I seem to remember flying uphill to the airport in an F28 from down Henganofi way more than once to get in under low morning fog lifting...did it LOTS of times in 185s,402s, Islanders, Twotters, bandits etc.
Countless departures in C185 in fog after 'diverting' into GKA the night before to visit with my then GF who was teaching at GIS...up and out early to get the days flying done from Chimbu and then as often as not end up 'diverting' into GKA again 'due weather' (and often not far off last light) on the last lap of the last flight of the day....but I was CP so unlikely to get worked up over 'innappropriate' use of company aircraft
It just NEVER occurred to me EVER to attempt to land down a 6% slope in marginal weather in something like a 404...and I was as keen to 'have a go' as the next guy
It's not about not 'getting the job done'...just some things are probably not worth trying on the balance of probabilities.
ALK was a bloody great aircraft 12 years ago...they were (in the days in Rabaul) beautifully maintained ex Eastern aircraft with great autopilots and a joy to fly...sad to see one has been busted up from a lack of fore thought
Back in Talair days a young bloke smashed an islander through the fence and onto the road at Wau landing on 'the top half' of the strip due early morning fog...from memory the aircraft was written off...when i was there in the Twotter the same **** happened but I flew 3 minutes down the valley, landed at Bulolo and had a smoke and stretch for 20 minutes before returning and landing normally. He figured since we all just used only the top half he'd be fine...it didn't occurr to him there was a difference between a slightly fast approach to the normal touchdown point and then 'flying' up the slope to a low speed touchdown and a steepish approach over the fog bank and trying to lose the speed and stop on the last few hundred meters.
The first words out of the CPs mouth were "You're sacked".
PNG abounds with airborne challenge and 'fun'...but there is a point you just don't cross...you divert somewhere and wait it out...never in 14 years did anyone EVER question my decision to do so...I didn't hold overhead burning fuel I diverted somewhere and landed...in PNG, even in a bandit, you were never (or VERY RARELY) more than 10-15 minutes from somewhere you could land...in a c185 or twotter it was never more than 5 minutes.