What will you be flying where?
From what I hear much of the real bush flying we used to do isn't done anymore. That being said.
Study the countryside on your route network in miniscule detail. Rock outcrops, landslides, groups of huts, funny bends in rivers, cliff faces etc. As I have stated many times the first landmark I learned in PNG was an individual tree in the Wahgi Valley. More than once I was only vaguely aware of where I was until I spotted that tree on the ridgeline and was instantly completely aware of where I was and what to do next. 10 years after I first flew past that tree in a C185 I was flying past in a Dash 7 and the Kanakas had cut it down...had I been in an armed aircraft I would have happily leveled the village...I was incensed.
Study the weather...where it builds up first etc. Be very aware of wind and how it behaves around terrain. Think water flowing over rocks and waterfalls in a river...air is a fluid and behaves exactly the same.
Be a student of your surroundings...you life really does depend on it.
Fuel, daylight, weather.
If you have the first two you can explore the third assuming you have the local knowledge mentioned above. If you have bad weather and not much daylight you better have plenty of fuel.
Always, always, ALWAYS have an escape route when you're poking around valleys in weather. Stick HARD to the right side of a valley so you can do a 180 and retreat. When I say hard I mean HARD over on the right.
Drizzle CAN turn instantly into cloud...I have seen it happen and it very nearly killed me in a Twin Otter.
NOTHING has to get ANYWHERE today.
Don't do anything stupid spontaneously...think about it first.
The moments of sheer terror are closer together in PNG but the hours and hours of sheer exhilaration make up for it.
You will either love PNG or hate it. You will either revel in the challenges of flying there and become addicted to it or it will scare you witless. If it is the later just go to your CP and calmly tell him you can't do it, you're going home and leave. There is no shame in that.
In PNG the greens are greener, the blues bluer, the beer colder and better tasting, the sense of mateship unequalled.
Put dencorub between the condoms...whichever one breaks you'll know about it.
AIDS really IS an issue in PNG as is the litany of other nasties. You go dipping your wick carelessly in PNG and you WILL get a dose of something.
Last edited by Chimbu chuckles; 6th Oct 2008 at 19:50.