I ferried a Baron from Cairns to Lae way back when. (Standby I'll dig out me log) VH-MKB on the 6th april 1974 There was something peculiar about the elevator feel, it had just come out of a Cof A Duly noted, one day someone (GS?) was looking at it front on from out the office window and ho..ho.. the tailplane had a twist in it like a propellor Am I remembering that right mendi63?
I seem to recall that the torque tube arms had been drilled incorrectly. I can't recall exactly who did the work but it may have been a now defunct company in Townsville.
Frigatebird, I think that the Baron was also previously registered VH-MKC and then VP-MKC.
Ahhh.. the Baron, a truly wonderful balus! Could just fit it into Bali Island on a good day. I enjoyed flying it more than a C402, like comparing a Porsche to a Merc 500. I was much younger then.. speed and agility were the priority... not comfort so much. I think this view may have extended to the female population as well!!
Tinnie, is that C206 in Oksapmin, circa 1979-80?? I was in Tabubil around that time in P2-SEG and the Wewak based balus had a similar mishap there.
What is the old Goroka hangar used for now? The PX terminal alongside is starting to look a bit second hand as well.
Location: Bai, mi go long hap na kisim sampla samting.
Posts: 2,852
the piccy of the Arava looks as if it was taken this morning. Its still parked about the same spot and the hangar looks exactly the same, although it looks as if someone has moved the 212 outside to blow the dust off it.
Received information today that Brian McCook passed away. Have no further details at the moment. Does anybody know more? A sad theme for my 100th post. SP
Sad indeed. Started his career in the closing days of the Pacific War in Catalinas and never lost his love of the big flying boats, in fact one of his last gigs was flying a PBY5a up and down the Nile and a very short stint flying a Widgeon for a shipping company in Rabaul. A long, fascinating and very successful career.
He and his lovely wife were like surrogate Grandparents to my daughter when we were based in Moresby together in the last years of Talair.
Crashlanded the first of the two Lutheran Mission Do 27īs in PNG in the early sixties after engine failure. The second Do 27 also encountered engine failure not very long afterwards, but this time claiming the life of the pilot Ray Jaensch and leaving a kiap, who was on board, paraplegic. Had him on the phone a couple of months ago. He was very alert and talkative, telling me some of his old stories. RIP Brian
Where do you start? He hired me for my second stint with TAL,when I should of been off doing something useful Hard worker tru, he introduced the Tw@tter to TAL which fundamentally changed the companies direction Rest easy
This is my first time back on the forum for several months, due to suffering a heart attack and having to undergo bypass surgery in June. Pleased to report that I am slowly coming good now, but I wouldn't wish the experience on my worst enemy...
At least I'm still here, unlike Brian. I was very sorry to hear of his passing. He gave me a job with TAL in Mendi and checked me out on a lot of the highlands strips. Then a couple of years later, in a quirk of fate, he joined PX and after a spell on DC3s he was assigned to fly as my F/O on F27s. As a young and fairly new Captain, I wondered how flying with a much older F/O with Brian's level of experience would work out, especially since he was a real 'seat of the pants' pilot and he was the first to admit that airline number-crunching and strict procedures were not quite his game. But I was pleased to find that in the air he was as always the consumate professional, fully prepared to admit to and correct any mistakes and to fully support me in my role as the Captain of the aircraft. In fact, we enjoyed each other's company so much that at the end of the first month Brian asked if I would mind if he put in a bid to fly with me again. We flew together for about three months and spent most of our cruise time in the cockpit keeping each other well and truly up to speed with the required knowledge of normal and emergency procedures.
On overnights we had a good few laughs together, and on one overnight in Rabaul I remember seeing Brian's trick of chewing a wine glass to pieces - well after it had been used to consume a bottle or two of fine wine!
