the Cancel Sarwatch Podcast

Today a special Anzac Day podcast as we discuss the convergence of the Spirit of Flight with the Spirit of Anzac in an epic account of Aussie VC winner Frank McNamara during World War 1. It’s the 100th anniversary of Australian Army pilot Frank McNamara being awarded the Victoria Cross and its a fascinating, inspiring story. Plus, Sam, Luke and I talk about our own special Anzac Day experiences from Australia and abroad with our three different generational perspectives 22 years and 44 years apart and right at the end Sam shares an amazing rescue story from his police air wing days.

Our Learn more ‘show links’ from today: Check out the book ‘Bravest’ by Robert Macklin, https://www.amazon.com/Bravest-Australias-Greatest-Heroes-Medals/dp/1742375847

Today Luke flies his first flight test, gets his first license and then drops a clanger. Will he continue on his piloting journey?

Flight tests have been known to make the bravest of pilots break into a nervous sweat. In fact its probably one of the most humbling things a pilot can do. The facade is put to the test of the (hopefully) unyelding, unbiased standards of a formal test. Think driving test but at least an extra dimension worse — literally.

Today we talk through tests old and new and find out what Luke’s thinking about in terms of his future. All this and more on today’s show.

Our Learn more Show Links:

Wikipedia’s article on ‘Aviation in the pioneer era’: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_in_the_pioneer_era

First Australian Woman Pilot License Holder: Nancy Bird-Walton: http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/early-austn-aviation

First Aviation License awarded to William Hart of Sydney, NSW: http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/3105

First Suspension: From National Archives: http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=32078349&T=PDF

And the dangers of an early flight test: https://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/ww1-flying/

On today’s show the freedom of the sky is replaced by the necessary tedium of ground theory and examination. Before a pilot gets to fly free with their own license there’s a bunch of theory they have to jam into their heads. This ranges from aerodynamics, to meteorology, to aircraft systems to air law, morse code, human physiology and psychology, dangerous goods, risk management, human factors, and the list goes on. As a matter of fact I laid out all the reference books we’re supposed to know as pilots and they filled my double bay garage floor. So its quite a feat to get all that stuff in your head and a even greater feat to pass all the relevant exams many of which have pass marks of 70 or 80 percent. Today we talk through the trials and tribulations of Luke’s first ground exam as well Sam’s first ground exam 40 odd years ago and mine some 20 years ago. Plus, in our retro-salute, we chat about how aviation ground exams were first carried out and discover an ironic new word: ‘picayune’.

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Our learn more show link from Flying Magazine 1982:https://books.google.com.au/books?id=filryD-DNz0C&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=early+pilot+exam+from+1920s&source=bl&ots=kXBkhlc60q&sig=GQK2imIAY53wEyEhbxdCnpUyaF8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZtazQg7nSAhXEipQKHZhcD7UQ6AEIRzAH#v=onepage&q=early%20pilot%20exam%20from%201920s&f=true

On today’s show Luke experiences the fun, the coolness and the challenge of an advanced manoeuvre - in this case a short field take off in his little Tomahawk. Advanced manoeuvres require good judgement, common sense and practice — lots of it… Today we discuss Luke’s first experiences while Sam and I also talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of our own first experiences trying out advanced manoeuvres 44 and 22 years ago. Sam shares about the might Pilatus Porter while I reminisce about a crazy unusual attitude in my CT4B Aerotrainer. Plus, in our retro salute we harken back to the pioneering days of flight where, on the 14th November 1910, the first take off from a ship occurred - that definitely registers as an advanced manoeuvre and a short field take off in our book so we salute Eugene Ely on his very cool ‘first short field takeoff’ achievement here a century later on the Cancel Sarwatch Podcast.

Our Learn more ‘show links’ from today: http://www.navalaviationmuseum.org/uncategorized/eugen-ely-makes-naval-aviations-first-shipboard-launch/

Today, the umbilical cord is cut and Luke commands his Piper Tomahawk beyond the comfy but rather closeted skies of his home aerodrome. No more just taking off, circling and then landing back at the aerodrome for Luke. Today its solo out into the blue and green yonder of the area where runways are scarce, instructors are out of sight and its just Luke, his aeroplane and the big blue Aussie sky. We chat with Luke about his experience and at the same time Sam and I talk about our first area command experiences 22 and 44 years ago. Plus, in our retro salute we share an epic first area command not in the blue yonder but the black yonder of outer space. This salute’s in honour of the recent passing of John Glenn, NASA’s first man to orbit the earth. We wish we could have miked him up, bought him a coffee and chatted about his legendary area command but alas that was beyond the humble budget of our little podcast so we’ll just make do with reminiscing.

Today's learn more links:

John Glenn: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mark-and-scott-kelly-john-glenn-our-hero/2016/12/16/d4a09dce-befe-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?utm_term=.c2175b8989cd

Today it’s Part 2 of ‘First No’ after Luke calls it quits early on a solo circuit and says ’No’ to continuing. In Part 1 of ‘First No’, we talked back and forth for bunch of time on the art and science of saying ‘No’ and today in Part 2 we share a bunch more ’No’ stories… or at least maybe what should have been ’No’ stories and what happened as a result of not saying no…

Our Learn More Show Links from Part 1 and Part 2

1 . ABC News Helicopter Crash: http://www.cancelsarwatch.com/articles/experienced-at-what.html

2. Manx2 Small Passenger Plane Crash: http://www.cancelsarwatch.com/articles/how-safety-power-is-like.html

3. Lifeflight 8 Crash: http://www.cancelsarwatch.com/articles/do-not-go-quietly.html

4. My Own 'Should Have Said No' Account: http://www.cancelsarwatch.com/articles/a-crane-a-collision-and-can.html

5. Aeronauts and their Balloons: https://www.amazon.com/Aeronauts-Their-Balloons-Story-First-ebook/dp/B019L1U7RE

Today, Part 1 of ’First NO’ after Luke calls it quits early on a solo circuit and says ’No’ to continuing. Sometimes this is the safest thing for a pilot to do. But how do you know when it’s the right time to say no? It’s not always a binary go/no go decision because aviation can be a nuanced and complicated endeavour. Sure, sometimes its easy to say no but other times its really difficult. We talk through Luke’’s first grounding and share a bunch of our own as we try to figure out together when no is really no and when yes should have been no. Plus we bring back aeronaut Pilatre De-Rozier for our retro-salute and his first ever grounding and therefore probably one of the first groundings ever. (PS We’ve split this epsiode into two parts as we ended up chatting for more than a bite-sized podcast - so now you get two bites :)

Our Learn More Show Links:

1 . ABC News Helicopter Crash: http://www.cancelsarwatch.com/articles/experienced-at-what.html

2. Manx2 Small Passenger Plane Crash: http://www.cancelsarwatch.com/articles/how-safety-power-is-like.html

3. Lifeflight 8 Crash: http://www.cancelsarwatch.com/articles/do-not-go-quietly.html

4. My Own 'Should Have Said No' Account: http://www.cancelsarwatch.com/articles/a-crane-a-collision-and-can.html

5. Aeronauts and their Balloons: https://www.amazon.com/Aeronauts-Their-Balloons-Story-First-ebook/dp/B019L1U7RE

And today the special one: first solo for Luke. There’s nothing quite like ditching your instructor for the first time and being ’solo’ in command of an aircraft as you take off all by your lonesome. Today a great story for Luke and great memories for Sam and I as we recall our own first solo experiences. Plus, as part of our Cancel Sarwatch retro-salute we recount the first ever solo flight in Australia at Diggers Rest in Victoria.

(Please check back later if the iTunes link doesnt have epsiode 5, sometimes it takes a little time… cheers)

Thanks for stopping by and If you enjoy the show please rate and comment on iTunes or Soundcloud as it really encourages us!

Our Learn more ‘show links’ from today: Here’s the link to the article we talk about on this episode for the Museum of Victoria. http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/3706

Today Luke continues pursuing his dream of being a professional pilot by pursuing the perfect circuit.

Flying a circuit is relatively simple: take off, turn around and land.

To fly a good circuit though is way more of a challenge then you think. Today we talk about the challenges of circuits as Luke takes to the sky, circles, lands, then does it again over and over... all pursuing the perfect circuit. Is there even such a thing? Sam, Luke and I discuss our 'first circuit' experiences from three different generations 22 years apart on the Cancel Sarwatch Podcast. You can listen in our conversation by clicking the Soundcloud or iTunes link below..

If you enjoy the show please rate and comment on iTunes or Soundcloud as it really helps! Thanks for stopping by…

Our Learn more ‘show links’ from today: Here’s the link the article we talk about on the podcast by Kreisha Ballantyne, on mental rehearsals. Well worth a read. Thanks for visiting… http://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/2016/06/mental-as-anything/

We’d been waiting a while for a fitting moment to launch the ‘Cancel Sarwatch’ podcast and when we discovered one of our fave aircraft - the Huey - first flew 60 years ago on the 20 October 1956 we knew exactly when to launch the podcast. So here it is, 20 October 2016: Exactly 60 years after the first ever flight of the Huey and we’ve reshuffled our podcast series to include this one in the launch of our first three episodes.

If you’ve seen any Vietnam War movie (or most other post sixties war movies) then you’ve seen and heard the Huey. In this episode we deliver some fast facts on the Harley Davidson of the sky which remains the only aircraft we flew that had ash trays and a window big enough to stick your elbow out like you would if you were in aussie ute heading out for some serious work. And that’s pretty much sums up the Huey, a warhorse workhorse as trusty as a tradies ute and as cool as a Harley Davidson. Join us as we talk about the Huey and about our ‘first command’ experiences in this the inaugural episode of the Cancel Sarwatch podcast.

Intro audio ’Throw it to Moon’ by the Lame Drivers under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 license