Looking at the world of aviation from an Australian / Pacific point of view
The Peninsula Aero Club at Tyabb Airport near Melbourne puts on an epic air show every two years, although everyone's really been looking forward to this year's event as the last one was in 2020 thanks to COVID. The waiting was certainly worth it, as the Tyabb Airshow 2024 was another cracker with plenty of warbirds, aerobatic displays, a car vs aircraft race, and handling displays from many other aircraft.
Naturally, Steve and Grant were at the show once again and recording interviews with some of the people there. It was almost 40 degrees Celsius (about 100 Fahrenheit) but the show went on, the huge crowd enjoyed it, and Steve hung in there despite the sunscreen running off his forehead & into his left eye. DOH!
We start with our own recollections of the day, and then get stuck into the interviews, which include:
Links:
Credits:
Setting up and running the air display component of an airshow takes a lot of effort, awareness of pilot and aircraft capabilities, an understanding of what makes a display interesting to the public, and the ability to deal with variables such as weather and aircraft availability. To find out more about this topic, we caught up with Chris "Tibbsy" Tibbetts, the Aussie Airboss. Grant also crossed over to the other side of the air display and spoke to a couple of warbird display pilots, one of whom also owns the excellent Drome Cafe and Tocumwal Aviation Museum at Tocumwal airport in southern New South Wales.
This episode contains:
Links to check out:
We'd also like to help spread the word about some great organisations and people we think are worth supporting, including:
Credits:
It's big news down under as Bas Scheffers, CEO of OzRunways, joins us to announce that Boeing have purchased the company. It's a massive validation of the efforts put in by the OzRunways team over the past 10+ years and provides the opportunity for the OzRunways, ForeFlight and Jeppesen teams to work close together to help improve their respective products.
In this exclusive interview, Bas talks about the history of OzRunways' interactions with ForeFlight, confirms for us that OzRunways will continue and not be subsumed into ForeFlight, and answer's the question of whether VH-EFB could be transferred to a new aircraft,
We've known Bas for many years and have worked and socialised with him, Rowan and the OzRunways team since they started. It's a fantastic step forward for the product and the company, so we're looking forward to seeing how this progresses over the coming years.
Welcome to our first episode for 2024 with this episode featuring a great set of interviews to kick off the new year. From Grant recording chats with Jerry & Jan Chisum in their incredible hangar home over in New Zealand to the next part in the Steve Padgett story, this episode covers flying from the UK to NZ in a Gipsy Moth back in 1934, bush flying 737s in Alaska, setting up Sunshine Express Airlines, and so much more.
If you're wondering where Bridge Pa is, it's just outside Hastings which is near Napier on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island. The easiest way to find it is to use Google Maps and look for Hastings Aerodrome at Bridge Pa (or click that link :) ).
The episode unfolds as:
06:16 - Grant chats with Jerry Chishum about learning to fly with his father while growing up in Alaska, how eventually his father got into helicopters while he went on to larger aircraft. This lead to him flying civilian Hercules aircraft from Fairbanks, then proceeding on to 737-200s with gravel kits on some less than brilliant runways that were frequently covered in snow, ice and slush. Bush flying a 737... who knew?
Jerry also flew the MD-11 and compares flying that to flying the Hercules (like a big Super Cub) and the 737. Suffice to say, he wasn't a fan of the MD-11.
Jerry steps us through the history of the Gipsy Moth aircraft, his visits to New Zealand, how he met Jan, and flying WW1 replicas such as the Fokker Triplane, Fokker D.VII and the S.E.5.
31:52 - We then bring Jan onto the show, introducing her by her maiden name of Jan White. She tells us how she learnt to fly, getting into tail draggers like the Piper Cub, and then transitioning to flying Tiger Moths. Jan also talks about flying in the UK before returning to New Zealand, where she flew the Tiger Moth in competitions, eventually meeting Jerry at one.
Jan also talks about her father buying a 1929 Gipsy Moth when he was living in the UK in the early 1930s, then how he flew it to Sydney, Australia in 1934. She discusses his trip, the adventures he had, and that the most difficult flights were getting from Darwin to Sydney. Jan also talks about the memorabilia her father kept that she now has, including his maps, a letter from Nancy Bird Walton, and even the receipt from buying the aircraft.
52:04 - Our second part of our interview with Steve Padgett OAM covers purchasing Red Baron at Noosa Airport, which had a Grumman AgCat biplane for tourist flights, and setting up Sunshine Express Airlines, initially with Bandierante aircraft, to fly passengers on routes to and from the Sunshine Coast. Steve talks about dealing with the Civil Aviation Authority of the time and how the process was a lot different back in the 1990s with much less red tape.
Sunshine Express also flew Fairchild Metros and worked closely with Ansett Airlines, flying passengers for them until that airline went into liquidation, owing Steve's company a large amount of money. Fortunately, Steve got a call from Qantas who wanted to work with them, although Qantas were able to dictate much tighter terms.
Steve also talks about helping to set up Bangkok Airways in Thailand and his experience acquiring & operating Austin Aero in Texas. He wraps up this part of the interview by giving us a comparison between the aviation environment in the USA versus here in Australia.
The next part of this interview will include Steve starting, along with Don Kendell and Max Hazelton, the organisation that became the Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA). It will also cover Alliance Airlines and his work with the RAAF Cadets.
1:13:43 - We wrap up the episode.
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You can hear more of Jan & Jerry's stories on a recent episode of the Warbird Radio Down Under series by Grant with Dave Homewood in New Zealand. It's one of the segments on the Warbird Radio show, a great podcast run by Matt Jolley in the USA. So if you're listening to us, you should give his show a go too.
We'd also like to help spread the word about some great organisations and people we think are worth supporting, including:
Thanks also to Terry Daniel for our intro & outro voice overs.
Steve's back in the studio after his heart attack and subsequent surgery. As you'd expect, it was a major experience for him and he's very appreciative of the support he's received from our audience. He's now a member of the zipper club, has been cleared to drive cars again, and is working towards his Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR) medical so he can drive trains once again. You can read more about Steve's unexpected journey on his Proceed Aspect site, but for now, he's back and we're producing episodes once again. This one unfolds with:
Steve's career in aviation started in the 1960s during the heyday of Australian aviation, but it all began as Canterbury Boys High School where he joined the Air Training Corps and discovered he had a passion for flying. This led to a scholarship with the RAAF that allowed him to obtain his private pilot certificate. From there, he worked as a driver in airfeight and swept hangar floors to fund his commercial and instructor ratings, before eventually getting into marketing and working for Hawker de Havilland selling aircraft. This allowed him to work with people such as Sir Joh Bjelke-Peterson (premier of QLD) and his regular pilot, Beryl Young, along with WW2 fighter pilots such as Brian "Blackjack" Walker. Eventually in 1979, he started his own company, partnering with Bib Stilwell selling Learjets and the Embraer Bandierante and Brasilia, before creating Aeromil Pacific in Queensland.
We wrap up this first part with a hint from Steve about starting, along with Don Kendell and Max Hazelton, the organisation that became the Regional Aviation Association of Australia (RAAA). As to Alliance Airlines and his work with the RAAF Cadets, well, they will also be covered in a later episode.
It's been a while between episodes but Steve's been in hospital for a major operation plus Grant's been travelling for airshows and also getting current in hot air balloons once again (yup, there's a new danger area being declared for operations in the vicinity of YBLA, YWGT & YILA :) ). With Steve in hospital, Grant turns to ATC Ben for help with the intro and outro on this episode which is packed full of content, including:
Links:
Leave your message for the crew of Dumptruck 11: pacificairshowaus.com/memorial
Watch the RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornet display from on-board the aircraft: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LDjhO_gq1Y&t=122s
More information about the Queensland Westpac Lifesaver rescue helicopter service, including how you can help keep them operating: www.lifesaving.com.au/about/what-we-do/westpac-lifesaver-rescue-helicopter-service
Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service have a Facebook page: www.facebook.com/westpacheliqld/
Credits:
Episode title image by Grant McHerron, Southern Skies Media.
Voiceovers: Terry Daniel from Your Voice Over.
Way back in June 2014 we released Series 1 Episode 119 about the RAAF bringing the F-35A into service, including the first two pilots selected to learn how to fly it, discussions with Lockheed Martin representatives (including test pilot Billie Flynn) and an hour long discussion with AVM Kym "Koz" Osley about the infrastructure work, staffing build up, training and logistics preparations that were in progress. At almost 2 1/2 hours in duration, it was one of our longer episodes from Series 1.
It seems only fitting then that our longest episode so far of Series 2 should once again be all about the F-35. This time we catch up with F-35 Test Pilot Tony "Brick" Wilson, Lockheed Martin's Chief of Fighter Flight Operations, and also bring you an update from Steven Over, Lockheed Martin's Director, Combat Air INDOPACOM and CENTCOM Business Capture.
You can find these two discussions in this episode at:
Credits:
Image from Lockheed Martin.
Thanks to Australian Defence Magazine for allowing us to use excerpts from their interview with Steven Over.
Voiceovers: Terry Daniel from Your Voice Over
The team from the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach in California have come down under to stage the first Pacific Airshow Gold Coast event at Surfers Paradise in August, right around the corner as we release this episode. Steve and Grant will be attending the event to gather more content from the performers who will be displaying there, but in advance of the event, they've scored a couple of interviews for you to enjoy:
Credits:
Voiceovers: Terry Daniel from Your Voice Over
They say that if you can't see it, you can't be it and that certainly seems to be the case with getting more women into aviation. The recently released documentary Touch the Sky seeks to help encourage more women to consider flying for fun and/or employment, particularly looking at the "soft" (aka "human") issues that are part of the answer to the question: "Why are there so few female pilots?".
We also take a look at drone racing which was featured at the recent Avalon Airshow back in March. The Australian Defence Force is running racing events to encourage more young people to consider doing STEM training and also the potential for a career in Defence.
This episode consists of:
Credits:
Image by: Light Studios
Voiceovers: Terry Daniel from Your Voice Over
Thanks to Australian Defence Magazine for allowing us to include the two drone racing interviews in this episode.
There are plenty of beaches in Australia and many cities have an "Eye in the Sky" traffic reporter giving commuters updates on where the bottlenecks are, but what if you could provide traffic reports plus beach reports, all while logging hours? Our voice-over guy, Terry Daniel, steps out of the recording booth and into the studio to chat with Steve & Grant about doing just that in the skies over Coffs Harbour, a beautiful tourist city on the New South Wales North Coast.
Terry talks about his experiences flying twice a day, every day, in all types of weather to bring Radio2CS listeners the latest info on which beaches had the best breaks, which to avoid due to sharks or bluebottles, and how the roads were looking. He also tells about some of his more interesting experiences with passengers, folks on the beach, weather and a low flying RAAF F-111.
We wrap up the chat with a discussion about Terry's AIR News Media organisation that provides news headlines for radio stations around Australia. It's also where you can occasionally hear Steve's dulcet tones reading the news.
As if all that wasn't enough, we also have a mailbag item from Mark Newton and a shout-out to Redhome Aviation's Instagram page which features photography of military traffic around Tinker AFB in Oklahoma, USA.
Cover art images for this episode were supplied by Rob Cleary (Seen Australia - http://seenaustralia.com.au), Bruce Linwood and Terry Daniel.
We recorded so much content at Avalon 2023 that it's going to take a few more episodes to get it all released. This episode brings us the Scandanavian wing walker team, the return of Timbo's Tarmac and a chat with UK aerobatic pilot Mark Jefferies and Dee Ebeling from Perth, so lets lean into the slipstream and have a listen.
This episode flies past with:
As we wrap up this episode, we'd like to give a shout out to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and their need for donations to help cover their fuel bill, which is a major part of their costs, especially as fuel prices keep going up. If you have a few shekels and want to support a very worthy cause, please go to their site and help out.
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