Tag Archives: TV

AirplaneGeeks 373 Airplane Repossession

Airplane Repo

Airplane repossessions, European investigations of possible anticompetitive practices in commercial aviation, United Continental Holdings new CEO in the hospital, the launch customer for the ultra-long-range Airbus A350, the final US Airways flight, and airline growth into Latin America and the Caribbean.

Guest

Ken Cage is owner and president of International Recovery & Remarketing Group (IRG).  IRG specializes in services such as investigation, recovery, and remarketing of specialty assets, including aircraft and yachts. Their repossession agents are licensed, bonded, and insured by the State of Florida. Ken joined IRG in 2005, and has been involved in thousands of repossessions and investigations in all 50 states, as well as several foreign countries.

Ken describes the process that initiates an aircraft repossession, how the owner is located, the preparation work required, actually taking the airplane, and how it is sold to recover the note-holder’s investment.

We ask Ken where he finds the pilots to fly the planes away, what their role is, and how they contribute to a safe repo. Ken also describes how the Airplane Repo TV series came about, and how closely it matches the reality of Ken’s professional experiences.

Ken is a licensed repossession agent, private investigator, and yacht broker with over 20 years experience in the banking and collections industry. Ken has experience in skip tracing and investigation in the finance sector.

Ken has been a member of many organizations related to the investigation field including American Society of Industrial Security, the International Society of Healthcare Safety and Security, the National Association of Chiefs of Police, Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA), National Aircraft Finance Association (NAFA), and International Association of Marine Investigators (IAMI).

Follow Ken on Twitter at @KenCageRepo and on Facebook at Ken Cage Airplane Repo. See also the Discovery Channel webpage for the TV series Airplane Repo, and the Airplane Repo Fan Club on Facebook.

As an extra surprise, our Main(e) Man Micah joins us this episode as a guest co-host!

News

Europe Mulls Aircraft-Parts Competition Investigation Amid Airline Complaints

IATA and the European Commission are looking into possible anticompetitive practices in the marketplace for aircraft, engines, spare parts, and maintenance services. IATA says they are looking into the problem. The EC hasn’t launched a formal investigation, but is “closely monitoring competitive conditions as regards maintenance of engines and components of large commercial aircraft.” [Article WSJ paywall]

United CEO suffers heart attack, shares drop even lower

United Continental Holdings Inc’s new CEO Oscar Munoz has suffered a heart attack, just weeks after he took the job.

Singapore Air To Re-Start Non-Stop Singapore-US Flights With New A350 Variant

A350-900ULR

A350-900ULR Courtesy Airbus

Singapore Airlines has signed an agreement to be the launch customer for the new A350-900ULR, an ultra-long-range variant of the Airbus A350. This will let them resume non-stop flights between Singapore and the United States.

Singapore Airlines has 63 firm/20 option A350-900s on order. They will convert 7 firm and 4 options to the -900ULR, which will have a range of up to 8,700nm. The Airline also has 20 purchase options, four of which will be converted into firm A350-900 orders. This results in 67 firm A350s and 16 options.

Singapore Airlines operated non-stop flights between Singapore and both Los Angeles and New York with A340-500s until 2013, when the airplanes were retired.

Final US Airways Flight Completes Journey, Lands in Philly

An Airbus A321 became the last US Airways branded flight when it landed in Philadelphia. From now on they’re all American Airlines flights. The plane was designated as Flight 1939, named for the airline’s founding year.

U.S. airlines betting big on Latin America, Caribbean flights

Southwest, JetBlue, and Spirit are adding destinations to Latin America and the Caribbean. A strong U.S. dollar makes overseas travel attractive for Americans, and a growing Latin American middle class has more disposable income and looks to travel to the U.S.

The Airplane of the Week

David's desk

David’s desk

David continues his Journey to the Force awakened by discussing the Seinar Fleet Systems TIE Fighter and it’s derivations. It has almost as many variants as a C-130. Almost but not quite.

Across the Pond

RootshootPieter talks to Gary Wilson from Routeshoot, a smartphone and tablet app being utilised for aviation. It is designed to record video and tag GPS coordinates together so that the user can see where and when they were at a location, along with a video record. Pilots are using it for IFR purposes and commercial organisations such as utilities are using it to track their products and equipment filmed and coordinated using helicopters and UAS. Follow them at @RouteShoot.

Mentioned

Spicewood Airport 88R video.

The Deadly Cargo Inside MH370: How Exploding Batteries Explain the Mystery

Credit

Post photo: Ken Cage is the guy on the left. The big guy on the right is bounty hunter, MMA fighter, and champion power lifter Danny Thompson.

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

AirplaneGeeks 309 – Airways News

B25 Mitchell of the Royal Netherlands Dutch Historic Flight lining up at RNAS Yeovilton

Airchive.com and Airways Magazine working together, airline citations over passenger rights, airline safety, and announcements from AirVenture Oshkosh.

Guest

Guest Chris Sloan is the founder of Airchive.com and president and founder of 2C Media, a television production and promotion company. Previously, Chris held senior level executive positions with NBC, TLC, and USA Networks.

Chris produced “International Airport 24/7: Miami” on the Travel Channel, and oversaw the TLC documentary on the building of the Airbus A-380 featuring John Travolta.

We talk about changes at Airchive.com and their cross-promotion with Airways magazine, which is becoming more feature driven.  Airchive.com will become AirwaysNews.com and deliver the digital product.

Also, Chris tells us about the challenges producing Airport 24/7 and other aviation programs he has in the works. We talk about  aviation shows on TV, thoughts on an all-aviation television channel, and how different markets demand different aviation programming.

News

Passenger rights rules lead to jump in U.S. airline citations

The LA Times looked at U.S. Department of Transportation records for citations issued against airlines and travel agencies from 2010 to 2013. 521 citations were issued in that time period, almost twice the annual rate for the previous four years. Airlines were cited airlines 181 times for violating rules of unfair and deceptive practices, like advertising fares that were not available. Mistreating disabled passengers resulted in the largest fines.

Elsewhere:

Netherlands and Germany fine foreign airlines over ETS

Swiss Regulator Fines Airlines $11M For Price-Fixing

Despite All the Recent Accidents, Flying is Still Very Safe

It’s been a bad time recently for commercial aviation: MH70 still missing, MH17 shot down by a missile over Ukraine, TransAsia ATR-72 crashed a Taiwanese in heavy rains killing 40, aAn Air Algerie MD-83 with 116 on board crashed in Mali.

Flight Bans Show Skittishness Over Trouble Spots

Airlines are acting ahead of their regulatory agencies.

How Israel persuaded the Airlines that Ben Gurion is Safe

Israel’s Civil Aviation authorities sent a memo to international airline regulators and airlines, describing that Ben-Gurion is safe. In part, the memo says, “The Iron dome launch batteries covering Ben-Gurion Airport operate under a specific set of procedures which I cannot go into in detail due to security reasons. I would like to note, however, that out of over 2,250 rockets fired from Gaza into Israeli territory… not a single one has landed in Ben-Gurion Airport.”

News from AirVenture Oshkosh 2014

AeroVue Cockpit Retrofit Launched By BendixKing

There’s A New Light Sport Amphib Coming To The Block

Cessna Introduces Turbo Skyhawk JT-A

Brown Aviation Lease and Redhawk Aero Partner to Address High Cost Flight Training Combining Hardware, Software and Services

Premier Launches Diesel Cessna 172 Upgrade Program

David Vanderhoof’s Aircraft of the Week

Lockheed M21and D21

The Tagboard Senior Trend 30, and the M/D-21 – the MACH 3.5 drone that had a serious disaster in July 1966. See a video of the accident: SR71 Sistership, The MD21 Blackbird Accident and JC-130 Recovery.

The Australia News Desk

The first two RAAF F-35s are unveiled in Texas, and Qantas are once again considering splitting their International and Domestic arms, as the proposed changes to the Qantas Sale Act just aren’t enough in their eyes.

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.

Across the Pond

This week Pieter is at the home of the Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset in the UK, for their annual Air Show. There are no flying Swordfish this year but the Royal Navy Historic Flight Sea Fury certainly starts off the display with a growl in the hands of Lt Commander Chris Gotke. Visitors from the Army and RAF, as well as Germany, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Jordan and Belgium made it a truly international show. This years theme follows the naming of HMS Queen Elizabeth and is all about operating at sea.

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

Mentioned

Carl Valeri’s Aviation Careers Podcast.

Credit

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 242 – Anthony Nalli, The Aviators TV

At the Classic Air Force base, by Bob

Guest Anthony Nalli is the Executive Producer / President of FourPoints Television Productions, which brings us The Aviators. This TV series has a weekly viewership of ten million and their fourth season comes out later this year.

We talk about how The Aviators got started, how it covers pretty much everything that flies, and where the story ideas come from. Plus we get a little taste of what to expect in future episodes.

The Aviators is not geared strictly for pilots and aviation enthusiasts – the content appeals to others as well. Find them on most PBS stations, in iTunes, Hulu, and Amazon on Demand. Follow them at @TheAviatorsTV on Twitter and see their Facebook and YouTube pages.

The Aircraft of the Week:

David continues his series on the Skyhawk with the A-4E though M, and the Two Holers.

The week’s aviation news:

In this week’s Australia Desk:

The ACCC finally grant approval for the Qantas & Emrates tie-up, and not a moment too soon as a celebratory flyover of Sydney by two A380s – one from each carrier – in formation was operated four days later to mark the commencement. In other news, its smiles all round at Virgin Australia as their pilot unions signed off on a new enterprise agreement which will see increased job security and pay rises between 14.2% and 28.4%. We also get an explanation of how Grant is not a weed wacker.

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.

Rosetta swings by EarthRosetta swings by Earth

In this week’s Across the Pond segment:

This week’s Across The Pond is a Bits and Pieces episode. Pieter talks about how he finds his guests and what’s exciting in the world of Space exploration and travel.

See:

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

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 171.5 – 2011 AOPA Aviation Summit, Part 2

Cirrus Aircraft SR22

This Special Edition of the Airplane Geeks podcast is the second of two parts with interviews from the 2011 AOPA Aviation Summit. This three-day event was held 22-24 September 2011 in Hartford, Connecticut. Max recorded brief interviews with exhibitors, speakers, and participants.

In Part 2, you’ll hear from:

Lindsey Dreiling, Admissions Representative, Kansas State University.

Sean Collins, Senior Technical Specialist, Government Affairs, www aopa.org, www.letsgoflying.com.

Lindsey, Summit attendee.

Bernice “Bee” Haydu, Woman Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), Letters Home 1944-1945.

Mason Holland, CEO and Chairman of the Board, Eclipse Aerospace, Inc..

Ben Freelove, Director of Operations/ Instructor, Tutima Academy of Aviation Safety.

Alan Klapmeier, CEO, Kestrel Aircraft Company.

Laura Gaerte, Air Race Classic all women’s transcontinental air race. From Century Aviation at DeKalb (Indiana) County Airport.

Mark Robidoux, Pilot Workshops.

Tom Ham, Production Manager, VoiceFlight Systems, with special (i.e., unexpected) appearance by Max Trescott.

Wayne Ellis, The Aviators TV show.

Follow the Airplane Geeks 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/.