Avalon Airshow is over and the boys are recovering from the heat, the long distance walking and the aero-awesomeness. For this segment they chatted with Flying Officer “Guns” about the lessons learned when the RAAF took some C130Js to Exercise Red Flag at the start of this year.

It’s almost time for the Avalon Airshow and the boys are getting excited about some of the new items that will be on display, including an Airbus A400M and an RQ-4 Global Hawk that has made its first landing at a civilian airport.

In other news, the date has been set for VH-OJA to make its final flight to the HARS museum at Wollongong: March 8th.

Also, Air New Zealand confirms they won’t be doing a “retrojet” livery on their next 787-9 despite rumours saying that they would.

Finally, Matt Hall comes 2nd in the first heat of the Red Bull Air Race, being kept from first place by less than a second! Clearly the new winglets are doing something good on the track :)

Grant’s back (and so’s his car!) and the boys have a few aircraft stories to present, including:

Qantas’ first 747-400 VH-OJA is being donated to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) at Wollongong where the arrival is likely to be rather spectacular.

Virgin Australia are closing off their New Zealand based Pacifc Blue operations.

The outback’s version of The Onion newspaper has run an amusingly false story of a pilot who tried to land on top of Ayres Rock (aka Uluru)

Grant’s broken yet another vehicle and is stuck in Albury, NSW while the vehicle is repaired so Steve brings Ben Jones on to join the fun from Perth in West Australia. Ben & his brother recently purchased a Cessna 172 from here in Melbourne and then flew it all the way across the country back to Perth.

Ben talks about buying the aircraft, the flight over, some mechanical issues and the Cessna Supplemental Inspection Documents (aka SIDs).

It’s Australia Day and the boys are taking a few minutes out from a BBQ to record a quick OzDesk with mentions of special Australia Day items, including:The Royal Australian Navy had their new Landing Helicopter Dock HMAS Canberra on Sydney Harbour while Qantas flew an A380 over the harbour (imagine if the A380 had tried to land on it! :) )

Meanwhile, in the USA, SQNLDR Andrew “Jacko” Jackson starts his F35 training in Florida on Australia Day. That’s seems rather appropriate, doesn’t it? :)

Finally, Steve gives some information about Positive Train Control after Max asked for his input last week.

PS: Yes Rob, we were eating Kangaroo today! Kitt prepared some wonderfully marinated roo meat and it tasted GREAT! :)

Grant’s tired after completing his CASA panel interview process for aircraft maintenance management (links to PDF file) and Steve’s hungover after a few too many red wines with the “Infrequent Flyer” himself at the Members’ Reserve in the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Oh my!!!

Despite this, the boys still manage to report on:

• More Qantas 767s flying to the Alice Springs boneyard (where a UT-Air Antonov 74-200 may wind up if it’s not careful!)
• Refurbished Ex-Australian Seasprites start arriving for service in New Zealand (these are the ones the RAN couldn’t get to work)
• CASA may not be able to regulate drones that have onboard computers that prevent them “comingling” with airspace used by other aircraft (although the cops can certainly fine you if you stuff up with one :) )

The boys received sad news this week with notification of the passing of Captain Jack Curtis, an icon in the aviation scene down under, particularly in relation to DC-3s.In this week’s segment, they play Grant’s interview with Jack in November 2013 at the Warbirds Down Under event at the Temora Aviation Museum.

Our friends at Aero Australia Magazine gave a good summary of Jack’s life & character on their Facebook post about his passing:

The boys are back for 2015 and wondering what happened to last week? Something about holidays and memos, it would appear :)

In this desk we cover the WA Police Air Wing being grounded due to pilots quitting, the last flights of Qantas 767s (well, sort of) and regional airline SkyTrans closing the doors but in the most controlled and well managed method we’ve ever seen!

Steve & Grant are back & trying to figure out how to make an AusDesk so, naturally, Qantas is in the news with reports of a shake-up in some senior positions.

After that, it’s time to re-visit the PelAir crash of 2009 as the ATSB is re-opening the case following a scathing review of the original report by the Transport Safety Board of Canada.

We also take a moment to thank Pieter for his efforts with Across the Pond and, sadly, announce the loss of our friend Charlie Willwerth from the FlightTime Radio Show in Florida.

Back in September, the Australian National Aviation Museum at Moorabbin in Victoria, celebrated the 75th anniversary of the first flight of their CAC (Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation) Wirraway.

The museum’s Wirraway (A20-10) was built in 1939 and saw service as a trainer for the RAAF for nearly two decades. We sent Anthony “The Infrequent Flyer” Simmons (Max’s favourite Australian) out to chat with Ewan McArthur and James Kightly about the significance of this particular aircraft.