-800 orders into 737 MAX 8 orders (and delaying them, thus hopefully saving more money) which will give them a total of 40 orders … eventually
• The good news continues for Qantas as Moody's upgrades their credit rating
• Alliance Aviation Services sending its fleet of Fokkers up to Slovakia for heavy maintenance 'cos it's cheaper to fly all the way from Australia to Europe than maintain a heavy maintenance facility in Australia

It’s a week of firsts for the Australian Defence Force as the boys give progress on still more new or updated airframes coming down under:

• The first RAAF E18G Growler is unveiled
• The first RAAF P8A is under construction & due to have its first flight in mid 2016
• First of 15 Airbus Helicopter EC135 T2+ helicopters (HATS01) received for Boeing to operate on behalf of the Australian Defence Force (yes, Boeing :) )
• Not the first, but the seventh RAAF C17 is delivered in record time (one more C17 left to be delivered)

Meanwhile, the Qantas long-haul pilots have approved a new wage deal which includes provisions for them to fly the 787-9 should Qantas actually take up the options they have for those aircraft.

To finish with, we are sad to report on the terrible news for the Australian helicopter charter industry as Bronwyn Bishop resigns. Yes, it’s a satirical take on a recent Australian political scandal (here’s a summary of the helicopter flight scandal).

The boys are back in the studio and Grant’s trying VERY hard not to explode over the news that Qantas is doing very well thanks to Alan Joyce. It’s not that they haven’t turned the corner and improved their stock price, it’s more that they’ve done it despite Joyce’s previous management disasters :)

Meanwhile, Qantas’ competitor Virgin Australia got the gong for most punctual domestic carrier in June. Nice to see as they’ve been out of the running for a while.

Steve’s on his own in the studio because Grant finally made it away for his vacation, although not to Bali as originally planned. Instead, he and his lovely wife flew halfway across the Pacific to Fiji. Now, of course, you’d think he’d be living it up on the beach and all, but Grant still managed to find his way to a local airport from where he filed a quick report for us.

After the report, Steve notes that for the recent soccer matches held here in Australia, Liverpool FC arrived in a chartered A340 while Real Madrid arrived in a chartered A380. Who says there’s no money in sport?

Grant’s at home when he should be in Bali thanks to the ash cloud from Mt Raung so it’s time to do an OzDesk. The boys talk briefly about flights resuming to Bali.

They also talk about the fun they had doing commentary at the Hunter Valley Airshow last weekend despite Grant losing his voice :)

Grant’s holding together with cold & flu medicine long enough to get an Aus Desk recorded with Steve covering:

• The RAAF’s first C27J Spartan (the ‘baby Hercules’) arrives in Australia
• BAE Systems gets their contract with the Royal Singaporean Air Force extended until 2019
• Another Qantas 747 goes into retirement