Personally I don't think putting people 'without PNG time' down is needed either and I hope I don't do that - what I do get worked up about is people with no direct experience
getting judgmental.
Ask any question and I will attempt to answer it honestly but when people start
judging what PNG based pilots do or don't do I get a little antsy.
For me PNG is a VERY fond memory of the first nearly 14 years of my career - I have great respect for the guys and girls doing it now and ENORMOUS respect for the very small number of my mates, expat and local, from those years who still fly up there - some in Twin Otters, some in DHC8s, some in F100s and some in 767s.
I watched that ABC program tonight and was a little shocked at just how badly run down DCA is now - in my time it was staffed and functioned well - we drank at the Aeroclub Bar with the DCA examiners and investigators and socialized with them more generally. Sorted most stuff out over a million beers. The Senior Examiner of Airmen of DCA was my next door neighbor in the Talair compound. My then 3 yr old daughter would wander next door at sparrows to visit with Allan and Ruth Craigie (Uncle Alen and Aunty Root
) for vegemite toast. Allan, and his staff,
understood us and there was real mutual respect - particularly when one of us went whistling through the compound in a Bandit and he just smiled and sipped on his beer
Talair was probably 90% of PNG domestic operations and was a HIGHLY professional operation with GREAT C&Ting, mostly excellent maintenance and the average pilot was very experienced. Yes there were accidents in those days (LOTS) but there was a LOT more aviation happening in those days and LOTS more in Piston singles and twins. I have no way of proving it but I suspect the safety record was better then than now even though the raw numbers suggest otherwise.
When Talair started getting out of pistons and concentrating on an all turbine operation with Otters and Bandits it did so by selling off bases like Lae, Wau, Popondetta, Rabaul, Hoskins etc, holus bolus. Many were bought by Talair staff - that is how North Coast and Airlink came into being. In the early 90s these operations were staffed in senior positions by ex Talair pilots and when Talair shut down in 92 the rest of us went to these other operators. That is how MBA ramped up to fill the void.
I went to Airlink in Rabaul and other than the Neo Nazi uniform it was exactly like still being in Talair - VERY high standards of experience and maintenance and, under Col Bubner et al (the owners) a no expense spared operation that made them a lot of money - just a blissful life.
Starting in 1994 airlines started recruiting again after the hiatus post 89. Within a year PX (and others) had stripped the guts of the experience out of PNG GA/3rd level airlines. Within 3 they, and others, had finished that process except for a VERY small cadre of ex Talair pilots/MBA pilots who were just too old/didn't want to or who couldn't pass the 4 days of BS testing.
Take a look at that list of accidents link above and look at the Airlink crashes - they all happened post 94 except a non fatal landing bingle in an Islander at Namatanai. From late 94/early 95 guys were joining Airlink on an Islander and progressing through the left seats of 402/404/Twotter to a Bandit in a year or less. Just before I went to PX I was doing 40 stick hours a week TRAINING.
Unheard of rates of promotion. And some were not as good as they thought they were. All of a sudden we were all in PX as Dash 7/F28 FOs and we were watching Bandits smack into ridge lines etc. It was very sad.
I had a million beers with Col Bubner in Madang on an overnight just before I left PNG in 1999. He paid me and my work mates a great compliment when he said words to the effect of "I had no idea how lucky I was to have you guys until you were all gone".
The reality was virtually every one of us who left PNG GA in 94/95/96 had been in GA in PNG for 8-10+ years. Mostly because the 89 dispute stopped normal industry progression dead in its tracks when 1700 odd guys flooded out to the world and the Oz domestics did more with less crews. Col was a good guy - didn't begrudge us our careers (no PNG operators ever did) but it was sad watching what had been an example of GA at its
VERY BEST slide through Col's fingers. Airlink died (mostly) because inexperienced (or stupid) pilots were crashing it's aircraft.
The last 10+ years - well we have all seen the recent pilot shortage - it wasn't kind to any PNG operator, even PX.
MBA/APNG is, I believe, a good operator with high standards - I know Simon Wild and while we have had our differences of opinion in the long past I believe he runs a good operation. It was a steep learning curve to go from a small Charter Operation with a motley handful of aircraft to, not quite but essentially, Talair's replacement back in 1992/3. It would not be overstating it to suggest there are probably 10-12 guys there NOW who have between 22 and 35+ years experience in PNG (mostly ex Talair) but that there would have been enormous numbers of guys, and the odd girl, passing through for a year or 3 and then off to wherever in this last 10 years.
All that aside to suggest this young lady should not have been on that route is a bit silly. She'd have flown it MANY times in the RHS. Kokoda is a big flat strip in a fairly big wide valley - DC3s used to operate in there between the 50s and 70s.
I
suspect the underlying cause of this tragedy might be VERY simple.
The first time I went through the Kokoda Gap was on a gin clear, calm morning and I went through on the trees - because its fun and you learn what it might be like in marginal weather.
After that
it didn't take much weather in the Gap to have me back tracking and climbing to LSA. It also drove home the fact that
if I was silly enough to be suckered through that Gap and couldn't proceed visually
the only option was aim down the guts of the creek and climb on that heading.
In my day we flew everything single pilot and we never got in trouble for 'low flying' - even on the very rare occasion we were reported by someone.
I wonder if that is still the case?
I firmly believe a big part of the reason why
most pilots survive PNG (lucky near misses aside) is this level of professional curiosity.
What will I do if?
In my experience you don't hit as hard as this aircraft did
unless you're descending down a valley, picking up speed, and then try and turn around.
Maybe some young person working towards/holding a Twotter command there
now might read this and take something from it that will help them to enjoy, to the maximum, the best flying on offer almost anywhere.
And no, Simon et al, I won't wear the blame if your pilots start returning to Moresby with jungle hanging off their wheels
To the younger pilots working there now don't believe a bloody word you read on an anonymous internet forum - go and ask those 10-12 guys I mentioned and see what they say - they're all good guys - but ya never know what sort of weirdos hang out on the WWW