Tag Archives: security

Episode 251 – John Zimmerman from Sporty’s

Jesus Calderon Office at Night

Our guest this episode is John Zimmerman, a pilot and a Vice President at Sporty’s, the world’s largest pilot shop.

John talks to us about ADS-B, what it is, what you can do with it, options for implementing it, and how much it costs. We touch on the FAA strategy for getting aircraft operating in the U.S. airspace to ADS-B by 2020 – offering free weather as the carrot.

Also, ADS-B in-only portable receivers, like the Stratus for the iPad, which gives you “portable avionics” – something useful for club airplanes, for example. John offers an explanation for why the iPad, and especially the Mini, is so dominant among tablets for aviators.

We talk about Sporty’s Easy Approval solution for FAA approval to use your iPad with Foreflight Mobile as your Electronic Flight Bag. Also the factory assembled Vans RV-12 and the 2014 Sporty’s sweepstakes and Sporty’s Academy for flight training.

Find Sporty’s on Twitter as @Sportys.

The week’s aviation news:

A Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130H at Auckland in 2012 by John ThomsonRoyal New Zealand Air Force C-130H at Auckland in 2012 by John Thomson

In this week’s Australia Desk:

We’ve often talked about the high cost of using airports in Australia, particularly the major hubs, and it seems the high cost of operating out of Melbourne’s Essendon Airport have forced a major user, business jet operator MyJet, to look for better options. Their solution comes in the form of relocating, thanks in part to some financial support from the Victorian government, to the regional city of Bendigo, 200km north west of Melbourne. During the week, they announced the opening of their new $A1.5million facility at the city’s airport, the largest such investment there in 40 years. They will now operate their small fleet of executive charter aircraft from this new base, using Essendon only as a pickup/drop off point.

MyJet soars with $1.5 million Bendigo development

On the subject of investment, Qantas announced this week that they’ll be putting millions of extra dollars into their facilities in Perth, Western Australia, as part of their drive to remain competitive with Virgin Australia. The plans call for upgrades to terminals & lounges, news and improved catering options, additional flights each day and increasing the number of A330s operating on routes to and from Perth. The city is a major hub for people working in the mining & resources sector, and CEO Allan Joyce said this week that he sees no end in sight to the boom conditions that are creating the resulting demands on his airline.

Qantas invests more in WA as competition mounts

Qantas to build new Club at Perth Airport as Joyce sees no end to boom

Airbus has also been in the news this week with a push to get the New Zealand government to consider the A400M & the C295 as possible replacement for their C130H fleet. The RNZAF currently operates five C130H airframes, all of which have undergone life extension programmes in recent years, but Airbus executives are keen to see their military airlifters play a role in this region of the world. We wonder if they’ll try to convince the RAAF to consider the “Grizzly” as well.

A400M and C295W to be pitched to NZ

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 on Across The Pond we talk to Airplane Geeks fan and voice over artist Jesús Calderón. Jesús is an Air Traffic Controller in the Barcelona Tower and explains his passion about flying and also gives the team some feedback about the programme.

Follow Jesús as @Hardenaw on Twitter and find him on Facebook. Lead post photo is Jesús Calderón’s office at night.

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

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 198 – Kip Hawley on the TSA

Kip Hawley

Guest Kip Hawley was Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from July 2005 to January 2009. He’s also just written the book, “Permanent Emergency: Inside the TSA and the Fight for the Future of American Security” available through his website (KipHawley.com), Amazon.com, and many bookstores.

We talk with Kip about how he came to be the TSA Administrator, the risk that business aviation presents, and the Large Aircraft Security Program. Kip explains why the full TSA “body search” shouldn’t be necessary and he gives us some interesting details about the plot that led to the ban on liquids over 3 ounces. We consider calls to privatize the TSA, and discuss managing security and managing risk, the public perception of “the threat” and just how large it really is, security theater, the cost of technology, behavioral profiling, the effects of TSA security on the travelling public and thus on the commercial aviation industry, the history of Blogger Bob from The TSA Blog, and even a little peek inside the Bush oval office.

Kip observes that the risk in counter-terrorism is nonlinear, whereas in aviation safety it is linear. We have to be looking for nonlinear risk but a lot of the risk models used came out of the FAA safety regime and don’t apply well to security.

The week’s aviation news:

In this week’s Australia Desk report:

Alligator Airways loses court bid to overturn CASA grounding, Army temporarily grounds Tiger Armed Recon Helicopters, Lockheed Martin ready to begin training RAAF pilots, Sydney Airport CEO claims the airport has plenty of spare space for expansion, Airservices Australia CEO steps down unexpectedly, China Southern to establish the “Canton Route” from Australia to the UK, Air Pacific announces a re-branding to 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.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

Pieter Johnson asks our adopted Spanish correspondent Diego Lopez-Salazar from Aeropodcast.com to give us some feedback on his recent trip to Mexico. He gives us a summary of the airline structure there and the key carrifull service, low cost models.

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

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 147 – Todd McClamroch’s Flight Blog

QF-4E phantom of 82d Aerial Target Sqd Part of USAF Heritage Flight

Todd McClamroch from My Flight Blog.com is our guest this episode. Todd’s site is one of the longest running General Aviation blogs around, and has been featured in the press including Wall Street Journal, AOPA Pilot and AOPA Flight Training Magazine. We talk about reasons for the high dropout rate among student pilots, including the lack of inclusion in pilot communities, the role of the CFI and mentors in helping students complete their flight training, and the the value of events for students. You can follow Todd on Twitter at @MyFlightBlog.

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.

Normally, FlightTime Radio runs for an hour, but we’re going to buy a second hour of air time for this event. You can help by making a small donation to buy another hour of time for aviation greatness on the radio station. See http://www.airplanegeeks.com/send-the-airplane-geeks-to-washington/ for more information.

The week’s aviation news:

Steve Visscher and Grant McHerron from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast provide an interesting Australia Desk Report with Stephen Force from the Airspeed podcast. Be sure to check out the Acrocamp site to follow the progress of that documentary film. The Plane Crazy Down Under podcast is on Twitter at @pcdu, Steve at @stevevisscher and Grant at @falcon124.

In this week’s Across the Pond segment, Pieter Johnson talks with Diego López-Salazar from the Spanish aviation podcast AeroPodcast about the strength of Spanish airlines and if the threat of striking airport workers has finally subisided in Spain. Find Pieter on Twitter at @Nascothornet and Diego at
@dlopezsalazar.

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 123 – Listener Mailbag

QANTAS 90th Birthday Celebrations 13th Nov 2010

This week we forgo the usual aviation news and industry guest to instead focus on listener mail. We received a lot of email, Facebook posts, and vmail on our listener line with questions and suggestions so that’s what this episode is all about.

Topics:

Ben on The World Airport Data App.

David on the educational path to an airline pilot job.

Micah on free holiday WiFi provided by Google and banning toner cartridges.

Don on the corporate use of social media.

Benet on the business aviation recovery.

David on a future ATC guest.

Richard on having a glider topic.

Allan asking who will be the next CSeries customer.

Anthony on AvWeb’s coverage of AOPA.

Ian his photos, new blog, oil-free turbine technology.

Hoovenson on the BA Flight 38 crash and the freezing point of water.

Stephen asks for the top 5 military Ace’s, top 5 business jets, and top 5 aviation CEO’s.

@flyingwithfish on the “new” CLEAR registered traveler program using “old” CLEAR data.

Tim on aviation enthusiast destinations in Florida.

We also have David’s This Week in Aviation history segment, the Australia Desk report by Steve and Grant from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and Pieter Johnson’s latest Across the Pond segment.

Mentions:

The World Airport Data App

N-Number for US registered aircraft

VH Register for Australian registered aircraftFree Holiday WiFi

Paula Williams has written the book: Flight Plan to Success: New Media Marketing for the Aviation Industry

Ian’s new blog: YYCE3, his photos, and Oil-Free Turbomachinery Technology for Rotorcraft Propulsion and Advanced Aerospace Propulsion and Power, and this NASA article.

The Naked Scientists

Clear: What Gives? from the TSA Blog

TSA asked to ensure safety of customer data after Clear closing

Fantasy of Flight

Aviation Enthusiasts Corner

QANTAS 90th Birthday Celebrations 13th Nov 2010 by Plane Crazy Down Under Podcast.

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/.

Photo by Steve Visscher.

Episode 80 – Chris Elliott on Security

Mesa Airlines

Travel writer Christopher Elliott joins the airplane geeks to talk aviation and airline security. Chris is one of the two blogger/journalists served with a subpoena by the Department of Homeland Security after posting the government directive for airline security procedures after the attempted Christmas 2009 terrorist bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253. Chris is the reader advocate for National Geographic Traveler magazine, he writes the syndicated Travel Troubleshooter column, produces a weekly commentary and podcast on MSNBC.com, writes the Navigator column in Sunday’s Washington Post, and authors the Elliott.org travel blog.

David Vanderhoof has another This Week in Aviation, Steve Visscher and Grant McHerron from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast have their Australia Desk report, and Court returns with another Whiskey Tango Foxtrot segment.

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/.

Episode 57 – Air Racing and TSA Blogging

three plane noses top contenders

Dan, Rob, and Max are joined this episode by two guests:  Chris Webb, who directed and co-produced the documentary film, Air Racer: Chasing the Dream, and Blogger Bob from The TSA Blog, a very active site.

This week’s news:

As always, we have a report from the boys down under at the Airplane Geeks Australia Desk.  Steve and Grant, by the way, now have their own podcast, Plane Crazy Down Under. We also have a This Week in Aviation segment.

Don’t forget to send us your ideas for Airplane Geeks T-Shirts and we’re still collecting good United stories so send them in by email, voice mail, or mp3.

Follow the Airplane Geeks on Twitter as @AirplaneGeeks, 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. You can visit his site at brotherloverocks.com.