Plane Crazy Down Under – Details, episodes & analysis

We're on the Gold Coast and getting ready for the Pacific Airshow once again. This year's line-up is bigger and even more packed with amazing aircraft, including a T-33 Shooting Star which is the first of it's kind to ever fly in Australia. Its pilot is Greg "Wired" Colyer from Ace Maker Airshows and we caught up with him before he came out to Australia. This episode also includes the third & final part of the Steve Padgett interview we recorded back in 2019.

4:56 - We talk to Greg "Wired" Colyer about getting the T-33 out to Australia, originally for the 2022 show but, thanks to some government requirements, it didn't get shipped until after that show finished. Greg then steps us through the development of the T-33 from the P-80, its use in the Korean War and how it became the main jet trainer for the USA.

We then step through Greg's career, from learning to fly while in the US Army through to becoming an air traffic controller and getting into flying jets. Eventually, he was introduced to the T-33 and fell in love with the aircraft, buying one to fly then displaying it at airshows. The discussion also covers setting up his Ace Maker Airshows business, where his "Wired" callsign comes from, and what its like to fly the T-33 in displays. We even touch on his love of motorcycles before wrapping up by discussing the display he'll perform at the Gold Coast and his plans for visiting while he's down under.

34:31 - We run the final part of our Steve Padgett interview from 2019, which talks about buying Flight West with its two Fokker 100s when it went under following the Ansett collapse, renaming it to Alliance Airlines, and building it up from there. He tells us the amazing story of how he got his next seven Fokker 100s, his methods for establishing solid aviation businesses, and the special livery they painted on two of their aircraft to commemorate Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's flight to Australia and the Smith brothers who flew a Vickers Vimy from the UK to Australia in 1919.

We then move on to Steve's businesses conducting flight training for airlines, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the RAAF, the Royal Malaysian Police, and many other operators of King Airs and Citation Mustangs. We then discuss his involvement with the Air Training Corps that became the Air Force Cadets, and the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame. We wrap up by mentioning his recent Order of Australia Medal, his continuing work and love of meeting people, plus how he still picks up a broom to help clean out the hangar, just like he used to when he first started.

1:04:46 - We wrap up the episode and remind everyone to get in touch if you'll be at the Pacific Airshow Gold Coast as it'd be great to catch up and say HI.

Links:

• Pacific Airshow Gold Coast: pacificairshowaus.com
• Greg "Wired" Colyer's Ace Maker Airshows: acemakeraviation.com
• Steve Padgett's Bio: flightoptionscharter.com.au/about/steve-padgett-oam-biography
• Alliance Airlines:

With the Pacific Airshow returning to the Gold Coast in August, Steve and Grant caught up with Aarron Deliu, an Australian aerobatics pilot who is now based in Florida and performing at airshows and events in the USA, Europe and South Africa. Aarron put on a spectacular display at last year's show on the Gold Coast and will be performing again at this year's show.

• 03:45 - We start our chat with Aarron talking about performing at airshows in Europe before moving on to how he discovered the world of aviation and the efforts he went through learning to fly and getting his aerobatic rating. We then talk about progressing his aerobatic experience leading to his acceptance into the Red Bull Air Race just before it closed. DOH! We also discuss the likelihood of a replacement air race happening, and the events currently happening including Air Race X and Sky Grand Prix. The conversation then moves on to what Aarron is doing in the USA, why he moved over there, and what the airshow scene and aviation in general are like over there. We also talk about the aircraft he has in his hangar before talking about the aircraft he'll be flying at the Gold Coast this year and the routine he'll fly. We wrap up with a discussion about the Pacific Airshow events at Huntington Beach and the Gold Coast and why they're so unique compared to other events.
• 33:54 - Steve & Grant chat about the airshow scene, catching up at the Gold Coast, and their hopes for the air race scene.
• 36:25 - Mick, formerly of the Franga Line, emailed us about watching a wave of aircraft heading North on a radar app, after which the guys discuss using Flight Radar 24 and ADSB Exchange.
• 39:37 - The guys talk about the Australian Defence Magazine podcast that Grant hosts plus Steve's new radio show he's making called The Clear Signal which is appearing on radio stations around the country. It may, one day, appear as a podcast for those who can't tune into the radio stations it's appearing on.
• 43:10 - Grant was recently on the Stuck Mic AvCast show with Carl Valeri which you can listen to as a podcast OR watch on their YouTube channel.

Links:

• Aarron's website: aarron.aero
• Red Bull Air Race on Wikipedia
• Air Race X 2024 is underway
• Sky Grand Prix: skygrandprix.com
• Pacific Airshow Gold Coast: pacificairshowaus.com
• If you've not already, check out

They say that if you can't see it, you can't be it and that certainly seems to be the case with getting more women into aviation. The recently released documentary Touch the Sky seeks to help encourage more women to consider flying for fun and/or employment, particularly looking at the "soft" (aka "human") issues that are part of the answer to the question: "Why are there so few female pilots?".

We also take a look at drone racing which was featured at the recent Avalon Airshow back in March. The Australian Defence Force is running racing events to encourage more young people to consider doing STEM training and also the potential for a career in Defence.

This episode consists of:

• 1:22 Stephen Limkin is the director of Touch the Sky while Erin Douglas is one of the ladies appearing in the documentary. They talk to us about their experiences in aviation, the inspiration behind the film and what it was like making the film. Erin also talks about over coming her fears and self doubt to not only fly, but also become a flight instructor with RA-Aus.
• 27:50 WGCDR Keirin Joyce steps us through the benefits and opportunities that drone racing brings the Australian Defence Force.
• 36:49 PTE Hamish Glover steps us through the experience of drone racing and the equipment they're using.

Credits:

Image by: Light Studios

Voiceovers: Terry Daniel from Your Voice Over

Thanks to Australian Defence Magazine for allowing us to include the two drone racing interviews in this episode.

Every two years Avalon Airport is the home to one of the biggest airshows & aviation expositions in the Southern Hemisphere (the biggest, according to many). One of Australia’s premier aviation events, Avalon Airshow (also known as the Australian International Airshow) draws aircraft from around the world and attracts scores of people from the general public through to aviation enthusiasts & professionals, especially for the Friday night airshow.

From the early days of the airshows produced by the Schofields Flying Club through to today, a consistent presence throughout it all has been Ian Honnery. CEO of Airshows Downunder. We were fortunate to spend some time with Ian to discuss the history of the Avalon Airshow and it makes for fascinating listening.

Sadly, our sound gear wasn’t configured correctly for the space we were in and so the audio quality is not up to our show’s (and especially Steve’s :) ) usual standards. The content itself is incredible so after doing as much work as could be done to correct the sound issues, we’re finally able to release this interview. Our thanks go to Domenic at Audio Visual Media for his help in massaging the raw audio.

We’re looking forward to attending the airshow in March this year as it will be the 90th anniversary of the RAAF. Look out for more content about Avalon, how it’s managed and what to expect this year as we get closer to March 1st.

In November 2010 the PCDU team were invited to attend the Media Day at RAAF Amberley where members of 6 Squadron were gathered to give us one final look at the F-111 before it was retired from service. We have gathered the interviews we recorded during the Media Day and combined them with a couple of discussions to present our tribute to the F-111 and all those who helped to keep them in the air.

This is our longest episode to date so you may want to make use of the PAUSE button to get through it all. Like the PIG, it’s big, but we think the content is just too good to leave any of it out. The F-111 has been a major part of our lives over the last 30 years in Australia and New Zealand and anyone who has experienced the RAAF’s trademark “Dump & Burn” display will have some idea why we’re so sad to see them go.

From seeing an F-111 doing 4-point hesitation rolls, aileron rolls and a loop at Avalon to watching them racing past while sitting on the beach on a summer’s day, the F-111 became an icon of Australia’s military as they provided us with a long range projection of power. They leave a large gap in our force structure now that they have been retired and a hole in the hearts of many who kept them flying.

So long, pig and remember: That’ll do, Pig. That’ll do!

The contents of this episode include:

• The Media Day’s opening press conference (starts at 06:08)
• A discussion with David Vanderhoof about the history of the F-111 including its inception and service with the USAF & RAAF (starts at 32:06)
•  We talk to Wing Commander Terry Deeth about his time as a bombadier/navigator (or Weapons Systems Officer) with the F-111 while on rotation to the USAF (starts at 51:33)
• We visited the F111 simulator on the base and got to meet:
• Steve Clark, a former RAAF F-111 pilot who has more hours in an F-111 than almost anyone else in the world (starts at 1:05:40)
• Brett Denton, a computer technician who helps to keep the simulator operating (starts at 1:11:29)
• While everyone likes to focus on the guys in the cockpit, an F-111 needs a lot of maintenance between flights so we managed to catch up with a few of the techos:
• Flight Lieutenant Adam Firth & Sergeant Chris Walker (starts at 1:15:32)
• Corporal James Morton (starts at 1:30:19)
• Corporal David Bash, an American now living in Australia (starts at 1:35:50)
• We talk with Flight Lieutenant Vlad Bismark about flying the F-111 (starts at 1:47:25)
• We have a chat with Brendan Cowan from ADF Serials about the history of the RAAF’s F-111s and with Chris Daley from the Save the F-111 page on Facebook about how the page developed and where it’s going now (starts at 1:55:28)
• We interview Wing Commander Al Curr who ejected from an F111 on take off from RNZAF Ohakea in New Zealand (starts at 2:14:12)
• Our final chat is with Wing Commander Michael (Micka) Gray, officer commanding 6 Squadron and the world’s last F-111 unit commander (starts at 2:20:42)

We also have a couple of “Shout Outs” in this episode:

• Flight Lieutenant Skye Smith for her tireless efforts in making the Media Day run smoothly, not to mention herding us about the base and ensuring we didn’t wind up where we shouldn’t be (wonder if there’s a “Keeping media on track” medal in the ADF??? :)
• Listener Chris Whyte who we met at RAAF Amberley has produced an F-111 tribute video called “RAAF F-111 tribute feat. TV Rock – ‘In the Air'” – you can find it on

As the final hours of 2010 pass by and the year draws to a close, we release our 50th episode with a mix of annual review, Christmas greetings and a new experiment. In conjunction with a live video stream of the proceedings, we gathered Steve, Grant, Anthony and Ben in the recording studio to attempt the unthinkable: capturing a whole show in a single take.

We start with a look back at a few of the big stories from 2010 and an additional discussion on ADSB driven by Ben’s perspective from behind the controller’s console. Mixed in with the discussion are:

• A discussion we recorded with Matt Wardell from AirServices Australia about their Santa NOTAM, the Santa Tracker and various other efforts they make at Christmas
•  An interview with Michael & Roselyn from Downwind.com.au about the site and aviation in general
•  Various Christmas greetings from other aviation podcasters around the world

We then start to wrap it all up with some feedback from listeners:

• Ian Kershaw from Canada sent in recorded message
• Ahmet Hussein emailed us looking for information to help him track down episodes of the TV series “Big Sky” (which Ben recalled watching)
• Jay Swanepoel left us some positive feedback on our Facebook page

Finally we worked through some shout outs, including:

• The many guests we’ve had on PCDU during 2010
• Andrea Sammut from Scripts & Voicers for her great support this year
• Dane Golden for his support & promotion of our show on Hey.com
• James Williams & Dave Gray from the Podcasters Emporium on the Lifestyle Podnetwork for helping to promote our show (they’ve also been promoted recently on iTunes as a premium provider – awesome news!)
• To all the organisations that have advertised with us, providing both in-kind help and some actual funds
• Milford & Charlie from the FlightTime Radio Show for their faith in our product
• David Hook from PlaneHook Aviation Services for his sponsorship of our Flying Down Under segment
• Max, Dan, Rob & David at the Airplane Geeks Podcast for all the help & encouragement they’ve given us over the year

We’d also like to especially thank all of you, our audience who have given us your precious time to listen to our show. Your numbers are growing along with your feedback and it’s your support that helps us put in the effort to produce the show.

Rosemary Arnold learned to fly fixed wing in the early 60s then converted helicopters in the mid-60’s, becoming the first woman in Australia to receive a helicopter pilot’s license. From operating her own helicopter business in Australia to flying in locations around the world, Rosemary has had an extensive career in aviation. She has also written a number of books, lectures on aviation history and join the public speaking circuit. As a registered celebrant, she also runs “Chapel in the Sky” performing weddings in a helicopter above Sydney harbour. We chat with Rosemary about her career and her new book, First Females Above Australia, a presentation of the pioneering women involved in aviation in Australia.

We also chat with Dan Morris, a flight instructor in New Zealand who’s joined us previously in a few of our Australia Desk adventures. Dan joins us to discuss his aviation career to date and the flying scene in New Zealand. He also anticipates providing more New Zealand related content in the new year.

This episode is rounded out with another Controller’s Corner segment where ATC_Ben answers some of the many questions that have been raised in our forums and via email. We then move on to listener mail:

• Braham Sacks asks about careers in aviation
• Ian Kershaw from Canada has a blog & podcast page that’s worth checking out
• Luke Murphy writes in from China where he’s working as a pilot
• Ed Stubbs sent in a link to an interview with one of the pilots from QF32 (the Qantas A380 that had a massive uncontained engine failure)
• We mention that Anthony Simmons is looking for more feedback on his View from the Lounge segment

We also have some shout-outs:

• Damian Rose has completed his MECIR and is now working on his Caravan endorsement – congratulations (and yes we are jealous! :) You can follow his details on his blog.
• Robert E Coli from Thromby airlines has done another great cartoon showing Steve & Grant hard at work in the PCDU studio. You can see it in all it’s glory on our Facebook page.
• Thanks to Michael & Roselyn from Downwind and the team at Moorabbin...

While the technology behind ADS-B is nothing new, it is becoming the centerpiece of modern Air Traffic Management systems around the world. Unfortunately, CASA is once again taking a global concept and creating an entirely unique Australian implementation of it.

According to CASA’s Discussion Paper (DP) 1006AS Proposed Strategy and Regulatory Plan in support of the Australian Government’s Aviation White Paper, any aircraft added to the Australian register after 2013 must have an ADS-B out compliant Mode-S Transponder on board. This means large added costs for no real benefit beyond that already provided by Mode-C and Mode-S transponders.

This is creating no small level of concern in the aviation communities, including RA-Aus, ballooning and others, as can be seen from a recent discussion about DP 1006AS on the Recreational Flying site. Even the airlines who were pushing for ADS-B to improve safety at regional airports are now realising that the costs are huge (it’s not a simple upgrade of their avionics) and the benefits are minor.

With all this in mind, Bas & Grant chat with Bill Hamilton, past president & technical director of the Australian Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA). While Bill can appreciate ADS-B’s history and benefits, he doesn’t hold back when it comes to CASA’s attempt at creating yet another uniquely Australian implementation. We discuss the differences between the US, European and Australian implementation plans, the costs associated with our version and the lack of real benefit CASA’s proposal will provide.

As the title of CASA’s Discussion Paper shows, the proposal is implementing an aspect of the Australian Government’s Aviation White Paper. If, like many, you are concerned about the costs being applied to the aviation industry for little real benefit, it is important to respond to the DP by November 30th. It is also vital that Australian aviators write to their elected representatives, members of the opposition and their aviation organisations (eg: AOPA, RA-Aus, ABF, etc) to ensure politicians are aware that the proposed solution will cause more harm than good.

You can easily find who is representing you at the Australian Government’s “Who’s Who” page. You can also find a great guide to writing effective letters to politicians over on the Crikey website.

Don’t assume others will sort this one out for you. Don’t take the classic Australian “She’ll be right” approach. Get out there and tell CASA, the politicians and your aviation group what you think, otherwise the safe skies will be achieved thanks to the removal of any non-airline aircraft.

The 2010 RedBull AirRace season was exciting, eventful and disappointing all at once. From Adilson Kindleman’s crash in Perth to Hannes Arch’s pylon hit and Matt Hall’s “walk on water” incident, G-Stalls were everywhere. Then came the news that the last two races were cancelled and, finally, that the whole 2011 season was cancelled. As if the end of the season wasn’t bad enough, we were all stunned by the news that Alejandro Maclean had died in an aerobatic training accident.

We have already presented our “End of Season” chats with Hannes Arch and Matt Hall in previous episodes so in this one, we present our chats with Nigel Lamb and Pete McLeod.

We also officially announce the winners of our Flight City Simulator Centre B777 sim session prize (Graham Neal) and two runners up (Greg Spencer & David Mitchell), both of whom win PCDU T-Shirts.

We talk briefly about Qantas’ recent 90th Birthday event at Melbourne airport and play the quick chat we recorded with Juan Serrano, John Travolta’s chief pilot.

After another View from the Lounge segment, this time paying tribute to those serving in the military, we dive into our mailbag:

• Steve Horton form Perth is worried that the RedBull AirRace will never return to Perth and lets us know about his great photo site
• Peter Baxter wrote in asking about jet engine technology and again to share a great story about an Air New Zealand DC10 that helped a ferry flight in trouble over the Pacific
• “brettkp” has some great feedback about episode 46 in our forums on Downwind

We give a shout-out to Pieter Johnson (@NascotHornet) in the UK who has just become a very proud father: welcome Beatrice :)

On November 4th, 2010 Qantas A380 VH-OQA (“Nancy Bird Walton”) was operating flight QF32 from Singapore to Sydney. During the climb out from Singapore, the number 2 Rolls Royce Trent 900 engine’s Intermediate Pressure Turbine appears to have failed and flown apart, sending bits through the aircraft’s wing in multiple locations and raining debris down on Batam island, Indonesia. After assessing the problem, determining their options and burning off fuel, the crew were able to return the aircraft to Singapore for a safe landing.

This incident, in conjunction with some other recent engine failures on Qantas 747s, has overshadowed Qantas’ 90th birthday celebrations. While the story is still unfolding and it will be some weeks before the ATSB’s preliminary investigations are completed, we have decided to quickly produce an episode dedicated to the incident.

To begin with, we talk to Captain Richard Woodward, Vice President of the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA). He discusses what the crew would have experienced on board as the incident unfolded, including the systems alerts & alarms, the processes to be followed and the roles over the various people on board. He also discusses the A380’s systems & redundancies and the options available to the crew when flying & landing a crippled aircraft.

We then chat with Steve Purvinas of the Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) about the changes that have occurred in Qantas as they have moved from an exclusively in-house engineering operation to one that relies more on outsourced maintenance performed overseas. We discuss the implications of the changes and other paths Qantas could have followed.

This episode was conceived, implemented and released within the week of the incident occurring as we felt it important to present our listeners with good background information about the aircraft, the crew’s likely experience and some of the changes at Qantas that have seen their engineering force reduced significantly compared to their heyday of the 70’s & 80’s.