Grant’s back from an exhausting week working on hot air balloons at Canowindra in rural New South Wales but at least he got a chance to fly one of them before he made the long drive back home. Meanwhile, Steve’s feeling relaxed after recovering from his illness last week.

With the tragic news of Germanwings Flight 9525 unfolding this week, Australia joins the “Two Crew Cockpit Rule” club effective immediately. Our friend Owen Zupp also commented on it at his The Pilots Blog site and notes that we should ensure that quickly implemented solutions do not, in turn, introduce new issues in the future.

Meanwhile, RAAF 75SQN F18 Classic Hornets are replacing 1SQN F18 Super Hornets in the Middle East as part of Operation Okra and the first RAAF EA18G Growler shipset has been created at Northrop Grumman & sent to Boeing for final assembly.