We’re joined by Dave Homewood from the Wings Over New Zealand forum & podcast to talk about his time with the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), the warbird scene over there and the comprehensive forum he established. We also discuss his excellent Wings Over New Zealand podcast which has a large number of fascinating interviews & recordings covering the Kiwi scene. You can follow Dave’s latest updates on his Wings Over New Zealand Facebook page.

After our chat with Dave we feature more Avalon 2013 content including our KC-30A interview, a chat about the Heron Remotely Piloted Vehicle’s operations in Afghanistan and part two of Grant’s chat with Charles Cheeseman from Eco 2000. As if all that wasn’t enough, we introduce Maikha Ly who is joining the team as a roving reporter covering regional aviation events.

We’ve also got a new competition where the first 5 people who email us the correct answer to Owen Zupp’s question will win a copy of his “50 Tales of Flight” eBook. After that, it’s time for listener mail, shout outs and the wrap up.

Whew, no wonder it’s almost 2 hours long :)

The show unfolds as:

• 0:08:29 – We chat with Dave Homewood
• 0:42:11 – Interview with FLTLT Simon Press & WOFF David Bull on the flight deck of the RAAF KC-30A
• 0:55:33 – Interview with WGCDR Jonathan McMullan about the Heron Remotely Piloted Vehicle and its operations in Afghanistan
• 1:07:18 – Introducing Maikha Ly, our roving reporter covering regional events
• 1:17:21 – The second part of Grant’s chat with Charles Cheeseman from Eco 2000 (part 1 was back in Episode 103: Avalon 2013 – Day Three)
• 1:24:48 – We announce winners of our FlightPathTV competition:
• Errol Cavit from NZ
• Alex James from China
• Gary Clarkson from Melbourne
• 1:26:49 – Thanks to the donors from our audience who helped us exceed the $250 we needed to join Ryan Campbell’s “$500 Club” from his Teen World Flight project:
• Peter Gossner
• Doug & Kerri Worrall
• Brian Grinter
• Chris Fenelon
• Peter Baxter
• Gary Clarkson
• Ben Jones
• Andrew Van Der Saag
• Nick Christiansen
• Gareth Little-Hales
• Evan Schoo
• 1:29:29 – We announce a new competition, this time featuring a question from Owen Zupp. The first five people who email us with the correct answer will win a copy of his “50 Tales of Flight” eBook.
• 1:31:17 – Listener Mail:
• The AirStig has laid down a challenge for Doug Worrall’s LEO game & has completed all the missions & logged a score of 5641. Do you think you can beat his score?
• Roger Preston from Europe emailed us regarding Episode 79
• Michael Power enjoyed Avalon 2013 coverage but reckons Episode #51 (our F-111 Tribute) is still our best so far
• Mick from the Frankston line has sent us some audio of a De Havilland Comet crew doing their checks (you can hear it just before the bloopers)
• Cade Jones has been enjoying the show & wants to get into radio/media
• Mike Butorac asked us about suitable music for a video of trans-continental flight in Australia
• 1:40:36 – Shout Outs:
• Peter Merwood in NZ who flies Thunderbird 6 (a beautiful RV6)
• The Airplane Geeks for reaching episode #250 which is their 200th episode since Steve & Grant started doing the Australia Desk together
• Pieter & the gang in the UK for their Xtended aviation podcast
• David Optimal for getting his Class 1 instructor rating :)