Tag Archives: Tanker

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 170 – GE Aviation Looks to the Future

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GEnx-1B engine for B787 Dreamliner

Dale Carlson, Executive for Advanced Engine Systems at GE Aviation is our guest. Dale is responsible for all government funded technology initiatives, and also for aligning technology as it matures with future propulsion system offerings for GE Aviation.

We talk about why this is an exciting time to be in the commercial engine and airframe business. What’s left in Brayton cycle engines (not much) and what we can do about that. Why pulse detonation is not a good solution. Dale talks about adaptive (or variable) cycle engines, the fuel burn improvements needed for new engine offerings, and why we’ll see integrated airframe and propulsion systems in the future, the blended wing aircraft being an example.

Distributed propulsion with large numbers of engines on the aircraft is a future possibility, as is all-electric propulsion. Of course, we can’t talk about fan diameter without covering thermal efficiency and propulsion efficiency. We talk a little about the future of the F136. That’s the engine GE is developing as an alternative to the Pratt & Whitney F135 that powers the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Finally, Dale offers some sound advice for people considering a career in aerospace.

The week’s aviation news:

David provides another powerful history lesson in his This Week in Aviation segment.

In this week’s Australia Desk Report: Qantas politics goes on and on and on….. RAAF takes delivery of the last four Super Hornets, Omega Tanker takes three ex RAAF 707 tankers, Department of Defence looks seriously at C27J Spartan to replace Caribous, RAAF looks at a disposal date for C130H.

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

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/.

In memory of Anthony Kenneth Johnson RN PO TAG.

Episode 138 – The Radial Rocket

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Radial Rocket

Jeff Ackland, President of New Century Aerosport Inc., is our guest thie week. He produces the Radial Rocket, a two place performance and aerobatic kit plane with a 9 cylinder radial engine in the nose. We talk about what this beautiful airplane is like to fly, and what it takes to build one.

We also have the aviation news from the past week, the Australia Desk Report by Steve and Grant from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and Pieter Johnson’sAcross the Pond segment.

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/.

1960 Beech G18S C/N BA-552

1960 Beech G18S C/N BA-552 by Stephen Tornblom

Episode 137 – Airline Loyalty and Social Media

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Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon
Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon by Stephen Tornblom klgb.blogspot.com

Shashank Nigam, CEO of Simpliflying, is just back from the Loyalty 2011 conference and we talk about how airline loyalty programs measure success and how they work within the airline and with other groups like Communications. We also cover airline use of social media and how they are starting to segment and target customers, and link loyalty programs to social media. Shashank explains how airlines need to step up from social media being about a conversation to being about specific people.

We also have aviation news from the past week, The Australia Desk Report by Steve and Grant from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and Pieter Johnson his Across the Pond segment.

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 133 – Traveling Smart with Kelli

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North American XB-70, NASA picture

Kelli Jones is this week’s guest. She’s an aviation consultant, cabin safety expert, mediator, traveler, philanthropist, and a blogger at Traveling Smart. Previously, Kelli worked for a major US airline where she was a cabin equipment engineer and accident investigator, and she now works as a consultant for the FAA, the NTSB, airlines, and other aviation organizations through White Consulting & Mediation. Find Kelli on Twitter at @TravelingSmart.

We have aviation news from the past week, The Australia Desk Report by Steve and Grant from the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast, and Pieter Johnson speaks with Karlene Pettit in his Across the Pond segment.

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 122 – Jon on the Passenger Experience

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Qantas A380

Guest Jon Norris is a board member of the Airline Passenger Experience Association and chairman of the APEX Technology Committee. APEX is a non-profit association of businesses and professionals that create, deliver, and manage the airline passenger experience. He’s also the Vice President of the Cabin Design Office at Airbus. Find APEX on Twitter as @theAPEXassoc and Jon as @nonnyjorris.

We cover aviation news from the past week, and 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.

The week’s aviation news:

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 109 – Plane Gabbing with Gavin

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Guest Gavin Werbeloff is a long time aviation enthusiast who tweets as travel_buddha. He’s active on the online aero community, initially through fleetbuzz and then flyertalk, and he’s written a few pieces for travelcrisis.com.

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 105 – Flying With Floyd

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Guest Floyd S. Werner, Jr. is a Baltimore City Police Helicopter Pilot who also flew AH-1 Cobras in Desert Storm and Bosnia, and OH-58D Kiowa Warriors in Bosnia. He is known for crashing the last Cobra in Europe in 1994 (engine failure on take off – awarded the prestigious Broken Wing Award) and holds the distinction of flying the last Cobra out of Europe to the Royal Military Academy of Science in England. Floyd is also an avid modeler, authored OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, Walkaround No. 50, and runs Werner’s Wings, a site for aftermarket resins and decals.

The week’s aviation news:

Be sure to visit us at AirVenture 2010, Tuesday, July 27, 4:00pm at Pavillion 6 North of the Control Tower. You might become an Airplane Geek for the Day!

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/.

Werner's Wings

Episode 102 – Outlook for Professional Pilots

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Cessna Skycatcher

Guest Louis Smith, a retired NWA DC-10 captain offers some unique insight into the market for professional pilots. The future looks bright, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy for pilots. Louis runs FLTops.com, a site offering information and advice for pilots looking to advance their professional careers.

The week’s aviation news:

David takes the week off, but will return next episode with This Week in Aviation.

Grant and Steve continue their journey back across the Pacific in the Australia Desk Report. This installment features the voices of Dan Morris and Michelle Lowrie, and the music is “Slice of Heaven” by Dave Dobbyn. Last episode included Anthony Simmons, the man behind the View From the Lounge segment you can hear on the Plane Crazy Down Under podcast.

Other 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 98 – George Hamlin

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Octuri

Our guest this episode is George Hamlin, President of Hamlin Transportation Consulting. He’s been in the commercial aviation and aerospace industry for almost 40 years, specializing in things like transport economics, marketing and strategic planning, aircraft requirements/fleet planning, economic analysis and forecasting for both passenger and cargo operations. George has worked at Airbus, Lockheed, TWA, and a number of other companies and brings a wealth of experience to the conversation.

David provides his This Week in Aviation segment, and Steve and Grant stayed up late producing the Australia Desk report.

The news:

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.

Photo above from http://www.octuri.com/. 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/.