General Information

We tried to get to Oshkosh 2010

Air Venture: Oshkosh is the place to be if you’re into aviation. There’s something for everyone from home builts to military to warbirds to commercial to seaplanes to antiques to balloons and everything else imaginable. If you love aviation, you have to get to Oshkosh.

For the past four years a group of aviation podcasters have been gathering to produce the “Podapalooza” session. Imagine a room full of people and a table at one end packed with many of the people behind the voices in your head. All hanging out, talking about flying, aviation topics and social media. Pure podcasting fun :)

Since we started Plane Crazy Down Under, we’ve tried twice but never been able to make it to Oshkosh. Back in 2009, Stephen Force of the Airspeed podcast took a quick “Hello Oshkosh” piece we produced and had it played at the Podapalooza and on the EAA radio show during the event.

This year we couldn’t make it again (DOH!) so we put another promo together. It’s longer but encapsulates what we’ve been up to for the past year. They played part of it at the Podapalooza so we’re adding the original piece to our feed so you can hear how we tried to get there but couldn’t quite make it.

Maybe 2011 will be “third time’s the charm” and we’ll get there at last? :)

1000 Downloads for Episode 1

Some time over the past few days, our fledgling episode number 1, “And so it begins” has crossed the 1000 downloads mark! This surely is cause for a small measure of celebration, considering that in it’s first week, we were pretty happy to see it hit 40 downloads. Over the following few weeks, it struggled up to around the 200 mark, and has trickled slowly upwards ever since.

Our first few shows, and episode 1 in particular, were basically just the uncut versions of the Airplane Geeks Australia News Desk that we have been producing since March 2009. Listening back to those earlier shows now, made as they were with cheap PC microphones, no mixer, and recorded directly off Skype, it’s almost a little cringe worthy compared to the standard we strive for now. However, if you’re new to our show, and are perhaps reading this page before heading off to iTunes to download our earlier efforts, please do so with the view to coming on a journey with us – not only in terms of content, but with a view to observing the learning curve we’ve been on that’s taken us to the magazine style, radio show format you hear today.

Our statistics show us that many first time listeners happen across episode one but don’t continue on with us. Given the lower production standards back then, we understand why this is the case, however we suggest sampling one of our shows from, say, episode 20 onwards. These shows were made using studio quality microphones, mixers and solid state recording devices. And frankly, we feel we’re delivering the shows far more professionally now. As time has gone on, we’ve been privileged to meet and interview a wide range of fascinating people and have introduced a number of segments designed to make the show just a little bit different with each release.

For those of you who continue to faithfully download Plane Crazy Down Under each week and participate in our community, we thank you sincerely for your support. We plan to continue delivering quality content to you each fortnight, and we encourage our new listeners to take the step and venture past our initial effort. Come on the journey with us and become another valued member of the PCDU community!

Open Day at Tooradin this coming Saturday

The flying school at Tooradin, just south east of Melbourne, is back in action! After a few quiet years, the school has been bought by Aus Air Services who have quickly set about restoring an operational status.
Steve & Grant ventured out the Tooradin and recorded a quick interview during which we discovered that an open day is being held this Saturday, May 22nd from 12pm, AEST.
This is a chance for everyone to head down and have a look at this great little airfield, meet the staff and have a look at their fleet of training aircraft. The airfield also houses the Commando Sky Divers operation and Wings & Fins restaurant, which has also recently re-opened for business.
Tooradin Airfield is located on the South Gippsland Highway, just south of the township, and just a pleasant 60 minute drive from central Melbourne. Check out their website at www.ausairservices.com.au for details of the RA-AUS training aircraft, Tiger Moth flights, and Piper Chieften charter aircraft.

Grant & Steve help out with the Airplane Geeks

Grant & Steve produce a weekly “Australia Desk” segment for the Airplane Geeks podcast that provides some news & information from down under. It’s usually presented with a bit of a cheeky theme and makes use of Steve’s extensive sound effect library. That’s the usual process and we have a blast doing it for the guys over in the USA.

Recently, however, we were too tired to make an episode so Max Flight invited us to join the Geeks and record live with them. The results are, suffice to say, hillarious and their guest, Karlene Petitt, demonstrated true mettle by not only sticking around to record with us but joining in the fray.

So if you’ve not already heard the episode, go and check out Episode 96: Karlene’s Flight to Success and you’ll hear a great interview with Karlene, Grant & Steve joining in the fun for the news review and a set of out takes at the end of the show that go longer than entire episodes of some podcasts :)

Catching up with Owen Zupp at Point Cook

Owen Zupp will be arriving at Point Cook on Sunday the 16th by about 12:30 so he can be on the ground before the RAAF Museum’s 1pm flying display starts. We’re going to be on site to meet up with him and watch the display.

If any of you are in Melbourne then come on down and say HI. Let us know if you’ll be there and we can have a “Tweet Up” (sorry Turb, let’s take the tech out and call it a “Meet up” eh? :) )

Two Great Journeys are Under Way

Owen Zupp is half way around his There and Back Australian tour, raising funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Flying a Jabiru J230, Owen’s trying to raise $10,000 in donations to the RFDS so go to his site and “give a dollar to the doctor.”

Meanwhile, Ken Evers and Tim Pryse have left Australia and are flying around the world in a Gippsland Aeronautics GA-8 Airvan. Their Millions Against Malaria flight is raising funds towards malaria research so if you can spare a few dollars, go to their site and donate.

Check in regularly with both sites as their routes may take them near you. Owen, Ken & Tim welcome the opportunity to meet people at each stop, so feel free to go and say HI as they pass through.

If only I could do this…

How cool would it be if the seat selection process at the check-in kiosk system allowed you to do this:

XKCD Cartoon - Seat Selection — XKCD's "Seat Selection" cartoon

If you like the cartoon, send an email to orders@xkcd.com and ask them to add #726 to the list of signed comic prints that are available to purchase. Heck, even if you don’t, please send the email anyway – some of us are hanging to buy a signed copy of this one :)

PCDU on Sun n Fun Radio

Thanks to Stephen Force (aka Steve Tupper) of the Airspeed podcast, we were invited to appear on a special “Aviation Podcasters” event being held on Sun N Fun Radio at the Sun N Fun air show. We were on first and, given the joys of timezones, it meant an early morning start for us to be on the show. For Steve it was 8am in Melbourne but for Grant it was 5am in Indonesia where he’s working at the moment.

So despite a bit of a lag and a very flakey connection in Indonesia, we managed to do our bit on the show. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed the opportunity to hang out and chat for a bit.

If only we could have been there, rather than connecting via Skype. Oh well :)

Pending GAAP to Class D conversion

In June of this year, Australia’s General Aviation Aerodrome Procedures (GAAP) airports are going to convert a US FAA based Class D airspace. We’re trying to arrange an episode dedicated to this topic before June but meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) have arranged a number of workshops around the country for pilots to learn about the changes and how they will affect them.

If you haven’t already, go to the CASA GAAP page and follow the links there to sign up. This is critical not only for any pilot who flies at these airports but even those who fly near them. You never know when you may have to divert to one. Besides, as Bas Scheffers points out in his CTAF(R) blog article on these workshops, it’ll be a great way to meet pilots in your area :)

Who’s going to the Red Bull Air Race in Perth?

If any of you are going to the Red Bull Air Race in Perth, let us know so we can arrange a meet up (or tweet-up if you’re so inclined :) Steve’s got media accreditation and will be taking photos & recording interviews with the pilots, their teams and the race organisers.

Sadly, Grant’s being sent to Indonesia with his work so he’ll be sitting in the middle of Java gnashing his teeth at the thought of what he’s missing. Hopefully the distractions of work, culture and learning a new language will keep him from getting too distraught :)

So chime in if you’re going to be in Perth and we’ll arrange some sort of gathering.

Pacific Airshow Gold Coast 2024 (S02E020)

Getting Wired with the Ace Maker (S02E019)

Aerobatics & Goal Setting with Aarron Deliu (S02E018)

Tyabb Airshow 2024 (S02E017)