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Speaker 1: Now it was a massive weekend for defense, thousands attending

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Speaker 1: the Pitch Black Open Day at the r.

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Speaker 2: Double AF base in Darwin.

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Speaker 1: Jets also taking to the skies over Catherine for a

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Speaker 1: flyover during the show to thank the community for their support. Now,

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Speaker 1: Exercise Pitch Black has also now entered its second week

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Speaker 1: and night flying is set to begin as I understand

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Speaker 1: now joining me in the studio, Well, Deputy Commander of Exercise, No,

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Speaker 1: hang on, we've got the who. I've got the Exercise

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Speaker 1: director of Pitch Black Group, Captain Stuart SENI.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.

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Speaker 1: I think we had a late changeover of guests and

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Speaker 1: we've got you in here. And who better to speak

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Speaker 1: to really than the exercise director of Pitch Black.

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Speaker 2: What a job.

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Speaker 3: Yes, it's a great responsibility.

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Speaker 4: But I'm having absolutely baulbing up here in Darwin and

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Speaker 4: joining the local community once again.

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Speaker 3: There's nothing better than coming up to the top end.

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Speaker 2: I'll tell you what. Everybody's just looking at the skies

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Speaker 2: at the moment.

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Speaker 1: You see people parked up in different locations waiting to

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Speaker 1: see the different aircraft flying over. Do you think that

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Speaker 1: we get a greater turnout of people really wanting to

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Speaker 1: be part of it and wanting to see everything than

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Speaker 1: what you might see in other parts of the world.

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Speaker 4: Oh, there's no doubt the Darwin community completely embraces what

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Speaker 4: we do up here. For pitch back twenty four with

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Speaker 4: twenty nations participating, which sixteen have aircraft participating. The sheet

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Speaker 4: diversity of type of aircraft we got here is it's

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Speaker 4: like a globe, like an international airshoe. To be fair,

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Speaker 4: it's just crazy and in fact I saw aircraft here

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Speaker 4: that I've never seen in my thirty year flying career.

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Speaker 3: It's just marvelous.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So is that just some of the aircraft from other countries.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right, Like you know, Gripplin's from Thailand and

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Speaker 4: Rafiles from France, aircraft you don't normally see and bring

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Speaker 4: them all together and to the top of Australia is

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Speaker 4: just amazing.

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Speaker 1: Now. We had the open day over the weekend. From

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Speaker 1: all accounts, it's received a glowing review from our listeners

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Speaker 1: throughout this morning, people really messaging through wanting to thank

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Speaker 1: you guys for putting it on.

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Speaker 2: How did it go from your perspective?

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Speaker 4: Oh, it went extremely well, you know, that's our opportunities

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Speaker 4: say thank you to the community too. You know that

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Speaker 4: welcomes us up here, but also has to accept the

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Speaker 4: fact we do fly very loud aeroplanes throughout the day

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Speaker 4: and now as we go into the next two weeks

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Speaker 4: at night time, and it is disruptive and we appreciate that.

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Speaker 4: And the best we can do is, you know, put

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Speaker 4: on the flying display at Middle Beach last Thursday night

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Speaker 4: and then you know, together with Saturday, what an amazing

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Speaker 4: turnout and really get back to the local community.

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Speaker 2: Do we know how many people were there on the weekend.

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Speaker 4: We believe there was probably over thirty thousand in attendance,

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Speaker 4: which is just absolutely remarkable, and I think it was logistically.

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Speaker 3: Perform you know, execute very very well.

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Speaker 4: Everyone I spoke to in the community that I walking

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Speaker 4: around and just talking to the general public absolutely loved it.

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Speaker 3: And you know, lots of lots of smiles on kids' faces.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, people were pumped.

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Speaker 1: Like we've, like I said, we've got so many messages

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Speaker 1: coming through this morning, really just wanting to say thanks

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Speaker 1: for an amazing, an amazing open day.

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Speaker 2: And I think it's like it is wonderful that it's become.

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Speaker 1: Such a big part of the community where you guys

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Speaker 1: do really make sure that you're out there and you're

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Speaker 1: letting everybody know exactly what's going on, but you're allowing

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Speaker 1: locals to come and see some of those aircraft as

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Speaker 1: well up close, like you would never get the opportunity

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Speaker 1: to see usually.

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Speaker 3: No, that's right, and.

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Speaker 4: At the end of the day, it's Australia's Air Force,

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Speaker 4: so you know they have a right to come and

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Speaker 4: see what we do. You know, a lot of what

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Speaker 4: we do you don't see because it's well out to

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Speaker 4: the south of Darwin in the airspace. But what you

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Speaker 4: can do is see the airplanes up close and that's

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Speaker 4: why we love doing it. And you know, all the

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Speaker 4: squadrons are out there from all the different countries selling

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Speaker 4: their merchandise, talking to the public, showcasing the military hardware

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Speaker 4: we have here and some of the most amazing technology

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Speaker 4: from an aviation perspective.

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Speaker 3: That you'll ever get to see. And I think you

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Speaker 3: know the community loved it. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Hey, moving on to the exercise itself. How's it been

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Speaker 1: going so far?

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Speaker 3: Incredibly well.

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Speaker 4: It's a very complicated and complex activity to try and

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Speaker 4: get that many different countries integrated and flying together. We

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Speaker 4: have language barriers, we have different cultures, and my job

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Speaker 4: is to make sure that we do that safely and smoothly.

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Speaker 4: And today, you know, after we flew around six hundred

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Speaker 4: sauties last week and we're about to do the same

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Speaker 4: for the next two weeks. And it went off very

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Speaker 4: very well, very minor issues and as we planted extensively.

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Speaker 4: And I think the benefit of really thorough planning is

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Speaker 4: what we're seeing during the execution.

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Speaker 1: And so the night flying kicks off tonight, does Nash.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right. So we'll have night flying kicking off

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Speaker 4: early evening tonight. We've advertised at the nightflying will be

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Speaker 4: completed by ten thirty pm, but we're hopeful to have

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Speaker 4: all the aircraft on the on the ground by about

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Speaker 4: nine pm, and really most of the noise will be

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Speaker 4: in the departures and as everyone would have seen on

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Speaker 4: Thursday night, their noisy aeroplanes, but that'll happen, you know,

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Speaker 4: a couple of hours earlier than that, So the most

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Speaker 4: of the noise will be earlier evening, with the later recoveries.

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Speaker 3: Being a little bit quieter and hopefully done by nine.

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Speaker 2: And what's sort of the aim of the night flying.

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Speaker 2: Why is it required?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, well, we have to be prepared to do operations

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Speaker 4: twenty four hours a day, and flying at night is

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Speaker 4: the most complex given the reduction of light obviously, and

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Speaker 4: so if we don't train at night, then we can't

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Speaker 4: be expected to operate at night. Getting that many aeroplanes

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Speaker 4: and the missions we're flying over the next two weeks

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Speaker 4: will have an excess of thirty fighter aircraft in one

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Speaker 4: mission and getting them all together and assembled and deconflicted

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Speaker 4: requires a lot of skill and a lot of practice,

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Speaker 4: and that's what we're executing during Pitch Black.

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Speaker 1: Now your day job or your usual job, so you're

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Speaker 1: usually responsible for all of Australia's if thirty five squadrons,

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Speaker 1: is that correct?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's correct.

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Speaker 4: I've got three squadrons down at Williamtown and Newcastle and

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Speaker 4: one down here and Catherine at Raft based Hindle.

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Speaker 1: So what's it like really being in the cockpit of

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Speaker 1: one of these aircraft, and particularly during an exercise like.

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Speaker 3: This, it's exhilarating.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 4: I've been flying fighters since the mid nineties and I

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Speaker 4: still every time I go flying and I kind of

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Speaker 4: look outside the canopy and look around. I can't believe

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Speaker 4: I have to pinch myself that I'm flying, you know,

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Speaker 4: one hundred and forty five million dollar aeroplane. The F

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Speaker 4: thirty five is absolutely remarkable aircraft. It's a fifth generation

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Speaker 4: aircraft and world leading. All the men and women that

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Speaker 4: do operate them absolutely love it. It's incredibly capable. It

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Speaker 4: integrates exceptionally well with our allies. And yeah, you know,

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Speaker 4: as I said, I pinch myself and I'm you know,

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Speaker 4: I feel like a little kid still.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I hate like for those that just have no

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Speaker 1: idea about these aircraft, like me, how fast does this

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Speaker 1: thing go?

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Speaker 2: Like, what's it like when you're in there? And how

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Speaker 2: fast does it go?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 4: The thing with the F thirty five, I previously flew

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Speaker 4: super hornets, and the remarkable thing with it is it's

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Speaker 4: just got such a massive engine. So when you're at

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Speaker 4: the end of the runway and you go full after

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Speaker 4: burner and it's like someone's pushing really hard on your back,

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Speaker 4: really really hard, and the acceleration down the runway is exceptional.

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Speaker 4: And then once you get airborne, off you go, it's

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Speaker 4: just you just is so fast. And then when you

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Speaker 4: get into the airspace and then one of the great

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Speaker 4: things about Pitch Black and operating up in the Northern territories.

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Speaker 4: The airspace is all super sonic, so you know they'll

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Speaker 4: be operating you know, well well fastened the speed of

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Speaker 4: sound out there, and operating in large formations. So it's exhilarating.

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Speaker 4: And it's busy, like there's a lot going on in

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Speaker 4: the cock bit. It's not just a flying, it's operating

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Speaker 4: all the systems that are on board, including the weapons system.

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Speaker 3: So it's very very busy.

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Speaker 4: And you know, we have very very talented young men

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Speaker 4: and women flying these aircraft.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and young you know, they're in their twenties.

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Speaker 4: And yeah, so any of your young listens out there,

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Speaker 4: you know, there's a job for you.

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Speaker 3: Oh good on you.

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Speaker 1: Like I cancen in your face. It's obviously something that

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Speaker 1: you love to do.

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Speaker 2: And I really like that.

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Speaker 1: I love when people are passionate about their work, which

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Speaker 1: obviously you are. And a busy, busy time ahead for you,

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Speaker 1: no doubt with Pitch Black.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Katie, thank you, thanks.

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Speaker 2: So much for your time this morning. I really appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: That is the exercise director there of Pitch Black group,

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Speaker 1: Captain Stuart Cini, And yeah, there is so much happening,

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Speaker 1: but that night flying obviously getting underway tonight