Tag Archives: merger

AirplaneGeeks 277 – Benet Wilson, the Aviation Queen

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AF, KLM, MartinAir Cargo Courtesy Schipol Airport

Benet Wilson joins to talk about H.R. 1848: Small Airplane Revitalization Act of 2013 (SARA) and the role of the General Aviation cacuses in House and Senate, China’s easing of GA flight requirements, Wichita’s relationship building with China, commercial and military implications of China’s air-defense zone, and the American Airlines and US Airways merger.

We also chat a bit about Unmanned Aerial Systems (drones) and “Amazon Prime Air.” Also, be sure to see Benet’s AOPA Top 10 Aviation Apps poll. (Cast your vote by December 16, 2013.)

Benet Wilson is Social Media/eNewsletters Editor for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Her personal blog is Aviation Queen and on Twitter she is @AvQueenBenet.

The week’s aviation news:

Richard Herrmann’s first airplane solo flight at Sporty’s Academy:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsl99xnccj8[/youtube]

In this week’s Australia Desk:

PCDU crew members ATC Ben & Steven Pam join Steve and Grant this week.  The Qantas vs. Virgin Australia foreign ownership row dominated the local aviation headlines again this week with Australia’s Federal Treasurer, Joe Hockey, publically floating the concept of changes to the Qantas Sale Act (1992) which would permit foreign investors to acquire greater percentages of the airline’s stock.  Grant and Ben share their thoughts on how this might work, were it allowed to happen.

Steven Pam is PCDU’s chief photo and video guy who does an amazing job of making the team look good on the big (and small) screen. He’s also a professional photographer and videographer with extensive experience in the corporate and local TV industry….and he has a plan which needs your support!

Steven is planning to travel to Oshkosh in 2014 to film a documentary that focuses on the psyche of people like us – AvGeeks! What is it that draws people to this wonderful niche? And how do we explain it to people who are not? Airheads will explore this issues and more, but it needs support. This week, Steven explains how he’s set up a fund at KickStarter to crowd source the finance.

See Steven’s work at stevenpam.com.au and the documentary at airheadsdocumentary.com.

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu. Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

This week we welcome back Frenchez Pietersz from AviationPlatform to talk about Air France KLM and Alitalia’s woes facing a major re financing and restructuring programme. We also look a little deeper into the success of Europe’s award winning Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and how they have bucked the trend across Europe of flat cargo volumes. Cargolux’s Boeing 747-8’s also feature on why they think they will bounce back from the flat cargo market when the need to bulky cargo items cannot fit the smaller 767, 777, A330 freighters.

Aviation Platform is on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

Listener Recording:

Our Main(e) Man Micah with “The Music of Modern Flight.”

Mentioned:

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

AirplaneGeeks 275 – Flight Dispatcher

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AVX JMR

Phil Derner, Jr. from NYCAviation joins us to talk about his job as a Flight Dispatcher for a major airline. We talk about Flight Dispatcher roles and responsibilities: building a safe and legal flight plan, monitoring the flight, communicating with the pilots, making routing and fueling decisions, and more.

We have an interview with Mike Karrels, also a Flight Dispatcher for a major US airline. He calls it “the greatest job in the world.” We get some additional insights into the profession from Mike, who writes the My Fifty Percent blog, “A flight dispatcher’s view of the airline industry.”

On Twitter, find Phil at @NYCAviation and Mike at @my50pct.

The Week’s Aviation News:

David Vanderhoof’s Aircraft of the Week: The Convair B-58 Hustler, Part II.

In This Week’s Australia Desk:

Steve and Grant are introduced to a whole new term this week: “Drip Pricing” – it seems the ACCC are using the term to cover all the various additional charges that most airlines (especially the “low cost” ones) are using. Apparently they may be considered “false representation” or “misleading or deceptive conduct.”

Meanwhile, in other news:

  • The newly elected Australian Federal government has launched their Aviation Safety Review as they promised in the election (a kept promise? Grant is amazed!)
  • Virgin Australia are raising an extra $350 million via a “rights issue” which could be an indication that they *might* go private (despite Air New Zealand denying it strongly).
  • Air New Zealand are themselves suspending trade of their shares as the Kiwi government looks to sell down their share to 53%
  • The Australian Defence Force provides heavy lift assistance to help get emergency equipment, supplies & medical teams to the Phillipines.

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu. Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124.

Tecnam P2002JF Sierra

Tecnam P2002JF Sierra

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

We talk to Etienne Maillard an Air Traffic Controller in the Geneva Tower about the new wake turbulence rules at the airport, changing flying school, flying the Tecnam and Robin DR400 and the oncoming winter season.

If you visit Etienne’s Flicker Account you will see some of the most amazing aerial shots he has taken whilst flying in the Alps, as well as some great shots from Geneva Tower.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

F4U Corsair

F4U Corsair

Mentioned:

And Flying Heavy Metal with Bruce Dickinson via Mick in Perth:

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 262 – Mow and Flow with the F-22 Raptor

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Red Flag 2010 49th Operational Group Command Aircraft by Paul Filmer

F-22 pilot Rob Burgon talks to us about fighter performance, engines, thrust vectoring nozzles, and more. Also, his Red Flag experience and how he earned the call sign “Shotz,” and the move from Holloman AFB to Tyndall AFB as the 7th Fighter Squadron shuts down. Tally One is Rob’s new blog, a place to share the fighter jet experience, and for others to share their stories too. He’s even created the Tally One Store with aviation apparel.

Returning guest Henry Harteveldt talks to us about the Justice Department civil lawsuit blocking the proposed merger between American Airlines and US Airways.

The week’s aviation news:

David Vanderhoof’s Aircraft of the Week: the C-130 Hercules.

In this week’s Australia Desk:

Grant spent the week vacationing in Bali, Indonesia, and while this is enough to make the rest of us jealous, he did take the time to compile some notes on the flights he took to get there, flying on Virgin Australia in business class.

In other news, Jetstar & Qantas announce that Melbourne will be the base for their 787 Dreamliner fleets, no doubt taking up residence in the former maintenance centre that Qantas closed down recently.

United Airlines announced this week that their regular 747 services from the US to Sydney & Melbourne will be replaced from April next year with 777’s.   This represents a slight decrease in seat capacity on these very competitive routes, but somewhat balanced by the anticipated improvement to comfort and service, and no doubt operating costs to the airline.

Steve & Grant will be in Brisbane this weekend thanks to Aviation Australia for the annual Careers Expo.  If you’re in the Brisbane area, drop by and say hello!

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

Taking time out from his vacation Frenchez Pietersz from AviationPlatform joins us to update us on developments in Holland and France with Air France and KLM looking to make significant savings across the group. One of the areas of focus is maintenance and changes are being made to the use of facilities for heavy maintenance and C-checks across the world. LinkedIn, Facebook.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

Mentioned:

David's F-22 Photo

David’s F-22 Photo

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 236 – The Last Great Airline Merger

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The Helicopter MuseumPhoto courtesy of The Helicopter Museum

Industry analyst Henry Harteveldt returns as our guest. Henry is now with Hudson Crossing. Previously, he was Chief Research Officer and Co-Founder of Atmosphere Research Group, and before that he was with Forrester Research.

We talk with Henry about the merger of US Airways and American Airlines, including labor relationships, maintenance, competitive effects, the merging of company cultures, and other steps necessary before the deal is done. We also touch on airline brand loyalty and airline fees.

The week’s aviation news:

This week David takes a break from his Aircraft of the Week segment and gives his views on budget sequestration, a means of budget control used under the Budget Control Act of 2011.

In this week’s Australia Desk report:

We’re joined by Ben Ippolito, a PCDU team member and Air Traffic Controller, to discuss future changes to air traffic management in Australia and the news that authorities are looking at ways to better integrate civil and military systems.

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124. Australia Desk archives can be found at www.australiadesk.net.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

This week we visit the world’s largest dedicated helicopter museum. With over 80 aircraft from all parts of the world its a wonderful place for all Avgeeks and certainly a hidden gem of a museum.

For more, see The Helicopter Museum website, The Helicopter Museum on Facebook and @HeliCollections on Twitter.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

Mentions:

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 235 – Lynda and Jodi

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Two U.S. Navy North American RA-5C Vigilantes

Two U.S. Navy North American RA-5C Vigilantes, David’s Aircraft of the Week

We welcome Lynda Meeks and Jodi Brommer to the podcast. Lynda is Executive Director of Girls With Wings, Inc. and has been our guest in the past. Jodi is an avid listener and former US Navy Seabee. She also served as a convoy 240B gunner in Iraq, with 143 missions. Taking advantage of the GI Bill, Jodi is continuing her education and helicopter training.

Since both Lynda and Jodi have flown them, we talk about flying helicopters. Jodi is now training in the Bell 206, having gotten her private in the R-22, and instrument rating in the R-44. Lynda is moving to Hong Kong to become an Airbus simulator instructor for an airline. Girls with Wings continues on, in fact they are in their Spring scholarship session for flight training right now.

We talk about the non-profit Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide and the Women of Aviation Week with events planned for March 4, 2013, which you can follow at Twitter hashtag #woaw2013. The iWOAW is an independent consortium of businesses and organizations that seeks to foster diversity and thus growth in the air and space industry.

The week’s aviation news:

David’s Aircraft of the Week is the North American A-5/RA-5C Vigilante.

In this week’s Australia Desk report:

Virgin Australia & Tiger Airways still facing Australian Consumer & Competition Commission concerns over their merger leading to an airline duopoly in Australia.

Qantas announces that it’s pushing ahead with 787 procurement an anticipates no delays…just as Boeing announces production delays.

Qantas and British Airways deny any tension over recent route network changes.

Air Pacific is searching for a new CEO as David Pflieger announces his impending departure.

Aviation Australia, a Brisbane based training organisation, looks to Asia for new business.

The RAAF marks 10 years of C130 operations in the Middle East.

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124. Australia Desk archives can be found at www.australiadesk.net.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

Pieter relates the initial findings from the Red Wings Tupolev Tu-204 crash while attempting to land at Moscow Vnukovo on December 29, 2012. Then he asks Rob for his thoughts on why this happened. It’s a story about landing gear compression, reverse thrusters that could not be deployed, and brakes that couldn’t stop the aircraft.

For more, see: Crashed Tu-204 powered forward as pilots tried reversing thrust and TU-204 Plane crash-lands into Moscow highway.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

Rob at Simple FlightRob at SimpleFlight.net

Rob Mark provides a clip from the SimpleFlight.net show: JetWhiner & AirplaneGeek at Heart!

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 228 – How to Produce an Air Show

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de Havilland DH82 Tiger Moth (David White on right)de Havilland DH82 Tiger Moth

David White is Air Boss for the Waterloo Ontario Air Show and a Board Member of the North East Council of Air Shows. We talk to David about what it takes to produce an air show and what the Air Boss does. Also, how the performers are booked and what they require. David discusses the impact of military demo team cutbacks driven by budget concerns, and the state of civilian jet teams. We discuss the role of the International Council of Air Shows (ICAS), who it’s members are, and what issues it faces.

David can be found flying his 1975 177 Cardinal RG. In 2009 he flew with a friend in an open cockpit de Havilland DH82 Tiger Moth from Ontario to the East Coast and back in one week to celebrate the 100th anniversary of powered flight in Canada.

Follow @WaterlooAirShow on Twitter and Facebook.

David White's 1975 Cessna 177 Cardinal RGDavid White’s 1975 Cessna 177 Cardinal RG

The week’s aviation news:

The Story of the Week:
“The Flight Before Christmas,” written by David Vanderhoof.

In this week’s Australia Desk report:

The Australian Government is enquiring with the US Government about the potential cost of purchasing additional F-18F Super Hornets for the RAAF – up to 24 more aircraft. The new Air New Zealand boss is talking of further strengthening ties with Virgin Australia. Meanwhile, Virgin Australia is increasing funding to Tourism Australia and hints at a possible corporate HQ relocation to Sydney. Qantas begins retiring its Rolls Royce powered B767s as VH-ZXB, formerly British Airways G-BNWF (cn 24338) is placed into storage in the USA.

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124. Australia Desk archives can be found at www.australiadesk.net.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

This week we celebrate 100 Across The Pond segments by asking some of our guests back onto the show to see what the number 100 means to them from an aviation perspective. Appearing are: @Gareth_Stringer, @AviPlatform, @FlightLevel150, @KarlenePettit, @Pilot_NGB and @DLopezSalazar

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on his blog Alpha Tango Papa, on Facebook at XTPMedia, and at the Aviation Xtended podcast.

Mosquito in action at the Pearl Harbor Air Show, Ardmore, Auckland, New Zealand. Ian AllenMosquito in action at the Pearl Harbor Air Show, Ardmore, Auckland, New Zealand by Ian Allen

Mentioned:

Opening and closing music courtesy Brother Love from the Album Of The Year CD. You can find his great music at www.brotherloverocks.com.

Episode 197 – APG Listeners Rock

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Boeing 787

This time we go without a guest to give more time for listener mail. We cover such topics as long, long takeoff rolls, pilots who seee UFOs, and airbags in A320 seat belts. We have more from a 14 year old listener on his aviation aspirations, cell phones on airplanes, and the Russian Irkut MC-21.

We also deliver our personal “Happy Mother’s Day” message to Hariett, an octogenarian aviator and one of our favorite listeners.

The week’s aviation news:

In memorium:

In this week’s Australia Desk report:

Qantas pilots union lose an appeal in the Federal Court against the management decision to ground the airline last year, Federal budget cuts affect Defence procurement programs, including the F35A & P8 – they also bring forward the retirement of the C130H fleet to this year, instead of 2013 – The RAAF confirms a purchase order for 10 Aleania C27J Spartan aircraft in a move worth $A1.4billion, Federal Government announces a 17% hike in departure taxes, raising the cost of leaving Australia to $A55…..and GM for PM?? Could be a theme coming here….

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124.

In the Across the Pond segment:

Last year we were contacted by Bill Jones from Kansas City, Missouri to ask if we could help with a flight he planned to take in a small GA aircraft across the North Sea from Holland to the UK. Unfortunately it didn’t quite work out but we managed to get Bill connected to our friend a recent guest Jelle Hieminga who was featured on our VC Tenderness episode and then again on GA in Holland in Episode 169. On Across the Pond this week we hear how Bill got on.

Find Pieter Johnson on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on his blog Alpha Tango Papa, and also on Facebook at XTPMedia.

Mentions:

From the listener mail:

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

Episode 184 – Vicki Portway, National Air and Space Museum

National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Guest Vicki Portway is Head of Web & New Media for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. We talk about the Museum’s online outreach, the fantastic Become a Pilot Day in June, and the Space Shuttle Discovery target arrival of April 17 at Dulles Airport and transfer to the Udvar-Hazy Center April 19, replacing the Enterprise, which goes to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City.

You can find the National Air and Space Museum on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter. Vicki is on Twitter as sluggernova.

The week’s aviation news:

David’s Aircraft of the Week is the Supermarine Attacker.

In this week’s Australia Desk report, Steve is back from vacation, Rob Fyfe announces his pending retirement as CEO of Air New Zealand, Qantas announces Carbon Tax related fare rises (Steve vents about the Carbon Tax), Qantas credit rating downgrade, and Grant tries the mood detecting music machine one last time.

Find more from Grant and Steve at the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu. Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124.

On Across The Pond this week, Pieter talks to Dave Lees, Managing Director of Southampton Airport in the UK. Dave explains to us how he will make Southampton already one of the UK’s highest performing regional airports, even better.

You can find Southampton Airport on Twitter at @SOU_Airport and at www.southamptonairport.com. Pieter can be found on Twitter as @Nascothornet or XTP Media’s Facebook Page.

Mentioned in the episode:

 

Milestones of Flight, Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum

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/.

 

Episode 113 – Bits and Pieces Again

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The Geeks are off for the Labor Day holiday, but we’ve put together an interesting episode nonetheless.

Rob Mark talks to us about the origins of Labor Day, his role in the PATCO and ALPA labor unions, and the value of labor unions today.

David Vanderhoof attended the Atlantic City Airshow and brings us interviews with the Golden Knights, The Brazilian Smoke Squadron, A-10 Demonstration Team, and AV-8B from VMA-231 Harrier Demonstration Team. David also has his This Week in Aviation segment bringing us interesting historical items.

The guys from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast have their Australia Desk report. It’s just been Father’s Day and sons Chris and Nykolai offer some pithy commentary as Steve and Grant talk about the Qantas uncontained engine failure, the Virgin Blue/Etihad tieup and the Qantas response.

Dan Webb and Courtney Miller teamed up to talk about some current news: 50 seat jets and their role in the future, and scope clauses and the United/Continental merger.

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/.

Episode 97 – Darryl Jenkins on Airlines

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Boeing Phantom Ray

This week airline analyst Darryl Jenkins joins the guys to add his considerable industry knowledge to the conversation. Darryl is Managing Director at Aviation Consulting Group and author of the Handbook of Airline Economics. He’s worked for many of the world’s airlines, he’s consulted for the FAA, DOT, NTSB and other government agencies as well as many foreign countries. Among other places, you can find Darryl at The Airline Zone (http://www.theairlinezone.com/) which contains a series on the future of the airline industry.

David’s got a short interview with Sean D. Tucker, the Australia Desk sent an interview with Owen Zupp during his arould Australia flight, this time in person at the RAAF Museum at the RAAF Point Cook airbase, and we have This Week in Aviation.

See also the 1940 Air Terminal Museum Airplane site at http://www.1940airterminal.org/ for their fundraising raffle of a vintage 1958 Cessna 172.

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/.