*bump* One of the things I have never seen discussed is Souther Air Transport in PNG. My first day in POM I sat at the Fetcher Morobe office and watched a VHS (I'm getting old) about SAT in PNG and their L-382's. Any stories?
Yeah...they used to buzz the Lae Yachty in the dark...VERY low...they stopped after hitting a Flying Fox one night that did some fairly expensive damage.
Good bunch of guys - I went for a jolly with them once to Lake Kutubu and they let me fly the L382 from the LHS..nice balus.
Tini I wasn't with TAL although I do recall doing an IFR rating test with Wally Bebnar one day,and just after take off he said "ok now I'm going to fail the right engine are you ready ?"
I see there is a Lynden Air Herc parked in POM at the moment,I belive it has been operating out of Nadzab up to the centre of the universe. I belive Lynden Air's Herc aren't ex military and they have glass cockpits,can anyone confirm this ?
I spent quite some time with SAT and the L382's in PNG, some good stories and one was the four propeller wakes in the waters of Lake Kutubu inspecting the Skull Caves on the edge of the lake.
They were mainly very competent crew, good companions and liked their fun at times.
I have flown with some of the ex RAAF Herc drivers from those days and didn't realise that the Herc was responsible for flying all the components of the Bailey Bridges into the highlands from Lae and Madang. Those guys were having as much fun as us GA buggers.
Flying low in the Highlands these days could be hazardous to ones health as the likelihood of being hit by small arms ground fire is now more dangerous than the terra firma. Numerous stories of guys being pot shot at.. mainly from home made guns. Surely taking the meaning of customer complaints to a whole new level!
Haven't they watched BLackhawk Down yet ? Bloody RPG's will be next,trust me with the cashflow in the SHP I'm sure they could afford them. Dodgy Aussie C-210 spotted in Daru a few weeks ago I believe.
Here is a quick rundown on the fleet. RDL, crashed RDM, crashed RDN to VH-FNP, withdrawn from use at Maroochydore RDO to VH-FNR to DQ-YES, withdrawn from use in FIJI RDP to VH-XFH to VH-XFN to DQ-LCM, withdrawn from use in FIJI RDQ to VH-XFP to VH-UQG to P2-ALV, withdrawn from use (at Goroka?) RDR to VH-FWR to VH-UQD to P2-ALT, withdrawn from use (at Goroka?) RDS, crashed RDT to VH-XFM to VH-UQC, withdrawn from use and reduced to spares RDU to VH-FWI to ZK-TRL, withdrawn from use and reduced to spares RDW to VH-XFO to VH-UQF to P2-ALU, crashed
Flights fuel cult
Mysterious flights over Southern Highlands in the nights in recent weeks have added fuel to a cargo cult mindset that has developed over the liquefied natural gas project. According to a leading Christian church in the province, many people in the Southern Highlands do not understand how the benefits from the LNG project will be delivered and there are stories going around that the “cargo” in the form of the benefits will drop from the sky. The church say it does not help matters when aircraft are flying over Southern Highlands in the night, something that is regarded unusual because no flights had ever flown over the province in the dark before.
“Someone in authority needs to explain these flights. Two planes flew in the night on two separate occasions in the past.
“Last Saturday, nine planes flew over Mendi town between 6pm and 1am on Monday. This is highly unusual and this is fueling this cargo cult thing,” head bishop of the United Church in the Highlands, Reverend Wesif Porop said. Bishop Porop said when the planes were flying over Mendi, the story was going around that the planes would drop the “benefits” from the LNG from the sky.
“This is no good. Somebody needs to explain these flights over Mendi in the night. We are doing a lot of work to educate our people and this unexplained events do not help.” He said the planes were flying in a straight line over Mendi and this has aroused the curiosity of the people, who are talking about it. Bishop Porop said last month, some planes flew over Southern Highlands on separate occasion, drawing the same reaction from the people.
