Plane Crazy Down Under

The show was hosted by Steve Visscher and Grant McHerron with additional material supplied by a team of volunteers including Ben Ippolito on Air Traffic Control topics, Bas Scheffers on Recreational Aviation Australia (RA-Aus) and General Aviation, Anthony Simmons providing a passenger's view of airline flight, Maikha Ly reporting from events plus David Vanderhoof on aviation history. Joining the PCDU team for 'on-site' events were Adam Visscher and Steven Pam who provide visual content with still photographs and videos along with Alan Van't Padje who provided sound audio mixing during live events.[1]

Plane Crazy Down Under grew from Steve Visscher's audio contributions to the Airplane Geeks podcast, where the title "Australia Desk" was applied by Max Flight & Courtney Miller.[2] While Steve was supplying audio reports on Australian aviation issues, Grant was writing in with updates via email. When Steve & Grant met at an Uncontrolled Airspace gathering in June 2009,[3] they decided to join up and provide Australia Desk content together.[4][5]

It was soon clear that they were producing too much content for the time available on Airplane Geeks so they decided to create their own podcast. The first episode of Plane Crazy Down Under appeared on July 16, 2009,[6] with early episodes being "full length edits" of the content that was subsequently edited down to create that week's Australia Desk segment. After a few weeks of this, Steve and Grant began producing episodes using different content from that which was used for the Australia Desk and Plane Crazy Down Under shifted into its own show structure with episodes released every couple of weeks.

Towards the end of 2010, the hosts also started producing the Flying Down Under segment for the FlightTime Radio show, a weekly radio show about flying that was broadcast every Saturday. The Flying Down Under segment appeared every two weeks and provided insight into the world of Aviation in Australia.

In 2011, Plane Crazy Down Under joined the Australian podcast network Lifestyle PodNetwork (LPN).[7] With the demise of the network, Plane Crazy Down Under reverted to its original stand-alone status.

Guests on the podcast have included pilots, analysts, air traffic controllers, business owners, and museum staff. Some of the guests have included:

• Matt Hall, former Royal Australian Air Force Squadron Leader and Red Bull Air Race pilot.[8]
• Deborah Lawrie, first female pilot with Ansett Airlines.[9]
• Other Red Bull Air Race pilots including Michael Goulian,[10] Nigel Lamb, Hannes Arch & Pete McLeod.
• Dick Smith, Australian entrepreneur and pilot.
• Warren Truss, then leader of the National Party and shadow minister for trade, transport and local government.
• David Jacka, the first person with quadriplegia to fly solo around the coast of Australia.[11]
• Peter Daniell, Chief Pilot of True South Flights from New Zealand.[12]

Throughout the life of the show, Steve and Grant were able to obtain sponsorship at various times, particularly for specific events such as their coverage of the Australian International Airshow held every two years at Avalon Airport near Melbourne. This sponsorship allowed them to travel for specific aviation events or, in the case of the Australian International Airshow, assembling a team with nearby accommodation that allowed them to produce daily audio and video coverage of Australia's largest air show event.

Sponsors have included:

• Jetride Australia sponsored flights to the USA so that Steve & Grant could attend the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh event in 2011.[13]
• Temby Auto Service, who also wrote about taking Grant for an aerobatic adventure flight.[14]

The Plane Crazy Down Under team appeared in the Australian Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association Magazine's coverage of the 2010 Centenary Airshow[15] as well as in an article about the show in a subsequent issue.[16] They have also been introduced to readers of the General Aviation News web site[17] and referenced as part of the commentary team at the Wings Over Illawarra airshow.[18]

• Official website