Episode 179: Hey Steve, we're on the show!

The boys have weaseled their way into a Geeks recording session and managed to join the discussion for a while. It's not a typical Australia Desk (it wasn't a typical Geeks episode either!) but they do talk about the Australian view on some aviation topics. It was lots of fun and made for a great start to the year :)It starts with Grant sneaking onto the show first, in time to give his views on what the US aviation industry looks like from Down Under. His big call outs were the need to get over security theatre, that TSA and Homeland Security are a big drain on the US economy and that US airports will have to start introducing slot restrictions as NextGen ATC won't solve all the problems given runways are the limiting factor when it comes to meeting the required frequency of arrivals and departures the airlines keep scheduling.The team also talk about Sydney's paperless airport with RFID cards, bag tags and phone based boarding passes plus Delta's bag tracking feature in their app.Steve then joins the fun with his predictions for 2012 which include the impacts on airlines and general aviation from the shrinking global economy along with the impact to Australia if China reduces its need for Australian raw resources.We also talk about the USA potentially losing its lead in manufacturing of aircraft given the rise of aircraft manufacturing in China and India. There's also been some good aviation industry in Australia (not just the GippsAero GA-8 Airvan :) ) plus many Asian airlines have been sending their student pilots to Australia for training thanks to lots of open space, good weather and a competitive exchange rate. Steve does not that this could all disappear if China decides to bring flight training back in-country rather than continue in Australia and/or the USA.