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Old 16th Feb 2010, 09:21
  #2512 (permalink)  
Lapun Tru
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: QLD
Age: 82
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Lutheran Mission Strips

1. Yes, it's Tarabo (though I've never seen it quite from THAT angle before!)

2. I'm pretty sure that's Nomane (south of Goroka). If so, the track down the hillside below the strip leads to open burial grounds in caves in the hillside which I visited when Eric and Crystal Heumuller were the missionaries there. The bodies were propped up to look out from the caves over the land,so the spirits of the departed could keep an eye on it.

3. Agotu, south of Goroka behind Mt Michael. This was a very tricky strip especially in poor weather. You had to fly a downwind leg BEHIND the hill in the left foreground and look over to see if you could still see the strip - if you could, you were TOO HIGH! From there you flew towards a particular rocky outcrop with trees sticking out of the side, at which point the strip would reappear on your left. You had to make your decision to land just before reaching the outcrop, as once you turned in towards the strip you were totally committed - absolutely no chance of a go-around with that rising terrain behind the strip. Otherwise, you could continue on down the gorge and climb back to a safe height for another shot at it.

Esther and Al Schulz were the missionaries there and always greeted me with fresh, cool slices of pineapple and other goodies! We stayed there for a weekend with them once. I flew their kids to and from the school at Wau in 70/71 (and very probably Storch Pilot too!) I can tell you that it was a VERY sobering experience to take off down a strip like that with a load of kids on board and the parents watching at the side of the strip. The weight of responsibility I felt was enormous, and I always started my take-off runs on those flights with a quick prayer to my 'Chief Pilot'........

I once wrote a short fictional story called "Mercy Flight" that was published in the Brisbane Courier Mail Colour Magazine in about 1974, I think it was. As the title indicates, it was about a mercy flight into a PNG airstrip in lousy weather conditions and the flight details in the story were based on a flight into Agotu. NOt a pull-pisser prize winner, but I got a few dollars for it, so it couldn't have been too bad!
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