Thread drift but 4 Holes started it. The day they dropped EDC into the drink the gods were smiling on them. Had the donk quit an hour later, over open sea, the inevitable ditching would unlikely have been the happy event it was in the tranquil waters of Botany Bay. And had both engines got them as far as LHI, given the handling expertise on display that day, and the weight of that old DC3, if it did not crash on landing, getting it airborne again in its overloaded state would have been quite something. And had they somehow got it airborne and then had that engine failure....hmmm.
They were not familiar with LHI, or if they were they were supreme optimists. It can be challenging for experienced pilots in a true performer like a Dash 8. For a pair of Clayton’s Captains in a Gooney Bird....?