Brett Snyder, The Cranky Flier himself, joins as this Episode’s guest to talk about his new venture, Cranky Concierge. This service provides a real, live airplane dork (his term!) who is available to support you when traveling by air. You can ask yourself why the airlines don’t provide this kind of service for their customers, but you can probably answer your own question!

• Eclipse Aerospace Begins Mods on E-500s
• Ryanair Selling Smokeless Cigarettes
• Cheaper business airfares still a tough sell in today’s economy
• Ads On a Plane: (Maybe) Free Wi-Fi Coming to Airlines
• Airline trade group wants easier union decertification if approving unions gets easier
• U.S. House Passes Travel Promotion Act
• Airlines Third-Quarter Earnings Forecasts

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave us voice mail at (361) GEEKS01 [thats (361) 433-5701].

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

Guest Paula Williams from Aviation Business Consultants International Inc. (ABCI) joins Dan, Rob, and Max to talk about social media marketing in aviation. We also have aviation news from the week, Dan has an interview about new media with Kristie Van Auken from the Akron Canton airport, and we have the Airplane Geeks Australia Desk report.

The news:

• BA’s Walsh touts all-premium New York-London flight as ‘bold step’
• AVIC General Aviation scouts for stakes in foreign firms
• Eclipse Aerospace Gets EA 500 Certificate
• MHI gets 1st overseas order for passenger jet from U.S. airline
• A tale goes on as another ends [pdf]

See also:

• Air Racer – Chasing the Dream
• Aviation Critic & Enthusiast
• Thirty-Seven-Thousand-Feet

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave us voice mail at (812) 757-4252.

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

Evan, from the Evan Flys website, joins Dan, Rob, and Max to prove that airplane geeks come in all sizes and ages. Evan has a passion for aviation, especially warbird aviators and airshow performers. In fact, he’s interviewed a number of them, he can be heard on Flight Line Internet Radio, and he writes a monthly column for Atlantic Flyer magazine.

• SWA ’seriously considering’ Canada/Mexico/Caribbean flying in 2011
• Government clears air crew in recent runway stranding
• Eclipse Aviation purchase approved
• Flight Delay Predictor Saves Airport Time and Hassle
• NTSB Needs to Re-Admit NATCA to Investigation
• What’s up with the naked unruly fliers? and Man Strips Naked On Plane, Punches Lady In Face
• Fly kid grounded

Follow the @AirplaneGeeks on Twitter, send us email at thegeeks@airplanegeeks.com, or leave us voice mail at (812) 757-4252.

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

• Eclipse owners aim for rescue act

• Dutch Safety Board: Malfunctioning altimeter caused THY 737 autopilot to decelerate

• Group explains suit over airline safety

• U.K. Business Secretary Gets Creamed

• The Return of Eastern Airlines: Color us Skeptical.
• Coming and Going – Southwest Bikini Controversy

Max and Court are joined by Joe Murray from the new StoriesThatFly site.  The topic of choice this week is aviation journalism and Joe lends his expertice with several stories of innaccurate reporting.

• Few deaths in 737 jet crash

• Plane should have been grounded, first Flight 3407 lawsuit claims

• ‘New Eclipse’ Aims To Rebuild Brand, VLJs

• Investigators eye standards for bird collisions

• Morphing Wing Tips Will Cut Drag and Save Fuel

• U.K. Airline May Be First to Install Pay Toilets

Max and Court are joined by Desert Mama and Cajun Mama of the TravelingMamas.com blog.  It get’s crazy fast as we talk about the Tush Test.  Yes, you read that right, the Tush Test.

Eclipse Sold to Pieper spinoff

Airlines More Likely to Defer Deliveries, UBS Survey Shows

Dear Mr. President: How Obama can fix travel

American to implement safety reporting program with flight attendants

After 16 hours, passengers end up where they started

Canadian doctors decry airline ‘tush test’

Thompson puts up airline ‘bill of rights’ proposal again

Max and Court spend some time with Kevin Michaels of the AeroStrategy Management Consulting group talking about the week’s event’s.  Kevin lend’s his expertice on aircraft maintenance and a variety of other topics.  We always have a good amount of news to discuss, and this week was no different:

Top 5 Mainstream Travel Blogs

What Happened on Flight 1549, Inside and Out

Effort under way to remove aviation restriction from rescue package

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

Kevin Garrison of http://www.kevincreates.com joins Max and Court this week.  Kevin is an aviation writer, humorist, and retired airline captain who is kind enough to put up with us hanging up on him to spend some time talking airplanes with us.  We go international with several news items this week, but still have plenty to cover from within the U.S.:

Eclipse Aviation Files for Bankruptcy

Airlines Balk at UK Tax

Critics line up to attack APD

US airline labour flexes its muscles

Thai protesters seize second airport

Traffic Decline Continues – Second Month of Global Contraction

China’s first homegrown jet makes trial flight

Brett Snyder is back once more as he takes a break from the Cranky Flier Blog to spend some time talking shop with The Airplane Geeks.  Since we missed last week, we’re doing an all news episode.  Considering everything that’s happened, it wasn’t difficult to fill the time.

Better Late Than Never; Eclipse Covers Payroll

Boeing, Northrop tanker news

New runways open at 3 of nation’s busiest airports

Southwest employees grumble about Mexican code-share deal

LaGuardia The Target In Southwest ATA Bid

Bush: Government should ‘make airlines more accountable’

And our grand finale:

Susan Pruitt of Flight Plan Magazine join Max and Court this week. The new magazine is the topic of discussion, as well as the news of the week.

787 first flight date now officially up in the air

Embraer posts 70% profit drop, ’studying’ larger aircraft

Air Taxi Company Closes New Round Of Financing

Tough Times In Wichita: Cessna Says It Must Reduce Workforce

EAA Rallies Members to Demand More Time to Comment on Onerous TSA Proposals

Max’s pick of the week is the hoglogblog. In the author’s own words, it is created by “Kevin Garrison, Aviation expert and professional smart-ass”.

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.

We’re also happy to announce our partnership with Flightline Internet Radio.
You’ll be able to hear excerpts of The Airplane Geeks weekly.

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.

Max and Court welcome Dr. Tim Brady, Dean of the College of Aviation at the Embry Riddle Daytona Beach campus as they discuss ERAU’s new aviation PhD program.  You can learn more about the first aviation PhD program at http://aviationphd.erau.edu/.  As always, we have a plethora of news:

Boeing strike ends; Machinists back on the job Sunday

New Delta-Northwest Mileage Program Is World’s Largest

Airline Fare Prices Dropping as Holidays Approach

Crew sacked over Facebook posts

Forecast Predicts Eclipse 500 Shutdown

Max finds a project at Bloodhound SSC to break the land speed record.

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.

We’re also happy to announce our partnership with Flightline Internet Radio.
You’ll be able to hear excerpts of The Airplane Geeks weekly.

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.

It’s all VLJ’s this week as Max and Court welcome Shane Price from the Eclipse Aviation Critic NG Blog. Shane shares his expertice with the VLJ industry in some interesting conversations about the new industry.

Southwest to challenge Northwest with Midway flights to Minneapolis (Chicago Tribune)

JetBlue’s eBay auction scores a big hit with buyers (ATW)

TSA Likely to Relax Restrictions on Liquids in 2009 (Wall Street Journal)

The World’s Greatest Aviation Innovations (Wired)

Eclipse Aviation Meets Congress (AIN Online)

Eclipse Will Make Its Small Jets in Russia (New York Times)

Market, Aircraft Issues Sealed DayJet Fate (Aviation Week)

Pick of the week:

Sky-Lens.com is by French aviation writer and photographer François Brévot and has some very impressive photography of air shows and other events.:

Sky-Lens.com

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.

We’re also happy to announce our partnership with Flightline Internet Radio.
You’ll be able to hear excerpts of The Airplane Geeks weekly.

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.

This week, Max and Court are proud to bring you a “special” guest, Randy Petersen, Founder of Flyer Talk and Boarding Area.  Randy is a self-proclaimed “Frequent Flier Geek” and gives us some insight into the minds of a business traveler.  Word associations don’t seem to phase Randy, as he passes with flying colors (pun intended).

This Week’s News:

• Eclipse Aviation gets financing for Russian plant (International Herald Tribune)

• EADS announces new A400M first flight delay (Flight Global)

• Boeing sees fresh orders for its 767s (Seattlepi.com)

• Delta, Northwest shareholders OK merger combo plan (USA Today)

• Boeing: Oil to stabilize at $70-$80 per barrel, single-aisle deliveries to grow (ATW)

• U.S. Airlines Grounding 500+ Planes This Fall (Wall Street Journal)

• Airline Fees: You Hate ‘Em, Stocks Don’t (TheStreet.com)

Max has a “Double Shock” pick of the week:

AirportGuide.com

Go Pro Digital Video Cameras

Why, you ask?  Because Max thinks this would produce some good video footage attached to a light aircraft. Video from an ultralight or LSA or a hang glider would probably capture the thrill of it real well.

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.

We’re also happy to announce our partnership with Flightline Internet Radio.  You’ll be able to hear excerpts of The Airplane Geeks weekly.

Brother Love is responsible for this episode’s opening and closing music, and you can visit his site at http://www.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.

• Tanker bids could take 4 more years
• DayJet Parks VLJ Fleet For ‘Economic Reasons’
• Madrid crash plane failed to deploy wing flaps, investigators find
• U.S. airlines may post record profits next year, analyst says
• Hopes of rescue bid for Alitalia look slim

Max also brings his pick of the week, Airchive.net.

Brother Love is responsible for this episode’s opening and closing music, and you can visit his site at http://www.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.

Max and I had this great episode lined up for this week…Then Ike hit.  Actually it took more than Ike to produce the 80mph winds that hit Cincinnati Sunday.  Apparently a cold front, combined with the remnants of Ike are the culprits of my lack of electricity for the past 3 days and counting.

So, after a 1.5 hour drive to electricity and internet this morning, all I can offer to all of you loyal airplane geeks is a self portrait of myself during the blackout (above), and a list of news we would have covered if I’d have had power.  I promise we’ll be back next week (assuming my power will be back up by then), and Max and I will bring you great aviation discussion with another great guest.  Until then, here’s the news:

• Airbus outlines Power8 Plus to workers, seeks savings through ‘internationalization’
• Boeing Gets Reprieve in Fuel-Tanker Contest
• UAL Story Blame Is Placed on Computer
• Eclipse reorganizes corporate structure
• ‘More airlines at risk’ as XL’s collapse strands thousands
• Warning: 30 airlines will go bust this year
• How an online time warp blindsided United Airlines
• Airline Aims To Advertise On Bald Heads
• Ike remnants blamed for Midwest deaths, blackouts

See you next week!

Court

• FAA, Congress revisit Eclipse 500 certification
• Boeing may bail on tanker competition
• American launches inflight Web services
• TSA Snafu Grounds Nine Planes at O’Hare Field
• United Tests Food Choices in Business and Economy

And don’t miss this week’s main topic as Max, Court, and Dan discuss their top five picks for history’s least successful airliners.

The intro music is once again produced by Bruno Misonne.  Check out Bruno’s aviation music at http://www.brunomisonne.com.   Brother Love is responsible for the closing music, and you can visit his site at http://www.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.

Of course, there’s a bunch of news that has come out of the Oshkosh EAA Air Venture 2008.

• Eclipse founder, CEO Steps Down
• White Knight Two Oshkosh bound
• Jetpack jumpstarts at AirVenture

Max also offers his pick of the week at http://www.jetpedia.com.

But the big news to come out of episode 9 is the announcement about episode 10.  We’ll be holding the first live aviation new media meet-up through Talkshoe.com.  Sunday evening at 8:00 pm EST (That’s midnight zulu, for you true airplane geeks), we’ll be holding a live podcast.  If you have an aviation related site, blog, or podcast, we want to hear from you.  You can view the detailed information at http://www.airplanegeeks.com/live.

The intro music is once again produced by Bruno Misonne.  Check out Bruno’s aviation music at http://www.brunomisonne.com.   Brother Love is responsible for the closing music, and you can visit his site at http://www.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.