Well Chuck she was still there in 94 for sure and I think when I went back in 96. Still with the original 260 horse engine as well. It was very well looked after and flew good too apparantly. He did quite a lot of flying to some places even North coast avoided and never an incident
. Think it was gone by 98 my last year in PNG. CGG has been wintering in Wanaka, went to crank her up a few days ago for the first time in a month and with the temps just above freezing after a frost decided the oil would be like treacle and it would do more harm than good
.
I think almost all of the 60s 185s in Aussie and NZ are either ex Topdressing machines or Ex PNG. Many of the old Aussie ones seem to have moved over the Tasman in the last few years and appear at the 180/185 fly ins looking very tidy, owned by Farmers and Airline Pilots mostly and only do a few hours a year. They would have a fit if they knew the places and loads aircraft flew
.
Of the PNG Post Moresby 185s on my arrival in 92 sad to say most crashed as related here. P2 TAC Pictured at Sopu was my beast at the time and is finishing a rebuild in Sydney. Used to land in Bodinumu in her and would get a sore back from the bronco ride up the strip due poor surface but the airframe seemed to handle it fine. Most POB was 13, some were very small though. Mac Lee had MFX which survived but must have needed full refurbishment. Anyone know what became if her? did a few hours in it and a nice machine.
Richard Leahy must have about the only remaining 180/185 in PNG.
To have C185 , DC3, Twin Otter and Fokker ratings would be quite a feat, all great machines with not a computer or bit of plastic in sight. I have just finished Line Training on the F27 here in NZ. Nice to fly as they convert vast amounts of fuel to noise, and not much to performance. A very sedate affair as you head in the general direction of the destination unencumbered by FMS, GPS or those boring autopilots what know how to fly an ILS. Since they only just get around coastal NZ with a full load I would love to know how they even flew in the Highlands, never mind carried a payload
.