Bruce Landsberg, President of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Foundation (http://www.asf.org/),
a nonprofit pilot education and safety organization, joins as this week’s guest. We talk about the week’s aviation news and discuss the resources offered by ASF for new pilots, experienced pilots, and prospective pilots.

The week’s aviation news:

• NTSB addresses volunteer pilot decision making
• 400 Park Geese Die, for Human Fliers’ Sake
• Airline Challenge to Congestion Pricing Is Rejected
• In a First, Full-Sized Robo-Copter Flies With No Human Help
• Boeing’s Concorde successor
• NBTA Calls for Fair Display of Airline Fees
• Ramblings on Meddling and the “Public Good”

Mentions:

• The Bradford Camps, the North Maine Woods sporting camp owned by Igor and Karen Sikorsky III.
• Stitcher, where you can stream the Airplane Geeks podcast (and others) right to your mobile device.

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

In this episode, Rob, Max, and David discuss aviation news, with a focus on odd stories. Then Dan brings in Tom from The Airline Blog to talk about some additional stories. David has six interviews from the 2010 Joint Service Open House, as well as his usual This Week in Aviation segment. Finally, Steve and Grant have this week’s Australia Desk report.

The news:

• The Future of Airliners?
• Boeing apologizes for curt rejection letter sent to young boy
• SkyWest Airlines Flight Diverted after Alien Claim
• A viewing deck built right into your private jet
• New Lufthansa Bathrooms Made for Banging?
• Get Angry and TSA May Tag You
• More pilots needed, AOPA president tells Aero Club
• “Continited” Announces First 787 Route
• The end of Virgin Atlantic’s ’splendid isolation’?
• Report: Air France-KLM to restart talks for big plane order
• Ryanair Announces 42nd Base at Barcelona El Prat

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter and on Facebook, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

Australia Desk Report music is Journey of the Sorcerer by The Eagles, used in the British TV version of the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Post photo courtesy listener Seb Spencer.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Guest Martin Rottler makes a return appearance. Martin is an airline junkie, a licensed commercial pilot for single and multi-engine aircraft with an Instrument Rating, and a CFI. He’s also a graduate student at the University of North Dakota. This summer Martin will be participating in a project to bring aviation to tribal school students in North Dakota. Download the program overview here.  Find Martin’s blog at http://martinrottler.com/.

The news:

• ‘The future of GA is up to each of us,’ Fuller tells pilots
• Airline Carry-on Bag Fees Rile Cardin, Schumer
• Iceland volcano: Airlines face ‘logistical nightmare’
• Ash cloud costing airlines £130m a day
• Frontier And Midwest Airlines Merge
• UAL-Continental Merger Would Lead on High-Fare Overseas Routes
• Non-Stealth Teamed With Stealth Air Wing
• DARPA chief sounds the alarm: We need more nerds!!

We also have the This Week in Aviation history segment from David, and the Airplane Geeks Australia Desk report.

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave a message on our listener line: (361) GEEKS01.

F-15 Strike Eagle courtesy Photography by Hank Plumley.

Opening and closing music is provided by Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. Visit his site at http://www.brotherloverocks.com/.

Benet Wilson from the Aviation Week’s Business Aviation Now blog joins the geeks as we talk about the latest news in aviation.  Make sure to follow Benet on Twitter @bizavweekly.

We learn two things in this episode:

1. Canadian Geese are mean.
2. Swans are meaner.

You’ll see.

But first, the news:

• NTSB: Plane crew saw significant ice before crash

• Fuller supports FAA funding bill in congressional testimony

• The eskimo isn’t smiling at Virgin America
  • Virgin America Should Be Considered “American” for Now

• It’s Official–Canada Geese Hit Flight 1549

• Carson: Boeing prepared for possible 10% 2010 production cut
  • Boeing Frontiers

• Cessna: Business Aircraft Are Good for Businesses
  • CessnaRise

Rand Peck joins Max and Court this week and Court goes on a couple of rants.  Rand joins us from his site at FlyingWithRand.com and his blog, Rand Peck, a Life Aloft.  There’s plenty of news to talk about, and we hit the highlights.

GA groups call for industry input on TSA plan

US House Transportation chairman takes aim at alliances

Aurora Flight Sciences Displays GoldenEye 80 Unmanned Aircraft at Virginia AeroSpace Legislative Reception

Max and Court welcome Martt Clupper of AirPigz.com on this episode as they talk about the latest in aviation news, and provide a bit of commentary to spice it up.

Victims of Plane Crash Worked for Air Travel Sites

Pilots turn out in force to tell TSA impact of security plan

Obama Officials Tell Citibank To Ditch Plans For $50 Million Private Jet

JAL Flight Brings Aviation One Step Closer to Using Biofuel

Airline losses for fourth quarter mount

S7 cancellation latest hurdle for 787 program

Max and Court welcome Will Hawkins, Rico Sharqawi, and David Allen from APilotsStory.com and Pilots Flight Pod Log Podcast.  We wrap up 2008, and discuss the breaking news out of Denver:

Data recorders found after Denver plane accident

ExcelAire Pilots Face Criminal Trial

British Airways, Qantas Talks Fail on Ownership Split

AOPA: TSA Plans To Step Up GA Scrutiny At Commercial Airports

TSA to listen to pilot concerns on proposed security program

Ten Worst Air Travel Stories of ‘08

Max’s pick of the week is the Plane Spotter Radius Search.  Drag the little plane spotter guy to some location on the map (typically someplace near you) and it shows the planes within a 10 mile radius.

The Airplane Geeks are now on Twitter!  You can follow us @AirplaneGeeks.

Make sure to sign up for our new newsletter, “Airplane Geeks Week in Aviation.”
We’ll be bringing you these show notes, as well as some of the week’s news we didn’t have time to cover.
You can sign up at AirplaneGeeks.com.

Brother Love is responsible for this episode’s opening and closing
music, and you can visit his site at brotherloverocks.com.

If you have a question or a comment for the Airplane Geeks, you
can send it to thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com.

You can also leave us voice mail at (812) 757-4252. If you have
a question you’d like mentioned on the podcast, this is the best
way to go about it.

Richard Aboulafia, an industry analyst and VP of analysis at Teal Group, joins The Geeks this week as we talk airplanes.  It turns out that Richard is not only very knowledgeable about the aviation industry, but he’s also very funny.  We spend almost the entire hour talking with him about the news:

Airlines’ on-time performance improves in Oct.

Invest in Aviation Infrastructure, Groups Tell Congress; Relatively Small Investments Could Yield Big Local Returns

Analysts see worrying trend in airport incursions

Embraer Phenom Wins Brazilian Certification

Bombardier to bring CSeries 110 to market first

ANA Mulling Seeking Compensation On Boeing 787 Delay

Airbus and Boeing plan loans for buyers

AIA dailyLead Special Report: Looking forward to 2009