Virgin America photo by Ron McCormick taken from the SEA terminal.

Brett Snyder, the Cranky Flier (and also the Cranky Concierge) returns to the show to talk aviation and travel. Brett writes CNN’s “Out of the Office” column for the business traveler, and you can follow him on Twitter as @crankyflier.

The week’s aviation news:

• Spirit Airlines launches Weiner sale
• Republic may pare its Frontier holdings
• Israel Considers Tilt-Rotor Ospreys to Modernize its CSAR, Special Operations
• Rule brings dramatic drop in tarmac delays
• Delay rule bumps up flight cancellations
• Airports directorate launches probe into fake air traffic control message
• Virgin America Reports First Quarter 2011 Financial Results

Steve Visscher and Grant McHerron provide their Australia Desk report. Be sure to listen to the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and follow the show on Twitter at @pcdu. Steve’s at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124.

This week on Across the Pond, Pieter talks to Tim Robinson, Editor of Aerospace International, about the future of London’s Heathrow Airport. With the governments decision to cancel the third runway, will LHR survive in todays competitive market?

Mentions:

• Lufthansa Traveler Alert
• Child Aviation Restraint System
• Seat Guru
• uliner photos
• VIDEO: MICA-equipped Mirage 2000 vs Vueling A320
• Spitfire World Challenge
• helicopter crash new student with no instructor

Be sure to see Max, Rob, Dan, and David at the Become a Pilot Family Day and Fly-In June 18, 2011, 10 a.m. – 3p.m., at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center next to Dulles International Airport. The Geeks will be joining Milford and Charlie from FlightTime Radio, along with some other aviation podcasters as they broadcast their show live.

The Cranky Jackass Award

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/.

Our guest this episode is Peter Sanders. He’s a Staff Reporter in the Los Angeles bureau of The Wall Street Journal, covering the commercial aerospace industry. Peter earned his PPL at age 17 and has flown a number of airplanes, including Cessnas, Pipers, and a DeHavilland Beaver. He recently wrote a Page One story profiling FiFi, the last flying B-29 bomber, and is an avid ATC enthusiast. Find Peter on Twitter at @PeterSandersWSJ.

We talk about the week’s aviation news, “journalists” who race to be first to “print” without having the full facts, and even the color of the Financial Times. Steve and Grant from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast have their Australia Desk Report, and Pieter Johnson brings has an interview with Steve Cook from The Flying Podcast in his Across the Pond segment.

The week’s aviation news:

• Boeing Sees Long-Delayed 787 Deliveries Starting in Third Quarter
• Quick Take: More questions than answers with eighth 787 schedule
• Virgin America First Firm A320NEO Customer
• NBAA Flight Plan Podcast: Advocacy At Addison
• China’s new stealth fighter may use US technology

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/.

Guest Rafael Marquez blogs at I Love Planes and tweets as @rafaelmarquez. Rafael and Gavin Werbeloff discuss the weeks aviation news with Max, Rob, David, and Dan. We also have Dan’s interview with David Cush, the CEO of Virgin America, David’s This Week in Aviation, and the Australia Desk report by Steve and Grant from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast. Gavin reports on the recent San Francisco Fleet Week Air Show. (His photo above.)

The week’s aviation news:

• Planes Don’t Kill People — Plane Exhaust Does
• UAE-Canada trade war escalates
• Report urging use of drones raises questions about fighter jet deal
• Deal with pilots would let Southwest fly bigger 737s, making long routes viable
• NATCA- FAA Collaboration Results in Positive Changes to National Airspace System

Mentions:

• Gavin’s San Francisco Fleet Week Air Show photos
• Will Fly For Food
• Hey! with Dane Golden
• San Francisco Fleet Week Air Show Photos by Gavin Werbeloff
• AirShowFan.com Bernardo Malfitano’s aviation photography site.
• paper.li
• Commemorative Air Force
• Seat Guru
• ExpertFlyer

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/.

Benet Wilson, Online Managing Editor-Business Aviation for the Aviation Week Group, joins once again as our guest. We talk about the week’s aviation news, the upcoming NBAA Conference, and other aviation topics. Find Benet on Twitter as avweekbenet and avweektweets, and read her posts at Business Aviation Now and Things With Wings, the commercial aviation blog.

The week’s aviation news:

• ‘Hidden airline fees’ targeted by new travel coalition
• MadAsHellAboutHiddenFees.com
• Virgin America lifts 2Q revenue but losses persist
• BA’s Walsh draws up shopping list of 12 airlines
• Travel industry uses Facebook and Twitter to reach customers
• First biofuel- powered military helicopter takes flight
• Ryanair’s O’Leary: The Duke of Discomfort
• Michael O’Leary: Flying’s anti-Richard Branson

Mentions:

• Akron-Canton Airport social media page.
• Boeing Blogs
• NBAA – National Business Aviation Association – NBAA2010: Where Business Aviation Powers Business, October 19-21, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia.
• European Private Aviation Conference – November 1st and 2nd in Vienna, Austria.
• Check6
• Registered Traveler Programs Return, but They Still Don’t Look Like Viable Businesses
• Join David at the Oceana Air Show 2010.

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/.

Max, David, and Rob talk about the recently concluded Farnborough International Airshow 2010, and Dan sends in some information about quarterly airline earnings reports. We have David’s This Week in Aviation, the Australia Desk Report, and listener mail.

The week’s aviation news:

• Steven Udvar-Hazy: Farnborough’s biggest dealer?
• Superjet seals second $900 million plan order
• Farnborough Airshow 2010: Emirates orders 30 Boeing 777 planes for $9.1bn
• Farnborough Air Show: A400M flies high as confidence takes off for Pentagon order
• Virgin America MOU for up to 60 A320s
• Kestrel single-engine turboprop to be produced in Maine

Mentions:

• Seb’s photos from the 2010 Royal International Air Tatoo (http://www.flickr.com/photos/spen258/).
• The Visual Flight Rules blog by Huss (http://husstechlabs.com/), with comments, analysis and views on the aviation industry.

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/.

Doug Morris, an A320 captain for Air Canada, joins as this week’s guest to talk aviation. Doug is also a certified meteorologist and he writes aviation and weather articles for enRoute magazine other publications. He also blogs at From the Flight Deck and is author of the book From the Flight Deck: Plane Talk and Sky Science.

• Transport Canada shakes up aviation safety
• Glass cockpits: fewer accidents, more fatal
• Airline-Fee Disclosure May Be Added to Senate Bill
• Virgin America passenger recounts hours spent on tarmac
• Passengers Tweet, Facebook Nightmare 16-Hour Trip From LA To NYC
• Virgin America’s Long Ground Delay Was Handled Well, Despite What You May Read
• Sun Country Announces New Summer Service To London
• Russian Company Set to Send in Bid for Air Force Tanker Program
• EADS considers re-entering KC-X bidding as prime contractor

David Vanderhoof has his This Week in Aviation segment, and we have the Airplane Geeks Australia Desk report, still without Steve Visscher who remains under the weather. But Grant McHerron comes through, with a little help from a suprise contributor to the Report.

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

Air Canada A320 photo courtesy NYCAviation.com.

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/.

Our guest this episode is Joshua Abramson, he’s the Airport Manager at Winchester Municipal Airport, and also an aviation advisor for the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) which carries out applied research on problems that are shared by airport operating agencies. We talk with Josh about issues of concern to regional airports. His website is Airport Solution, which is home of the Airport Executive blog.

The news:

• Airbus, Boeing wooing United Airlines for plane order
• Virgin America Sees Ownership Shift Over 10% With New Investors
• American Airlines ups the ante in battle with Delta over JAL
• Seeking FAA funds, airport hopes sale fares lure fliers
• Metro Airport Explores Wind Power
• American’s flight attendants stage mock strike

David Vanderhoof has another This Week in Aviation. His links this week are The Flying Clippers and Pan Am Clipper Flying Boats.

We also have Steve Visscher and Grant McHerron from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast with their Australia Desk report. The guys sent along a second bonus clip that we found very funny and think you’ll enjoy. We also have some listener mail.

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

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/.

This episode’s guest is Mike Friesen, Principal at Leading Strategies, a provider of  consulting services and coaching for aviation executives, particularly in the airport industry. He’s also a former U.S. military pilot, having flown the F-4 Phantom and the F-15.

We talk about aviation news from the past week and we have a report from the Airplane Geeks Australia Desk (which is expecially amusing this time). We also have our This Week in Aviation history lesson from David Vanderhoof, and some listener mail.

The news:

• Seatbacks in Position and Empty, Please
• NTSB calls for new air traffic rules over Hudson River
• FAA: Southwest operating 40-plus 737s with uncertified parts
• National Business Travel Association International Convention & Exposition
• Cliff Notes: Seven key items from today’s 787 announcement
• Virgin America’s Second Quarter Results Show Improvement

A photo of the Etrich Taube, the airplane mentioned in David’s This Week in Aviation segment as the first aerial bombardment of a city by a fixed wing aircraft, can be found in Wikipedia.

The photo above is of our own Dan Webb at the National Business Travel Association International Convention & Exposition. It was taken when he wasn’t collecting free junk.

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 Sparks joins The Geeks this week as we talk aviation policy.  There’ s quite a bit of emails and we finally get our listener voicemail up.  Of course, as usual there’s the news:

• ASA grounds 60 jets over bad inspections

• Jetstar Asia revamp with Choo Tek Wong partnership

• The Battle for the Armrest: Could a New Design End Elbow Wars?

• Experts say biofuel-powered commercial flights possible within five years

• 1 Billion Passengers Expected In 2021

• Airline passengers revolt against hours spent on the tarmac

• Oberstar Questions Virgin America

Max’s pick of the week is e-Go Aeroplanes.

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 or comment you’d like mentioned on the podcast, this is the best
way to go about it.

Henry Harteveldt from Forrester Research joins the geeks as we discuss just about everything that flies.

• Airline Delivers Dead Body to Pet Store

• Yale student sues airline for $1M over lost Xbox

• Budget airline abandons toilet charge idea: report

• Aviation documentaries headed to a screen near you

• Rivals unite against delay of competition for Air Force tanker

• Virgin America says it remains U.S. ‘citizen’

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