Originally Posted by
Beez51
Willie, I think the shortest strip in PNG was for a short time was Tapen. It’s remains are still visible about 10 Nm down the valley from Tep Tep. This is just a bit further to the west of Kabuam from where you were. It was closed when I flew in that part of the world, but one of my good mates (RIP) had apparently landed there. He pointed it out on the way into Tep Tep one day. The strip looked a little like what Two_Dogs posted previously except if I remember correctly it was not at the top of the mountain. The strip was only 500ft long with about 10 degrees slope and the catholic priest apparently had it built. He had something like a C182 with a Robertson STOL conversion. He put the Cessna on its roof fairly early on (it might have been his first attempt) and then had a further landing accident once the aircraft was fixed. The then PNG DCA closed it to all except Army PL6 Porters. I don’t think it lasted more than 6 months. The strip would have been built around Independence. I first saw it about 10 years later in the early 80’s.
The guys operating out of Lae and later Nadzab into the strips in the Finisterre’s certainly got a good grounding in both PNG weather and STOL operations. Anyone else add to the Tapen story?
Beez51
Yep, you can have all the slope you like, 500 feet is getting pretty sporting!