I couldn’t say enough good things about most of the troops on the other end of the radio, especially back in the old FSU days. One only had to cough and they were onto you. Some like ‘Malfunction’ out of Kununurra were phenominal and usually could be heard way past other stations.
This happened to a mate of mine. He then worked for a smallish company in North Qld. One day one of the troops pulls the pin so bossman asks mate to fetch the A/C (a 269) back to base. It was parked beside his at Cairns, a controlled A/P and right beside the TWR. Mate also happened to volunteer a lift to a femme fatale for convenience. Well so he said anyrate.
Twr staff watches, with some interest.
Like most, they had the binos trained downwards. Finally mate is ready, fires up and asks for a clearance.
Back came the answer short and to the point, “No.”
‘Why not’
“Not until you tell what is going on, that is not your usual machine and it definitely is not your girfriend.”