Australian Aviation Podcast Network

In the 1970s, a young pilot called Deborah Lawrie did something nobody had thought possible: took on the might of Ansett, at the time one of Australia's two big airlines, all the way to the High Court – and won.
Her goal? To overturn Sir Reginald Ansett's long-standing ban on women in the cockpit and become Australia's first female commercial airline pilot. Her landmark case – and her incredible subsequent career – paved the way for female aviators after her to make their mark on Australian skies.
Now working for Virgin Australia, Deb is the oldest and longest-serving female pilot at any commercial airline in the world, and has just released a new memoir, Touching the Sky, recounting her fight against Ansett and what came next.

On this week's Australian Aviation Podcast, Deb sits down with Jake to discuss how she caught the flying bug at an early age, how she took down the aviation titan that was Sir Reg Ansett, and the highs and lows of more than four decades of flying.

When he was just 12 years old and growing up near Shellharbour Airport, Riley McDonald knew he wanted to fly – so he started spending his free time heading down to the airport and washing people's planes in exchange for lessons.
At age 16 he was flying solo and earning his pilot's licence, and now at 25, he works as a professional skydiving pilot and aircraft maintenance engineer, and has taken out a National Advanced Champion title for aerobatics.
Mentored by none other than Paul Bennet, Riley is now gearing up to fly with the Paul Bennet Airshows team at Wings Over Shellharbour this month, and says airshows and open days are the perfect entry point to bring more young enthusiasts into the industry.
On this Australian Aviation Podcast, Riley tells Jake Nelson how he chased his dream of a career in aviation – and how we can encourage other aspiring pilots and engineers to do the same.

With the Iran conflict driving up fuel prices amid an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, you might expect international travel to plummet and airfares to soar – but it turns out the real picture is a touch more complicated than that.
While airlines have been pruning services and hiking prices, both Qantas and Virgin have launched huge domestic sales to try to woo customers with millions of discounted seats, while Sydney Airport just saw the best quarter for international travel in its history.
On this week's Australian Aviation Podcast, Jake and David try to make head or tail of the unexpectedly topsy-turvy outcomes of the Middle East crisis on our aviation sector, and examine how the world's airspace is being reshaped – for now or for good.
Plus, Western Sydney Airport's new flight paths are locked and loaded – what can Sydneysiders expect when the first cargo planes arrive in July?

It's well-known that the aviation and aerospace sector has been suffering under a talent shortage for some time now – not to mention the challenge of promoting greater diversity in the workforce.
One potential solution? To encourage more young people to enter the industry – to cultivate a love of aviation from an early age, and help kids realise it could hold their dream job.
Together with the CSIRO's STEM in Schools program, industry bodies like Aviation/Aerospace Australia are doing just that by going into schools and holding talks and workshops on what an aviation career could mean for students' futures.
On this Australian Aviation Podcast, Jake talks to Anntonette Dailey of Aviation/Aerospace Australia about the root causes behind the talent crisis, what the industry is doing about them, and the support it needs to bring young people along for the ride.

The government has rolled out its 2026 National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program, and there's plenty to dissect for aviation – an early sunset for Tiger helicopters, the retirement of the C-27J Spartan, and a $7 billion boost to counter-drone defences, just to start with.
While the RAAF alone is slated to get between $34-41 billion over the next 10 years, as the world becomes more unstable and traditional alliances get shakier, is Australia doing enough to bolster its own air defences?
On this week's Australian Aviation Podcast, Jake and David are joined by aerospace and defence lead Stephen Kuper to discuss what Australia is doing – and could be doing – to safeguard its skies.
Plus, the Iran conflict has driven Australian traffic to the Middle East off a cliff – which hubs are picking up the slack, and what's happening to our domestic capacity?