The Australia Desk

With the sad news that the RAAF have withdrawn the F/A-18 A & B aircraft from service this week, the boys are joined by Stewart Wilson, a well known aviation author and historian in Australia, to discuss their history in RAAF service. They even mention why these models are referred to as “Classic Hornets” in Australia rather than “Legacy Hornets” as the US military calls them.

The boys are back and Grant's had to get Steve up at the crack of noon to record an Oz Desk much earlier than usual, but there's so much to discuss and so much to do, like maybe flying somewhere outside of Melbourne? First up, Australia's international borders are open again , admittedly only for fully vaccinated Australian citizens and visa holders, but it's a start! Grant's really happy that Vir...

The boys are back for another Oz Desk and, despite being well over a year since their last one, everything works out just fine with no hassles, hijinks or shenanigans. Who knew? The Royal Australian Navy are shopping for another 12 MH-60R Romeos to add to their existing fleet of 24. Maybe they should make that a baker’s dozen and order 13 new MH-60Rs given one on deployment with HMAS Brisbane (a H...

Despite the best efforts of COVID to turn Victoria into Sick-toria (the infectious state) and Melbourne being locked down like East Berlin, the boys have managed to get another Oz Desk produced for Max to (hopefully :) ) allow into the show :) Yet another crew have used their flight path to draw in the sky and this time it’s the the last Qantas 747 being flown to the USA for storage at Victorville...

It’s been a while since our last Australia Desk and the boys have been busy in their isolation. Grant’s picked up a new, sexy microphone & studio gear while Steve’s been busy perfecting his speed editing while working on more podcasts than even Max produces! Despite Grant not being able to fly on an airliner since early March, he’s not let that stop him from obtaining new status levels with ai...

It’s time for the annual OzDesk update and the boys are back with the following news items: The Federal Senate have launched (yet another) enquiry into CASA & GA Jetstar staff (ground crew and pilots) are going on strike over working conditions The latest set of F-35As arrive in Australia and our latest P-8A arrives. After references to kidneys (the price of entry is steep!) and Max’s name, th...

How could the boys not crash a milestone 500th episode? With a nod to the bulk of their past reports, they present a standard Oz Desk episode with news reviews, discussion and fewer sound effects (mostly :) ). The topics covered today are: The RAAF receives their 10th and final C-27J Spartan , throwing a welcome party that included a demonstration grass field landing. Air New Zealand are sending t...

Max managed to get the boys back into the studio to record an Australia Desk segment for the end-of-2017 “Bits n Pieces” episode. By the time they’d cleared out the dust, fired up the generators and caught up on what they’d each been doing since the last Oz Desk (way back in March), there was only time to talk about the Australian Government relaxing 457 Visa requirements for foreign pilots to hel...

We’re back, babies (well, at least for this year :) ). Steve and Grant are at the Avalon Air Show 2017 and they interview Ben Morgan, CEO of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Australia who is working hard to increase membership and champion improvements to the General, Recreation and Sport aviation environments in Australia. They also talk about the arrival of Australia’s first two F-3...

Once again it's Qantas all the way but this time our friend Richard Muirden was on board the first Qantas flight to San Francisco since 2011 :) CASA goes for awareness rather than registration for drones . To wrap things up, we have sad news: It's taken some thinking and some angst but Steve & Grant have decided it's time to pull back from the Australia Desk and take a break. While the regular...

Steve's back in the studio so the sound quality is up and so is the number of stories: AirNZ operates first ETOPS 330 flight to Buenos Aires ATSB & CASA investigating Jetstar after 2 separate weight & balance incidents Airscope Industries run their drones like an airline

Steve’s relaxing in Fiji but still takes a moment to chat with Grant & record some content for the OzDesk before going back to his strenuous relaxation program. Virgin Australia were the most punctual airline in October but Steve’s aborted take off in one of their aircraft heading to Fiji won’t be helping them achieve the same result in November’s results. Ooops. Meanwhile, following on from o...

Big news this week as the RAAF lands one of their C17s on the Wilkins ice runway in Antarctica. The RAAF may also be looking at a new, bigger VIP aircraft as our Prime Minister needs a bigger executive jet to take his entourage with him on longer summit missions. Despite the PM considering a bigger jet, mining magnate & politician Clive Palmer is trying to offload his lovely Citation X as well...

Grant’s not letting his birthday get in the way of recording an OzDesk but Steve’s been loading up the articles so this could be a long one! Qantas loses its bet with Air New Zealand and celebrates the recent All Blacks win If it's not one volcano blocking Bali , it's the other QF & VA say credit card surcharges don't cover the costs Virgin Australia on track for profit in the first quarter of...

Steve’s had a good time being Em-Cee at the OzRunways fundraiser for Angel Flight with Matt Hall in the Regal Air hangar at Bankstown in Sydney but now it's back to work and producing the OzDesk. In the news today, CASA says it'll listen to industry yet also says that it’s losing money which is rather odd for a government department. Over in the Military world, a RAAF KC30A has refuelled a RAAF E7...

The boys are back and the comedy flows as they report on Tiger Airways apparently improving their customer experience and even getting a new call center. Steve is less than enthused! He is, however, rather excited about the next Retro Roo colour scheme from Qantas. As we record an existing 737-800 is in the paintshop at Townsville getting one of the old Qantas paint schemes applied. We're hoping f...

Grant's back on deck (& so is Nykolai :) ) but he's struggling to remember how to do the AusDesk. Not to worry, Steve helps him get back in the groove and the guys report on: CASA warning drone operators to stay clear of bush fires Alan Joyce awarded Airline CEO of the Year by CAPA (say WHAT??? :) ) Alan is also talking about non-stop flights from London to Perth when their new 787-9s come on...

Finally back after a bit of a break although Grant has subbed out due to family reasons, being ably replaced by ATC Ben. Ben tells us about his recent slight change of job, and location, having moved from the world of en-route controller in Melbourne to tower controller in the remote Western Australian town of Karratha. He tells about the aircraft movement this predominantly mining based town host...

Grant's back and the boys are gobsmacked by Alan Joyce's $12 million salary! They're pretty sure their morals would get corrupted for that amount of money ! Still with Qantas, they've painted A380 VH-OQH to support the Wallabies rugby union team (Grant tries to explain what that means). Getting into the computer games , the RAAF C130J sim at Richmond was used to take part in the global event Virtu...

Steve is solo this week as Grant is out of action with a throat infection. Steve covers the huge turnaround in the Qantas full year profit ($575 million profit after a $2.8 billion loss the year before) with an excerpt of Ross Greenwood from Sydney radio station 2GB interviewing CEO Alan Joyce about why he thinks such a turnaround has been possible. NOTE: You can hear the full version of that inte...

Steve has declared that the boys won't be talking about the Australian Sex Party despite Grant's protestations (don’t worry, you can hear our chat with two of their pilots, Ken Hill & Tim Sheen, back in PCDU Episode 40 ). After getting past that tricky topic, they proceed to discuss: Virgin Australia are going to use their subsidiary TigerAir on flights to Bali as well as completely pulling ou...

It’s a week of firsts for the Australian Defence Force as the boys give progress on still more new or updated airframes coming down under: The first RAAF E18G Growler is unveiled The first RAAF P8A is under construction & due to have its first flight in mid 2016 First of 15 Airbus Helicopter EC135 T2+ helicopters (HATS01) received for Boeing to operate on behalf of the Australian Defence Force...

The boys are back in the studio and Grant’s trying VERY hard not to explode over the news that Qantas is doing very well thanks to Alan Joyce. It’s not that they haven’t turned the corner and improved their stock price , it’s more that they’ve done it despite Joyce’s previous management disasters :) Meanwhile, Qantas’ competitor Virgin Australia got the gong for most punctual domestic carrier in J...

Steve’s on his own in the studio because Grant finally made it away for his vacation, although not to Bali as originally planned. Instead, he and his lovely wife flew halfway across the Pacific to Fiji. Now, of course, you’d think he’d be living it up on the beach and all, but Grant still managed to find his way to a local airport from where he filed a quick report for us. After the report, Steve...

Grant’s at home when he should be in Bali thanks to the ash cloud from Mt Raung so it’s time to do an OzDesk. The boys talk briefly about flights resuming to Bali . They also talk about the fun they had doing commentary at the Hunter Valley Airshow last weekend despite Grant losing his voice :)