Yeah...the extra 35-40 kts is good when you're pushing a headwind...probably not THAT much difference in costs actually...I remember the running costs of the 185 and then remember it was 13yrs ago....labour rates and fuel have at least trippled in that time....but in Oz$ terms I pay the same insurance...PNGK4k then and OZ$6K now...just goes to show how expensive insurance in PNG was...even then I'd be surprised if Insurance companies made much of a profit....buying parts was good though when the Kina was worth US$1.05 as opposed to the Oz$ being worth US$0.49 a few years ago when my big expenses with the Bonanza happened...engine overhaul etc. Easy to see why aviation in PNG is nowadays such a marginal proposition when the PNG Kina is worth about US$0.30.
P2-AWM was a 1963 model that had been imported new to PNG by Anglican World Mission. MAF converted her from a C to an F equivalent in the mid 70s. She was the Wilde families first aeroplane before being sold to a cane farmer in Ingham who I bought her from in 1991. I paid him from memory 30k and then had her restored from tailwheel forward. Cracks were found in a cylinder and the crankcase but he did a top overhaul gratis..cost him 11k for two new cylinders and a crankcase...he was not happy but when I pointed out the engine had no more hours on it than before he relented.
With the kina being worth Oz$1.55 at the time the cost of all the work wasn't too painfull and I ended up with the nicest flying 185 I ever flew....despite her 10000hrs TTAF. She flew dead straight...if she'd ever been groundlooped it didn't show anywhere.
This got me thinking a few days ago about how well paid we were at Talair in those days and how aeroplanes have appreciated in such a rush these last 13 yrs...how many Bandit captains could afford to buy a C185 today?
Chuck