Tag Archives: Hawker Beechcraft

Episode 220 – Dan Hampton, Viper Pilot

F-16 by Paul Filmer

Guest Dan Hampton is the author of Viper Pilot: A Memoir of Air Combat. He served in the United States Air Force for twenty years (1986–2006) and is a graduate of the elite USAF Fighter Weapons School, USN Top Gun School (TOGS), and USAF Special Operations School. Dan has flown many combat missions in the F-16 as a Wild Weasel. These are elite Air Force fighter squadrons whose mission is to fly behind enemy lines to draw fire from surface-to-air missiles and artillery. Without being shot down, they destroy the threats and make the skies safe for the aircraft that follow.

Stephen Trimble from Flight Global’s The DEW Line joins us for a bit as a guest co-host. Follow him on Twitter as @FG_STrim.

The week’s aviation news:

In this week’s Australia Desk report:

Grant tells us about his latest hot air balloon pilot-in-command adventures, a kangaroo causes havoc at Melbourne Airport’s high rise parking lot, Qantas spends $A30million on further upgrades to its new Brisbane maintenance centre (which all but confirms the demise of their facility at Avalon in Victoria), Flight Centre is in hot water with the Government over alleged anti competitive behaviour towards Singapore Airlines, the New South Wales Police Force team are victorious in a charity “Haul A Herc” competition at RAAF Base Richmond near Sydney, the New Zealand Defence Force signs a five year deal with Hawker Pacific for four B200 aircraft, and we make a correction to last week’s article regarding Fiji Airways.

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:

In the last of the Royal Navy Historic Flight mini series, we talk to Lt Commander Glen Allison, the pilot of the Fairey Swordfish display aircraft. We find out what its like to fly an 80 knot bi plane versus his day job of Commanding a Lynx unit. For more see Royal Navy Historic Flight and Fly Navy Heritage Trust.

Find Pieter on Twitter as @Nascothornet, on his blog Alpha Tango Papa, 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 185 – Richard Aboulafia Returns

The Mil Mi-24 ("Hind")

Richard Aboulafia, Vice President, Analysis from Teal Group joins the Geeks to talk aviation. Benet Wilson, Director of Media Relations for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, is back as guest co-host.

We talk about the A380 and B787, program breakeven vs. recurrent breakeven, lessons the airframers can apply to the 737MAX and A320neo, and why the A380 doesn’t have swimming pools, bowling alleys, and fast food restraunts. Richard opines on the poor state of the business jet market and the impact on Wichita. We talk about the Chinese aviation market and why Richard isn’t worried about the Comac 919. Shades of the IPTN N-250! Richard also talks about what Bombardier needs to do to gouge out CSeries market share. We touch on the EU Carbon Trading Scheme, the American Airlines bankruptcy, the Boeing 747-8, the Heli Expo in Dallas and the Singapore Airshow.

The week’s aviation news:

In this week’s Australia Desk report: Qantas inspects another A380 for wing cracks, Etihad very happy with pax numbers after aligning with Virgin Australia, Virgin Aus pilot sues company over use of a heavy flight bag, Taser found on board a Virgin 737, full body scanners to be rolled out in Australian airports, Qantas CEO Allan Joyce claims in a Senate hearing that changes to the Qantas Sale Act would potentially force the sale of Jetstar.

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 David Bickerton, Director at Airclaims. He tells us about his aviation career and what services Airclaims delivers to the aviation sector., which includes insurance claims, aviation risk management and aviation consulting among other activities. Its a part of the aviation industry rarely seen by the public.

You can find Airclaims on Twitter at @Airclaims and at www.airclaims.com. Pieter can be found on Twitter as @Nascothornet or XTP Media’s Facebook Page.

Mentioned in the episode:

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 124 – Body Scanners & Cougars, Oh My!

F-35s in Flight Guest Kelly Skyles is the National Safety and Security Coordinator for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants which represents about 17,000 American Airlines Flight Attendants. We talk about the past week’s aviation news, especially all the recent airport security problems, and David has his This Week in Aviation history segment. Steve and Grant from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast sent their Australia Desk report and Pieter Johnson brings us his latest Across the Pond segment. Plus, Harriet drops by to say hello! The week’s aviation news:

Mentions:

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 120 – Molly McMillin

Aerion Corporation supersonic business jet

Molly McMillin, the Senior Aerospace/Aviation reporter for the Wichita Eagle, joins as guest. Molly blogs at Air Capital Insider and tweets as @mmcmillin. We talk about the week’s aviation news, and discuss the recent NBAA Convention, which Molly attended.

The week’s aviation news:

Mentions:

Also see Steve and Grant’s Australia Desk archive and their Flight Time Radio segments.

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/.