We’ve been a little ‘lazy’ lately; both here and over at Flight Podcast. However, it has been an enormous year for our group – one of significant challenge but also of significant achievement.

What are we doing?

Ken recently took on the Fleet Training Manager role at the now renamed Virgin Australia International airline. As such, he’s immersed himself in less important tasks like managing an airline. The experience, however, will give him a renewed lease on training related content for this site and the podcast.

Adam has had a busy year. After purchasing his first house, he bravely decided that it required renovations far exceeding him limited skill set. On top of that, he recently transitioned from the Boeing 777 to the Boeing 737 and domestic fleet. He is due for his line check later this week. Good luck, Adam.

Karlene has finished her novel and is days shy of publishing it to the world. She’s the aviation ‘wonder woman’ of the online world and has obviously immersed herself in a number of other projects.

I’ve personally expanded my media business to Brisbane and Melbourne with offices in both states. I’ll also transition onto the Boeing 737 very shortly for a change of lifestyle and jetlag-free domestic bliss. Not unlike Ken, the change in scenery will give me a renewed lease on training material. On another note, and as of last night, I’m engaged to be married!

The website and podcast will be a big focus for us in 2012.

Merry Christmas

We would like to wish everybody all the best of everything for the holiday season. We truly with you the best of everything.

A few days ago, we spoke to Santa over at FlyingTraining.net. If you’re interested in hearing the politically, religiously and culturally insensitive Santa, you can do so below. Listener discretion is advised!

You’ll Lose an Engine on Takeoff

There isn’t a pilot alive that hasn’t heard the “you’ll lose an engine on takeoff” joke. Below is a cool little animation you may enjoy.

Gallery

Here’s a few Christmas images.

Original post and comments from: flight.org

Merry Christmas from @flightorg and @FlightPodcast

Twitterfeed and other such services are good for bloggers that want to have their blog posts fed in series to their Twitter account, but the functionality offered is very limited and the user has little or no control over how content is delivered. It certainly isn’t suitable as a true publishing platform.

Update: We’ve posted an updating list of our Twitter feeds here. You’ll find a comprehensive list of airline Twitter feeds here

We decided that we wanted to create feeds that we wanted to read. Reading re-tweets from others (or messages endorsed by others by way of re-posting them) is good, but the only true means of keeping fully informed on current events is to have a feed that discriminately reads posts, deems them as suitable, then posts them to a purpose registered Twitter stream that can be digested by a user at their convenience… and posts them in a manner that is befitting of Twitter. We parse each tweet and have it automatically evaluated by a complex algorithm that determines the source of the post (so the source of the news can be referenced – when available) and we apply hash-tags to words of interest… making the post appear more real, more targeted and more user-friendly. We don’t follow anybody so the choice to follow the account is completely up the user. Some of the feeds are fairly intense in volume so they’re not everybody’s cup of tea.

We’ve created a number of automated accounts and we will continue to do so as we see the need.

	@AviationMedia is an account that posts a broad range of aviation content with a focus on global airline issues. It is the busiest and most comprehensive of all the accounts mentioned.
	@NewsBoeing posts a large amount of content relating to Boeing aircraft, Boeing business and incidents involving their aircraft.
	Not unlike NewsBoeing, @NewsAirbus posts information on the aircraft, incidents, the airlines that fly them and other general news.
	Like NewsBoeing and NewsAirbus, @EmbraerNews is a feed of interesting and relevant news relating to the (generally) jet aircraft manufactured by Embraer.
	Those of us in the industry generally have an interest in flight simulators since we spend so much time in them. @NewsFlightSim posts a large amount of information on news within the flight simulation industry and community.
	As a rotary pilot myself, I enjoy reading a single feed with all the latest rotary news. I’ve customised the @ChopperNews feed to my own liking but it includes civilian helicopter news that should be of interest to any pilot.
	@FlightSafe is designed to accompany our new blog at CrewResourceManagement.com and podcast at FlightPodcast.com. It tweets selected news relating to aviation safety.
	News on the instructional side of aviation is hard to find. For that reason, @FlyingTraining seeks and tweets the best in flight training news.
	@Aircrews is an account that seeks and tweets the most up-to-date news for Flight Attendants, Cabin Crew and Flight Crew.
	@AirlineMedia seeks and tweets the latest in Airline Social Media news.
	Inspired by Mary Kirby (@RunwayGirl) from Flight Global, @IFEnews seeks and tweets the latest in in-flight entertainment and connectivity news.
	@AvalonAirshow is more of a proof-of-concept account than anything else. It was set up in consultation with two other media organisations to establish what kind of functionality could be derived from an account that consolidated traditional news, blogs, and re-tweeted posts from other users with the #avalon11 hash-tag. The account will also post updated Metar weather reports every hour and be fed with the most recent Avalon Airshow uploads from YouTube. Whether or not anybody chooses to follow or use the account, it represents what could and should be accomplished using the Twitter platform for such events. It forms a true gateway for all Twitter users and connects them when other means may not have been possible. It also consolidates content from all users and presents it as a single stream for those that don’t attend. We’ve seen many interesting applications for Twitter over the last couple of years and it’ll be interesting to see how or if this feed is used. We’ll post some more information on @AvalonAirshow in a couple of days.

Our Personal Accounts

As always, you can follow us on our personal accounts that we regularly post to and monitor.

	@flightorg is the primary Twitter account used for this and a number of other blogs.
	@FlightPodcast is a combined podcast account. We generally don’t use it for reasons unrelated to the program.
	My own feed, @MartyKhoury is where I connect with other people and share news from a number of my blogs and websites.
	Ken tweets at @KenPascoe. Other than aviation stuff, he’s also an Android geek and shares a lot of information that most of us would be happier not knowing.
	Adam tweets at @AdSaddo. Adam is part of the Flight Podcast crew and manages our documentary film-making. Adam plans on a significant involvement in this blog over coming months.
	Will Horton is the newest addition to the flght.org team. You’ll find him at @Winglets747 and on his blog at Flight Global – Wings Down Under.

Aviation Metars

Despite the fact we’re a second tier provider and our data isn’t valid in an operational sense, many pilots may want to follow one of our accounts that posts aviation METAR’s to selected airports on an hourly basis. We’ve set up quite a few and we’ll continue to set them up on the basis of a request.

Just some of the accounts include: @YSSYmetar, @YMMLmetar, @YBBNmetar, @YSCBmetar, @YPPHmetar, @YPADmetar, @YPDNmetar, @YBCSmetar, @YBTLmetar, @YMAVmetar, @YMHBmetar, @YMLTmetar, @NZAAmetar, @NZCHmetar, @NZWNmetar, @KLAXmetar, @KSFOmetar, @KJFKmetar, @LFPGmetar, @OMDBmetar, @EGLLmetar… and many, many others.

The Reason?

We’ve set these accounts up primarily because they render information that we want to read!

As a company that manufactures new media and implements online solutions for traditional business (with an emphasis in the aviation industry) we build web and mobile applications regularly simply to demonstrate workable technology. No company that claims to offer online social services or consultation should be without examples of how they implement their own social reach. As well as simply driving traffic, the followers generally represent a tribe of people who have a narrow or specific interest. It makes it very easy to establish a relationship with followers after you’re identified as a reliable and trustworthy source.

The code?

We will eventually release the code that accomplishes what we’ve described above to subscribers of our mailing list. In the meantime, if you want a feed, please let us know and, if it’s something that is of use, we’ll set it up for you. The link under each tweet will link to your website.

Other accounts

We’ve set up a huge number of other accounts in the last few days for various reasons. Some of them include the following: NewsFB, Googlenetics, PCauthority, PoliceAU, SydneyNews, TwytterNews, FinanceOz, OzDollar and Uzenet. Most feed are are associated with (or will be) with one of our many sites.

The question of automation is one that many struggle with – and many are opposed to. We make no secret of the fact that these accounts are automated – so they lack the richness that comes with real human interaction. Simply put, our automated feeds are accounts that you’ll follow because you’re interested in news – not people.

Update: 12th July 2011

A full list of our growing list of feeds is now published on our news website – NewsAviation.com.

Original post and comments from: flight.org

Flight.org’s Aviation Twitter Addiction

The three primary people behind flight.org and its subsidiary websites are heavily involved in a number of other projects – including a pilot for Australian TV, podcast, and a few other websites currently in development – and, for that reason, we’ve sadly neglected content here over the last couple of weeks. We should be back to daily posts in a few days.

Podcast News

We’re thrilled to introduce a number of aviation experts as regular contributors to FlightPodcast.com. They’ll have their own segment on the program giving us much more of a variety style show; and at the same time producing the best aviation audio content on the web.

Mary Kirby blogs for Flight Global as Runway Girl. Mary is a Flight International senior editor and aviation blogger with a focus on in-flight entertainment and connectivity, and aircraft interiors. Marty will talk about the latest in IFE, cabins and airline news.

David Parker Brown writes about aviation in a way that is interesting to those who work and have an interest in the airline industry. David is also syndicated by Seattle PI.

Kirsty Ferguson is one of the world’s most highly regarded interview coaches. She writes for Marie Claire Magazine, Australian Flying, Retail Pharmacy Magazine, flight.org and other syndicated magazines. Kirsty will talk about recruitment, interview techniques and other matters related to human resources in aviation.

If you haven’t already, sign up the Flight Podcast mailing list or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

We’ll be back to regular posts in a couple of days. In the meantime you can listen to our first podcast below. Keep in mind that it was very much ‘experimental’… so subsequent programs will have a vastly superior production quality and diverse content.

Original post and comments from: flight.org

Flight Podcast Update

Despite many excellent programs of its kind, we identified with an opportunity in the marketplace to position our professionally focused program in our own niche; yet at the same time complement the existing podcast community. 

We’re all currently active in the industry with combined flight experience exceeding 40,000 hours. Combined, we’ve flown at least 10 jet types and have worked in all areas of general aviation and the airline industry, including: marketing, sales, elementary flight training (as instructors), airline check and training, line flying, public relations, ground instructors (including CRM), management, learning management and social media. We’re hoping that the broad mix of talent will translate into an entertaining and educational show. 

Adam (L), Marty (C) & Ken (R) in everyday attire

We have some guest presenters lined up that will join us regularly for their own segment. This line-up will include Kirsty Ferguson, one of the world’s most highly regarded interview coaches, for information on airline recruitment and interview techniques. 

Karlene Petitt

We’re more than thrilled with the commitment that many industry experts have shown us by way of interviews and publicity. Our first show will feature some of the best known personalities in the global aviation community. 

We’ve attracted a lot of support via our mailing list at FlightPodcast.com with over 2200 subscribing within the first week alone. 

If you have any ideas, or you have anything you would like to see, please provide details below or email us via our contact form. You can contact us collectively on Twitter at @FlightPodcast or individually on @MartyKhoury, @KenPascoe, @KarlenePetitt and @AdSaddo. Of course, you can continue to contact us via this blog account at @flightorg. 

The podcast is essentially ‘owned’ by all of us, and it will be managed by a media company based in Sydney, Australia. The website address for our new project is www.FlightPodcast.com. A name for the show is not yet know. Suggestions? 

We have some other exciting media plans that we will announce shortly…

Original post and comments from: flight.org

Introducing FlightPodcast.com

We operate a network of websites dedicated to various areas of aviation. Rather than host them under the same domain we have set up a number of websites that all serve their own purpose… but they all form part of the broader flight.org identity. We’re currently working on a number of sites and have a large number of others planned.

We have a lot planned for this site (and indeed our network of sites). Please sign up to our mailing list so we can keep you informed!

Original post and comments from: flight.org

Welcome to flight.org